{"id":62919,"date":"2026-05-06T22:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=62919"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:24:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:24:43","slug":"in-pictures-west-midlands-metro-33-back-in-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=62919","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: West Midlands Metro 33 back in service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It can often be difficult to keep up with what tram is in service and what tram is stored on the West Midlands Metro (especially the original batch of 21 Urbos3 trams) with repairs required and trips away for storage. But one recent change which can be confirmed is that <strong>33<\/strong> has returned to service following its latest trip to Dudley.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Significant dates in <strong>33<\/strong>\u2019s history saw it delivered to the West Midlands originally on 16<sup>th<\/sup> December 2014 before it was accepted for service on 4<sup>th<\/sup> June 2015. After being fitted with batteries it returned to service on 1<sup>st<\/sup> October 2019. It has since enjoyed at least two trips away to Dudley; the first was in the summer of 2023 with the second time seeing it leave Wednesbury Depot on 19<sup>th<\/sup> February 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst for some of the trams which come back from Dudley it seems to take a long time for them to be ready for service again, it hasn\u2019t been the case for <strong>33<\/strong> with it back in action by 20th April 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Other recent returnees to service have also included <strong>27<\/strong> (back Thursday 19th April) and <strong>38<\/strong> (returning 17th April). <strong>29<\/strong> also returned to use on driver training on 5th May 2026 with <strong>30<\/strong> in service on the same day. Meanwhile, <strong>45<\/strong> is on the missing list having not been noted in service since the autumn of 2025. As we did with all these comings and goings its very hard to keep up with what is and isn&#8217;t currently operational!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_62920\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/33-jb.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62920\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-62920\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/33-jb-550x412.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"412\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/33-jb-550x412.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/33-jb-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/33-jb.jpg 1271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-62920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">On the morning of 29th April 2026, 33 is seen here running along Stephenson Street in Birmingham City Centre, with an Edgbaston Village bound service. (Photograph by John Binch, 29th April 2026)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_62934\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2.29-aw.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62934\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-62934\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2.29-aw-550x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2.29-aw-550x367.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2.29-aw-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2.29-aw.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-62934\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">29 back out on driver training, seen at Wednesbury Parkway.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_62935\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3.30-aw.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62935\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-62935\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3.30-aw-550x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3.30-aw-550x367.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3.30-aw-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3.30-aw.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-62935\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And 30 is seen here in service. It stands at Wolverhampton St George&#8217;s ahead of departing for Millennium Point and then Edgbaston Village. (Photographs x2 by Andy Walters)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It can often be difficult to keep up with what tram is in service and what tram is stored on the West Midlands Metro (especially the original batch of 21 Urbos3 trams) with repairs required and trips away for storage. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=62919\">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":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62919"}],"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=62919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62936,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62919\/revisions\/62936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}