{"id":36588,"date":"2020-12-02T14:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T14:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=36588"},"modified":"2020-12-01T16:54:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T16:54:06","slug":"15-years-apart-blackpool-balloon-700-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=36588","title":{"rendered":"15 Years Apart: Blackpool Balloon 700"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The third of our \u201cDecember extra\u201d articles will be the return of \u201c15 Years Apart\u201d which although possibly not being as comprehensive or varied as it may have been will still be featuring for a lot of this month. We start off by heading to Blackpool as we take a look at <strong>Blackpool Balloon 700<\/strong> in both 2005 and 2020 \u2013 and as we all know it has seen a change!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In 2005 <strong>700<\/strong> has gone through the works for its pseudo heritage overhaul which had seen it receive some original features \u2013 including the twin destination indicators \u2013 as well as some more modern additions which included the fitting of halogen headlights. At the same time it received the always popular Wartime Green and Cream livery style and as the original prototype of the fleet it would retain its popularity throughout the last years of the traditional tramway. This image was taken on Bold Street, Fleetwood on 6<sup>th<\/sup> September 2005 in between operating on the timetabled service to Starr Gate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=36589\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36589\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-36589\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1.700-gp-550x365.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1.700-gp-550x365.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1.700-gp-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1.700-gp-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1.700-gp.jpg 1290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By the time the second photo was taken on 25<sup>th<\/sup> September 2020, <strong>700<\/strong> had been through the works again with this being, with some enthusiasts, a controversial move which saw it receive the widened centre entrances to allow it to operate on the upgraded tramway and stop at the platforms. This work took place in time for limited use in 2011 when it ran in a ghostly white livery before it received the purple \u201cFlexity\u201d vinyls in time for 2012. As we all know now its use on normal service since has been limited with it more likely to be seen on heritage tours. In this image we see <strong>700<\/strong> having just passed West Drive just north on Cleveleys on driver familiarisation. The date is 25<sup>th<\/sup> September 2020.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_36590\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=36590\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36590\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36590\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-36590\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2.700-gp-550x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2.700-gp-550x367.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2.700-gp-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2.700-gp-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2.700-gp.jpg 1296w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-36590\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Both Photographs by Gareth Prior<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The third of our \u201cDecember extra\u201d articles will be the return of \u201c15 Years Apart\u201d which although possibly not being as comprehensive or varied as it may have been will still be featuring for a lot of this month. We &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=36588\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/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\/36588"}],"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=36588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36591,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36588\/revisions\/36591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}