{"id":31503,"date":"2019-12-15T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=31503"},"modified":"2019-12-08T11:19:24","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T11:19:24","slug":"15-years-apart-blackpool-balloon-700","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=31503","title":{"rendered":"15 Years Apart: Blackpool Balloon 700"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We return to Blackpool for today\u2019s edition of \u201c15 Years Apart\u201d and it\u2019s the prototype Balloon Car that we take a look at.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->It would be fair to say that <strong>700<\/strong> has gone through quite a change over the past 15 years, from a tram that had enjoyed a traditional overhaul to a tram modernised for use on the upgraded tramway. But first off we are in 2004 when we see <strong>700<\/strong> in the Wartime Green and Cream livery on Hopton Road just leaving Rigby Road Depot to take part in a 70th Anniversary Cavalcade of the English Electric Streamlined trams. With twin destination indicators and a trolley the tram looks very much the traditional Blackpool tram.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=31504\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-31504\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-31504\" title=\"1.700-gp\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1.700-gp-550x385.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1.700-gp-550x385.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1.700-gp-1024x717.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1.700-gp.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a>Now moving on to 2019 and <strong>700<\/strong> has been modernised with the widened centre entrances installed to allow it to operate at the light rail platforms, although its use for this purpose has been very much few and far between. It retains the twin destination screens and roof windows but the trolley is gone and replaced by a pantograph and the green and cream has been replaced by the Purple and White Flexity style livery. The tram is seen just entering Pleasure Beach loop.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31505\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=31505\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-31505\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31505\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-31505\" title=\"2.700-gp\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2.700-gp-550x366.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2.700-gp-550x366.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2.700-gp-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2.700-gp.jpg 1296w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-31505\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Both Photographs by Gareth Prior<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We return to Blackpool for today\u2019s edition of \u201c15 Years Apart\u201d and it\u2019s the prototype Balloon Car that we take a look at.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[77,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31503"}],"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=31503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31507,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31503\/revisions\/31507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}