Liverpool 245 sees green!

Posted on Monday 25 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

As well as organising two recent events – a 24 hour ‘Tramathon’ in aid of Children in Need, and an event marking 80 years since the closure of the Wallasey tram system – the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society have been hard at work recently putting some final touches to the restoration of Liverpool 245. Since our last picture update on the tram, further progress has seen the exterior of the tram receiving its first green paint!

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Posted in Birkenhead Heritage Tramway | 3 Comments

Heaton Park Tramway end of year review

Posted on Monday 25 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Stockport 5 brought the curtain down on the 2013 operating season for the Heaton Park Tramway, with the final passenger journey of the year on Sunday 24th November. Blackpool 623 and Manchester 765 were also used on this day, meaning that all three available trams were running.

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NEETT November update

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

After a very busy year, the North Eastern Electrical Traction Trust are now making the final preparations for the construction of their brand new tram shed at the North East Land, Sea & Air Museum in Sunderland. The first two lines (of an eventual three) have almost been completely laid in situ now, and should be completed by the end of this month, subject to the availability of enough ballast. Foundation works should commence straight after, and the actual building work is now due to begin on December 3rd.

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Night boat to Fleetwood

Posted on Saturday 23 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

During the 2013 season, every operational member of the Blackpool heritage tram fleet had visited the tramway’s northern terminus at Fleetwood, with just one exception. ‘HMS Blackpool’, the illuminated Frigate 736 stuck rigidly to the Pleasure Beach to Little Bispham section throughout the main season, but then made history on Saturday 23rd November with a surprise visit to the port.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 5 Comments

It’s back! Tram of the Year nominations now open

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

Leeds 602, Blackpool 736, Nottingham Express Transit 203, Trampower, Leeds 345, Blackpool 623, Blackpool 717, Blackpool 733+734, Liverpool 762, Blackpool 11, Blackpool 623 (again!). When you hear those trams what is the first thing you think of? Well apart from the fact it would make a pretty impressive cavalcade they are all trams which have had the tremendous honour of being named British Trams Online Tram of the Year. Since the contest was launched in 2003 ten different trams have been voted as the tram which has done the most significant thing in the previous 12 months by readers of this website and today we launch the (streamlined) nominations process of the contest.

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Posted in Site News | 29 Comments

This week on British Trams Online…

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

This week on the main site update of British Trams Online we bring you another two Photo Galleries:

Gallery 413: Behind the Scenes at Derby Castle car sheds – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery413.html

Gallery 414: Heaton Park Tramway Autumn Gala 2013 – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery414.html

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In Pictures: Grimsby & Immingham 26 goes off the rails

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

Grimsby & Immingham 26 caused more problems for the Beamish Tramway on Tuesday 19th November when it suffered a minor derailment. The tram was soon re-railed but was immediately taken out of service and returned to depot for investigations into the derailment to take place and to check to see whether any repairs were required. This was another blow to the tram fleet at Beamish with their well reported shortage of enclosed trams necessitating the loan of Blackpool 280 and it is hoped that 26 will soon be back doing what it does best – transporting visitors around the site at Beamish.

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Posted in Beamish Tramway | 1 Comment

Manchester Metrolink now on Twitter

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

An official Twitter feed for Manchester Metrolink has gone live to give passengers the  latest updates on the service being operated across the network between 0630 and 1900 on weekdays and 0800 to 1800 at weekends. It can be found at http://www.twitter.com/McrMetrolink and is the latest step from Metrolink to try and improve communications to passengers during service disruption.

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Midland Metro delays after collision

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

Midland Metro services from Birmingham Snow Hill terminated at Priestfield for several hours on Friday 22nd November following a collision between a van and a tram on Bilston Road at approximately 0947. The collision, which took place at low speed, caused the van to shunt into another three vehicles although no injuries were reported. The British Transport Police are trying to ascertain how the accident happened and are urging any witnesses to call them on 0800 40 50 40. Services resumed again from 1115, although residual delays were experienced as the service was fully reformed.

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Santa set to visit Douglas

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

Father Christmas is to be the star of the show again on the Douglas Horse Tramway when he plays a flying visit on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th December. An illuminated horse tram will be used on nine return trips per day from the Strathallan terminus and ticket prices are to remain at the same levels as 2011.

