Picture in Time: Blackpool Illuminated Standard

Posted on Friday 11 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

With the Blackpool Illuminations shining again we head back to the northwest’s premier holiday resort for today’s Picture in Time image and the time machine has stopped in 1961 this week for a view of one of the Standard Cars decorated for the illuminations.

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Douglas Horse Tramway set to end another year

Posted on Thursday 10 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

It seems hard to believe that we have already reached the end of another year of operation (some of us haven’t even had our main holiday of the year yet!) on the Douglas Horse Tramway with the last services due to run for 2015 over the weekend of Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September. To mark the end of the 139th season of operation Douglas Borough Council have announced a number of special events with children going free and lots of trams out and about.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 3 Comments

Going for a ride…

Posted on Thursday 10 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

And so it begins! This weekend marks the start of a hectic few weeks for the traditional trams of the British Isles with the launch into service of Liverpool 245 at Birkenhead (Saturday 12th September) whilst just across the Irish Sea on the Isle of Man it is the last operating weekend of 2015 for the Douglas Horse Tramway (last trams run Sunday 13th September). Read on below if you want to read the latest update of when and where you can enjoy a ride on a traditional tram at 13 different tramways in the British Isles…

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In Pictures: Urbos 3 35 enters service

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

Wednesday 9th September saw the latest member of the Urbos 3 fleet to enter service on Midland Metro with 35 carrying its first fare paying passengers. This was the seventeenth different CAF built tram to enter service meaning that the class is now officially the largest single class of trams to operate on Midland Metro since opening (of course there were only 16 T69s in total).

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Picture in Time: Prague 180

Posted on Tuesday 8 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

A tram which escaped from its home city just before the Soviet tanks arrived is the latest tram to feature in our “Picture in Time” series today – Prague 180. We find the tram in action at Crich in 1989, a world away from the scene it left 21 years earlier.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum, Picture in Time | 1 Comment

Model trams stolen from Heaton Park

Posted on Monday 7 September 2015 by Andrew Waddington

During the model tram show held as part of the annual Trans Lanc Rally at Heaton Park on Sunday 6th September, two model trams were noted missing, believed stolen, from the exhibition at the Middleton Road tram depot.

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Posted in Heaton Park Tramway, Models | 3 Comments

Blackpool illuminations – the greatest free show on earth returns!

Posted on Monday 7 September 2015 by Andrew Waddington

In Blackpool, the 2015 illuminations season is now underway and of course that means lots of exciting activity on the tramway! Whilst the period of midweek daytime operation for the heritage trams is now over for the year, these will still be kept busy as now daily illumination tours are operating, along with a blue daytime timetable at weekends featuring two cars in service, and of course the 130th anniversary celebrations are just a few short weeks away!

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 2 Comments

Hull 96 goes under wraps!

Posted on Sunday 6 September 2015 by Andrew Waddington

The repaint of Hull 96 is now well underway with Heritage Painting moving in to the Heaton Park Tramway’s Middleton Road Depot on 1st September to start work on the tram following extensive preparation of the bodywork by volunteers. This was an earlier start than expected due to a gap in the painters’ schedule becoming available at short notice, with the contractors agreeing to complete the preparatory works before applying the gloss finish to the tram.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 6 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

We are back with more Photo Galleries this week as we say goodbye and hello…

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Midland Metro T69s: The Final Week

Posted on Sunday 6 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

On Friday 14th August 2015 the history books were closed on the Ansaldo built T69 trams which had been operating on the Midland Metro line between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton St George’s since it opened in 1999 with the withdrawal of the last remaining example. As we continue our commemorations of the T69s we take a look at their last week of operation…

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 1 Comment

Picture in Time: Midland Metro 15

Posted on Sunday 6 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

Today Picture in Time travels to the West Midlands for a couple of images of Midland Metro’s T69 15 during the testing and commissioning period in early 1999.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Centenary cars 641 & 648

Posted on Friday 4 September 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Today we turn the clock back eight years with a view of two Centenary cars at Pleasure Beach as the sun falls on one of the first evenings of the 2007 illuminations season in Blackpool. Despite being relatively recent, much here has changed although these two trams will soon be seen together again at this location, albeit not both in an operational condition.

