{"id":63088,"date":"2026-05-22T18:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=63088"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T07:38:05","slug":"picture-in-time-blackpool-rocket-732","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=63088","title":{"rendered":"Picture in Time: Blackpool Rocket 732"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a final stop in Blackpool for this batch of photos in \u201cPicture in Time\u201d as we feature one of the iconic illuminated trams back in 1979.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Was this the only UK tram with the passenger saloon at an angle? The <strong>Rocket<\/strong> was perhaps the most distinctive of Blackpool\u2019s illuminated cars and may also be the most-missed. It is seen here approaching Bispham Station heading south after negotiating Little Bispham loop on its Tour of the Illuminations. The sponsor was quite appropriately Crompton Lamps, a firm which dates back to 1878 and which is still in business today. After many changes of ownership and restructurings, it is currently based in Bradford.<\/p>\n<p>As for the <strong>Rocket<\/strong>, well it last ran in 1999 when it was withdrawn due to its condition. It is now part of the Fylde Transport Trust\u2019s fleet of trams and can be found back in Rigby Road Depot where it is stored on behalf of its owners.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_63089\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/732-db.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-63089\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-63089\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/732-db-550x448.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/732-db-550x448.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/732-db-768x626.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/732-db.jpg 1277w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-63089\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photograph by Donald Brooks, October 1979<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a final stop in Blackpool for this batch of photos in \u201cPicture in Time\u201d as we feature one of the iconic illuminated trams back in 1979.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63088"}],"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=63088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63090,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63088\/revisions\/63090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}