{"id":1309,"date":"2012-07-09T19:51:48","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T19:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2012-07-11T20:09:44","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T20:09:44","slug":"brush-631-joins-the-blackpool-heritage-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=1309","title":{"rendered":"Brush 631 joins the Blackpool heritage fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The operational heritage fleet in Blackpool increased by one on Sunday 8th <\/sup>July when Brush 631<\/strong> entered service, still carrying it\u2019s all over advert for Walls Ice Cream<\/em>. 631 <\/strong>becomes the twelfth tram to join the heritage fleet this year but is not expected to be the
\nlast.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

631 <\/strong>last ran on the last day of the traditional tramway on Sunday 6th<\/sup> November 2011 when
\nit returned to Depot shortly after 1810. It was believed at the time that this would be the last Brush Car to operate in Blackpool as although the tram was being retained as part of a reserve fleet it wasn\u2019t expected to see use as at the time it was known to what extent the heritage fleet would be used on the upgraded tramway.<\/p>\n

Although the introduction of the tram into the operational heritage fleet adds a much needed wet weather car (and with the \u201csummer\u201d we are having the heritage service certainly needs enclosed cars!) whether it will have the desired effect of attracting more passengers to the service is debatable. To really thrive the service will need members of the general public to support it alongside enthusiasts and unfortunately they are unlikely to be rushing to travel on a tram which is covered in advertising vinyls and despite being 75 years old probably doesn\u2019t conform to most people\u2019s idea of a heritage tram.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0 is hoped that in the future 631 <\/strong>may be treated to a repaint in a fleet livery but this is likely to be dependent on the heritage service being well patronised and that is something that all enthusiasts can help with by utilising the service when they are in Blackpool.<\/p>\n

Also due to join the heritage fleet later this year is Twin Car 672+682<\/strong> which is still\u00a0 undergoing attention at Rigby Road which will see it repainted into an as yet unannounced heritage fleet livery.<\/p>\n

The 12 current members of the heritage fleet are (although not all are currently serviceable):<\/p>\n

Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40<\/p>\n

Standard 147<\/p>\n

Boat Car 230 & 600<\/p>\n

Brush Car 631<\/p>\n

Centenary Car 648<\/p>\n

Balloon Cars 706 & 717<\/p>\n

Illuminated Trams 733+734, 736 & 737<\/p>\n

Bolton 66<\/p>\n

In addition modified Balloon 700 has also operated on the service as a one-off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A view of 631 just before it left the Prom for what many thought would be the last time on 6th November 2011 but that has now proved to be wrong following its introduction onto the heritage service. (Photo: Gareth Prior)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The operational heritage fleet in Blackpool increased by one on Sunday 8th July when Brush 631 entered service, still carrying it\u2019s all over advert for Walls Ice Cream. 631 becomes the twelfth tram to join the heritage fleet this year … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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\/1309"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/1319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}