Words by Donald Brooks<\/em><\/p>\n
We move themes in \u201cPicture in Time\u201d once again and this time we head to the northeast of England for a series of views taken over 46 years ago on the Tyne and Wear Metro.<\/p>\n
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The final, lingering withdrawal in 2026 of the first generation Metro-Cammell Tyne and Wear cars after a life in service of forty-six years seems an appropriate moment to look back on the months immediately after they entered service when the Tyne and Wear Metro opened<\/p>\n
There were ninety of these original Metrocars, built to a design partly based on the German D\u00fcwag Stadtbahnwagen B, and it was these cars that allowed the system to be considered as having light rail elements, given that everything else was much more heavy rail, using entirely segregated tracks which were either ex-BR or newly built in tunnel.<\/p>\n
The first Metro route opened on 11th August 1980, between Haymarket and Tynemouth via Whitley Bay, after a six-year construction period. In their original yellow and white the cars looked very smart, and they have certainly stood the test of time. Almost half a century later they were a little frayed round the edges, but still a pleasure to travel in, if lacking the refinements of their Stadler replacements. Did they even start a livery trend, inspiring the yellow buses now becoming ubiquitous in Greater Manchester and Merseyside?<\/p>\n
With no ex-railway infrastructure in sight apart from the track itself, the recently opened Metro looked a model of modern efficiency with its new masts and overhead wires. Here a well-filled 4004<\/strong> and an unidentified sister car approach Whitley Bay on a Haymarket \u2013 Tynemouth service.<\/p>\n Words by Donald Brooks<\/em><\/p>\n
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