{"id":48620,"date":"2023-04-19T22:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T21:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=48620"},"modified":"2023-04-19T19:07:22","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T18:07:22","slug":"in-pictures-blackpool-towing-car-281-at-st-helens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=48620","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: Blackpool Towing Car 281 at St Helens"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was November 2022 that we last featured photos of the Fylde Transport Trust\u2019s Blackpool Towing Car 281<\/strong> at which point it was making good progress in being painted cream and losing its long standing Metro Coastlines colour scheme. We then reported on the tram in January when its repaint was very nearly completed and now we head to its new home in St Helens where it is on display looking every bit like the Towing Car it was before being permanently coupled to its trailer.<\/p>\n

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281<\/strong> started off life as a Second Series English Electric Railcoach (built 1935) before it became the eighth tram to be converted to a Twin Motor Car, entering service in this condition in late 1960. Originally able to operate either as towing car solo or with a trailer it was in fact the first to be permanently coupled to its partner trailer (October 1962). It is that 1960-1962 period that the tram is representing with it having been repainted to original cream livery.<\/p>\n

The tram is now on loan to North West Museum of Road Transport in St Helens (where it has been since April 2021) and is on display alongside many buses.<\/p>\n

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281 and its all cream livery seen on display in St Helens.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Another shot of the tram. It has authentic numbers and Corporation crests on the paintwork too.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A close-up of the Corporation crest.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The tram was also open to allow visitors to inspect the saloon. This is the rear saloon looking towards what was the inner end when it lost its second cab after permanent coupling.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And this is the other saloon with the driver\u2019s cab seen.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Inside the cab.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And the final shot shows another view of the cab. (All Photographs by Ken Jones, 5th March 2023)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was November 2022 that we last featured photos of the Fylde Transport Trust\u2019s Blackpool Towing Car 281 at which point it was making good progress in being painted cream and losing its long standing Metro Coastlines colour scheme. We … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48620"}],"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=48620"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49166,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48620\/revisions\/49166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}