{"id":52294,"date":"2024-01-07T08:29:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T08:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=52294"},"modified":"2024-01-07T08:29:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T08:29:16","slug":"and-the-winners-are-isle-of-man-and-edinburgh-victorious-in-tram-of-the-year-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=52294","title":{"rendered":"And the winners are! Isle of Man and Edinburgh victorious in Tram of the Year 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five categories and two winners, that is the story of the British Trams Online<\/em> Tram of the Year 2023. After four weeks of voting the Manx Electric Railway can celebrate wins in three categories whilst the other two categories see Edinburgh Trams walk away with the accolade, in what was a positive year for both.<\/p>\n

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The original category \u2013 \u201cTram of the Year (Heritage)\u201d \u2013 saw the most closely fought battle with eventually the Manx Electric Railway\u2019s trailer 19<\/strong> receiving the most votes. The trailer returned to service during the Heritage Transport Event which took place in the summer \u2013 for the first time in 50 years! The culmination of hard work from volunteers and paid staff from Isle of Man Railways the return of the trailer was one of the highlights of the event (which is also rewarded \u2013 more on that later!).<\/p>\n

Usually in this category it is a case of we have a runaway winner and almost as soon as voting opens it is clear what will be the winner, but that was not the case this year with this being the closest of all categories. Indeed for some time it looked as if the award would be won by Seaton 9<\/strong> which ended up in second place just 47 votes behind. This tram had been nominated after receiving work to make its accessible lower deck section more weather proof with the addition of doors, its first significant change since it originally entered service over 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Also in this category, Manx Electric Railway Freight Trailer 26<\/strong> (59 votes) pipped Heaton Park Tramway\u2019s Blackpool Replica Vanguard 619<\/strong> into third place by just a solitary vote.<\/p>\n

This was not the only category that the Manx Electric Railway and the Isle of Man has won though as it also received the most votes in the other two categories it was nominated in. \u201cTramway\/Museum of the Year\u201d saw the MER receive just over half of all valid votes received with 394 of you thinking that in its 130th<\/sup> anniversary year it deserved the award. The Seaton Tramway (313 votes) and East Anglia Transport Museum (77 votes) completed this category with both of these having continued to consolidate their positions and to go from strength to strength for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvent of the Year\u201d (the only \u201cjoint\u201d category between heritage and modern) also saw the Isle of Man victorious. The Summer Year of the Railway Heritage Transport Festival \u2013 expanded to eight days for 2023 \u2013 received a staggering 477 votes (82% of the total votes!) in a landslide victory. The event helped to not only celebrate 130 years of the MER but also 150 years of the Isle of Man Steam Railway seeing the two trailers nominated in the main category return to service amongst many highlights. The opening of extensions on two modern tramways \u2013 Edinburgh Trams (12%) and West Midlands Metro (6%) \u2013 completed this category.<\/p>\n

And those two modern systems would do battle in the remaining categories and in both cases Edinburgh Trams have cause for celebration! \u201cTram of the Year (Modern)\u201d saw two trams nominated which had run the first public services on new lines on their respective systems. Ultimately Edinburgh Trams 258<\/strong> got more votes (244) as it defeated West Midlands Metro 31<\/strong> (144).<\/p>\n

\u201cTramway (Modern) of the Year\u201d also saw Edinburgh Trams beat West Midlands Metro. With both systems expanding during the year they had both had a good year but in the end 248 thought that it was the Scottish system which had done the most to win the award \u2013 West Midlands Metro coming in with 136 votes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the end of the contest for another year! Congratulations to all of the winners and commiserations to the runners-up in all categories. 2024 could be a year which sees another extension opening and more trams entering service so it may be a year in which there\u2019s lots more to nominate and vote on! The contest will be back in December 2024!<\/p>\n