Metrolink punctuality goes up then down

Posted on Friday 11 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

We’re a little bit behind reporting on Manchester Metrolink’s performance statistics with the latest two reports now out with these two periods covering the time between 14th October and 8th December. In these periods there was a slight improvement in period 7 before period 8 saw another decrease in punctuality with fewer than 90% of journeys departing less than two minutes late. Meanwhile, reliability remains at a fairly consistent level and is now at its highest level for many months.

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Regular behind the scenes tours at Seaton’s Riverside Depot in 2019

Posted on Thursday 10 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

A new innovation for 2019 at the Seaton Tramway will the chance to see behind the scenes at Riverside Depot with regular tours taking place throughout the year, including a tram ride between Seaton and the depot. As it may be recalled when the new Seaton terminus was being constructed, and with tram rides starting from Riverside, there was the chance to see inside the depot for the first time outside of the now defunct annual galas and now this will once again be possible thanks to this new offering.

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RAIB get involved over lorry/car v tram-train incidents

Posted on Thursday 10 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Although initially saying that there were no lessons to be learnt following the collision between a lorry and a tram-train on the opening day of services to Rotherham Parkgate back in October the RAIB have now written to Sheffield City Council regarding the junction after the second similar collision occurred at the end of November 2018.

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Picture in Time: Gateshead 5

Posted on Thursday 10 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

A tram which last ran in passenger service at Crich in 2007 is Gateshead 5 and it is that tram which we feature in our archive photo series today with a black and white image.

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In Pictures: Tracklaying continues in Blackpool

Posted on Wednesday 9 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Although the bulk of trackwork on the junction between the Promenade tramway and the new line up Talbot Road to Blackpool North Railway Station was completed in December during a partial closure of the tramway there remains some work to be completed along with other work along Talbot Road. It is expected that the trackwork will be completed during February although with the Wilkinson’s building still very much in situ there will still need to more tracklaying in the future once this has finally been demolished. Tony Stevenson has provided us with these latest images.

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Reduced Tram-Train service on Sundays

Posted on Wednesday 9 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Tram-Train services between Cathedral and Rotherham Parkgate will run to a reduced timetable for four consecutive Sundays from 13th January to allow for Network Rail engineering works. For most of the day only two services an hour will run (instead of the usual three) although there is no intermediate service between 0939 and 1039 from Cathedral. First tram remains at 0827 from Cathedral and 0859 from Rotherham Parkgate with the final through Cathedral-Parkgate service at 1800 (1831 back). This revised service will run on Sundays 13th, 20th, 27th January and 3rd February only.

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In Pictures: Short running at Beamish

Posted on Tuesday 8 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Trams at Beamish are currently not operating the full circuit of the tramway with sleeper replacement work underway between Pockerley and the Town. This means that trams are having to turn at each end of the tramway with passengers being required to disembark whilst the trams pull forward to undertake the reversing manoeuvre which includes the more unusual sight at Beamish of trolleys having to be reversed out on the main tramway regularly throughout the day.

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2018 sees record passenger numbers on Luas

Posted on Tuesday 8 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

As would be expected considering it was the first full year of the Cross City Green line extension, 2018 saw a record breaking year for passenger numbers on Luas with nearly 42 million passengers carried on the network.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Tramway from the Tower bridge

Posted on Tuesday 8 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

The only bridge to have gone over the Promenade tramway in Blackpool was that close to the Tower which, although considered an eyesore for many, gave some different photographic opportunities of the tram. As we return to our archive photo series it is that very bridge that we feature with a couple of images taken in 1975 with both Balloon Cars and OMO Cars running on the tramway.

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Another big increase in passenger numbers for Edinburgh Trams

Posted on Monday 7 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

2018 was another record-breaking year for Edinburgh Trams with a 10% increase in passengers bringing the total number carried during those 12 months to 7.3 million. With no extension opening during the year this is an excellent increase for the line and has been achieved by the continued higher frequency service.

