In Pictures: Progress on Wolverhampton City Centre extension

Posted on Wednesday 27 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

West Midlands Metro will be a much bigger network in the future with work on extending the line at both ends currently underway ahead of further work to build a line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill. In this pictorial update we take a look at recent progress on work to bring the line into the centre of Wolverhampton. Ken Jones with the pictures.

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Balloons everywhere at Totally Models

Posted on Tuesday 26 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

The second annual Totally Models event took place in Blackpool over the weekend of 23rd and 24th June and the Balloon Car was the star of the show – especially on the Sunday of the event – and not only with those trams in service on the Prom! The weekend also saw the chance to see behind the scenes at Rigby Road with depot tours provided alongside the model exhibition.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 1 Comment

In Pictures: Supertram rail replacement works move on

Posted on Tuesday 26 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

Area 2 of the 2018 rail replacement works on Stagecoach Supertram have now commenced with no trams running between Birley Lane and Halfway until 8th August. The first stage of these works are taking place at Hackenthorpe with the road crossing approaching the stop and a short section after the stop now having already completed. Work has now moved on to Donetsk Way inbound from the stop to a point where it becomes private right of way at the bottom. Stuart Cooke provides us with the photos of progress so far.

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Picture in Time: Midland Metro 14

Posted on Tuesday 26 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

In this instalment of Picture in Time we take a look at Midland Metro with one of the original T69s in service.

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Low key launch for West Midlands Metro

Posted on Monday 25 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

The new era for Midland Metro is here although from the outside there is currently no major change with all trams still running in the Network West Midlands Silver and Magenta livery as carried since the Urbos3 trams entered service. Branding has been updated at the stops and staff have new uniforms but for many passengers they probably aren’t even aware they are now travelling on West Midlands Metro!

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In Pictures: Adverts galore in Manchester!

Posted on Monday 25 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

At the end of last week we reported on how a new deal would see four tram covered in vinyl wraps for Vodafone on Manchester Metrolink but that isn’t all as a new advert has also been revealed for Heart FM. All five new adverts (only three of the Vodafone trams have been spotted so far but the deal is for four) are red based and feature full contravision on passenger windows.

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In Pictures: A Bank Holiday at Carlton Colville

Posted on Sunday 24 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

We previously featured views of Sheffield 513 operating all the way through to the extremity of the tram line at the East Anglia Transport Museum on Sunday 27th May and in this pictorial we show some more photos from the camera of Bryan Grint from a sunny Bank Holiday weekend.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Centenary 645

Posted on Saturday 23 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

Blackpool is again the location for our next instalment of Picture in Time as we go back to the year 2000 for a view of one of the many all over adverts carried on a Centenary Car.

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A new home for the Blackpool Tram Shop

Posted on Saturday 23 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

At the end of 2017 the Blackpool Tram Shop at North Pier – a regular haunt we would imagine for many readers of this website – closed its doors for the final time with the promise of a much bigger shop where they would be able to showcase many more of the products also sold through the Videoscene website. It may have taken longer than anticipated but it has been announced the new shop will open on Saturday 14th July – although you will need to get your walking boots on if you want to visit it without a car of your own.

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Manx Electric Railway 125th anniversary events announced

Posted on Friday 22 June 2018 by Andrew Waddington

For some time, it has been known that there would be a big event taking place on the Isle of Man to celebrate 125 years of the Manx Electric Railway. Full details of what is planned are now available, with extensive information of all the events happening on the MER, with a few extra events involving the other trams on the island, between 1st and 8th September – and it looks set to be spectacular!

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Summer Hill stables are put on protected register

Posted on Friday 22 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

The future of Douglas’s historic Summer Hill stables is now fully secure with the new that the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture have agreed to put the building onto the protected register; the Isle of Man’s equivalent of listed building status. The continued use of the stables for their original purpose had been confirmed earlier this year when the Department of Infrastructure completed their purchase from Douglas Borough Council but this latest news is the icing on the cake for the future with any threats to the structure hopefully now extinguished.

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Crich spend Lottery money on paint, a door and more

Posted on Friday 22 June 2018 by Andrew Waddington

As announced recently, Crich Tramway Village have received an £84,800 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable a project dubbed ‘Exploring the historic landscape of Crich Tramway Village’ to go ahead. The first phase of work is now underway at Wakebridge, which is focussing on the old lead mining display and the worm toilet (sometimes its best not to ask!).

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Supertram staff set to strike over pay offer

Posted on Friday 22 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

Drivers and conductors on Stagecoach Supertram have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over the pay rise offered to them for the next two years. More than 9 in 10 of those from the Unite union who voted were in favour of the action and now both sides are to sit down together again to try and avert the obvious disruption this will cause to travellers on the network.

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Four M5000s to receive adverts for Vodafone

Posted on Thursday 21 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

The number of vinyl wraps on Manchester Metrolink is set to reach an all time high with the news that four M5000s are to receive “Vodafone makeovers” as part of the phone company’s appointment as Metrolink’s official Wi-Fi partner.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Thursday 21 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

An early update for you this week but we still bring you a couple new Photo Galleries:

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Around the World in Trams: Frieburg-im-Bresgau 279

Posted on Thursday 21 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

Germany is once again the location for this edition of Around the World in Trams with the system in Frieburg-im-Bresgau the focus of our attention.

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Consultation and workshops help to shape Newhaven extension

Posted on Wednesday 20 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

Back in March and April a consultation exercise took place as part of the project to extended the Edinburgh Trams line from York Place to Newhaven via Leith Walk. A number of themes came out of this consultation and now as the project team continues to include interested parties a series of workshops are being held to further refine the plans before a final decision is made on whether to press ahead with the planned extension – likely this autumn.

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In Preview: Totally Models – Blackpool

Posted on Wednesday 20 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

The latest special event – Totally Models – takes place in Blackpool on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June with the usual gold heritage tram timetable augmented by stalls and layouts at Rigby Road Depot along with the chance to see behind the scenes at the depot and heritage buses in use as well.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Event Previews | 2 Comments

Record breaking TT period on the Isle of Man

Posted on Tuesday 19 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway have all enjoyed record breaking TT periods with more passengers carried combining with the steam railway and Bus Vannin for a 14% increase compared to 2017.

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New fares for a new era in the West Midlands

Posted on Tuesday 19 June 2018 by Gareth Prior

From Sunday 24th June Midland Metro will be no more with the newly named West Midlands Metro coming into being as part of the new in-house operating contract for Transport for West Midlands. As well as an all new brand – the first details of which can be summised from the first publicity released – there will also be a new fares structure, including Metro only day tickets bringing the travel of a day exclusively on the trams down.

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