A seperate development has also seen the Fleetwood group open up conversations with the North Eastern Electrical Traction Trust, who hope to complete work on a depot in which to house its vehicles at Sunderland in 2013. Consideration is being given towards a loan deal being arranged, which could see one of the trams owned by the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust head to Sunderland for a period of static display, which would also ensure that another tram would be going undercover.<\/p>\n
Although discussions are at an early stage, one possibility is that the LTT and FHLT could ultimately merge to form one super collection of Blackpool trams. With the LTT’s plans to create a new transport heritage centre at Thornton Gate no nearer to progressing forwards, housing its collection at Fleetwood could well be a wise move for the Trust if the FHLT’s plans do move forward as planned over the next 12 months. A combination of both collections would also create the basis of an unrivalled display illustrating the development of the Blackpool tram over a period of some seventy years, with unique LTT-owned cars such as Standard 143<\/strong> and Coronation 304<\/strong> complemented by the Fleetwood group’s Twin, Jubilee and Centenary cars. This would also enable a display on the evolution of driver-only operated cars in Blackpool to be created, featuring OMO 8<\/strong>, Jubilee 761<\/strong> and Centenary car 641<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Of course, any such merger would almost certainly lead to some ‘preserved’ trams being declared surplus to requirements. Between them, the FHLT and LTT currently own five Balloon cars, four Brush Railcoaches and three Towing cars (yet curiously only one trailer!), meaning that some of these would probably end up being offered for sale or scrapped. Whilst this would obviously be a shame, if it would ensure a brighter future for a reduced number of trams, most supporters of the aim to create a Blackpool tram museum could probably forgive such difficult decisions. We now await any further developments with great interest, and hope that this may be a step in the right direction towards a more positive future for many of the Blackpool trams currently out in the wilderness.<\/p>\n Two trams that could benefit from a future FHLT\/LTT collaboration are pictured at North Pier on their last day in service, 6th November 2011: Balloon 715 and Jubilee car 761. Both trams are currently in open storage. (Photo by Andrew Waddington)<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a development that is likely to be welcomed by many fans of Blackpool’s historic tramcars, it has now been confirmed that discussions are taking place between representatives of the Lancastrian Transport Trust and the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust, to … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P1100603-1024x680.jpg\" "\\"P1100603\\"")
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