{"id":14419,"date":"2016-04-20T19:29:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=14419"},"modified":"2016-04-20T19:29:42","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:29:42","slug":"picture-in-time-blackpool-balloon-724","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=14419","title":{"rendered":"Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 724"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re off to sunny Blackpool for the latest instalment of Picture in Time with an image taken during 2005 of <strong>Modified Balloon 724<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>724<\/strong> was one of four Balloon Cars rebuilt in late 1990s\/early 2000s which saw the traditional \u201cBalloon\u201d shape replaced by flat ends producing a much different look for these trams. This was to be last of the Balloons so treated with the following major overhauls seeing a return to the more traditional shape and <strong>724<\/strong> returned to service in this condition at the start of the 2004 season receiving one of the Metro Coastlines livery styles. <strong>724<\/strong> then received the widened centre entrances in time for use during the 2011 season \u2013 having by this time also received an all over advert \u2013 and it is this condition that the tram remains in today. It is also still in Blackpool but as with all of the flat-fronted Balloons it is currently stored out of use at Rigby Road having not been seen in service for several years.<\/p>\n<p>In this photo we are at Tower on 15th July 2005 and see <strong>724<\/strong> on the way to Starr Gate. The tram is carrying the Line 5 Red and Yellow Metro Coastlines livery as also shown on the bus in the background.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_14420\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=14420\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14420\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14420\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14420\" title=\"724-am\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/724-am-550x412.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"412\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/724-am-550x412.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/724-am-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/724-am.jpg 1229w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-14420\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photograph by Alasdair MacFarlane<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re off to sunny Blackpool for the latest instalment of Picture in Time with an image taken during 2005 of Modified Balloon 724.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14419"}],"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=14419"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14422,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14419\/revisions\/14422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}