In Pictures: Focus on the final Blackpool Gold weekend on the year

Posted on Tuesday 26 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November saw the last Gold weekend of heritage operation in Blackpool with both days seeing a six tram service running all the way between Starr Gate and Fleetwood. The Winter Gold weekends see the most intensive service to Starr Gate (the Flexity service is running at a lower frequency giving more opportunity to fit in the heritage trams down New South Promenade) with all six trams running at least one journey “all the way” north to Fleetwood.

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In Pictures: New American Express advert for 270 (and 263 too!)

Posted on Tuesday 26 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

The loss of adverts on Edinburgh Trams for American Express didn’t last long as just a couple of weeks after the first design was removed (from 269 and 270 anyway) a new style of advert has been applied, initially to 270 and then to 263. For the latter tram this has meant that it has lost its long-standing adverts for C R Smith (from Lossiemouth to Kinross). The new advert is a mainly white design which almost makes it look as if it is a full advert livery as the white of the fleet livery now matches! Roy Calderwood has sent us the following photos.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Open Top Balloon 706

Posted on Tuesday 26 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its 2007 again for this last Blackpool Picture in Time of 2019! This time around we feature a much missed tram from the operational fleet, known better by most by her name of Princess Alice.

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Wallasey 78 to celebrate the 86th anniversary of Walasey’s Last Tram

Posted on Monday 25 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its not an anniversary you often see celebrated but on Sunday 1st December the Wirral Transport Museum and Heritage Tramway will be commemorating the 86th anniversary of the last Wallasey tram with a special event taking place in the afternoon and also with a special evening service.

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Could free tram travel for over 60s be removed from Edinburgh Trams?

Posted on Monday 25 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Recent reports in the Edinburgh Evening News are suggesting that the free concessionary travel on Edinburgh Trams could be removed as part of the latest round of Council savings. The SNP and Labour coalition on the City of Edinburgh Council are said to be considering the plan which would save £690,000 a year.

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Metro Matters members get a guided tour of Westside extension

Posted on Monday 25 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

You may recall earlier this year that the West Midlands Metro were looking for travellers on the system to sign up to become a member of a new customer forum, to be known as Metro Matters. Well, that forum is now up and running and members were recently invited to take a guided tour of the Birmingham Westside extension ahead of its opening next month.

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Around the World in Trams: Milan 7612

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its Milan for one final time this week as we continue our series looking at trams from around the world.

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In Pictures: Antlers return to Edinburgh

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

As we approach the countdown to Christmas with towns and cities across the UK switching on their festive lights with some of the bigger cities also having Christmas Markets to traipse round looking for that special gift it is also time for some of our tramways to get into the spirit and one of the first to do so is Edinburgh Trams. You may remember last year a number of trams not only received antlers on the sides but were also named after Santa’s reindeer and it looks set to the same again this year with 269 being spotted just so recently.

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Apprentices appointed on Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Nexus’ apprentice scheme is going from strength to strength as they seek to address the dual challenges of an ageing workforce and a national engineering skills shortage. 54 apprentices have been employed since 2013 with most going on to secure permanent full-time employment after completing their apprenticeships.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

As well as the launch of the 2019 Tram of the Year contest (see article below) we also bring you another couple of Photo Galleries this week:

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It’s back! Tram of the Year returns – nominations now open!

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

The end of November is traditionally the time of year when we start to take a look back at the previous 12 months and to this end today marks the launch of the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2019 as we seek to anoint the Tram (Traditional), Tram (Modern), Event and Tramway of the Year – and the final decision will be yours! Lat year we saw the Manx Electric Railway dominate with “Ratchet” car 14, Stagecoach Supertram 399 203, Manx Electric Railway 125th anniversary and the Manx Electric Railway voted the most popular in each of the categories but what has done enough in 2019?

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Metro fares to rise but new family ticket to be introduced

Posted on Saturday 23 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

2020 fare announcements just keep on a coming! The latest system to make their announcement is the Tyne and Wear Metro where there will, once again, be fare increases with Single and Day tickets set to rise by 10p but more positive news is the freezing of all tickets for those aged 18 and savings for Pop Pay As You Go smartcard holders. There will also be a new family ticket introduced for use at weekends.

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Picture in Time: Tyne and Wear Metro 4075

Posted on Saturday 23 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

In this latest edition of Picture in Time we are again looking at a Metro Car seen during the 30th anniversary Open Day at South Gosforth Depot.

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In Pictures: Winter trackwork at Crich

Posted on Saturday 23 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

We reported a couple of days ago about how winter maintenance had got underway at Crich and now we bring you photographic evidence! As we mentioned in that previous article this winter will see the double track between the stop at Victoria Park and the blue staff post where the track goes from double to single being replaced and good progress has already been made on removing the Wakebridge bound track with attention now turned towards preparing the trackbed for the laying of new track.

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In Pictures: More from the Jasper Carrott naming

Posted on Saturday 23 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

As we reported on last week, Wednesday 13th November saw the latest naming on the West Midlands Metro with 28 being named Jasper Carrott in a special ceremony which took place at the new Town Hall stop on the Westside extension. In this additional pictorial we take a further look at the tram arriving and being named with images coming from Andy Walters.

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Fare increases to be discussed for Metrolink

Posted on Friday 22 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

One thing almost as certain as death and taxes is public transport fare increases and the latest system to announce their new fares for 2020 has been Manchester Metrolink. It will be a mixed bag for travellers on Metrolink with an average 2.2% increase proposed including single fares being frozen at 2019 prices with some fares going up by around 4%.

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New Tram-Train timetable to be introduced – but only after reduction

Posted on Friday 22 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Sunday 15th December will see a new timetable introduced for Tram-Train services between Cathedral and Rotherham Parkgate – with services now running later throughout the week. There will also be some frequency changes to early morning services along with a new promotional after 2000 fare also being introduced. But before we get there it has been announced that the service will be down to two an hour until Friday 13th December.

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Metro performance stats out – at least they’re better than last year!

Posted on Friday 22 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

You may well be getting a bit bored reading about the continued travails of the service on the Tyne and Wear Metro (probably not as much as those trying to travel on it each day though!) but the latest performance statistics have recently been released which has shown a fall since the previous four weeks, although the positive spin on it is that it is still better than 12 months previously!

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Supertram Citylink tram-train returns

Posted on Thursday 21 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

There are now seven Citylink tram-train vehicles back in Sheffield once more following the return of 399 204 (in reality two thirds 204, one third 202) after the completion of accident damage repairs. The vehicle had been away in Spain for the best part of nine months after two separate collisions caused damage to the two separate trams which saw one good Citylink tram created from the available sections.

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Winter maintenance underway at Crich

Posted on Thursday 21 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

It may have been only a few weeks since the last tram ran for 2019 at the Crich Tramway Village but already work is underway on the winter maintenance with more track set to be relaid following on from the major project last winter at Glory Mine.

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