In Pictures: Llandudno & Colwyn Bay 7 heads out to meet Father Christmas

Posted on Thursday 6 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The latest public outing of Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway 7 took place on Saturday 1st December when it took part in the annual Llandudno Father Christmas Parade – including a full load of young Carnival Queens in the lower saloon!

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September Review – Blackpool: No. 3 – Standard 147

Posted on Thursday 6 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

Back in service during 2018 after workshop attention, Standard 147 has been looking resplendent throughout the season and that was no different over the September events weekend.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 6 – The end of the MER Cavalcade

Posted on Thursday 6 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

And the mass Cavalcade comes to a conclusion in this article as we head through Crossbench Cars, the Winter Saloon before ending with another Crossbench!

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No strikes in Edinburgh after deal reached

Posted on Wednesday 5 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

There will be relief in Edinburgh following the news that the proposed strikes on the tram system – which hadn’t actually seen the official announcement of any specific dates – will not now go ahead after significant progress was made by union officials and Edinburgh Trams. The strikes had been due to take place in the run-up to Christmas and over the Hogmanay period and were set to be called over claims of bullying and harassment by management.

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September Review – Crich: No. 3 – Chesterfield 7

Posted on Wednesday 5 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

A regular member of the operational fleet at Crich – and the most local of the operational trams for that matter – is Chesterfield 7 and that is the latest subject of our Crich September retrospective.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 5 – Manx Electric Railway Cavalcade continues

Posted on Wednesday 5 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

With so many trams involved in the Cavalcade there are more photos than can fit in one edition of this retrospective – and we’re not featuring everything either! – so here we see the continuation of the Parade.

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In Pictures: 276 gets a Christmas and Hogmanay advert as it stars on the Gyle Santa Express

Posted on Tuesday 4 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

As we reported last week for the first time ever Santa Claus visited Edinburgh Trams with three Gyle Santa Express trips running on Monday 3rd December. Good passenger numbers were spotted on board the tram during these trips with 276 also sporting a red nose, antlers and a driver in Santa hat! Roy Calderwood captured these images.

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In Pictures: More work on Talbot Road – and old will meet new soon!

Posted on Tuesday 4 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

Construction work is continuing on the extension of the Blackpool Tramway along Talbot Road to Blackpool North Station with it increasingly looking like the Council’s “everything’s on target” statement being slightly misleading. Work on putting track in place along Talbot Road is ongoing and it has now been announced that work will get underway to connect the tracks to the current tramway at Talbot Square.

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September Review – Blackpool: No. 2 – Blundell Street line-ups

Posted on Tuesday 4 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

On both days of the Blackpool event stored trams were put on display on Blundell Street along the Fitting Shop wall giving the public a rare chance to see some of the trams which aren’t currently plying their trade along Blackpool Prom. Five different trams were displayed on the two days and we feature four of those below.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 4 – Manx Electric Railway Cavalcade starts

Posted on Tuesday 4 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

For many the highlight of the events week was the MER Cavalcade which saw 14 motors, 12 passenger trailers, 2 vans, 2 wagons and 1 tower wagon parade through Laxey Station on Friday 7th September – the exact anniversary of the opening of the MER. In this first of three looks at the Cavalcade we see the early stages of the parade.

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In Pictures: Bradley Lane Park and Ride under construction

Posted on Monday 3 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

A new Park and Ride site is currently being constructed on the West Midlands Metro adjacent to the stop at Bradley Lane and in this pictorial update we show the current progress on the work which is due to be completed by summer 2019. Work started back in October and phase one is seeing attention to the historic mines and shafts that are situated underneath the new car park (which is being built on a former playing field). Once this is completed full construction will start on a 196 space car park plus cycle shelters, CCTV, lighting and help points. Andy Walters with the images.

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September Review – Crich: No. 2 – Works Cars

Posted on Monday 3 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

One of the normal highlights of enthusiasts events at Crich is the operation of works cars and 2018 was no different. As well as demonstration runs there was the rare sight of the Manchester Horse Drawn Tower Wagon in the open for photos. In this article we see three of the works vehicles in the collection.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 3 – Groudle Shuttles

Posted on Monday 3 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

When the Manx Electric Railway opened in 1893 it only ran between Derby Castle and Groudle and to commemorate this on Wednesday 5th September 2018 special Groudle shuttles ran between the two utilising the two remaining original motors – 1 and 2 (with a few appearances of long-lost no. 3!)

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Approval given for temporary Metro depot

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

A new – and temporary – depot is to be built for the Tyne and Wear Metro whilst the current depot at South Gosforth is rebuilt. The new depot will be at Howdon and will be used for overnight maintenance of up to the trains as well as playing a key role in the phased delivery of the new Metro fleet, which are scheduled to start arriving at the end of 2021.

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September Review – Blackpool: No. 1 – Balloon 715

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The Blackpool September/Anniversary Spectacular took place over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd September with the event again featuring a regular heritage tram service – including specials – trams on display down at Rigby Road Depot, behind the scenes tours and free bus tours around the local area. In the first of our retrospective on the weekend we feature Balloon Car 715.

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Punctuality down in latest Metrolink performance stats

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The upward trend of Manchester Metrolink punctuality over the past few periods has been reversed with a full percentage point decrease in the latest stats released for the period between 16th September and 13th October. A still creditable 90.4% of all trams departed less than two minutes late in this period – down from 91.4% in the August-September period. Reliability remained at the same level for the second period in a row.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 2 – The Flying Horse Tram!

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

With Douglas Bay Horse Tramway 1 being used at Laxey Station for the MER 125th Anniversary party on 2nd September it had to be transported by lorry to and from the event. In the below photos we see it being returned to Strathallan Depot on 5th September when it became a flying tram!

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Tram of the Year 2018 – let voting commence!

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

Its been a difficult selection process this year but we now have four shortlists and voting for the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2018 is now open! There are 12 nominations across the four categories for you to select in voting. Huge thanks to everyone who made nominations and it is now time to make your final selection!

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

We head north of the border for this week’s photographic offering:

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Edinburgh Trams Ltd set to take on full maintenance of network

Posted on Saturday 1 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The City of Edinburgh Council are set to agree a change in maintenance arrangements for the Edinburgh Trams network which will see Edinburgh Trams Ltd take on all maintenance of the trams and infrastructure – a long planned change. Currently this is the responsibility of the Council with Edinburgh Trams Ltd only responsible for operating the service but, if agreed by the Transport and Environment Committee, this arrangement will change going forward.

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