{"id":61399,"date":"2025-12-27T14:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=61399"},"modified":"2025-12-23T20:40:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:40:26","slug":"in-pictures-metrolink-3138-back-in-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=61399","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: Metrolink 3138 back in service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There was a bit of an early Christmas present for Manchester Metrolink as <strong>3138<\/strong> returned to service on Saturday 20<sup>th<\/sup> December 2025, following almost five months out of use. Whilst not as severe as some other tram returnees (we\u2019re talking about you 3027!) its return was nonetheless welcome at a busy time for the tramway.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>3138<\/strong> had been out of service following a derailment at Queens Road Depot on 27<sup>th<\/sup> July 2025. It required extensive works attention \u2013 including replacement bogies and new cabling \u2013 but was able to be taken out for a test run on the Bury line on Friday 19<sup>th<\/sup> December 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Following this test run it was seen out in service on Saturday 20<sup>th<\/sup> December running on the East Didbsury line. It then saw further use on both Monday 22<sup>nd<\/sup> and Tuesday 23<sup>rd<\/sup> December as it makes it permanent return to action.<\/p>\n<p>There do remain a number of trams out of service long-term. The longest of all these is <strong>3005<\/strong> which was last used in February 2020, whilst others include <strong>3010<\/strong>, <strong>3053<\/strong>, <strong>3065<\/strong>, <strong>3091<\/strong> and <strong>3127<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in advert removal news, <strong>3101<\/strong> and <strong>3117<\/strong> lost their vinyls for Wicked For Good in early December whilst the adverts for Singin\u2019 In The Rain on <strong>3104<\/strong> have also come off just before Christmas.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_61400\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.3138-rh.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-61400\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-61400\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.3138-rh-550x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.3138-rh-550x413.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.3138-rh-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.3138-rh.jpg 1290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-61400\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">3138 at Victoria ahead of departing for Manchester Airport. (Photograph by Reece Hughes, 23rd December 2025)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_61401\" style=\"width: 471px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2.3138-pg.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-61401\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-61401\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2.3138-pg-461x550.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"461\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2.3138-pg-461x550.jpg 461w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2.3138-pg-768x915.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2.3138-pg.jpg 860w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-61401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another look at 3138 as it pulls away from Barlow Moor Road tramstop bound for the Airport again. (Photograph by Philip Gay, 23rd December 2025)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was a bit of an early Christmas present for Manchester Metrolink as 3138 returned to service on Saturday 20th December 2025, following almost five months out of use. Whilst not as severe as some other tram returnees (we\u2019re talking &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=61399\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61399"}],"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=61399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61402,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61399\/revisions\/61402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}