Picture in Time: Nottingham Express Transit 211

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

We go back a little over 11 years in this instalment of Picture in Time with an image taken on Nottingham Express Transit.

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In Pictures: Trampower City Class Tram

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

Up until now the only noticeable progress that Trampower seem to have made is the construction of a prototype tram – the City Class tram. First seen in Birkenhead and then in Blackpool (where it suffered a fire in January 2007) this tram has been out of the public eye for a number of years being stored in a number of locations with its current home being a boat yard close to the Ribble Steam Railway in Preston. Kevin James provides us with these photos of its current condition.

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Tram suspension after hotel fire

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

Evening services on the Blackpool Tramway between North Pier and Cabin were suspended during the evening of Wednesday 10th January following a fire in a closed hotel close to the stop at Wilton Parade. The fire was first reported at 2030 in the former Ambassador Hotel with no trams able to run in service along this section of track until the end of service; replacement buses were put in place but they were unable to serve both Wilton Parade and Pleasant Street.

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Major disruption for Nottingham Express Transit

Posted on Friday 12 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

A major fire at Nottingham Railway Station helped to contribute to a bad day for services on Nottingham Express Transit, and this time around there could be no blame attached to NET. Both the Chilwell and Beeston lines didn’t see any trams at all until 1400 on Friday 12th January with the stop at Nottingham Railway Station remaining closed all day along with the station itself. But this was not the only incident which caused disruption as the day had started with a Police cordon on Waverley Street even before trams could get through the city centre.

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Lune Tube visit Blackpool

Posted on Friday 12 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

Last week we featured a video showing a Bradford tram body at Sunderland Point and as a follow up Lune Tube – who normally feature videos from North Lancashire – have been to Blackpool to find out more about the heritage trams there and whether the Bradford tram body is a one off. Interviewing Bryan Lindop the video finds out more about the trams in Blackpool and can be viewed at http://lunetube.co.uk/2018/01/09/heritage-trams-in-north-lancashire.

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In Pictures: Winter work on Blackpool Vanguard 619

Posted on Friday 12 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Since its arrival at Heaton Park in June 2010, Blackpool Replica Vanguard 619 has been an extremely useful and popular member of the Manchester tramway’s fleet. However, a period of outside storage (although with its open sides boarded up for protection) followed by a return to frequent use has sadly left it looking rather shabby – but now this is being corrected with various jobs being carried out over winter to restore it to a much smarter appearance.

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Standard 147 in the works

Posted on Friday 12 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Since its return to Blackpool almost a year ago after a highly successful and popular loan period at Beamish Museum, not much has been seen or heard of Standard car 147. On its return it was decided to carry out some extensive cosmetic work on the tram, including its first total repaint for twelve years to restore it to an immaculate appearance – as befits one of the flagships of the heritage tram fleet!

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Planning application made for Douglas Promenade

Posted on Thursday 11 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

Another of those long-running sagas is that of the redevelopment of Douglas Promenade, which remains of interest to tram enthusiasts as it affects the future of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway. As reported in depth previously on these pages the latest plans will see a double track tramway retained between Derby Castle and just north of the Broadway junction before it changes to single track through to the Sea Terminal. After months of discussion the official plans have now been submitted by the Department of Infrastructure with a view to starting work in September.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Centenary 646

Posted on Thursday 11 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of Picture in Time we are back in Blackpool – or Fleetwood if you want to be completely precise – with an image of one of the much maligned, but vital, Centenary Cars.

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Trams to be restored for Fleetwood dockyard tramway scheme?

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust has recently announced ambitious plans to carry out major restoration work on some of its collection of ex-Blackpool trams, for operation on a brand new line at Fleetwood. This is part of a radical new scheme known as ‘Fleetwood Quays’, intended to rejuvanate the docks with a working tramway earmarked for construction to transport visitors around the site.

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A busy year for Beamish

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

The tramway at Beamish enjoyed a very busy 2017 with 27,550 miles covered – a figure made all the more impressive by the fact that only five trams were operational at some point in the year, including Blackpool 147 which returned home in early March. The figures have been revealed on Beamish Transport Online which also reveal that since they started to keep records in 2002 trams have covered 331,775 miles!

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Call to retain Summer Hill Stables in tramway ownership

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

It is another saga which seems as if it will never end, the future of the historic Summer Hill Stables which have been the home of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway trammers for over 140 years. Ever since Douglas Borough Council relinquished control of the Horse Tramway the future of the stables have been up in the air and it appeared at the end of 2017 that it was all over with news that Isle of Man Transport would be unable to use them in 2018 and that a new structure would be needed at the Derby Castle terminus. But now the Friends of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway are urging a rethink with a call to retain the stables in tramway ownership with a recognition of their historic nature.

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Contractor appointed to construct Preston’s Guild Line

Posted on Tuesday 9 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

Are trams going to run in Preston again? The on-off saga of the Guild Line has taken another turn for the better with the news that Preston Trampower Ltd have appointed Eric Wright Civil Engineering to construct the line. A sod cutting ceremony took place on Tuesday 9th January at the same time as the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties ahead of full construction of the demonstration line.

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Picture in Time: Great Orme Tramway 4 & 5

Posted on Tuesday 9 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

We head off to North Wales for this edition of our archive photo series with a view on the Great Orme Tramway of the two trams which have operated the lower section service ever since opening in 1902.

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Crich depot re-roofed

Posted on Monday 8 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The project to improve the main tram depots at Crich Tramway Village is coming along very nicely indeed, with the new roof now in place over the entire complex comprising Depots 2, 3 & 4. This work was actually completed in time for Christmas, at which point the contractors took a short break – but work has now resumed with even more significant progress being achieved already this year.

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‘Winter Gold’ heritage service extends to Starr Gate

Posted on Monday 8 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

In a welcome development, Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours have announced that their first two ‘Gold’ operating weekends of 2018 will feature a heritage tram service along New South Promenade. From 1020 until 1620 on each day, there will be a heritage tram departing from a special temporary stop located at Starr Gate – meaning that there will be ample opportunities to ride on a traditional Blackpool tram over the whole system in the middle of winter.

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In Pictures: Manchester Metrolink T68s in store

Posted on Monday 8 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

It will be four years since the last T68s ran in service on Manchester Metrolink in 2018 but despite that period there are still four (including one T68A) which are stored at Trafford Depot. Shortly before Christmas Kevin James went down to Trafford Depot and has provided us with the following photos showing the trams continued storage.

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Petition launched to support Blackpool Tramway extension to Poulton

Posted on Sunday 7 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

Could another extension of the Blackpool Tramway follow that due to open in 2019 to Blackpool North Station? It could if a petition recently launched has its way with a plea to commission a study into extending the tramway from Fleetwood to Poulton using the disused railway line.

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Increase in passengers for Luas

Posted on Sunday 7 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

2017 has seen another increase in passengers for Dublin’s Luas network with 37.6 million passenger journeys recorded over the 12 months. This was an increase of 10.26% of figures from 2016.

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Picture in Time: Midland Metro 01

Posted on Saturday 6 January 2018 by Gareth Prior

We travel back in time to the year 2000 for this edition of Picture in Time with the Midland Metro system the focus of our attention.

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