Tyne and Wear Metro continues to have problems

Posted on Monday 11 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

The next performance poster of the Tyne and Wear Metro is likely to be fairly interesting as there remains fairly regular service disruption, if their own Twitter feed is in anyway accurate.

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Around the World in Trams: Milan 4985

Posted on Sunday 10 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

We stay in the Italian city of Milan for this latest foray into trams operating abroad.

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Crich help out Seaton with track

Posted on Sunday 10 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

You often hear mention of how this tramway helps out this tramway regularly and this has again been seen in action with the news that the Crich Tramway Village have supplied some surplus track to the Seaton Tramway to assist the Devon line with a track relay taking place during their off season.

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Woman hit by tram at Robinswood Road

Posted on Sunday 10 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

A woman in her 20s was taken to hospital with head injuries after she was hit by a tram close to the tramstop at Robinswood Road on the Manchester Metrolink line to the Airport on Thursday 7th November shortly before 1330. The woman – who was pushing a child in a pushchair at the time of the incident, the child received no injuries according to report – was struck as she crossed the tramway on the approach to the stop. The tram was heading towards the Airport having just left Wythenshawe Town Centre when the accident happened. The emergency services were swiftly on the scene and after treatment at the scene she was taken to hospital for further treatment. Services were suspended between Roundthorn and the Airport for over an hour whilst the incident was dealt with.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 10 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

We may be having technical problems with uploads but we still have another couple of Photo Galleries for you this week:

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In Pictures: 36 loses its adverts

Posted on Saturday 9 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

It is still an ever changing scene on West Midlands Metro with livery changes seeming to be a constant occurrence and whilst there remains one tram, 19, which hasn’t yet gone fully blue this week has seen a livery change with 36 – which had been the first Urbos3 to feature external advertising – losing its My Metro App adverts.

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Picture in Time: Tyne and Wear Metro 4049

Posted on Saturday 9 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Today’s dip in the archives sees us return to the Tyne and Wear Metro as we continue to look around the depot during the 30th anniversary depot anniversary.

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More electrical supply problems for NET

Posted on Saturday 9 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Anyone got 50p for the meter?! Coming just a few days after the previous power supply problems on Nottingham Express Transit there was a further disruption to the service on Monday 4th November, although this time not as lengthy as the previous incident on 31st October.

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Performance goes down on Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Saturday 9 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

After a couple of months where performance has remained at 85% on the Tyne and Wear Metro the latest four week period has shown a fall to 82% – which although a decrease from the previous period does show a big 8% improvement on the same time in 2018.

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Marking 70 years since the end of trams in Leicester

Posted on Saturday 9 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Today (9th November) marks the 70th anniversary of the closure of Leicester Corporation Tramways, a network which at its peak ran for almost 23 miles around the East Midlands city. To mark the anniversary we take a brief look back at the history of the tramway as well as at some survivors.

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In Pictures: Disruption continues on Supertram

Posted on Friday 8 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

We brought you the news last night about the flooding causing disruption for Stagecoach Supertram and 24 hours later it is still making its presence felt with a revised Supertram service still running and no sign of when this may end. The heavy rain which fell in South Yorkshire (as well as other areas of northern England) on Thursday 7th November caused flooding across the region and led to people not being able to leave Meadowhall Shopping Centre with some having to spend the night. For Supertram the high level of the River Don had meant the tram bridge at Tinsley was deemed unsafe and as such no trams could travel beyond Meadowhall South/Tinsley on both the Yellow and Tram-Train routes.

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Extra trams to run on Metrolink in lead up to Christmas

Posted on Friday 8 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

For a month in the lead up to Christmas this year there will be extra services running on Manchester Metrolink with trams running later on certain routes giving a 6 minute frequency later than usual whilst Fridays and Saturdays will see trams running an hour later.

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Heaton Park to celebrate end of season on 17th November

Posted on Friday 8 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its been a challenging couple of months for the Heaton Park Tramway with the theft of overhead wire leading to the closure of the tramway for around a month whilst the local community and TfGM/KAM rallied around to help replace the equipment. But now with the tramway back operating again they are ready to celebrate the end of season on Sunday 17th November.

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Santa Claus is coming to Edinburgh Trams again!

Posted on Thursday 7 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

After the success of last year’s Santa Express on Edinburgh Trams the man himself will again be heading back to the Scottish capital at the start of December and this time around he will be travelling on the tram for two days – Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd December. Pre-bookable journeys will be running between Gyle Centre and St Andrew Square with tickets also valid for a return journey too.

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Rain causes more issues on Supertram

Posted on Thursday 7 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its starting to look like Stagecoach Supertram has a major aversion to heavy rain as following closely behind the suspension of the tram-train service to Rotherham Parkgate a couple of weeks there has been a further disruption to services with no trams able to travel beyond Meadowhall South/Tinsley from the city centre as the “Tinsley tram bridge is at risk”. The disruption started during Thursday 7th November.

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Picture in Time: Edinburgh 35

Posted on Thursday 7 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Today we continue our look at the trams which ran during the Glasgow Garden Festival. This time around it is Edinburgh 35 which was operating in its third town/city at the time having previously run on its home system and in Blackpool.

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Metrolink Trafford Park line comes towards a conclusion

Posted on Wednesday 6 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

The next extension due to open on Manchester Metrolink – scheduled for the first half of 2020 – to the Trafford Centre has achieved a couple more significant milestones recently including the final concrete pouring and the full reopening of Trafford Wharf Road after over two years of disruption.

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Edinburgh gets ready for Newhaven extension works

Posted on Wednesday 6 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Monday 18th November will be a key milestone in the work to bring Trams to Newhaven in Edinburgh as that will be the date that phase one of construction starts on Constitution Street. The work here will be split into two sections and in preparation for the start a public information event is due to take place at South Leith Parish Church on Thursday 7th November.

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Nexus warn of risks to future Metro services as a result of fall in revenue

Posted on Wednesday 6 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

Nexus have issued a warning that they are only able to guarantee current service levels on the Tyne and Wear Metro, the Shields ferry and those bus routes they operate until 2021 with the continued challenging financial climate they are experiencing seeing their reserves being depleted. A fall in revenue on the Metro of £1.2 million has been exacerbated by a bill for £300,000 on major unplanned overhead line repairs in May and having to spend £500,000 in overtime so far in 2019 because of staff shortages.

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In Pictures: Volk’s Electric Railway closes the season with three car service

Posted on Tuesday 5 November 2019 by Gareth Prior

For the first time in over 25 years the Volk’s Electric Railway operated a public three car service on Sunday 3rd November, a day which also marked the last day of the regular operating season for the year (although there will be Santa Special trips in the lead up to Christmas). Before the day it was announced that 3rd November would see the very first three car service for a long time and that 7+8, 9 and 10 would all run, subject to availability, but in the event 4 replaced 7+8. To enable a three car service – instead of the usual two car – trains used single line tokens for each section they operated in and saw the rare use of the passing loops along the line instead of the more usual passing at Halfway Station. Tony Sullivan provides us with the following photographic action from the day.

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