Bad news for two preserved Blackpool trams

Posted on Monday 26 January 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Two popular preserved Blackpool tramcars have started 2015 on a negative note, after many years of reliable service. Beamish Museum’s Sunderland 101 – best known by many of us as Blackpool Balloon 703 – has recently been withdrawn from use, whilst at Crich Tramway Village, the chances of a quick return to service for Blackpool & Fleetwood ‘Rack’ 2 appear to have diminished.

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Posted in Beamish Tramway, National Tramway Museum | 11 Comments

This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 25 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

For the first time in 2015 we have a main site update on British Trams Online with four galleries uploaded, two of which feature new photos (and the other two are the Advent Calendar images being transferred across):

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Picture in Time 25: Blackpool Pantograph 167

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

What better tram to feature as our first Picture in Time of 2015 than the tram which won the “Tramcar of the Year” – Blackpool Pantograph 167. Over the past 12 months this tram has featured countless times on the pages of British Trams Online but never have we seen in the same state as we show it today – during its restoration at Bolton in the mid 1980s.

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Posted in Picture in Time | 2 Comments

Stockport Council call for tram-train connection

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

Stockport Council have recently unveiled a new vision for rail travel in the area with four major priorities. As well as improving existing railway stations and ensuring that HS2 brings benefits to the local area the Council are calling for Metrolink to reach Stockport by way of the current Marple to Manchester Piccadilly rail service being converted.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 5 Comments

Cyclists set to sue over Edinburgh accidents

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

In another example of how someone seemingly has to be blamed for every accident solicitors representing a group of cyclists who have suffered injuries having fallen off their bikes in the vicinity of the tram tracks in Edinburgh have revealed that they are set to sue the City Council for damages. It is believed 60 cyclists are involved in the legal action and they have suffered a series of breaks, sprains and fractures having fallen off their bikes when coming in contact with the tracks.

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Posted in Edinburgh Trams, London Trams | 16 Comments

In Photos: Midland Metro in the snow

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

The first fairly significant snowfall of this winter period fell on Midland Metro on Wednesday 14th January 2015 although it proved to only really be a fairly light dusting and was also mostly gone by lunchtime. Nevertheless Andy Walters was out with his camera to capture images of trams running in the snow – the first time that the Urbos 3s had operated in the white stuff.

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A new voice for NET

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

Regular travellers on Nottingham Express Transit will start to notice a new voice telling them the next stop over the next few weeks as the announcements have been re-recorded in preparation for the opening of the new lines later this year. Since NET originally opened in 2004 the same announcements, recorded by Wendy Smith, who is now a City Councillor, have been in use but it has been decided it is now time for a change with NET Customer Service Advisor Claire Towers taking on the mantle.

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In Pictures: Wolverhampton St George’s progress

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

The much delayed rail replacement track between The Royal and Wolverhampton St George’s is continuing (rumours are that it will not be March at the earliest until Midland Metro services are able to resume into St George’s) with recent progress being made at the northern terminus of the route. The southern face of the island platform (the down side) has now seen the track relaid and paved with the associated trackwork on the lead to this also now in place. Meanwhile the northern platform has now seen the original track removed and attention is currently turned towards the trackbase. Photos provided by Michael Averill.

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Nottingham Express Transit’s Citadis trams and their two numbers

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

Since the first Alstom Citadis tram was delivered to Nottingham there has been a common question asked: what is the other number carried on the side of the trams? Each of the Citadis trams was delivered with a three digit number on the side which signified the order number, so the first of the Citadis’ was 001 (216 in the NET fleet) and the last was 022 (237 in the NET fleet). Some of the trams have carried both numbers on their sides at the same time. These photos courtesy of Alan Smith illustrate exactly the different numbers.

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Posted in Nottingham Express Transit | 3 Comments

DLR workers set to strike

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

RMT members working on the Docklands Light Railway are to go on a 48 hour strike from 28th January it has been announced. Following the takeover of the contract to operate the network by KeolisAmey Docklands Ltd at the start of December a number of changes were made to terms and conditions and it is these changes that RMT members are objecting to leading to their strike action.

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Posted in Docklands Light Railway | 2 Comments

Woman hit by tram in Nottingham

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

A woman in her 70s was reported to have been hit by a tram between the stops at The Forest and Wilkinson Street on Nottingham Express Transit on Monday 19th January and had to be taken to hospital as a precaution, although she was not believed to have suffered serious injuries. The incident happened at around 1100 and she was moved to hospital at 1230.

