Shaw & Crompton get married – with a tram ride!

Posted on Friday 7 June 2013 by Gareth Prior

It seems to have been a week of good PR news stories from Manchester Metrolink as a couple with the surnames of Shaw and Crompton have got married with a tram ride thrown in from Manchester Registry Office to the reception. Julian Shaw and Jenny Crompton had contacted Metrolink to ask for permission to use a photo of Shaw & Crompton stop on their wedding invitations and things progressed from there.

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Sunbathing for New York 674

Posted on Thursday 6 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

On Sunday 2nd June, New York 674 enjoyed a rare taste of sunshine at its home, Crich Tramway Village, when it was extracted from its usual position in Depot VI. On this day the car was dragged onto the traverser, where it was treated to a wash using water from the tank of Cardiff 131 which was parked nearby.

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Music festival halts Heaton Park trams

Posted on Thursday 6 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Due to an event taking place within the grounds of Manchester’s Heaton Park, the heritage tramway there will be closed on Sunday 9th June. The park is playing host to the first ever ‘Parklive’ music festival, headlined by rap artists Plan B and Example, and also featuring a diverse range of other musicians and DJs. As a result no trams will operate this weekend, but normal service will resume on June 16th.

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A new home for the Hovertram

Posted on Tuesday 4 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

One of Blackpool’s famous illuminated trams looks set for a more prosperous future, following a surprise announcement that the North East Electrical Traction Trust have agreed to purchase the Hovertram 735. This unique tram left Blackpool in 2007 after being sold to the Scottish Transport Trust, but plans to carry out a cosmetic restoration have never materialised, hence the decision to sell the tram to another preservation group.

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Posted in North Eastern Electrical Transport Trust | 6 Comments

Christmas pantomime advert stays for the summer!

Posted on Tuesday 4 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Blackpool Flexity 010 received advertising vinyls for the Grand Theatre’s production of Cinderella, starring ex-Emmerdale actor Danny Miller alongside various other minor celebrities. As this was a show for the festive season, this was naturally expected to be a short-lived advert; however, the adverts remain in place on the side of car 010 some four months after the show ended!

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 6 Comments

Balloon car 721 to run at Heaton Park

Posted on Monday 3 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Following a considerable amount of speculation, the Heaton Park Tramway has now confirmed that negotiations are well underway to bring Blackpool Balloon 721 to Manchester, for an operating loan at Heaton Park. The car is owned by the North East Electrical Traction Trust, and as part of the agreement between the two organisations, the Manchester Transport Museum Society will transfer one of its own Balloon cars, 708, to NEETT’s care on a long-term loan basis.

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Posted in Heaton Park Tramway, North Eastern Electrical Transport Trust | 4 Comments

Graffiti on the Brush car

Posted on Monday 3 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust’s preserved Blackpool Brush Railcoach 290 (or 627 as some still prefer to call it) has stood on a special display siding adjacent to the Pleasure Beach loop at Blackpool since August 2012, looking increasingly shabby in its ‘Diamond Jubilee’ livery. However, this livery will soon be replaced by a brand new identity as part of Blackpool’s ‘Sand, Sea & Spray’ festival, celebrating the talents of urban street artists.

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Posted in Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust | 30 Comments

This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 2 June 2013 by Gareth Prior

We have a bumper update for you this week with six new photo galleries and an article added alongside all the usual fleet list updates:

Gallery 365: Midland Metro Platform upgrades – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery365.html

Gallery 366: Manchester Metrolink April 2013 – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery366.html

Gallery 367: London Tramlink May 2013 – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery367.html

Gallery 368: Liverpool 245 restoration update May 2013 – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery368.html

Gallery 369: Manchester Metrolink opens to East Didsbury – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery369.html

Gallery 370: Blackpool Balloonatic Weekend 25-27 May – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery370.html

Article: Blackpool Balloonatic Weekend 25-27 May – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/blackpool-latemay13.html

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Blackpool Balloonatic Weekend: 25-27 May 2013

Posted on Sunday 2 June 2013 by admin

Following on from the incredibly successful heritage tram operation in Blackpool over the Easter and May Day Bank Holiday weekends, the third stint of action for the heritage fleet came over the Spring Bank Holiday period. Building on the success of May Day, outline plans were to operate at least two different heritage cars and two of the ‘B Fleet’ on each day across this weekend, as normal specials, with a number of timetabled journeys to Fleetwood spread out across the days. Andrew Waddington was present throughout the weekend to soak up the sights (and some sun!), and this is what happened….

