NET testing reaches Clifton terminus

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

It seems a week cannot pass at the moment without another milestone being reached on the Nottingham Express Transit Phase Two extensions but this week’s milestone was quite a special one as a tram made it way all the way to the Clifton Park and Ride terminus for the first time.

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In Pictures: Crich make preparations for start of operating season

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

There have been signs of life in the Derbyshire countryside over the past few days as final preparations are made at the Crich Tramway Village for the start of their 2015 operating season (which will be on Saturday 28th March). Over the winter we have reported on the track relaying on the interlaced track through the Bowes Lyon Bridge and the subsequent relaying on the granite setts but with this work now nearing completion the trams have started to come out to play!

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Plans revealed for new Seaton Tramway terminus

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

The main Seaton terminus of the Seaton Tramway is set for a major facelift later this year if plans currently being prepared are approved it has been announced. Although exact details of what the improved terminus will look like have not yet been revealed it is planned that it will be state of the art and will provide an all weather facility.

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In Pictures: Urbos 3 21 returns to service

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

Midland Metro can now call upon 11 Urbos 3 trams following the return to service of 21 on Wednesday 18th March. 21 had been missing in action since September when it suffered internal damage with the main partition between the cab and passenger compartment broken. This has now been repaired and the tram has returned to the serviceable ranks. Trams 18–27 and 31 are now all available for service with 32 having been used on extensive testing recently.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 1 Comment

3096 arrives in Manchester as 3095 enters service

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

Manchester Metrolink has seen its latest arrival with 3096 being delivered to Queens Road Depot on Saturday 14th March. The tram is now undergoing commissioning work and mileage accumulation before it can join its sister M5000s in service which isn’t likely to be too long.

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Midland Metro Digbeth extension route chosen

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

The route of the Midland Metro extension through Digbeth in central Birmingham has been chosen following the results of a recent consultation into the plans. This extension is part of the Eastside line which will also serve the new HS2 railway station due to be built at Curzon Street.

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In Pictures: Birmingham City Centre extension update

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

Construction work on the Midland Metro extension between Snow Hill and New Street stations is continuing ahead of the opening of the line late this year. This small photo update from the camera of Ken Jones shows the current state of affairs around New Street and Corporation Street.

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Track works to cause disruption on NET over Easter

Posted on Friday 20 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

Nottingham Express Transit services will be suspended between The Forest and Wilkinson Street from Friday 3rd April until Wednesday 8th April to allow for a major upgrade of the tracks. The works need to be completed before the expansion of services to Clifton and Chilwell and are described as essential.

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Going for a ride…

Posted on Thursday 19 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

As winter turns into spring, the temperatures start to gradually rise and we actually start to get several hours of daylight the UK’s heritage tramways start to rise from their slumbers to provide entertainment for the masses and that can mean only one thing the return of our one-stop guide to when and where you can enjoy a ride on a traditional tram! Newly rebranded for 2015 (although the name change may only be a short-term measure, if you can think of a better title let us know!) “Going for a ride” provides details of when heritage tramway are running services along with the next special events taking place. So if you are fed up of not having any tramways to visit now is your chance to get out and about and then send your photos through to British Trams Online!

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A Hull of a delay

Posted on Thursday 19 March 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Some slightly disappointing news comes from the Heaton Park Tramway, where delays to the completion of restoration work on Hull 96 has forced the Manchester Transport Museum Society to postpone its planned return to use. A special launch day had been planned for 28th June, but it is now felt that this is an unrealistic target and therefore a revised date of Sunday 11th October has been decided on.

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Croydon Town Centre improvement works start

Posted on Thursday 19 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

London Tramlink services were suspended around the central Croydon loop over the weekend of 14th and 15th March as a start was made on the works to improve the landscape of the town centre with the “Connected Croydon” project. This was just the first of several weekend closures along with a much longer shutdown over Easter when no trams will run between Reeves Corner and East Croydon (extended to Sandilands for a period as well) for 17 days starting from 28th March.

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Riding and dining in Blackpool

Posted on Thursday 19 March 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Blackpool Transport’s latest venture from its highly succesful Heritage Tram Tours commenced operation on Wednesday 18th March, when the first ever ‘Ride & Dine Wednesday’ event took place, featuring restored Balloon car 717. This also marked the beginning of the 2015 season as far as the heritage trams are concerned – a noticeably earlier start than has been the case for some years, even before the tramway upgrade.

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Supertram to amend fares during next stage of rail replacement works

Posted on Thursday 19 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

Stagecoach Supertram have announced that they will either be freezing or reducing ticket prices when the next stage of rail replacement works start on the network. Single tickets are to remain at the same price whilst there is a reduction in the price of Tram and Bus Dayrider tickets with a new Tram only Megarider weekly ticket also being introduced.

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The tiger gains its stripes

Posted on Tuesday 17 March 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Efforts to recreate one of the best-loved advertising liveries in the history of the Blackpool tramway have been completed recently, in a most unusual location. Now based at Anchorsholme Academy, Blackpool Brush Railcoach 622 has now received the full external graphics to complete its Blackpool Zoo livery, first carried by this tram back in 1975.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Standard 49

Posted on Tuesday 17 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

We head to Crich for the latest instalment of “Picture in Time” and turn back the clock to 1979 with a view of Blackpool Standard 49.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum, Picture in Time | 3 Comments

Rack 2 gets stuffed

Posted on Sunday 15 March 2015 by Andrew Waddington

As expected, Blackpool & Fleetwood ‘Rack’ 2 has now taken up residence in the Great Exhibition Hall at Crich Tramway Village. This tram has been a popular member of the running fleet at Crich almost constantly since the commencement of electric tram operation there in 1964, but was withdrawn last year and is now likely to endure a lengthy period of inactivity. The tram has taken the place of Newcastle 102 which was a temporary addition to the static exhibition last year, and which now will presumably remain stored in a less visible area of the museum.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 15 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

We head to Nottingham in this week’s update as we feature images from Phase Two testing and driver training:

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Brush 621

Posted on Friday 13 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

With Blackpool Brush 621 enjoying a rare weekend in the spotlight last weekend as part of the Beamish’s Power from the Past event what better tram to feature in tonight’s Picture in Time feature? We head back over 20 years to 1993 when although the Blackpool Tramway wasn’t really in its heyday anymore was still a very different beast to that which was all know today.

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Penultimate Urbos 3 arrives in the West Midlands

Posted on Friday 13 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

There are now 20 Urbos 3 trams on Midland Metro metals following the delivery of 36 to the Wednesbury depot early on Friday 13th March. The tram was once again delivered in two sections and was unloaded in the rain before being moved into the workshops for commissioning.

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In Pictures: Midland Metro rail replacement project goes on

Posted on Friday 13 March 2015 by Gareth Prior

The severely over running rail replacement project on Midland Metro between The Royal and Wolverhampton St George’s is continuing as efforts are made to re-open the line this month as promised by Centro earlier this year. In this latest picture update we show the current state of affairs which seems to suggest that there is a lot of work to be completed with some of the excavations not yet fully filled in and a large amount of track still to be laid. Photos courtesy of Andy Walters.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 1 Comment