{"id":54218,"date":"2024-06-17T22:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T21:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=54218"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:36:54","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T17:36:54","slug":"in-pictures-normal-services-start-on-blackpools-north-station-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=54218","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: Normal services start on Blackpool\u2019s North Station extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Normal services are now underway on the newest section of open tramway in the UK with the first public service arriving at North Station on the morning of Sunday 16th<\/sup> June as planned. This follows several days of preview with special tours running including, on Saturday 15th<\/sup> June, the first heritage tram with passengers to make its way along Talbot Road.<\/p>\n

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It may have seemed like its been a long time coming and that we\u2019ve been talking about the short extension (which is only approximately 600 metres long) for a long time, probably because we have. It was March 2018 when the government approved the plans for the line but things did rather become a little bit stop-start following that.<\/p>\n

The plan was always that the new tram terminus would be located where a long time Wilkison\u2019s store was and finding a new location for them to move to would stall things somewhat. In fact the number of times we have written about Wilko\u2019s on these pages is unhealthy for a website which is not devoted to discount shops! Tracks were being laid along Talbot Road from the Promenade as early as July 2018 but the fact that Wilko\u2019s was still there meant that there were significant delays.<\/p>\n

Wilko\u2019s did eventually close (although did not have a new building to go to after all, and then the firm subsequently went into administration) which allowed the building to be demolished and for work to then commence on laying the tracks.<\/p>\n

The pandemic then came along which delays things even further but it did seem that good progress was being made, so much so that in 2022 the first trams ran along the extension and began to make us think that it wouldn\u2019t be too long before we could all enjoy a ride on the line. But more delays would follow as the construction of the new Holiday Inn (located right by the terminus) was behind schedule and until that was done with there would be no trams.<\/p>\n

And so we waited and waited and waited! But finally the hotel opened in spring 2024 and then we started to see the resumption of testing in April 2024 before the announcement came that the line would have a special first tram on Wednesday 12th<\/sup> June, further special trips on the next three days and then the start of public services on Sunday 16th<\/sup> June.<\/p>\n

The extension starts with a junction to the Promenade line at North Pier with lines going both north and south to allow trams to run in either direction. It has one intermediate stop in Talbot Square, which is a single platform (with very little in the way of \u201cplatform furniture\u201d) only to be served by trams heading to Blackpool North. The line is double track all the way and the terminus features an island platform with a scissors crossover just before this is reached (probably roughly where health and beauty was in Wilko\u2019s!).<\/p>\n

When the line was originally conceived Blackpool Council has said there would be a 10 minute frequency but since then things have obviously changed with a much lower frequency being operated, not only on the extension but also on the existing Promenade line. As we\u2019ve already covered in a few articles trams will run every 30 minutes from both Starr Gate and Fleetwood whilst the Prom line will also see a tram every 30 minutes combining to give four trams an hour from either end, but not giving a great frequency for north to south journeys and the southbound timetable means they are not evenly spaced.<\/p>\n

The launch week started off on Wednesday 12th<\/sup> June when Flexity2 018<\/strong> took competition winners from Starr Gate to North Station, thus becoming the first tram with passengers to travel along Talbot Road since the Layton route closed in October 1936. It was also the first tram to North Station since the route via Dickson Road closed in 1963.<\/p>\n

Thursday 13th<\/sup> and Friday 14th<\/sup> June then saw further special tours run. There were various packages available to interested people including the chance to see behind the scenes at Starr Gate Depot a go on the driver simulator. Again 018<\/strong> was the tram used for these trips having been specially cleaned and received new adverts for the occasion.<\/p>\n

The last day before the start of the full service, Saturday 15th<\/sup> June, then saw the first heritage tram tour run (although 700<\/strong> had been on test beforehand) with \u201cB fleet\u201d Balloon 700<\/strong> in charge of those special trips.<\/p>\n

And onto day one of public services, Sunday 16th<\/sup> June which also saw the start of the new timetable as mentioned above. The very first first public service tram to run to North Station was 015 with a T2 Starr Gate-North Station and it was followed by 006 on the second (also a T2). Over the course of the day other trams to make it up Talbot Road included 008<\/strong>, 011<\/strong>, 014<\/strong> and 017<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As can be expected from a new line things didn’t quite go fully according to plan and there were some teething problems as well with the points\/signals in Talbot Square. This led to at least one tram due to run on the North Station-Fleetwood service (route T3) having to head south, reverse outside Festival House and then go north to Fleetwood from there. There were also some journeys cancelled owing to staff shortages. This isn’t the first tram route in the UK to have problems at the outset with signals and sadly it probably won’t be the last.<\/p>\n