In Pictures: A calmer day at Beamish

Posted on Monday 11 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Beamish and its trams have been in the news over the past couple of weeks with a busy February Half Term followed by the arrival of Box 40 for its loan spell. In this pictorial we take a look at an altogether calmer day on the tramway – Wednesday 27th February – with just the one tram in service to start with. With blue skies in evidence there are still visitors to transport around the museum and on this day Blackpool Marton Box 31 was the sole tram in service – although Newcastle 114 was expected to join it later in the day. Who would have thought that a day in late February would see two open toppers in service and no one complaining! Trevor Hall with the photos.

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Around the World in Trams: Budapest 2039 & 2028

Posted on Sunday 10 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Concluding our look at trams in the Hungarian city of Budapest today we take a look a couple of the more modern trams in the fleet at rest.

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In Pictures: Destination boxes fitted to Manchester 765

Posted on Sunday 10 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

As work continues to fully commission the two visiting trams for service at Beamish a team from the Heaton Park Tramway have visited the northeast with the aim of refitting the destination boxes to Manchester 765 as well as putting the all new replica destination blinds in for the first time.

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In Pictures: Metrolink 3075 goes through The Body Shop

Posted on Sunday 10 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Another vinyl wrap advert has been applied on a tram in Manchester with 3075 now advertising The Body Shop – the first new design for a couple of months. As is the norm with adverts on Metrolink the ends of the tram remain in fleet livery but in this case unusually the skirt of the bodyside is also still in fleet livery (its almost as if whoever ordered the vinyls for the advert ordered the wrong size!). Various products available for sale in The Body Shop are included on the vinyls which do feature extensive use of contravision.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 10 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Photos this week come from Blackpool (and Beamish) as we say farewell (and hello!) to Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40:

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More than 7 million passengers carried on Metro in 2018

Posted on Saturday 9 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

New figures reported in the Wolverhampton Express and Star have shown that the West Midlands Metro system has never been so popular with 7.3 million passenger journeys recorded during 2018 – an increase of one million from 2017. And with extensions currently under construction hopefully this new found record will be shortlived!

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Picture in Time: Croydon Tramlink construction

Posted on Saturday 9 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

A bit of a difference for today’s archive image as we take a look at construction work rather than a tram.

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Blackpool Transport throw open the doors to Starr Gate Depot for Disabled Access Day

Posted on Saturday 9 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

On Saturday 16th March 2019 – Disabled Access Day 2019 – Blackpool Transport will be showing how easily accessible their tram and bus fleet are with a special Accessible Open Day at Starr Gate Tram Depot between 1000 and 1600.

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Second weekend of bridge replacement works extended by a day

Posted on Saturday 9 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Tyne and Wear Metro services between North Shields and Monkseaton will not run on Monday 11th March it has been announced – adding an extra day to the closure with the second bridge due to be replaced this weekend. As you may remember last weekend a two day closure for the first bridge replacement to take place wasn’t enough with services remaining disrupted for much of the Monday so Nexus have decided to review the schedule and pre-empt any further overrun by informing passengers ahead of this weekend of the extending closure.

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More overhead woes on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Friday 8 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Its been a while since we last saw major disruption to West Midlands Metro services due to overhead damage but that was exactly the situation seen for two days this week with no trams able to run between Soho Benson Road and Grand Central from early on the morning of Tuesday 5th March until mid-morning on Thursday 7th March.

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“Faulty” tram causes major disruption to Wimbledon

Posted on Friday 8 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

When is a faulty tram a derailment? When its on London Tramlink it would seem. Thursday 7th March saw approximately 15 hours of disruption for services to Wimbledon with TfL saying at various times that this was down to an electrical supply problem or a faulty tram and although both were true in a way, the actual cause was more that a tram derailed at Wimbledon station.

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Contracts approved for Edinburgh Trams extension

Posted on Friday 8 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

The latest hoop needed to be jumped through ahead of final approval for the Trams to Edinburgh project has been achieved with the Finance and Resources Committee approving the awarding of two contracts – but these contracts will only be formally signed if the full Council approve the plans next week on Thursday 14th March.

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Douglas Prom redevelopment works update

Posted on Thursday 7 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Over the past few months we have been reporting on tramway construction works in Blackpool, Manchester and at both ends of West Midlands Metro but there has also been another project ongoing during the winter, that of the reconstruction of Douglas Promenade which inevitably includes the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway. Work has been ongoing in recent months with good progress made but it still remains unclear as to just what sort of service may be able to operate on the tramway in 2019.

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In Pictures: Branch Line Society tour Tyne & Wear Metro

Posted on Thursday 7 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

The Branch Line Society’s latest tour took place on Sunday 24th February, this time encompassing the Tyne and Wear Metro. The South Gosforth Avoider covered many rarely used sections of track on the network with over seven hours of action for Branch Line Society members.

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Picture in Time: Seaton 17

Posted on Thursday 7 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Rebuilding trams into a different style has been one of things that the Seaton Tramway – and its forerunner in Eastbourne – have regularly done. Another tram which has had a recent built is the former no. 17 which now looks very differently to that pictured in this edition of Picture in Time.

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In Pictures: More road reopenings in Blackpool

Posted on Wednesday 6 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

The bulk of the construction work – or that which can be done anyway – has now been completed along Talbot Road in Blackpool allowing the end of the road closest to Wilkinson’s to be reopened to two way traffic for first time in serval months. Line painting has been taking place and the road surface – albeit now with tram tracks installed – probably hasn’t looked this good for quite some time. It’s just a shame that it won’t be until 2020 at the earliest that trams actually get to use the extension.

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NELSAM reduces opening hours

Posted on Wednesday 6 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

The North East Land Sea and Air Museum – home to the collection of trams in the ownership of North East Electrical Traction Trust, including several Blackpool trams – have announced that for the foreseeable future, and definitely until the end of March, it will only be open Thursdays to Sundays. The reason given for this is staff shortages but it is hoped that it will be able to open seven days a week again in the future with the opening hours being constantly reviewed. It should also be noted that anyone planning a visit is advised to check beforehand whether the shed where the trams are housed is open as it is not always open on days when the museum is. More details on NELSAM can be found on their website.

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In Pictures: Warm and sunny weather in February leads to a busy Winter Gold event

Posted on Wednesday 6 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Around this time last year the UK was being affected by the so-called “Beast from the East” with many areas being subjected to very low temperatures, snow and ice. Fast forward 12 months and we have been enjoying very unseasonable weather with record-breaking temperatures experienced. This spell of good weather managed to coincide with the second Winter Gold event of 2019 on the Blackpool Tramway which led to two Boat Cars being used whilst it was also the last time that Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40 was due to be used on Heritage Tram Tours (ahead of its special farewell tour on Saturday 2nd March).

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In Pictures: Bridge works start on Tyne & Wear Metro – work overruns

Posted on Tuesday 5 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

The first of two weekends of partial closure on the Tyne and Wear Metro for bridge replacement didn’t go quite according to plan with the line remaining closed until late afternoon on Monday 4th March causing inevitable disruption for passengers. The first bridge to be replaced was in Tynemouth and necessitated a closure between Wallsend and Wallsend.

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In Pictures: Box 40 gets ready for service at Beamish

Posted on Tuesday 5 March 2019 by Gareth Prior

Just 24 hours after arriving in the northeast Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40 has ventured out onto the mainline at Beamish for its first test runs ahead of entering service. As we reported last night, 40 left Blackpool and arrived at Beamish on Monday 4th March and with a team from Crich working alongside the resident team at Beamish commissioning was far enough advanced to let the tram lose on the tramway as part of its preparations to join the operational fleet at the museum.

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