{"id":10335,"date":"2015-02-16T00:15:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T00:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=10335"},"modified":"2015-02-16T00:15:12","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T00:15:12","slug":"a-valentines-day-surprise-from-blackpool-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=10335","title":{"rendered":"A Valentines Day surprise from Blackpool Transport"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the amazement of many people, two of Blackpool Transport’s modified ‘B Fleet’ Balloon cars were used in ordinary passenger service on Valentines Day, Saturday 14th February. The two chosen cars were 700 <\/strong>and 719<\/strong>, both of which spent the day running between Pleasure Beach and Little Bispham to a set timetable.<\/p>\n

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Although the planned use of three of the ‘B Fleet’ (711<\/strong> being the other) during 2015 had been announced beforehand, the decision to use these trams so early in the year was certainly a surprise. Even in the supposedly better days of the traditional Blackpool tramway, the use of Balloon cars in winter was virtually unheard of apart from occasional private hires, so for this to occur in the modern era was really nothing short of remarkable! This also represented the first time that any of the traditional fleet had been used for normal stage carriage work since 2013, as both double deckers were allowed to pick up and unload passengers at all the LRT stops, thanks to their widened centre platforms. This was of course the intention when these trams were rebuilt into their current form, and the decision to utilise them in this manner was well received on this day.<\/p>\n

The day began with pioneer Balloon car 700 <\/strong>leaving Rigby Road depot shortly before 1000, and heading straight for Bispham. This was swiftly followed by sister car <\/span>719 <\/strong>– the appearance of which was particularly welcome, as this tram had not left the depot confines since the October half-term week in 2013! This car headed first for Foxhall, where it reversed and then ran to Pleasure Beach before heading north and passing <\/span>700 <\/strong>on its first southbound run of the day.\u00a0Despite its long lay-off, <\/span>719 <\/strong>performed well and indeed the use of both trams seemed to pass without incident. A few passengers were heard to comment on their appreciation of the novel chance to ride on a double-deck tram in normal service, whilst the few local enthusiasts who were around to enjoy these incredibly unusual workings were also clearly delighted. Apart from a lunch break – when the duo were stabled on the centre track at Bispham – both trams ran along the promenade\u00a0<\/span>successfully\u00a0all day until around 1600 when they retired to the depot once again.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is believed that the use of the Balloon cars, which were both crewed by volunteers, was an experiment – and it would appear that it was a highly successful one. Passenger loadings were respectable for the time of the year, but most importantly, the trams ran well on the timetable that had been devised and did not disrupt the core service at all. It is believed that the use of the trams had deliberately been kept quiet so as to establish the likely response from the general public to their use, which also seemed to be very positive. Hopefully this little surprise may well lead to more regular appearances in service by the ‘B Fleet’, helping to justify the investment in the trams and finally allowing them to settle into a meaningful role on the upgraded tramway rather than simply being used as\u00a0honorary\u00a0heritage trams.<\/p>\n

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A historic day draws to a close in Blackpool, as Balloon 700 is seen heading back to Rigby Road depot following its successful outing on 14th February 2015. (Photo by Shaun Whitehead)<\/p><\/div>\n

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To the amazement of many people, two of Blackpool Transport’s modified ‘B Fleet’ Balloon cars were used in ordinary passenger service on Valentines Day, Saturday 14th February. The two chosen cars were 700 and 719, both of which spent the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10335"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10338,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10335\/revisions\/10338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}