Work continues on Brighton 53 despite funding snub

Posted on Tuesday 8 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

It has been some time since British Trams Online carried news on the project to restore Brighton 53, the last surviving passenger tramcar from this seaside town. Its custodians, the Brighton Tram 53 Society, have recently been looking at potential funding opportunities and submitted an application for a Science Museum PRISM grant. Disappointingly however, no finance has been forthcoming from this source, although the small team dedicated to working on the tram keep working undeterred by this setback.

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Posted in Brighton Tram 53 Group | 5 Comments

The sun shines on Birkenhead’s event

Posted on Monday 7 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The annual Wirral Bus & Tram Show was held at Birkenhead on Sunday 6th October, and was blessed by fine weather, prompting many transport enthusiasts to visit the Birkenhead tramway to enjoy the attraction’s best event of the year. As well as the usual intensive tram service, there was a lot more on offer with static displays of assorted vintage vehicles, and historic buses giving rides around the local area.

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Blackpool Standard 143 and Railcoach 279 go home

Posted on Monday 7 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Monday 7th October turned out to be another exciting day for Blackpool’s heritage tram fleet, with the return of two more tramcars previously acquired for preservation by the Lancastrian Transport Trust to Blackpool Transport’s own premises at Rigby Road. Following on from the return of Coronation 304 and OMO 8 in June, both Standard 143 and English Electric Railcoach 279 are also now back home where they belong.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Fylde Transport Trust | 3 Comments

In Pictures: Blackpool 762 continues testing at Crich

Posted on Monday 7 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

Following on from its first run up the entire length of the line at the Crich Tramway Village on Saturday 28th September Blackpool Jubilee Car 762 hasn’t been resting on its laurels as it has been out testing again as preparations for the tram to hopefully join the operating fleet in 2014 continue. 762 – still carrying its Nickelodeon Land advert livery – made a number of runs on the mainline at Crich after the museum had closed its doors to the public on Tuesday 1st October and with thanks to Gary Conn we are delighted to bring you a couple of photos of the tram in action.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum | 4 Comments

Overnight tests to commence on Oldham town centre line

Posted on Monday 7 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

Overnight testing on the Oldham town centre extension of Manchester Metrolink is due to commence from Monday 7th October as further preparations are made on extending the network. The tests will take place between Westwood Business Park and Oldham Mumps and will be under police escort to ensure everything runs smoothly.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 5 Comments

Manchester Metrolink Engineering Works: Sunday 13th October

Posted on Monday 7 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

Another Sunday, another Sunday of service alterations on Manchester Metrolink – although at least this time they are different alterations! On Sunday 13th October trams will run between Bury and Ashton-under-Lyne and from Rochdale to Piccadilly only with buses replacing trams East Didsbury-Victoria, Altrincham-Piccadilly and Eccles-Piccadilly via MediaCityUK. These changes will be in place all day with normal services operating from the start of service on Monday 14th October.

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This week on British Trams Online…

Posted on Sunday 6 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

The main site of British Trams Online has been updated again this week with a couple more Photo Galleries plus updates to several of the Fleet Lists:

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First tram to North Station

Posted on Sunday 6 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Following the recent exciting news regarding the offer of a substantial amount of the funding required to extend the Blackpool tramway to serve North Station, there has been no shortage of speculation regarding this ambitious project. Naturally the main aim of such a development will be to create a modern public transport link using light rail vehicles; however, the potential implications for the heritage trams that remain in Blackpool could also be huge.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Opinion | 9 Comments

Second hand Cambridge horse tram is third hand!

Posted on Sunday 6 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

A remarkable discovery has been made over the Cambridge Horse Tram currently being restored at the Ipswich Transport Museum. It had previously been worked out that the tram was second hand to Cambridge having previously been part of the fleet in Bradford but now further work has revealed that the vehicle actually originates from Bath meaning the second hand Horse Car is in fact third hand!

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Posted in Ipswich Transport Museum | 2 Comments

Aberdeen tram restoration progress

Posted on Sunday 6 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

Since the unidentified Aberdeen tram was removed from its resting place in the city to accommodation at the Dundee Transport Museum progress has been made in initial restoration work.

