Boat 233 almost ready to set sail

Posted on Saturday 7 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Work on the repaint and commissioning of Blackpool Boat car 233 at Beamish Museum is now virtually complete thanks to the sterling efforts of both the Beamish Tramway Group and the BusWorks painter, who has been working long hours in order to have 233 ready for service quickly as the Lancastrian Transport Trust’s commitment to their tram’s future.

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White Easter for Crich

Posted on Friday 6 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The main operating season for 2011 commenced for Crich Tramway Village this week, with daily opening from Monday 2nd April onwards. Unfortunately however, this milestone co-incided with the end of the mini-heatwave experienced across much of Britain recently, and the warm spring sunshine was replaced by bitter cold and deep snow!

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A Good Friday for Bolton 66

Posted on Friday 6 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Good Friday 6th April marked the start of Blackpool Transport’s highly anticipated new heritage tram tours. With the old fleet unable to load at the new platforms at tram stops, all of the retained fleet apart from the widened Balloons are now effectively restricted to working tours only, and the new service has been introduced to give them a useful role on the modernised system. As expected, the vintage trams run between Pleasure Beach and Little Bispham, and they load and unload at four key locations: Pleasure Beach, North Pier, Cabin and Bispham.

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Blackpool departures: January – March 2012

Posted on Friday 6 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

With the Blackpool tramway now open for business once again, it seems like a good time to provide a summary of the trams which have departed for new homes so far this year. The first quarter of 2012 has appropriately witnessed 12 departures, consisting of 11 trams which have been sold to new owners, plus one visiting car returning home. Five of the moves involved Centenary cars, leaving just three of this eight-strong class at Rigby Road, with the others being a diverse range of vehicles.

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The calm after the storm: Day two of Blackpool 2012

Posted on Thursday 5 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Following the unfortunate circumstances which surrounded the start of tram services on the upgraded Blackpool tram system, the second day of operation was effectively a chance for Blackpool Transport to wipe the slate clean and start again, with the opportunity to give locals and visitors a more positive impression of the new era than had been possible on the first day. Indeed, Thursday 5th April was a lot less eventful, although some issues continued to create a negative initial impression on many passengers.

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Eventful first day for Blackpool’s upgraded tram service

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

The long-awaited commencement of passenger services on the upgraded Blackpool tramway occured on Wednesday 4th April 2012, with Flexity 006 becoming the first of the new low-floor trams to run in ordinary passenger service. The car was allocated to Route ‘A’, the first departure of the day which is timed to set off from Starr Gate at 5:00am. This was a very historic occasion for many different reasons, but sadly an incident in Fleetwood spoilt the occasion and resulted in some unwanted negative press for the tramway on what should have been a fantastic day.

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Tramlink 2548 receives all over advert

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

Recently all our attention on London Tramlink has been on the Variotrams and their exploits on test and in service but at the start of this week a surprise appeared on the tramway in the form of 2548 in an all over advert! The vinyl wrap advert is for Walls’ Magnum Infinity and was first noted on the tram on Monday 2nd April.

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Variotram 2554 continues test passenger runs

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

On a visit to Croydon on Wednesday 4th April Variotram 2554 was noticed running in passenger service between Wimbledon and East Croydon. The tram is believed to have run these test passenger runs for at least four weekdays now but as yet is not permitted to run any further east with passengers on board. On one journey on this day the tram terminated from Wimbledon on the centre platform at East Croydon before eventually departing eastbound (presumably on the New Addington branch) “Not in Service”. The other two Variotrams delivered so far were stabled at Therapia Lane Depot.

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Manchester Metrolink Engineering Works: 28th & 29th April 2012

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

There will be more engineering works on Manchester Metrolink over the weekend of Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th April which will mean no trams will run on the Bury line
whilst all other lines will see service amendments.

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In Pictures: Mitcham Double tracking

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

With thanks to Ian Buck we provide some photos of the latest progress on the Mitcham double tracking project. This work will be ongoing over the next few months with several track closures required to allow this to happen, the first of which is due to happen over the Easter weekend. During this work a limited tram service will be provided between Wimbledon and Mitcham (running every 15 minutes) with a replacement bus service from Mitcham to Mitcham Junction where normal services will resume into Croydon and beyond.

