{"id":59057,"date":"2025-06-26T22:00:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T21:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=59057"},"modified":"2025-06-26T19:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T18:38:56","slug":"in-pictures-bluebird-flies-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=59057","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: Bluebird flies again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a news story you probably weren\u2019t expecting just yet \u2013 London County Council 1<\/strong> has returned to service at the Crich Tramway Village! The tram, which only returned to service in 2024 after a 10 year restoration, had been withdrawn from service during commissioning earlier this year and it had been feared it would need to lifted to investigate further but that has now proven to be the case which has enabled it to come back into use after all!<\/p>\n

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Bluebird<\/strong>, as its affectionally known amongst enthusiasts, returned to action on Wednesday 25th<\/sup> June 2025 (a 6 month early Christmas present!) with no big fanfare just a note on Crich\u2019s social media to say it was back. The tram hadn\u2019t been used since the end of season A Journey Through Time and Light in November 2024, and whilst this seven-odd months isn\u2019t anywhere near the 67 years between use last time its return is welcome nonetheless.<\/p>\n

As revealed by Crich back in April 2025, during commissioning for service this year unusual electrical readings from the motors were recorded. In order to investigate further it was decided to stop the commissioning process and it was thought that it would include the removal of its motors to allow testing by external contractors. As this would need Workshop space no timeline was given for this to happen.<\/p>\n

But fortunately after further investigations by the Workshop team it has been decided that isn\u2019t required and they have found a way to manage it, allowing it to return to service after all!<\/p>\n

With Bluebird now back in service, 12 passenger trams have now run in service during 2025 at Crich. In addition to LCC 1<\/strong> these are Chesterfield 7<\/strong>, Glasgow 22<\/strong>, Blackpool 40<\/strong>, Sheffield 74<\/strong>, Newcastle 102<\/strong>, Blackpool 166<\/strong>, Blackpool 236<\/strong>, Leeds 345<\/strong>, Leeds 399<\/strong>, Blackpool 630<\/strong> and London Transport 1622<\/strong>. Further trams should follow later in the year after work to install new controller arc chutes is completed.<\/p>\n

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Bluebird back in service and standing at Town End once more.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A second image of the tram. This time its at Glory Mine in what is our first look at the reopened terminus following work over the winter\/spring period which includes a new shelter seen just to the right of the tram. (Both Photographs by Peter Whiteley, 25th June 2025)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a news story you probably weren\u2019t expecting just yet \u2013 London County Council 1 has returned to service at the Crich Tramway Village! The tram, which only returned to service in 2024 after a 10 year restoration, had … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59057"}],"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=59057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59060,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59057\/revisions\/59060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}