{"id":14769,"date":"2016-06-02T16:19:28","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T15:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=14769"},"modified":"2016-06-02T16:19:28","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T15:19:28","slug":"in-pictures-the-western-train-on-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=14769","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: The Western Train on tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday 27th May, a special evening tour was operated by Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours, acting as a ‘warm-up’ for the Gold service running over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. This utilised the illuminated Western Train 733+734 <\/strong>which performed a rare full-length journey from Starr Gate to Fleetwood, with a very rare move thrown in for good measure!<\/p>\n

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Having suffered a coupling defect earlier in the year, it was pleasing to see 733+734 <\/strong>fit and ready for its first public run of the year. After picking up a near full load of eager passengers on Hopton Road, the Train headed north for the promenade – but only as far as Foxhall, where the trams crossed over for a backwards run to Starr Gate! It is not known when the Train last carried passengers facing the wrong way around, or if it has ever run ‘carriage first’ to Starr Gate before, but this was certainly a great novelty. After the obligatory photo stop, the trams then headed for Fleetwood before returning south to the Pleasure Beach. There, a bonus was provided in the shape of Bolton 66 <\/strong>which was also out on an evening private hire with a party of people in period costume on board adding to the uniqueness of the occasion. It was then back to Fleetwood and then depot in darkness, bringing to an end a very enjoyable tour with one of Blackpool’s most iconic trams. This just goes to show that there are still lots of possibilities for doing different things with the heritage fleet, and long may that continue!<\/p>\n

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The rare sight of the Western Train standing in the sunshine at Starr Gate on the first leg of its mammoth tour on 27th May.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Another photo stop was taken at Cabin heading north, with Flexity 009 passing by at an appropriate moment.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The evening sun shines on 733+734 and Bolton 66 at Pleasure Beach.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Journey's end as the Train, now fully illuminated, arrives back at Rigby Road in darkness. (All photos by Bradley Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n

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On Friday 27th May, a special evening tour was operated by Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours, acting as a ‘warm-up’ for the Gold service running over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. This utilised the illuminated Western Train 733+734 which performed a … 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\/14769"}],"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=14769"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14777,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14769\/revisions\/14777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}