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More Metrolink extension work leads to road closure

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

Work on the extension of Manchester Metrolink to Oldham and Rochdale is continuing to progress with the level crossing at Beal Lane due to attended to over the Easter weekend. As a result of this work Beal Lane will be closed to all traffic between Friday 6th and Monday 9th April with traffic diversions being put into place. During this period the level crossing panels will also be removed and reinstalled. The line to Rochdale is due to open sometime in 2012 but no confirmation has been given as to when this will occur with the continued delays with introducing the TMS equipment.

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East Croydon gets the hump!

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

As part of the preparations to ensure that the Tramlink network is fully accessible to the new Variotrams, two small humps have been constructed at the ends of platform 2 (the central platform) to allow level boarding to the two single end doors.  This is believed to be the only platform on the network to have had this alteration.

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Manchester Metrolink Easter services

Posted on Wednesday 4 April 2012 by Gareth Prior

No engineering works are scheduled for the Manchester Metrolink over Easter and a Sunday service will be in operation on both Good Friday 6th April and Easter Monday 9th
April.

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First passenger tram to Fleetwood since 2009!

Posted on Tuesday 3 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Tuesday 3rd April 2012 was a landmark day for Blackpool’s tramway upgrade, as a tram ran along the entire length of the line from Starr Gate to Fleetwood Ferry with passengers on board for the first time since November 2009, when Brush car 627 rumbled along the streets of Fleetwood for the final time, bringing the curtain down on the traditional tram service in the town. Although this day saw only one tram carry passengers, it marked the official re-opening of the system and a major landmark for the Fylde coast generally.

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Beamish Boat car nears completion

Posted on Tuesday 3 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

Work on repainting Blackpool ‘Boat’ car 233 (latterly 605) ready for service at its new home at Beamish Museum has made incredible progress since this task commenced less than a week ago. The tram has now had its colours turned inside-out, with the upper cream body trim now in green undercoat, whilst most of the body has been repainted cream. The work is being carried out by a professional coachpainter from BusWorks in Blackpool, as part of the loan arrangement with the Lancastrian Transport Trust.

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Tram debuts aplenty

Posted on Monday 2 April 2012 by Andrew Waddington

As the main 2012 season kicks in for many of the UK’s traditional tramways, the amount of interest is also on the increase. Two trams made historic debuts in new homes – one permanent, one temporary – in the week leading up to Easter, whilst two of Blackpool’s traditional tram fleet also appeared on the main line for the first time in 2012.

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Variotram 2554 enters service

Posted on Saturday 31 March 2012 by Gareth Prior

Over the past few weeks enthusiasts have been debating whether Croydon’s Variotrams or Blackpool’s Flexity2s would enter fare paying passenger service first – well now that question has been answered with Variotram 2554 carrying passengers briefly on Friday 30th March. This of course means Croydon “wins” by five days with the first Flexity2 planned to carry passengers on Wednesday 4th April.

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Posted in London Trams | 3 Comments

Fare rises for NET

Posted on Saturday 31 March 2012 by Gareth Prior

Tramlink Nottingham – new operators of Nottingham Express Transit – have announced that fares are to increase from Sunday 15th April with significant rises on day tickets, single fares and the Paypoint longer term season tickets. Despite the inevitable outcry with regard to these increases Tramlink Nottingham have said that the fares still offer excellent value for money.

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Ten trams now in Edinburgh

Posted on Saturday 31 March 2012 by Gareth Prior

Whilst our attentions have been turned towards tram deliveries in Blackpool, Croydon and Manchester the only modern tramway in Scotland has also been receiving new vehicles at regular intervals with ten of the CAF built trams now at Gogar Depot.

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Plans for Midland Metro extension through Dudley unveiled

Posted on Saturday 31 March 2012 by Gareth Prior

In the same week that Centro announced their “memorandum of understanding” with
Birmingham City Council it has also been reported that they are once again planning an extension through Dudley. This extension would be part of a line between Wednesbury and Dudley Port and is included a new blueprint for the Castle Hill area.

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