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Plans on display for Douglas Promenade redevelopment

Posted on Friday 4 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

The seemingly never ending saga of the redevelopment of Douglas Promenade has reached another milestone with the latest – and hoped for final – plans being put on public display at the Sea Terminal from today (Friday 4th September). As we have reported previously the latest plans will see a single track horse tramway constructed along the seaward side of the Promenade mostly on the area which is currently the pavement. The plans will be on display until Monday 28th September and the Department of Infrastructure are once again looking for comments from the public.

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Wanted: a Brill 21E axle box for Glasgow 1017. Can you help Summerlee?

Posted on Friday 4 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

The casting on the original axle box on Glasgow 1017 at the Summerlee Heritage Museum has recently cracked and a new casting has proven difficult to source. Can anyone help Summerlee to source a new Brill 21E axle box? If so please either leave a comment below or email gareth@britishtramsonline.co.uk and we will pass it on the team at Scotland’s only museum tramway.

Posted in Summerlee Museum Tramway | 2 Comments

It’s Liverpool 869, Southampton 45 and an open top tram paradise for TMS 60

Posted on Thursday 3 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

The long awaited relaunch into service of Liverpool 869 and the return to service for one day only of Southampton 45 are set to be the operating highlights of the TMS 60 event at the Crich Tramway Village on Saturday 19th September. The event – which encompasses the annual Enthusiasts’ Event at the home of the National Tramway Museum will also see an intensive tram service with up to 15 trams in service at any one time whilst the highlight of the photographic line-ups looks set to be a display of open-top trams including some from the Exhibition Hall.

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Going for a ride…

Posted on Thursday 3 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

The school holidays are approaching the end (or in many cases have already got there) which means things start to settle down a bit across the British Isles as we bring you our regular round-up of just when and where you can enjoy a ride on a traditional tram. Daily operation in Blackpool is now at an end with daytime operations now restricted to weekends again (plus the October half-term week) but from Saturday 5th September it is nightly operation as the 2015 Illumination Tours begin. Elsewhere the next special event on the agenda is the Trams, Traffic and Work Vehicle event at the Crich Tramway Village (Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September) and then we are in to a busy few weeks as we have tram launches, anniversary celebrations and intensive tram operations at three locations. But that is in the future so let’s take a look at where you can go for a ride…

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In Pictures: Tramlink 2560 continues testing

Posted on Wednesday 2 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

2560, the newest Stadler Variobahn to currently be in the UK, is continuing to be put through its paces across the London Tramlink network as preparations continue for it to be accepted as part of the operational fleet. The tram, which has been in the UK since 4th May, had, up until recently, mainly been confined to depot but is now continuing to be put through its paces with regular daylight test runs taking place.  One of these test runs took place on Friday 28th August and saw 2560 reach both New Addington and the temporary terminus at Dundonald Road.

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Record Breaker heads back to Manchester Metrolink

Posted on Wednesday 2 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

Record breakers need dedication apparently and that is exactly what Adham Fisher has in abundance as he prepares to break the current record for travelling to all the stops on Manchester Metrolink. The current record stands at six hours, 27 minutes and one second and on Friday 4th September Adham will try and break this record.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 4 Comments

Black Country Living Museum tramway back up and running fully

Posted on Tuesday 1 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

Having not run in its entirety since December 2013 the Black Country Living Museum tramway is now once running a full service between the Museum Entrance and Tram Depot following the completion of the infrastructure repairs. Trams had been running on part of the route since mid-July but now a full journey can be made on the route on one of the museum’s two full restored trams – Wolverhampton & District 34 and Wolverhampton 49.

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Posted in Black Country Living Museum | 10 Comments

Picture in Time: Seaton 7

Posted on Tuesday 1 September 2015 by Gareth Prior

Today “Picture in Time” is off to the south coast and a visit to Eastbourne in 1965 and a view of a tram we now know as Seaton 7 but this was five years before the Modern Electric Tramways operation was moved along the south coast to Devon.

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Posted in Picture in Time, Seaton Tramway | 1 Comment