Picture in Time: Seaton Tramway 12

Posted on Thursday 18 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

As we move to featuring Seaton in Picture in Time this week we take a look at the most rebuilt tram in the fleet – no. 12.

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In Pictures: Trams terminate at West End-Princes Street

Posted on Wednesday 17 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

There are often complaints in Blackpool when the tram service is split in two when special events take place on the Tower Headland but that by no means the only tramway which sees curtailed services at times during the year. Probably the tramway which sees the most of this type of disruption is Edinburgh Trams with trams from the Airport terminating at West End-Princes Street when various events happen on Princes Street itself. One such occasion was for a few hours during the afternoon of Sunday 14th July as captured in these images from Roy Calderwood.

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In Preview: Manx Heritage Transport Festival – 24th to 28th July

Posted on Wednesday 17 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

The second and biggest transport event of the year on the Isle of Man is just a week away! The Manx Heritage Transport Festival takes place this year between Wednesday 24th and Sunday 28th July with events across the island including the Manx Electric Railway. Last year was definitely the year of the MER with the 125th anniversary of the line being celebrated and again this year it will also take centre stage over the five action packed days with the big highlight for fans of the MER set to be the return to service of three trailers, including 54 which was last used in passenger service in 1971!

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August track replacement in Nottingham

Posted on Wednesday 17 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

For two weeks during August services on Nottingham Express Transit will run to a revised timetable with rail replacement works due to take place on the section between The Forest and High School. No trams will be running from The Forest to Old Market Square between Monday 5th and Sunday 18th August whilst this work takes place.

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In Pictures: A Blue Monday for West Midlands Metro 17

Posted on Tuesday 16 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Ever since Urbos 3 31 was unveiled in the new house style of West Midlands Metro back in July 2018 it has been a case of waiting and wondering when the next tram may receive the full vinyls. There have been advertising liveries where a little bit of blue has been included in the intervening period but no full blue livery – until now that is! The next tram chosen is 17 with this tram debuting in its new look on Monday 15th July 2019.

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In Pictures: Sheffield 15 and Joseph star in the sun at Crich

Posted on Tuesday 16 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Mix a warm and sunny day with Joseph the horse and Sheffield 15 in operation at Crich and what do you have? A healthy number of visitors to the Crich Tramway Village that’s what! Monday 15th July saw the latest Horse Tram Day at Crich with Joseph hauling 15 between Stephenson Place and the Depot Crossover for four hours either side of lunch alongside a standard three electric tram service, which thanks to the good mid-July weather saw open toppers Blackpool 236 and London County Council 106 run with Blackpool 762 also in action.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Boats 605 & 604

Posted on Tuesday 16 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

For the next few weeks we are going to be featuring images from Blackpool in 2007 and we start off with a view of two of the always popular Boat Cars – neither of which are currently in service in two very different locations.

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Coming soon: Approved extensions across the British Isles

Posted on Monday 15 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Can’t keep up with which extensions have been approved and either about to start or have started construction or are just ideas and may happen in the future? Well, if you are worry no more as if here is you one stop overview of all approved extensions across the British Isles. We’re not including those places where there is just a renewal of existing lines (i.e. Douglas Bay Horse Tramway) but will look at all tramways whether traditional or modern and their planned extensions.

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In Pictures: 1950s weekend at Beamish

Posted on Monday 15 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th July saw Beamish head back to the 1950s (or is that forward to the 1950s?!) for another weekend event. As always the trams provided a vital transport link around the museum site with the Saturday of the event seeing four trams allocated to service all running in a clockwise direction. The four trams were Blackpool 31, Blackpool 40, Newcastle 114 and Sheffield 264. Leo Dembry has provided us with the following photos.

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In Pictures: It never rains but it pours in Sheffield!

Posted on Monday 15 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

We head back until Sunday 2nd December 2018 for this small pictorial article as heavy rain in Sheffield lead to trams having to plough through surface water as they continued running the normal service without much complaint. In this update Nigel Pennick was in the Hillsborough area of the city – where both Blue and Yellow route service runs – and captured these images of the original trams constructed by Siemens-Duewag in the early 1990s.

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Around the World in Trams: Krakow 3042

Posted on Sunday 14 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Poland is the location for our worldwide tram series for the next few weeks as we head to the southern city of Krakow.

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Call made for memorial to Burton tram tragedy

Posted on Sunday 14 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

During the peak years of first generation tramways in the UK there were a number of accidents which saw people tragically lose their lives and now a call has made for one of these to be commemorated as the centenary of the incident approaches. On 8th October 1919 Burton & Ashby 19 lost traction on the track which caused the tram to head back down a hill and then derail and overturn. Two people tragically lost their lives, including the conductress on the tram, Lillian Parker and one passenger.

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Happy 10th birthday to the M5000!

Posted on Sunday 14 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

13th July 2009 saw the delivery of the first of a new class of trams for Manchester Metrolink with Bombardier built M5000 3001 arriving at Queen’s Road Depot. At this time the M5000s were only been ordered to add to the T68 fleet but this decision was soon changed and they were to become the sole type of tram to operate on the network with 120 examples now in service in the city (and another 27 now on order).

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 14 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

This week’s pair of Photo Galleries both come from traditional tramways in the UK:

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Luas Green line hit by overhead line problems

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Overhead wires – great when they work and power trams across the British Isles but as soon as there is an issue with them that’s when things start to go awry to the service. The latest place to suffer a major problem with its overhead has been the Luas network in Dublin with the Green line severely affected on Saturday 13th July after an issue was detected when trams returned to depot after the previous day’s service.

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Picture in Time: Midland Metro 10

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

This week our modern archive image comes from Midland Metro showing one of the original T69 trams in its second livery style.

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Performance goes up on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

Some good news to report from the Tyne and Wear Metro where the last four week performance period has seen an increase in train punctuality – both in comparison to the previous period and also the same time in 2018. The magic number this time is 87%.

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In Pictures: Birmingham Westside extension

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

It will be the next tram extension to open in the UK and should be open within the next six months (opening still remains promised for late 2018). We are, of course, talking about the Birmingham Westside extension of West Midlands Metro which will see trams running from the current Grand Central terminus through Victoria Square to Centenary Square as phase one of this line (by 2021 trams will head to Hagley Road, Edgbaston). The line will also be the first UK tram line to be built without overhead wires allowing the CAF Urbos 3 trams to operate under battery power. This pictorial update shows the scene of the line in early July.

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In Pictures: A Tramtastic day at Heaton Park

Posted on Friday 12 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

On Sunday 7th July the Heaton Park Tramway has their big tram only event for the year with Tramtastic 2019 taking place, with all trams on site playing some part in the day’s goings on. The day saw the return to service at Heaton Park of Manchester 765 after its eventful trip from Beamish a few days earlier whilst one of the other highlights was a five tram parade including the three service cars plus Blackpool 619 and Stockport 5, both of which are currently undergoing workshop attention.

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Work begins on temporary Metro depot in North Tyneside

Posted on Friday 12 July 2019 by Gareth Prior

The Tyne and Wear Metro will soon have a second depot with work now having started on the construction of a temporary depot at Howden in North Tyneside. This depot is due to be ready for use by summer 2020 and is required to provide accommodation to trains whilst the current depot at Gosforth is rebuilt ahead of the delivery of the new trains.

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