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Blackpool Heritage Trust seek volunteer tram conductors

Posted on Friday 23 January 2015 by Andrew Waddington

When details of the vastly expanded Blackpool heritage tram service were unveiled earlier this week, one of the questions in many peoples’ minds was: how will Blackpool Transport manage to provide enough staff to run all of these extra trams on so many days across the year? This has now been answered by a second announcement from the Blackpool Heritage Trust, who are now recruiting volunteers to assist with the operation during the peak season. This will mean that unpaid volunteers should be crewing trams in Blackpool this year for the very first time in the tramway’s 130 year history!

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 40 Comments

Metrolink 3094 arrives in Manchester

Posted on Thursday 22 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

3094 has become the latest M5000 to be delivered to Queen’s Road Depot with the vehicle arriving on Saturday 17th January 2015 – the first delivery of 2015. The arrival of 3094 is significant as it is the final member of the order which was placed to replace the T68 and T68As and it seemed for a while that it would be the last of the class to be built for Metrolink (although of course further orders have now been placed to bring the total number up to 120).

Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 4 Comments

Metrolink to return to Victoria in February

Posted on Thursday 22 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

Services on Manchester Metrolink will once again serve Victoria from Wednesday 18th February although full services through the area will not resume until Saturday 21st February. Victoria Station has been undergoing a major refurbishment since February 2014 which has seen the Metrolink platforms closed and single line operation in place but these 12 months of disruption are now coming to an end.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 4 Comments

Blackpool heritage tours set for best year yet

Posted on Wednesday 21 January 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Details have been announced regarding plans for the operation of Blackpool’s heritage tram fleet during 2015 – and, as has been rumoured for some time, the level of service being planned is a vast improvement on that which ran in 2014. Not only will the historic trams be running far more regularly than has been the case at any time in the last two years, but also the number of trams operating on certain special dates will increase with as many as six cars due to run on some Bank Holidays!

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 2 Comments

In Pictures: Blackpool Twin set 272+T2 on tour

Posted on Wednesday 21 January 2015 by Andrew Waddington

As reported previously on British Trams Online, Blackpool Twin set 272+T2 made an unusually early debut for the year on 4th January 2014, providing the first opportunity for its period-style black and white destination blinds (which had only been installed about ten minutes before it left the depot!) to be admired. We now have a few pictures from this tour, taken by Peter Watts, who generously produced these blinds which he then donated to the Blackpool Heritage Trust.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 2 Comments

London Tramlink 2550 receives new advert livery

Posted on Monday 19 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

2550 has become the latest tram on London Tramlink to receive advertising vinyls with the vehicle debuting in its new style on Monday 19th January. The vinyl wrap is urging people to be aware of trams in Croydon and is mainly yellow with black signwriting. We are sure that readers of this website will be glad to know that only limited contravision has been used over the windows. This is the fourth different livery that 2550 has carried following on from First Group colours and the two standard fleet liveries (Red and White and Lime Green, Blue and White). Photo courtesy of Ian Buck.

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Burton & Ashby 14 comes home

Posted on Monday 19 January 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Following the amazing news late last year that a group of enthusiasts had worked together to save Burton & Ashby 14 and return the tram to its native country, it has now been confirmed that the car is back in the United Kingdom after an absence of well over thirty years. When put up for auction in Detroit along with numerous other assets, it was feared that the tram may be broken up but thanks to the determination of a few people, the tram is now back in the country where it spent the majority of its life!

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Balloon 715 set for return to service

Posted on Sunday 18 January 2015 by Andrew Waddington

Some very good news for fans of Blackpool’s famous double-deck Balloon cars has come in the shape of an announcement by the Blackpool Heritage Trust that Blackpool Balloon 715 is currently in the works receiving some attention which should enable it to return to use this year. 715 was one of several tramcars previously owned by the Lancastrian Transport Trust to be returned to Rigby Road under the care of the new Trust, and looks set to be the second of the former LTT cars to be reactivated following on from Coronation 304.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 1 Comment

Adverts set to appear on Edinburgh Trams

Posted on Sunday 18 January 2015 by Gareth Prior

It looks as though 2015 will see the first advertising liveries appear on trams in Edinburgh with reports in the Edinburgh Evening News suggesting that “a string of global brands” are in negotiations to being the first companies to advertise on one of the 27 strong class of CAF trams.

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Posted in Edinburgh Trams | 6 Comments