{"id":49754,"date":"2023-05-30T20:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T19:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=49754"},"modified":"2023-05-30T19:33:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T18:33:59","slug":"power-problems-cause-suspension-of-blackpool-tramway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=49754","title":{"rendered":"Power problems cause suspension of Blackpool Tramway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bank Holiday Monday in Blackpool. Its going to be busy, right? Especially with the sun shining after what seems to have been a very long period with grey overcast clouds. And when its busy in Blackpool you want the tramway to move people along the Prom. Unfortunately, on Monday 29th<\/sup> May this wasn\u2019t possible to start the day as power supply problems meant there were no trams at all running to start the day \u2013 covering both the modern Flexity2 trams and the planned Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours Enhanced Weekend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1130 that some power was returned to the tramway and this saw a limited tram service resumed, but only between Starr Gate and Little Bispham. As well as the Flexity2s running on this section, Heritage Tram Tours were able to do the same.<\/p>\n

Obviously, on Enhanced Weekends the heritage trams usually run to a timetable with various journeys heading north from Pleasure Beach including some all the way through to Fleetwood. With this not possible trams instead ran a combination of journeys between Pleasure Beach and Little Bispham with Boat Cars 227<\/strong> and 600<\/strong> and Balloon Cars 700<\/strong> and 723<\/strong> in action. In addition Blackpool Transport\u2019s heritage Open Top Olympian 857 was used on bus trips to Fleetwood to cover for the lack of heritage trams to the northernmost outpost of the tramway.<\/p>\n

A full tram service resumed just after 1430 and this allowed the final planned Fleetwood journey of the day to run with Balloon 700<\/strong>, departing Pleasure Beach at 1610. Then with a late start of the day an extra special was run to Fleetwood \u2013 Boat 227<\/strong> \u2013 at 1850 from North Pier and Tower. This happened to coincide with the planned evening tour (the Frigate) which also ran to Fleetwood, allowing the chance to see the trams together on the Esplanade.<\/p>\n

For the record the rest of the weekend saw the following output:<\/p>\n

Saturday 27th<\/sup> May: Bolton 66, Boat 227, Brush 621, Balloon 700, Balloon 717 plus Railcoach 680 on the Real Ale Tour and specials after that and the Western Train on an evening tour<\/p>\n

Sunday 28th<\/sup> May: Bolton 66, Boat 227, Brush 621, Rebuilt Balloon 707, Balloon 717 plus Boat 600 on specials<\/p>\n