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Full service resumes on Tramlink

Posted on Monday 7 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

London Tramlink services are once again running between Church Street and Mitcham Junction following the major fire at the storage warehouse adjacent to the tracks on New Year’s Eve. Fire crews and demolition experts were still on site over the weekend making the site (which was between the Ampere Way and Waddon Marsh tramstops) safe and once this was completed a normal service resumed throughout the tram network from the evening of Sunday 6th January. A full service was also able to run on Monday 7th January.

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Work to take place on West Midlands Metro overhead

Posted on Sunday 6 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Over the past year (and earlier) we have often reported on overhead line faults on West Midlands Metro, causing major disruption to the service. But now major work is to be undertaken on upgrading the overhead in an effort to improve the reliability which will hopefully mean the major disruption seen at several times in 2018 will be a thing of the past.

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In Pictures: Trafford Park extension works continue

Posted on Sunday 6 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Work remains ongoing on the Manchester Metrolink Trafford Park extension with track now in place in several locations along the 5.5km line which will leave the current Eccles branch shortly after Pomona. Six new stops will be constructed on the line which is expected to start operation in 2020 with a new service to be introduced from Trafford Centre to Crumpsall. These latest photos show recent progress as at 4th January 2019 with thanks to Keith Chadbourne.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 6 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

With our first main site update of 2019 we move the Advent Calendar photos into the Gallery section, for those of you who may have missed this feature in the lead up to Christmas:

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In Pictures: Wolverhampton City Centre extension works

Posted on Saturday 5 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

We gave a quick look at the end of last year at recent progress on the construction work to extend West Midlands Metro at the Birmingham end of the current line and now in this pictorial update we take a look at recent progress at the Wolverhampton line. With track now in place between the points on the current line just before St George’s to a point just short of Wolverhampton Railway Station tarmac has also been put in place. With no overhead due to be installed for this line – trams will run under battery power – other major work for this extension will be tram platforms and the section just outside the railway station; this latter work won’t follow until later once other works at the station are completed. As a result of this required work trams aren’t due to start running until 2020. Andy Walters provides us with the latest images.

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Sheffield 264 leads the way at Beamish

Posted on Saturday 5 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

The hardest working heritage trams in the UK are without a doubt those which operate at Beamish with the trams an integral part of the museum taking visitors around the site throughout the year. 2018 was another busy year as shown in the latest mileage figures released on Beamish Transport Online with five trams running at some point in the year with just over 25,000 miles run – a figure slightly down on 2017’s 27,550 as a result of various trams being unavailable at times during the year.

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Original Liverpool tram poles coming down

Posted on Friday 4 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Some 61 years after the last trams ran in Liverpool it seems that the amount of remnants of trams in the city is set to decrease in early 2019 with the last of the original tram overhead support poles now being removed on the final two roads in the city to still have them.

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Huge fire causes massive disruption for Tramlink

Posted on Friday 4 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

It has been a start to the new year to forget for London Tramlink with a large fire in a storage warehouse adjacent to the tram tracks causing major disruption to the service. The proximity of the building to the tracks has meant that the Tramlink service has been severely disrupted since it started at approximately 1945 on New Year’s Eve with disruption now confirmed to be continuing throughout the weekend whilst the remains of the building are made safe.

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Independent survey gives thumbs up to Luas Cross City extension

Posted on Thursday 3 January 2019 by Gareth Prior

Having now being operational for a little over a year a recent independent survey has shown that the extension of the Luas green line – via the new Cross City line – is popular with those using it with a 97% overall satisfaction level recorded. Other key findings in the research has shown that 59% of those using the line were new users of Luas.

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Christmas Boating at Blackpool – The Sequel!

Posted on Thursday 3 January 2019 by Andrew Waddington

The last opportunity to take a ride on a heritage tram in Blackpool during 2018 was provided by the Fylde Tramway Society’s annual Christmas tour, which took place on Saturday 29th December. This was advertised as featuring recently repainted Centenary car 642 alongside Railcoach 680, although on the day the former suffered a fault before the tour even started and had to be replaced by its sister 648. However, publicity for the tour had also mentioned an extra surprise which for many people stole the show – Open Boat 227!

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