Campaign to retain Woodlands Road stop continues

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

The campaign to retain the Woodlands Road stop on the Manchester Metrolink Bury line has stepped up a gear recently with the protest group Save our Station (SoS) presenting a report to Transport for Greater Manchester demanding for the resumption of full services and the long-term retention of the stop.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 5 Comments

Another road closure as Metrolink construction works continue

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

Work to bring Manchester Metrolink into Rochdale town centre is continuing and as a result from Monday 8th October a section of Smith Street will be closed to allow further progress. The section of Smith Street between Drake Street and the new No 1 Riverside council building will be closed for approximately six weeks. As a result of this closure River Street will become two way (instead of its usual one way status) for the duration of the works.

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Manchester Metrolink Engineering Works: Sunday 14th October

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

There will be major changes to Manchester Metrolink services to allow engineering works to take place on Sunday 14th October. The only tram services which will run will be between Bury and Victoria and Oldham Mumps and Victoria with all other lines seeing replacement
buses in operation instead. Details on these bus services can be found at http://www.metrolink.co.uk/servicedisruptions/index.asp?id=274

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Major NET Phase Two works to start on Ruddington Lane

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

The next phase of works to extend Nottingham Express Transit through to Clifton have now commenced with the closure of a section of Ruddington Lane for six months. This work will see some of the road lowered so that trams can cross Ruddington Lane on the level near to the Nottingham South and Wilford Industrial Estate and some utility diversion work, track laying and the installation of new traffic/tram lights will also be undertaken at the same time.

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Safer Tram Stop awards for Metrolink stops

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

Six stops on the Manchester Metrolink network have recently received “Safer Tram Stop” status. Salford Quays, Exchange Quay, Harbour City, MediaCityUK, Anchorage and Old
Trafford have received the status as a result of their low crime rate and safety and security features.

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Mobility scooter strikes tram in Croydon

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

The latest round of mobility scooter versus tram in the UK has occurred in Croydon with an incident happening at the junction between Wellesley Road and George Street in the town centre on Monday 24th September. The circumstances as to how the incident happened have not been reported but the 75 year old woman using the mobility scooter is believed to have received minor injuries and was taken to Croydon University Hospital. Tram 2550 was the vehicle involved in the incident.

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More Metrolink delays after two incidents in one day

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

Manchester Metrolink services were delayed on two lines on Friday 28th September after  two separate incidents with one seeing a tram failure whilst the other was a result of a collision between a tram and a taxi.

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Broken down tram causes Tramlink delays

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

London Tramlink services through central Croydon were delayed on Thursday 4th October after a tram failed near to West Croydon tramstop. This tram failure meant that the complete Tramlink service was suspended between Reeves Corner and East Croydon with bus services also affected due to the location of the incident.

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Eccles line suspended after overhead failure

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

Services on the Eccles line of Manchester Metrolink were suspended for several hours on Tuesday 25th September after an overhead line failure. The fault was reported at 0830 with repairs then undertaken before a full service was able to resume from late afternoon.

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The Forest Park and Ride site closed for Goose Fair

Posted on Sunday 7 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

The Park and Ride site at The Forest has been closed since 29th September and will remain so until Wednesday 10th October because of the annual Goose Fair taking place at the adjacent recreation ground. Normally people who use this park and ride site are advised to use the one at Wilkinson Street but this year that is more problematic as some of the spaces there have been lost as a result of the depot extension works! For the duration of the Goose Fair NET have also reintroduced their popular Family Ticket which allows five people (including 2 adults) to travel all day for just £5.

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A note about the comments section

Posted on Friday 5 October 2012 by Gareth Prior

Several times recently there have been occasions when some of the comments on this blog  have gone over the top and have degenerated into little more than a slanging match between differing viewpoints. As a result of this, and with immediate effect, all comments will now have to be moderated before they appear instead of the current situation where anyone who has previously commented gets their comment automatically added to the blog. It is unfortunate that we have had to do this as the majority of those comments which
are added to the blog add to the story and discussion but some of the recent comments which have been added are completely unacceptable with personal attacks on individuals.

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Heaton Park trackwork progress – in pictures

Posted on Friday 5 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The extending of the trackwork at Manchester’s Heaton Park Tramway continues, as the Lakeside site is prepared for the construction of the tramway’s new depot. The short stub track of the double-track terminus has continued to grow steadily, with a set of points now meaning that trams taking this direction can then head towards the left or right.

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Blackpool Brush car 259 goes under wraps

Posted on Friday 5 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

One of the Lancastrian Transport Trust’s preserved Blackpool trams currently in open air storage has been covered with large green sheets to protect it from the elements this week. The former Permanent Way Brush car 259 has been the lucky recipient of the sheets – a good decision as, having been stripped of many external panels, the wooden body frame of 259 was exposed to the harsh coastal climate.

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New role for Edinburgh tram top deck

Posted on Thursday 4 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The remains of an early electric tramcar from Edinburgh are destined for a bright future after years of storage, thanks to an imaginative development from the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust. The upper deck of the tram was recently moved to Kirkham Prison after being offered to the Trust by Scotland’s Galleries and Museums, who had housed it in their reserve store, but had no plans to display it or carry out any work on it.

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Centenary car attacked by vandals

Posted on Thursday 4 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Sad news to report is that one of the many ex-Blackpool trams currently in outside storage has been vandalised. Centenary car 646 was the victim of a mindless act by vandals overnight on 2nd/3rd October, which has left the tram with seven smashed windows. However, things could have been a lot worse as apparently a previous attempt was made a few days earlier to set the tram on fire.

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Posted in Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust | 5 Comments

Bolton to Fleetwood

Posted on Tuesday 2 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

On Monday 1st October, Bolton 66 made history yet again by travelling to the Blackpool tramway’s northern terminus for the first time since the line was upgraded to modern light rail standard. To add further excitement to what was already a very unsual trip for the 1901-built tram, the journey took place in darkness!

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Coronation 304 move delayed

Posted on Tuesday 2 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The recently-announced loan of Blackpool Coronation 304 to Beamish Museum has been delayed slightly due to a slight hitch with the transport arrangements as a low loader is not available to move it in time. The tram, owned by the Lancastrian Transport Trust, was originally expected to run at the North East this weekend (6th & 7th October), but unfortunately this will not be possible.

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Cosmetic work for Heaton Park trams

Posted on Tuesday 2 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Although the big project to construct a second tram depot in the grounds of Manchester’s Heaton Park is just beginning, members of the Manchester Transport Museum Society are still finding time for some smaller jobs focussed on improving the appearance of the trams in their collection. Blackpool 623 has recently received some minor attention and this should soon be followed by the other trams currently on site.

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Heaton Park Tramway closed on 7th October

Posted on Tuesday 2 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester will not be operating this weekend, due to the annual Bus & Tram Show being held at Birkenhead on Sunday 7th October. Several of the regular volunteers in Manchester will be supporting this event in order to provide an intensive four-tram service, which would leave insufficient staff to run trams at Heaton Park.

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Another Balloon relocates to Starr Gate

Posted on Monday 1 October 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Blackpool Balloon car 711 – the ninth, and final member of the class to have its centre platform area widened as part of the door modification programme – has now joined sister car 719 at Starr Gate depot. Both trams have not run since last November when they were withdrawn for modifying, and have been under attention in the Rigby Road workshops since then.

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