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Picture in Time 7: Leeds 602 in 1994

Posted on Saturday 1 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation on 2nd June seems to have attracted surprisingly little attention in the media, at least compared with last year’s  Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Thankfully, British Trams Online is here to put things right, but we thought that our readers would prefer to see some classic images of Leeds 602 running at Crich, rather than the Queen herself!

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NEETT on track for new depot

Posted on Saturday 1 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

The North Eastern Electrical Traction Trust continue to make fantastic progress towards their goal of building a new depot at the site of the North East Sea, Land & Air Museum in Sunderland, in which to house their tram and trolleybus fleet. The group has recently received some new rail which has been laid in position, marking the visible start of work to get all of its trams undercover.

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FTS support Heaton Park’s depot appeal

Posted on Saturday 1 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

More good news for the Heaton Park Tramway’s project to construct a second tram depot close to the line’s present Lakeside terminus has come from the Fylde Tramway Society, who have recently agreed to donate £1000 to the fund. Although the FTS usually only makes donations to projects which solely benefit Blackpool trams, the number of ex-Blackpool cars owned by the Manchester Transport Museum Society which will be housed in the new depot led to the donation being approved. Heaton Park being the nearest heritage tramway to Blackpool was also a key deciding factor.

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Brush car 622 gets a rub down

Posted on Saturday 1 June 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Following a period of silence, work has now commenced on preparing Blackpool Brush car 622 for its new role as a static classroom at Anchorsholme Primary School. The project was first announced several months ago and was expected to result in 622 moving to the school at Easter, but some confusion regarding costs of the sale and issues with paperwork have slowed progress.

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Seaton Tramway to be honoured by naming

Posted on Saturday 1 June 2013 by Gareth Prior

It has been announced that Seaton Tramway’s name is to be carried on a South West Trains class 159 DMU. The name will be unveiled in a ceremony at Axminster railway station on Sunday 9 June after the arrival of a service from London Waterloo at 1121. This service will have 300 guests on board who will be on their way to the Classic Car Show taking place at Seaton on this day.

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Heritage Trams this week…

Posted on Friday 31 May 2013 by Gareth Prior

It’s that time of the week again when we bring you a round-up of when and where you can travel on heritage trams across the UK. Once again if you know of any errors or omissions please let us know and we will make the change. 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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Adham Fisher completes Metrolink challenge

Posted on Friday 31 May 2013 by Gareth Prior

A few months ago we reported that Adham Fisher had successfully broken the record for the length of time it took to visit each stop on Nottingham Express Transit – and now he has been at it again with the newly expanded Manchester Metrolink his latest target. With the closure of Mosley Street and the opening of the East Didsbury line all previous records had been reset on Metrolink and Adham decided it was a good time to see if he could create a new record.

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Manchester Metrolink Engineering Works: Sunday 9 June

Posted on Friday 31 May 2013 by Gareth Prior

There will be no trams running between Altrincham and Timperley before 0830 on Sunday 9 June due to engineering works. Trams from Piccadilly will terminate at Timperley at the start of service with a replacement bus in operation through to Altrincham until the resumption of full services at 0830.

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Heaton Park’s new depot gets the green light

Posted on Wednesday 29 May 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Following numerous unavoidable delays, it is extremely pleasing to be able to report that final approval has now been granted for the construction of a new tram depot at the Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester. Tuesday 28th May was the landmark day when the lease on the site, close to the park’s large boating lake, was signed by all of the relevant parties, officially confirming that building work can begin imminently.

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No seat swap for Balloon 700

Posted on Wednesday 29 May 2013 by Andrew Waddington

British Trams Online has previously reported that two Blackpool trams had exchanged seats, these being Brush Railcoach 631 and ‘B Fleet’ Balloon car 700. The seat swap was first mooted late last year in order to restore swingover seats to the heritage Brush car, although the expected replacement of the traditional seating with fixed bus seats on the top deck of car 700 was a disapointment to many. However, a ride on 700 over the recent Bank Holiday weekend has confirmed that this plan has not materialised after all and 700 remains largely unaltered upstairs.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 4 Comments

Boat 602 to join Blackpool’s heritage fleet

Posted on Wednesday 29 May 2013 by Andrew Waddington

Blackpool Transport have announced that the heritage tram fleet in the seaside town is to be boosted by the reactivation of another tram following a lengthy period of storage. The vehicle in question is Blackpool Boat car 602, which last ran on the final weekend of the 2010 illuminations. The car did not operate during 2011 as it did not have transponders fitted, and plans to repaint it as the George Formby tram in 2012 were changed when sister car 604 was discovered to be in a better condition.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 2 Comments