{"id":14905,"date":"2016-06-16T19:42:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T18:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=14905"},"modified":"2016-06-16T19:42:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T18:42:56","slug":"the-hovertram-is-coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=14905","title":{"rendered":"The Hovertram is coming home!"},"content":{"rendered":"

All four of Blackpool\u2019s iconic 1960s Illuminated Feature Cars are set to be reunited on their home tramway following the announcement that the Hovertram<\/strong> is to make the move back to the north west following almost 10 years away. The Hovertram<\/strong> is currently owned by the North East Electrical Traction Trust and is stored at their premises in Sunderland but as part of an agreement it is now going to head home, initially on a 20 year lease.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Hovertram<\/strong> \u2013 numbered 735<\/strong> \u2013 was built 1963 using the underframe of English Electric Railcoach 222<\/strong> and carried passengers during the annual Illuminations every year up until 2001 when it was withdrawn from service requiring an overhaul. Unlike the Frigate<\/strong> and subsequently the Western Train<\/strong> there was no overhaul on the cards for 735<\/strong> and so in June 2007 it departed Blackpool having been acquired for the Beith Transport Collection in Scotland \u2013 in probably one of the more bizarre preservation attempts of any Blackpool tram over the years. This was not to be a long term move for the tram however as in 2014 after negotiations the North East Electrical Traction Trust acquired the tram to join their growing collection of Blackpool trams and the Hovertram made the move to the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum near Sunderland.<\/p>\n

Discussions have been taking place in recent months between the NEETT and the Blackpool Heritage Trust and it has been concluded that the Hovertram\u2019s rightful place is in Blackpool and so an agreement has been reached for an initial 20 year lease which will see the tram make the journey back to Rigby Road. It will require a significant amount of work to return the tram to the rails \u2013 it was withdrawn in 2001 for a reason after all! \u2013 but the Blackpool Heritage Trust see the return of the Hovertram home as a significant achievement as it sees the illuminated fleet reunited once more. Who knows at some point in the future the public may once again be able to see five illuminated trams in action with the already serviceable Western Train<\/strong>, Frigate<\/strong> and Trawler<\/strong> joined eventually by The Rocket<\/strong> and The Hovertram<\/strong> \u2013 if and when this happens it will be the first time since 1978 (when the Blackpool Belle<\/strong> was withdrawn) that there will have been five illuminated trams available for service!<\/p>\n

The tram is the only true double deck illuminated tram that has run and with a large capacity proved to be popular to help clear the crowds in the glory years of the illuminations. Due to the roof mounted engines to complete the Hovertram image the tram was built to low bridge specification and featured a low side gangway on the upper deck.<\/p>\n

The Hovertram will make the trip across from Sunderland with support from the Blackpool Tram Shop who have agreed to fund the transport costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All four of Blackpool\u2019s iconic 1960s Illuminated Feature Cars are set to be reunited on their home tramway following the announcement that the Hovertram is to make the move back to the north west following almost 10 years away. The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/14905"}],"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=14905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14906,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14905\/revisions\/14906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}