British Trams Online at 15 – Events: Opening of the upgraded Blackpool Tramway

Posted on Tuesday 26 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Wednesday 4th April 2012 was a key milestone for the Blackpool Tramway as that was the day that the upgraded tramway, complete with platforms and modern low floor trams, opened to the public after several years of construction and disruption.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Zurich 1666 & 1667

Posted on Monday 25 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Merry Christmas! It may be Christmas Day but that doesn’t mean the updates stop as we continue our around the world trip with a visit to Zurich.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Loan Trams: Liverpool 762

Posted on Sunday 24 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

We take a look today at a very popular tram loan, that of Liverpool 762 from Birkenhead to Blackpool in 2010.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Events: Beamish Tramway 40th Anniversary

Posted on Sunday 24 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Its another anniversary which we feature today, this time we head north east to Beamish at a time when the museum tramway was celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2013.

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Posted on Saturday 23 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The presents are wrapped and everyone is getting excited – it must almost be Christmas! The last windows of the Advent Calendar have now been added to the website and our last main site update of 2017 is now available with a few fleet list updates for you. It just leaves us to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, let’s hope 2018 is full of even more tram action! British Trams Online will now be taking our traditional break until early in the new year although this year will be slightly different as we will be continuing our three special 15th Anniversary series on this page every day until New Year’s Eve with Around the World in 18 Trams, 15 Events for 15 Years and Tram Loans set to be published throughout this period. You can still leave comments but please note they are unlikely to be published until early in the new year.

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In Pictures: Edinburgh Trams from above

Posted on Saturday 23 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Some unusual shots of Edinburgh Trams taken from the 7th floor of the Mercure Hotel in Princes Street. Photos by Stuart Cooke.

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In Pictures: A new name for Arena

Posted on Saturday 23 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The stop on Stagecoach Supertram’s Yellow route to Meadowhall at Arena has had a name change in recent weeks. Gone is the Don Valley Stadium part of the name with this now replaced by Olympic Legacy Park so the full official name of this stop is Arena / Olympic Legacy Park. The Don Valley Stadium was demolished in 2013/14 and has been replaced by the Olympic Legacy Park which will be home to the Sheffield Eagles rugby team.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Geneva 1801

Posted on Saturday 23 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Into Switzerland as we continue our world tour of trams with a visit to the system in Geneva. This line originally opened in 1862 and has had mixed fortunes over the years with it being reduced to just the one line by 1960, however, the last 20 years has seen more lines open once again. It is a metre gauge system.

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Christmas and New Year services 2017/18

Posted on Saturday 23 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Once again we bring you an one-stop guide to all services being operated on the tram and light rail networks in the British Isles over the Christmas and New Year period 2017-18. There are no big changes in the services being offered with Blackpool still not seeing it necessary to offer services on Boxing Day or New Years Day whilst others provide an extensive service throughout the period. So if you want some tram action over the Christmas period take a look below to see where you can go!

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British Trams Online at 15 – Loan Trams: Blackpool Brush 623

Posted on Saturday 23 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The second Blackpool Brush Railcoach to have enjoyed an operating loan during the past 15 years is 623, and just like 630 this is also a current loan with it remaining in Blackpool.

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A bus to join the National Tramway Museum collection?

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

It appears that the Tramway Museum Society is set to diversify its collection at Crich Tramway Village, home of the National Tramway Museum – with plans now afoot for the first ever bus to join the permanent vehicle fleet! No, this isn’t a ridiculously early April Fool joke, and in fact it may make a lot more sense than it initially appears…

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St Peter’s Square sees another slow speed collision

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Two trams have had a low speed collision at St Peter’s Square, with the incident coming six weeks to the day since a similar incident at the same location albeit on a different platform. The two trams came together on the 2CC platform heading out of the city with 3094 and 3113 the trams involved.

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First details announced for Heaton Park Tramway 2018 events

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

As one end starts to come to an end it is normally time to start looking ahead to the next and the latest tramway to announce their first event plans for 2018 is the Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Tallinn 70

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Today we are off to the only tram system in Estonia – Tallinn. This 24 mile (39km) system is 3ft 6in (1067mm) and was originally opened in 1888 as a horse car system.

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“Teething problems” for Luas extension

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

As we have previously reported the Cross City line on Luas opened to the public on Saturday 9th December providing the opportunity for much better connections between the Green and Red lines in the centre of Dublin. The new service pattern has seen Green line services extended through the city to Broombridge (or around the new loop line and back to St Stephen’s Green and beyond) but there have been some “teething problems” with this new service leading to a reduction in peak services.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Events: Heaton Park’s Blackpool Day

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

On Sunday 21st November 2010 the Heaton Park Tramway held their most ambitious event as they celebrated Blackpool’s trams and transport.

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Balloon 711 on standby for snow

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

It is traditional for the Blackpool tramway to prepare for possible snowfalls by equipping two Balloon cars with snowploughs. Last year saw 711 from the B Fleet selected for this role, and it has been chosen again this year. The tram was recently observed in front of the Electrical Compound with its plough fitted.

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Glasgow 488 restoration update

Posted on Thursday 21 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

Not a lot has been written about the progress on the restoration of tramcar Glasgow 488 at the Boston Lodge railway works in Wales, for eventual operation at the East Anglia Transport Museum, on this website for some time – mainly because work had slowed down considerably. However, with the lower deck largely complete, the top deck of the Glasgow ‘Standard’ car has now appeared in their body shop for stripping.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Loan Trams: Blackpool Marton VAMBAC 11

Posted on Thursday 21 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Last time out we looked at one VAMBAC operated tram which had run on loan at Beamish, but Coronation 304 was not the first as that honour had fallen to Marton VAMBAC 11 which had visited from the East Anglia Transport Museum.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Toronto 4211

Posted on Thursday 21 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

From Europe to North America as we now find ourselves in Canada for a view from Toronto’s tram system.

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