A significant improvement in the weather led to the use of open top cars Boat 230 <\/strong>and ‘Princess Alice’ 706 <\/strong>on Saturday 4th April, along with Bolton 66 <\/strong>and Centenary car 642<\/strong>, the latter being a welcome choice as it only ran for a few hours on one day during the whole of 2014. As all four were making their year debuts, all of them were in great demand throughout the day and once again the trams ran to a variety of destinations, but with emphasis on Little Bispham as planned. For the second day running there was a nice extra treat at the end of the afternoon, when both open cars were\u00a0dispatched\u00a0to Fleetwood, becoming the first trolley fitted trams to venture this far in service this year. Boat 230 <\/strong>went first, also becoming the first Boat to run to Fleetwood in 2015 and the first ever tram crewed by volunteers to run this far, and about half an hour later it was followed by 706<\/strong>, bringing the curtain down on a glorious day of heritage tram action.<\/p>\n Sadly the sunshine did not last long and the fog returned with a vengeance for Easter Sunday, 5th April. This was the first day of operation for the enhanced Gold service – the most generous allocation of historic tramcars witnessed in Blackpool since 2011, and as such the less than ideal weather conditions were no obstacle to the many enthusiasts who were keen to sample what the new service had to offer. The six trams which began the day’s proceedings were Box 40<\/strong>, Standard 147<\/strong>, Boat 227<\/strong>, Centenary car 648<\/strong>, ‘Princess Alice’ 706<\/strong> and Balloon 711<\/strong>. Most noteworthy was the appearance of 711 <\/strong>as this was its first use since returning from Crich, and having this tram running alongside Box 40 <\/strong>was quite appropriate as the last time both had been in service together was last October, when both were temporarily residing in Derbyshire! The choice of the red Boat car on such a cold and misty morning proved to be overly optimistic as the weather failed to improve very much at all, and the car was later swapped over for Balloon 717<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The second gold running day, Easter Monday 6th April saw cars 40<\/strong>, 66<\/strong>, 147<\/strong>, 631<\/strong>, 642<\/strong> and 706<\/strong> all in use. Once again an eerie fog swirled around the promenade to provide a rather unusual backdrop to the proceedings, but again loadings on the heritage cars were respectable with seats on all of\u00a0the six Fleetwood tours in high demands. All of these trams again ran to Fleetwood with the exception of 66 <\/strong>which was exchanged for 717 <\/strong>as the driver was rather cold! Of note, both Centenary cars were turned short at Fisherman’s Walk over the weekend due to the infamous bollard at the Ferry which has still not been relocated.<\/p>\n The Easter weekend was certainly a great success for the heritage tours, introducing new innovations to the operation whilst also incorporating some of the best bits of the service from the last couple of years. Hopefully subsequent events will be just as enjoyable and profitable, although it would be nice if the sun blessed them a bit more! The next chance to enjoy this increased level of heritage output in Blackpool will be the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, but if you can’t wait that long a two-car service should operate daily until 12th April, and then every Saturday and Sunday throughout the peak season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Contrasting Balloon cars 700 and 717 stand side by side on the loops at Pleasure Beach on Good Friday. Despite their very different looks, these are of course the only two of their class with twin destination indicators at each end.<\/p><\/div>\n A gloriously sunny Easter Saturday with Boat 230 at Cabin on its way back from Fleetwood; the longest journey undertaken by a Boat car so far this year.<\/p><\/div>\n Easter Sunday saw Box 40 return to Fleetwood Ferry for the first time since 2013, and it was captured alongside the old waiting shelter on Pharos Street before heading back to Blackpool.<\/p><\/div>\n Easter Monday at Bispham with traditional double deckers Bolton 66 and Standard 147 passing.<\/p><\/div>\n Later the same day and this incredible line-up of cars 706, 631 and 642 further illustrates the variety of trams on show over the four day holiday period. (All photos by Bradley Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The four-day Easter weekend saw the first of this year’s special heritage tram events taking place in Blackpool, with the introduction of the green heritage timetable on Good Friday 3rd April. This was then followed by the inaugural operation of … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Easter-1-700-+-717.jpg\" "\\"Easter")
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