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Heritage Trams this week…

Posted on Saturday 5 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

It’s time again for us to remind you just where you can travel on heritage trams in the UK and Isle of Man over the next week or so. All the information here is given in good faith but you are advised to check before travelling any significant distance with the organisations involved.

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Eventful end to the MER season on November 2nd

Posted on Friday 4 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The second annual ‘Winter Photography’ event on the Manx Electric Railway is set to take place on Saturday 2nd November, with an exciting package of events designed to encourage many tram enthusiasts to visit the Isle of Man as the tramway’s main operating season draws to a close. Despite its title, the event offers a wide range of activities that should hopefully appeal to anyone interested in historic trams, whether they are photographers or not.

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What does the future hold for Cardiff 21?

Posted on Thursday 3 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The latest issue of the Tramway Museum Society Journal contains a brief but potentially interesting snippet of information regarding Cardiff 21. This double-deck horse tram has been on loan to the museum at Crich from the Nantgarw Collection Centre in Wales since 2009, when it was borrowed to join fellow Cardiff tramcar 131 at the Crich 50th anniversary celebrations. Since then it has been a static exhibit in the Exhibition Hall; however, recent comment suggests that this may not continue for much longer.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum | 3 Comments

Lost Trams 7: Liverpool 293

Posted on Thursday 3 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

It’s been a while since we had our incredibly irregular feature “Lost Trams” but it is back with a vengeance today as we take a look at a tram which left the UK way back in 1958 – Liverpool “Baby Grand” 293. Sadly like the last tram which we featured in this series this vehicle is now looking very sorry for itself languishing in one of the depots at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Marine.

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Posted in Lost Trams | 23 Comments

Edinburgh Trams testing to reach Edinburgh Park

Posted on Thursday 3 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

It has been confirmed that testing of Edinburgh Trams will commence between Gogar depot and Edinburgh Park from Tuesday 8th October as the project continues to make good progress ahead of a planned for opening in May 2014. The City of Edinburgh Council have started a major publicity campaign advising local residents of the extension of the testing so there isn’t too much shock when a tram suddenly appears!

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Progress replaces history on Blundell Street

Posted on Thursday 3 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The site of Britain’s oldest surviving section of street tramway along Blundell Street and Princess Street in Blackpool has undergone further changes recently, following the removal of further overhead wires along this historic section of tramway. This is part of the ongoing regeneration of Foxhall Square, which has already seen the former Blundell Street depot site cleared to make way for new housing.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 1 Comment

The Boat 233 saga goes on… and on…

Posted on Wednesday 2 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Just when we thought the fuss around the controversial sale of Blackpool Boat car 233/605 to America by the Lancastrian Transport Trust was finally beginning to die down, the story of its departure has now been reported in the wider media. The Blackpool Gazette reported on its sale for the first time on 1st October, a whole month after the tram last ran in the UK, and British Telecom also published an article about 233 on their website the same day.

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Posted in Fylde Transport Trust | 5 Comments

Pop star versus tram conductor!

Posted on Wednesday 2 October 2013 by Andrew Waddington

A bizarre war of words took place on Twitter during the evening of Tuesday 1st October as the result of a seemingly minor dispute between a tram conductor and a passenger in Blackpool. This may not seem especially noteworthy, however the passenger in question was Ian Watkins, better known as ‘H’ from pop group Steps, who is currently starring in a touring production of ‘Jospeh & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’!

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 2 Comments

Shadow running starts as Metrolink gets ready to open to Ashton

Posted on Tuesday 1 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

It has been confirmed that – subject to the successful completion of final tests – Manchester Metrolink services to Ashton-under-Lyne will start from Wednesday 9th October – several months ahead of schedule. In preparation for the start of services full shadow running commenced from Monday 30th September which has seen trams running out of service from the current East Manchester line terminus at Droylsden through to Ashton-under-Lyne as per the timetable.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 1 Comment

First Midland Metro Urbos 3 tram due “very soon”

Posted on Tuesday 1 October 2013 by Gareth Prior

A recent update on the Midland Metro website has revealed that the first of 21 new Urbos 3 trams being built by CAF in Spain is due to arrive at the Wednesbury depot “very soon”, although no exact has been given as to when it will arrive at its new home. The update has also given the latest on construction of the Birmingham city centre extension and the expansion at the depot to cater for the new trams.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 3 Comments