{"id":43939,"date":"2022-02-21T22:00:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T22:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=43939"},"modified":"2022-02-21T18:04:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T18:04:22","slug":"in-pictures-a-variety-of-seasons-in-one-weekend-at-blackpools-vintage-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=43939","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: A variety of seasons in one weekend at Blackpool\u2019s Vintage Weekend!"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s always a risk when organising special events in the British Isles that the weather may play a part and so it proved for the first major event featuring Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours with rain, snow, wind and sun all featuring at various times. Taking place over the weekend of Saturday 19th<\/sup> and Sunday 20th<\/sup> February, the first day saw the relatively rare sight of snow in Blackpool and the even rarer sight nowadays of heritage trams running through it!<\/p>\n

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Saturday 19th<\/sup> February<\/strong><\/p>\n

The weather had already played its part before the weekend\u2019s main events got underway as Storm Eunice had made her presence known the previous day which had seen the entire tramway suspended \u2013 which meant that the planned evening tour on Friday 18th<\/sup> February was postponed, so things didn\u2019t get underway until Saturday 19th <\/sup>February with the main highlight being a six-tram hop-on, hop-off timetabled service with journeys running between various stops from Pleasure Beach to Fisherman\u2019s Walk in Fleetwood.<\/p>\n

The weather also played a part in which trams would run as the original plan had seen both Boat 600<\/strong> and Bolton 66<\/strong> allocated to service but it had been announced the previous day that they would be substituted by Brush 621<\/strong> and Balloon 715<\/strong> for pretty obvious reasons. In addition to those two, Brush 621<\/strong>, Centenary 648<\/strong> (its first use since 2020), Balloon 717<\/strong> and Rebuilt Balloon 718<\/strong> were in service whilst Balloon 711<\/strong> was the Shop Tram at North Pier, with it running in service at the end of the day too.<\/p>\n

The day started off with rain, which then turned into snow and it then ended with sunshine \u2013 the Great British weather!<\/p>\n

Things didn\u2019t go without incidence and in another throwback to how things used to be every winter, Centenary 648<\/strong> suffered a fault when working a service southbound to Pleasure Beach. It lost power around 1520 at Manchester Square and had to receive fitters attention which enabled it to get to Pleasure Beach. However, the decision was taken to remove it from service and it returned to depot missing out on a journey to Fleetwood. The failure of 648<\/strong> did lead to a few delays with a queue forming behind it including a Flexity and Brush 631<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The end of the hop-on, hop-off timetabled wasn\u2019t the end of the day heritage tram-wise though as the Western Train<\/strong> ran not one but two Evening Tours. The first, departing North Pier around 1740, was a replacement tour for the Friday Evening Tour which was unable to run.<\/p>\n

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Trams in the snow! Brush Cars 621 and 631 pass at Bispham as they go their respective ways.<\/p><\/div>\n

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After 648\u2019s failure, it sits on the outer loop at Pleasure Beach as Brush Cars 631 (about to head to Fleetwood in lieu of 648) and 621 are seen on the inner loop.<\/p><\/div>\n

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From snow to sun! Balloon 715 is seen between Cliffs Hotel and Gynn Square as it heads back to North Pier and Tower. (Photographs x3 by David Maxwell, 19th February 2022)<\/p><\/div>\n

A video of the trams running in the snow on Saturday 19th <\/sup>February from Ian Summerfield is available below:
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