Brush 631 joins the Blackpool heritage fleet

Posted on Monday 9 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

The operational heritage fleet in Blackpool increased by one on Sunday 8th July when Brush 631 entered service, still carrying it’s all over advert for Walls Ice Cream. 631 becomes the twelfth tram to join the heritage fleet this year but is not expected to be the
last.

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London Trams at Crich

Posted on Sunday 8 July 2012 by Andrew Waddington

London trams form a key part of the National Tramway Museum collection based at Crich, making it highly appropriate that this museum will be holding a special event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the closure of the city’s extensive tram system, on Sunday 8th July. However, with such a wonderful selection of restored trams from the English capital now on site, it is easy to forget that, for the first two decades of tramcar operation at Crich, no London tram had carried passengers there! Andrew Waddington takes a timely look back at the recent history of the Tramway Museum Society’s London fleet.

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Your chance to find out more on Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust Plans

Posted on Sunday 8 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Next Sunday sees the return of the annual Fleetwood Tram Sunday event and this year it is planned that there will be a display of trams at Pharos Street, kindly provided by Blackpool Transport, to add to the excitement for tram enthusiasts. In addition the weekend will see the launch of Volume 2 of A Tribute to Rigby Road Works and the chance for people to find out more about the plans of the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust.

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NET 208 enters service in new all over advert for EON

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Nottingham Express Transit 208 has received its first full vinyl wrap advert with a red based design for EON being applied over the weekend of 30th June/1st July. This now means that three of the fleet of Bombardier built trams are running out of fleet livery with 211 being in the special Queen’s Diamond Jubilee livery and 201 retaining its Nottingham Contemporary advert.

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Plans to be submitted for reconstruction of Douglas Promenade

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

The Douglas Horse Tramway could be set for a major change if plans due to be submitted to Douglas Council next month are approved. These plans are part of a major reconstruction of the promenade in Douglas which would see the tramway become single track with passing loops rather than the current double track.

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New campaign to encourage more passengers onto NET

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Nottingham Express Transit have launched a new poster campaign urging more people to  glide into Nottingham”. The posters are due to start appearing across the City in the
coming weeks and they will also contain special “QR codes” which can be scanned by enabled mobile phones taking users to a special page on the NET website  (http://www.thetram.net/noholdups/).

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Edinburgh tram drivers to be employed 18 months before the system opens?

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

More controversy has been caused in Edinburgh with the news that ten drivers and controllers and a General Manager for the tram system are to employed by the end of this year – at least 18 months before the system will actually carry passengers. Although the need to employ drivers before the system is obvious so that training and testing can take place many critics of the project have asked why so many are needed so early and just what they will be doing as there isn’t a huge amount of track currently in situ which they can drive the trams on!

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NET Phase Two works continue

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Utility diversion work is due to commence on Abbey Street in Lenton next week with motorists being advised to either avoid the area or expect delays. Abbey Street is one of the main routes into Nottingham and so the utility diversion work is expected to cause major disruption for up to a year.

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Woman hit by tram in Blackpool

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

The first major pedestrian versus tram incident has happened on the upgraded Blackpool Tramway when a woman in her early 20s was hit by a tram on the newly installed pedestrian crossing near Lauderdale Avenue in Cleveleys – the location where local residents had been fighting to keep a road crossing open. The incident happened at approximately 1240 on Wednesday 4th July and the woman was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital for treatment to injuries to her legs. Regrettably local Councillors used the incident to try and score political points by continuing their campaign to get the road crossing reinstated. As unfortunate as this incident is for the woman concerned it should be remembered that the tramway is safer than it has ever been with improved braking on the Flexities meaning they can stop quicker.

Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 4 Comments

Manchester Metrolink Engineering Works: Sunday 15th July

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Engineering works on Manchester Metrolink on Sunday 15th July will see no trams
running between St Werburgh’s Road and Trafford Bar. A replacement bus will operate between these two stops calling at all stops. As a result of these works all trams from Oldham will run into Piccadilly Station instead.

