In Pictures: Blue continues its West Midlands Metro takeover

Posted on Tuesday 17 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

The end is nigh! The end of the magenta livery on West Midlands Metro that is! There are now only two trams in the full magenta, silver and white livery with a further two Urbos3s having now been spotted in the all over blue livery – 26 (which has run in service) and 22 (which has yet to run in the blue).

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Engineering Car 754

Posted on Tuesday 17 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

We have a lot to be grateful for to various transport undertakings across the country as if they hadn’t converted earlier passenger trams into works cars there may be several types of tram we now enjoy which had been confined to the history books. One such example comes from Blackpool and at the time of the feature of today’s Picture in Time edition was Engineering Car 754.

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In Preview: Crich 60 – Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd September

Posted on Monday 16 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

We finally reach that busy period of major tram events with Crich’s the first to take place over the weekend of Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd September. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the discovery and adopting of the site in Crich as the home of what we now know as the Crich Tramway Village (well, officially anyway) this two day event is due to see 13 passenger trams running each day – including Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40 – plus the Barnsley bus will be in operation both days. As always with events such as this at Crich there will also be photo line-ups which will include Gateshead 5 plus a Leeds (Saturday) and Sheffield (Sunday) line-up.

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In Pictures: Edinburgh Trams from above

Posted on Monday 16 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

It’s not often that we take a look a tram in Edinburgh from above with the opportunities to do so fairly limited but in this short article that is exactly what we do as we see all the various equipment located on the roof of one of the CAF trams operating in the Scottish capital. Roy Calderwood captured the following images.

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Around the World in Trams: Amsterdam 662

Posted on Sunday 15 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

For the next few weeks it will be more a case of “odds and sods” for our worldwide tram picture series as we take a look at trams from various different systems, starting off with a historic image from Amsterdam.

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Standard 143 work continues

Posted on Sunday 15 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

The launch of Blackpool Standard 143 is now a little over a week away and with this in mind the past week has seen some good progress made on the tram’s restoration with it now to be found in the Rigby Road Paint Shop.

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In Pictures: Views around Southend

Posted on Sunday 15 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

We reported earlier in 2019 that the current trains running on the Southend Pier Railway are set to be replaced in the next few years with the Council planning to fund new vehicles to run along the mile long railway on the Pier. But before they go they are still running and in this article we take a look at it operating as well as taking a quick look at the Southend Cliff Lift, a second survivor in the Essex coastal town.We reported earlier in 2019 that the current trains running on the Southend Pier Railway are set to be replaced in the next few years with the Council planning to fund new vehicles to run along the mile long railway on the Pier. But before they go they are still running and in this article we take a look at it operating as well as taking a quick look at the Southend Cliff Lift, a second survivor in the Essex coastal town.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 15 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

There are a trio of Photo Galleries now added to the site:

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Jasper Carrot to have tram named after him on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Saturday 14 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

The West Midlands Combined Authority have confirmed that as part of the opening of the Birmingham Westside extension later this year they will be naming a tram after comedian Jasper Carrot. He will be recognised thanks to charity work over the years and his connection to the city as well as being one of the country’s most popular comedians during the 1970s and 1980s.

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Picture in Time: Docklands Light Railway 06

Posted on Saturday 14 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its another change of scene for our modern tramway/light rail edition of Picture in Time as we move back down to London for the next few weeks and feature different liveries as carried on the Docklands Light Railway over the years.

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Metro proves popular during the Great North Run

Posted on Saturday 14 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

90,000 passengers were carried on the Tyne and Wear Metro on Sunday 8th September as visitors flocked towards the annual Great North Run, over a weekend which also saw international Rugby Union come to St James’ Park and the Tour of Britain take place in a bumper period of sport for the region. This passenger figure was more than seen in 2018 and showed how crucial the Metro is to the public transport offering in the region.

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In Video: New Glory Mine layout at Crich

Posted on Saturday 14 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

We’ve written a lot and shown photos a fair bit of the new layout at Glory Mine but what’s better than both those? Video of course! The new layout now means that trams have a short additional section of track to run onto before the trolley is reversed and they make their way back to the main museum site at Crich whilst the old siding has been disconnected and extra hard standing has been provided to aid the turning of the trolley. Martin Miller paid a recent visit and shot the following video which he has kindly shared with us.

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Bulk of Wolverhampton City Centre extension works to be completed by November

Posted on Friday 13 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

Whilst the track laying of the West Midlands Metro line to Wolverhampton Railway Station (except for the last section to the station which has to wait for other redevelopment work to take place first) has been finished for a number of months there has remained some areas of “finishing works” which have been ongoing with the distinctive Midland Metro Alliance barriers in place along Piper’s Row but now an end is in sight with the news that all works should be completed by November 2019.

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In Pictures: Centenary 647 gets a lick of paint at NELSAM

Posted on Friday 13 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

When we head to the northeast on these pages it is usually Beamish that we feature but this time we head to Sunderland instead for a trip to the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum (NELSAM) which is home to the collection of the North East Electrical Traction Trust (NEETT). The trams in their collection mainly consist of trams disposed of by Blackpool post-2011 and are stored inside a purpose built depot where some work has recently been undertaken on one of the trams. Trevor Hall visited as shown below.

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Fire causes problems for Metrolink

Posted on Friday 13 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

Services on Manchester Metrolink’s Eccles line have been affected by a fire at Ladywell tramstop early on Tuesday 10th September which first saw no trams able to run beyond Weaste and then once the initial fire was sorted nothing was able to call at the stop whilst full repairs were undertaken.

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In Pictures: New advert for Metrolink 3073

Posted on Thursday 12 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

We reported at the start of the week on two adverts now removed from trams in Manchester and now we can bring you news of a new advert with 3073 having recently received vinyls advertising Clarks shoes. This advert is very dark in colour and does once again see the extensive use of contravision on the windows.

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No change for Tyne and Wear Metro performance

Posted on Thursday 12 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

It’s as you were on the Tyne and Wear Metro following the release of the latest performance statistics. This period stretches between 21st July and 17th August with 85% of trains reported as arriving on time during these four weeks – the exact same percentage as the previous period and just one percent higher than the corresponding period in 2018.

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Picture in Time: Sheffield 15

Posted on Thursday 12 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

For the next few weeks we are off to the East Midlands for some more archive images taken at Crich, and we start off with a very early image from the museum.

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In Pictures: Volk’s Electric Railway in operation

Posted on Wednesday 11 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

Riding on open cars during the summer along the seafront – what’s not to like (unless of course its raining!) One of the seaside lines we feature on these pages is the unique Volk’s Electric Railway which runs along the seafront at Brighton between the Palace Pier and Black Rock – and this one really does run along the seafront! In this pictorial we take a look at the trains running on this line at the end of August 2019 when a two train service was running with 9 operating singly and usual pair 7 and 8 also in action. David Maxwell paid a visit.

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In Pictures: Works continues in Wolverhampton

Posted on Wednesday 11 September 2019 by Gareth Prior

It may be 2020 before we see any trams running into Wolverhampton City Centre but it is hoped that the bulk of the work – save for that at the railway station, which awaits the conclusion of the redevelopment there before it can start – will be completed within the next few weeks. Many businesses along Piper’s Row and other areas affected have been vocal in the local press about the disruption the work has caused with the Midland Metro Alliance saying most work is done and it shouldn’t be too long before the barriers are removed and some normality can return.

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