British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Oporto 273

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The second in this series is probably the least successful tram loan of the past 15 years – that of Oporto 273.

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In Pictures: Testing underway on Bilston Road

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

As previously publicised Bilston Road was reopened to traffic from Saturday 2nd December following the completion of the major track relay project between Priestfield and The Royal. Although the road is reopened this doesn’t mean that trams are running back to Wolverhampton St George’s just yet as the next week will see commissioning and driver training along this section, which hasn’t been in use since June. The first major testing along the line started on Sunday 3rd December.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Gent 39

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

We are back in Europe for today’s instalment of Around the World in 18 Trams as we visit Gent in Belgium.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

We have two different types of Photo Gallery for you this week, as we head overseas and also look back to our launch year in 2002:

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Tram of the Year – voting now open!

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Voting is now open for the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2017 contest with 15 nominees across the four categories. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations, we have now looked at all of these and come up with the final shortlists and you can now put your final vote in to see what walks away with the accolade in January.

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In Pictures: Flexity 017 makes its journey to Blackpool!

Posted on Saturday 2 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

On the evening of Friday 1st December, Blackpool welcomed its newest tram – Flexity 017. This is of course one of the two new trams which have been ordered from Bombardier to supplement the existing fleet in anticipation of the new extension to North Station, for which more trams will be needed to provide the core timetabled service. We will cover 017‘s arrival in more detail at a later time, but for now we focus on its journey from Hull following arrival in the UK.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Blackpool Marton 31

Posted on Saturday 2 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Just how many trams have gone on loan over the past 15 years? Actually its quite a surprising number! In this new series we will be looking at all the trams which have gone on operating loans during this period (we say all, we think we’ve covered everything!). As it is operating loans we don’t include those trams which have gone on display (a la Grimsby & Immingham 14 to Immingham Docks etc.) and even if things didn’t quite go according to plan during the loan it is included. We have also taken an on loan to mean something which is not at what we would consider its permanent home tramway at the time so sorry Bolton 66 and Stockport 5 your loans in Blackpool aren’t included! The first in the series is probably the tram which has travelled the most distance for its loan with two trips to Blackpool and one visit to Heaton Park included – Blackpool Marton 31.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Events: East Anglia Transport Museum London Event

Posted on Saturday 2 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

As part of our 15th anniversary celebrations (have we mentioned we are 15?!) this special series will be taking a look at 15 of the key events which have taken place in the past 15 years. Throughout the series we will be looking at a variety of events both at heritage tramways and also as tramways and lines have opened but it is not intended to be a “Top 15” as we quickly realised that would be almost impossible – I couldn’t even agree with myself as to what should be on the list! In order to provide some variety a lot of different tramways are included and we have probably cheated with some of the entries, and they are most definitely in no particular order. In this edition we head to Suffolk for a fairly recent event – the London Event at the East Anglia Transport Museum.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Hong Kong 76 & 150

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Ever since British Trams Online started we have only shown trams either operated or built within the British Isles but as part of our 15th anniversary celebrations we are trying something a bit different as we take a look at trams from around the world in this new pictorial series. Currently this will only be during December 2017 but if you want to see more of this please let us know and we will see if the series continues into 2018. For the first edition of this series we head to Hong Kong for an image of two of their iconic double deck trams.

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For sale! 15 Midland Metro T69s

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The end of the line has been reached for 15 of the 16 Midland Metro T69s with the news that Transport for West Midlands are to sell them by auction early in 2018. Withdrawn between 2006 and 2015 the T69s were replaced in service by the Urbos 3 trams but were not disposed of at the time and were eventually moved to Long Marston for further storage. But now the decision has been made to sell the trams on.

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New timetable proposed for Tramlink

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Anyone who has observed the service on London Tramlink in recent weeks probably can’t helped to have noticed that following on from the speed restrictions the service has become less regulated with trams on the same branch often bunching rather than being at regular intervals. Now in order to try and provide a more reliable service Transport for London are proposing a new timetable which would see a reduction in the service frequency on most lines along with a new service pattern.

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An evening to forget for Metrolink

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 25th November was a night to forget for Manchester Metrolink and anyone who was trying to travel on the system after several issues contributed to cause services to be suspended and delayed with the disruption happening for over three hours. Starting at around 1900 a failed tram and a points failure contributed to the problems which were compounded by a communications failure which meant platform information displays were incorrect.

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Advent Calendars now available!

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The excitement keeps coming! Its 1st December so that means our annual Advent Calendars are now available with a different photo each day. Once again we have two Advent Calendars – Traditional Trams and Modern Trams. You can access both at http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/advent.html. New images will be added the previous evening.

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Happy Birthday to us!

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

1st December 2002. The day the internet changed! Well, not really but it was a significant day for this website as that was the day we officially launched to a completely unsuspecting world. Of course that means that today marks our 15th anniversary!

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Blackpool North Station extension given go-ahead

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

The final hoop has been jumped through, the extension of the Blackpool Tramway to Blackpool North railway station has been given approval by the Secretary of State for Transport. Which is probably just as well considering preparatory works started earlier this month!

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More double trams for Altrincham and Bury lines

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

One of the big complaints on Manchester Metrolink is the overcrowding seen on peak time servcies and in order to try and combat this more double trams are being introduced on the Altrincham and Bury lines. Two doubles are already running on the Altrincham line with two doubles also set to be introduced on the Bury line from early December.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 708

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

For our final instalment of Picture in Time for 2017 we are heading back to Blackpool for a typical 1980s image of a tram running along Lord Street.

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More tram shunting and a new roof at Crich

Posted on Wednesday 29 November 2017 by Andrew Waddington

Progress on the main depot refurbishment project at Crich Tramway Village has been brisk, with replacement of the roof of more than one third of the main running sheds already completed. Depot 2 (covering roads 4, 5 & 6) has now been completely re-roofed, and this building has been filled with trams again so that Depot 3 can be worked on next.

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First tram runs along Bilston Road since June!

Posted on Wednesday 29 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

The sight of trams running along Bilston Road is set to become a regular feature once again with the track relaying project rapidly approaching a conclusion. The road will be reopened to traffic from Saturday 2nd December after which time full tram testing will also get underway but these will not be the first trams to traverse the new track as Urbos 3 18 – the one example fitted with batteries so far – was used on an initial run in the early hours of Wednesday 29th November.

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Picture in Time: Snaefell Mountain Railway 2

Posted on Tuesday 28 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of Picture in Time we are back on the Isle of Man for an image from the Snaefell Mountain Railway in 1992.

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