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Horse tram hit by van in Douglas

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

A horse tram was struck by a van on Douglas Promenade during the afternoon of Wednesday 4th July. The Police undertook an investigation which entailed the road being closed and tram services suspended. No-one (including the horse) was injured in the incident although the van suffered minor damage.

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Public Exhibitions for Metrolink Manchester Airport extension

Posted on Saturday 7 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Transport for Greater Manchester are holding a series of informal drop in sessions for
people to find out more about the Metrolink extension to Manchester Airport which is due to open in 2016. Work on utility diversions for this line commenced in 2010 and main construction work is now also starting to take place.

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Blackpool 016 enters service

Posted on Tuesday 3 July 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The last of Blackpool’s new Flexity2 trams to enter public service, car 016, recorded its first use with passengers on Tuesday 3rd July. The tram had appeared on test on Monday 2nd July, this being its first appearance on the main line and a further outing then occured the following day. The tram then surprisingly came into service that evening – presumably as a changeover for another car.

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Blackpool tram timetable axed… or is it?

Posted on Monday 2 July 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The new substation near Fleetwood Ferry has finally been completed and was commissioned ahead of Sunday 1st July, when a new enhanced tram service commenced operation on the Blackpool tramway. Whilst it is pleasing that a more frequent service is now being offered, Blackpool Transport have taken the surprising step of not promoting the scheduled running times of trams at stops, presumably due to fears of late running and trams being turned short to recover lost time.

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The Great Blackpool Tram Invasion

Posted on Sunday 1 July 2012 by Andrew Waddington

What do most people think of when the word ‘tram’ is mentioned to them? For some, a traditional British double-decker, such as Chesterfield 7 or Leicester 76, would probably spring to mind, whilst for the younger generation, it may be a more modern vehicle such as a Sheffield Supertram or a Croydon LRV that they think of first. However, for many people, the image of a tram in Britain is that of a Blackpool tram, with the 1930s streamliners that have served the town so well for almost eighty years having made a huge impression on millions of people being particularly prominent in the minds of many tram enthusiasts, and also members of the general public. Many people, young and old alike, have grown up with these trams, and not only have they played a key role in keeping interest in British tramway heritage alive after other towns and cities abandoned their tramways, but they also bring back happy memories of holidays and day trips to the seaside for many people.

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Olympic Torch rides on fourth and final tram

Posted on Sunday 1 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

The involvement of trams in the London 2012 Olympic Torch relay has now come to an end after Wolverhampton 49 became the fourth tram to carry a torch bearer at the Black Country Living Museum on Saturday 30th June.

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Posted in Black Country Living Museum, Manx Electric Railway, Nottingham Express Transit | 1 Comment

In Pictures: Nottingham Express Transit 211 in its Jubilee Livery

Posted on Sunday 1 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

A couple of weeks ago we reported that Nottingham Express Transit 211 had received a new vinyl wrap livery celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and now thanks to a couple of British Trams Online readers we are able to bring you some photos of the tram!

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Another attempted cable theft causes more Metrolink problems

Posted on Sunday 1 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Manchester Metrolink were hit by another attempted cable theft on Wednesday 20th June which caused major disruption for passengers on the Bury line. The vandals attempted to steal the overhead wire between Heaton Park and Bowker Vale early in the morning which led to severe morning rush hour disruption.

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Mitcham Doubling latest

Posted on Sunday 1 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

Work on doubling the track between Mitcham and Mitcham Junction on the Wimbledon branch of London Tramlink is approaching completion and indeed trams are now able to use the new track although at the present time it is still being used as a single track section operationally as some signals still need to be moved into the correct position.

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Metrolink Service Performance Update

Posted on Sunday 1 July 2012 by Gareth Prior

The latest service performance statistics on the Manchester Metrolink system have been released on the TfGM Committee website – http://www.transportforgreatermanchestercommittee.gov.uk/download/4374/item_08_metrolink_service_performance.
This latest report gives details on periods 12 and 13 between Monday 5th March and Sunday 28th April 2012.

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