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Repairs commence on Snaefell Mountain Railway landslip

Posted on Friday 22 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

Repairs have commenced on the Snaefell Mountain Railway between Bungalow and Snaefell Mountain to fix a landslip which occurred last winter after a once in 50 years rainfall event happened – twice! The extremely heavy rainfall and flooding caused a landslip along a 60 metre section of cliff adjacent to the tram line and meant that extra points had to be installed to allow a section of single line operation.

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Further events announced for Crich 2014

Posted on Thursday 21 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Following the initial announcement in regard of the planned special events programme for Crich Tramway Village, what is apparently a full list of events for 2014 has now been released. Although it was generally expected that the number of major events would be reduced from past years due to the fact that many events attracted no more visitors than an average summer weekend, it has come as quite a shock that just eight events are being planned for next season.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum | 4 Comments

LTT trams to be re-homed

Posted on Wednesday 20 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

A representative of the Lancastrian Transport Trust has recently confirmed that this organisation is planning to cease its tram-related activities completely in the near future, in order to focus its resources on their remaining historic bus collection. The expected transfer of nine LTT-owned trams into Blackpool Transport’s own heritage fleet would have left the Trust with just three trams anyway, so this announcement is not a huge surprise, although it will mark a significant turning point for the preservation movement.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Fylde Transport Trust | 12 Comments

Metrolink apologise again after more ice related delays

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

Peter Cushing, Metrolink Director at Transport for Greater Manchester, has had to apologise to passengers again after more delays caused by ice on the overhead wires. As reported on these pages at the weekend Metrolink now have a dedicated ice-breaker tram – 1021 – which has been fitted with a modified pantograph for this very purpose and other trams are also being used to try and keep the overhead clear of ice but unfortunately problems were still experienced early on Tuesday 19th November with the Oldham and Rochdale line particularly affected having to be suspended for 90 minutes during the morning rush hour.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 18 Comments

Heaton Park end the season in style

Posted on Monday 18 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Despite being scaled back in format, the Heaton Park Tramway’s Autumn Gala event, held on Sunday 17th November turned out to be an absolutely fantastic occasion, with the tramway’s volunteers pulling out all the stops to put on a great show on what was their penultimate day of operation for 2013. All six trams currently on site played their part in the day’s activities, with some spectacular line-ups being the highlight of the event.

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Beamish Town crossover back in use

Posted on Monday 18 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The little-used tramway crossover in the centre of the tram line through Beamish Museum’s period town area, has recently been brought back into regular use for the first time in a number of years. This crossover has been rarely used since the completion of the full circular tramway around the perimeter of the museum site in 1993, but recent engineering works have forced it to be utilised once again.

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Oldham town centre extension set to open in early 2014

Posted on Monday 18 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

The Oldham town centre extension of Manchester Metrolink is set to be the third  extension in a row to open ahead of schedule with an early 2014 commencement of public services now looking likely. It had originally been planned that passengers would first be carried through Oldham town centre in spring 2014 but because the redevelopment works at Victoria have now been delayed from January to the end of February/start of March it has now been possible to bring this date forward.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 5 Comments

Get me there moves a step closer

Posted on Monday 18 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

The countdown towards the introduction of smart ticketing in Greater Manchester – to be known as get me there – has moved a step closer with over 350 smart readers now having been installed across the Manchester Metrolink network. And TfGM have revealed that existing concessionary pass holders could be using the scheme from as early as spring 2014, with all Metrolink passengers able to use get me there by autumn 2014.

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Manchester Metrolink Improvement Works: Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November

Posted on Monday 18 November 2013 by Gareth Prior

More Improvement Works (formerly known as engineering works!) will take place on Manchester Metrolink over the weekend of Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November. Everything will run as normal until 2300 on Saturday 23rd after which time trams will only run Ashton-under-Lyne to Bury and Rochdale to Piccadilly with replacement buses in use on all other routes. Then on Sunday 24th things get a little bit more complicated with trams unable to run beyond Shaw & Crompton all day and up to 1200 trams will not run beyond Cornbrook from Eccles, East Didsbury and Altrincham.

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Open top trams on the move

Posted on Sunday 17 November 2013 by Andrew Waddington

At the same time as announcing the imminent visit of Blackpool Railcoach 680 to Beamish Museum (see separate news story), the Manchester Transport Museum Society also confirmed that no less than three open-top double-deck trams will be moving to and from Heaton Park in the next few months! This will involve yet another exciting loan arrangement, as well as another historic tram moving to a new home.

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Posted in Beamish Tramway, Heaton Park Tramway | 7 Comments