{"id":2221,"date":"2012-11-03T14:01:39","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T13:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=2221"},"modified":"2012-11-06T21:41:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T20:41:45","slug":"purple-and-rain-in-blackpool-as-711-returns-to-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=2221","title":{"rendered":"Purple and rain in Blackpool as 711 returns to use"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interesting week on the Blackpool tramway, which saw most of the modified double-deck trams known as the ‘B Fleet’ back in service for the school half-term holidays, came to an end on Friday 2nd November. The highlight of this day was undoubtedly the use of 711<\/strong> which was making its passenger debut in rebuilt form and new Flexity-inspired white and purple livery.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

711<\/strong> had been out of service since 6th November 2011 when it famously ran in early due to a minor defect, leading to Twin car 672+682<\/strong> taking its place on timetabled service for the last evening of the traditional tramway. Since then the tram has been modified with an enlarged centre platform and power doors, as well as several other less noticeable alterations. As reported previously its traditional lifeguards have been replaced with the modern plough-style lifeguards, but oddly the front skirt panels fitted to several of its sisters have been omitted. It also retains its attractive wooden window frames, giving it a slighly more traditional look than some of its sisters. Indeed, all of the rebuilt Balloon cars are slightly different, continuing the tradition of variety in Blackpool’s tram fleet and proving that, even in the modern age, the system’s\u00a0quirkiness\u00a0will probably never be lost completely!<\/p>\n

The use of 711<\/strong> alongside sister cars 700<\/strong> and 719<\/strong> meant that, for the first time ever, three Balloons in the new fleet livery were all out at the same time creating some historic photo opportunities. Flat-fronted cars 707<\/strong> and 709<\/strong> were also in service on this day, both retaining their expired advert liveries although these are likely to be replaced by purple and white before either car runs again. With 713<\/strong> and 718<\/strong> both running earlier in the week, this meant that seven members of the ‘B Fleet’ were used within a five day period, making this their most intensive spell of use during 2012. Only car 724<\/strong> was fully serviceable but not used during the past week.<\/p>\n

Sadly, 2nd November was notable not only for 711<\/strong>‘s debut but also for appalling weather conditions, with strong wind and heavy rain no doubt putting off many day-trippers. This was a shame for Blackpool Transport who had made a good effort to cater for extra visitors by using additional trams, although even with less people in town than expected there were still good loads witnessed on the service trams, particularly in the morning and late afternoon.<\/p>\n

For reasons that are baffling to onlookers, none of the modified Balloon cars will be used on Saturday 3rd or Sunday 4th November meaning that the season is now almost certainly over for these trams – and it is highly likely that all of them will be treated to the new fleet livery over the winter months. The use of the cars appears to have been a huge success and several passengers have commented on how much they have enjoyed taking a top deck ride along the promenade. Hopefully, an intensive period of crew training will allow these trams to see much more use next year following their successful integration\u00a0in the modern tramway set-up over the last five days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The atrocious weather conditions which greeted 711 on its first day back in service can clearly be appreciated in this view of the tram heading along North Promenade. (Photo by Steve Kemp)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting week on the Blackpool tramway, which saw most of the modified double-deck trams known as the ‘B Fleet’ back in service for the school half-term holidays, came to an end on Friday 2nd November. The highlight of this … 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\/2221"}],"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=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2223,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}