An important milestone in British tramway history which seems to have gone largely unnoticed, is the 25th anniversary of Metrolink – the first second generation tramway in the UK. However, the Manchester Transport Museum Society have decided to hold a small celebration at Manchester’s other tramway, the heritage line at Heaton Park.<\/p>\n
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Although the MTMS have acquired one of the original T68 vehicles from Metrolink, 1007<\/strong>, the unit remains stored by its original owners. Therefore the event at Heaton Park will star the much older Manchester 765<\/strong>, which is being referred to as the grandfather of the Metrolink fleet, and a range of other more modern artefacts which the Society has collected in the recent past. A whole host of Metrolink items will be extracted from storage for the day and displayed to the public, hopefully bringing back memories for people of all ages with fond memories of Manchester’s newest tram system. Highlights should include the opportunity to sit in a genuine tram driver’s seat, salvaged from one of the withdrawn T68s.<\/p>\n The event will be held on Sunday 16th July. Unfortunately, this date clashes with the annual Fleetwood Festival of Transport AKA Tram Sunday, and this is made more baffling by the fact that this weekend is expected to see the MTMS-owned Blackpool Brush Railcoach 623 <\/strong>making its first runs in passenger service on Blackpool tracks since 2009. Presumably the event at Heaton Park is being aimed at a different audience, and at least this key date in transport history will not go by without celebration, albeit not provided by Metrolink itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An important milestone in British tramway history which seems to have gone largely unnoticed, is the 25th anniversary of Metrolink – the first second generation tramway in the UK. However, the Manchester Transport Museum Society have decided to hold a … Continue reading