Saturday 6th September was an eventful day for Blackpool’s heritage trams, five of which were used over the course of the day, including two on private hires, plus the first appearance of a Boat car on an illuminations tour this year. This provided a rare chance to see two open trams out and about in the hours of darkness on what was a very mild and therefore very busy Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
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The action started during the day with Balloon 717 <\/strong>being used in connection with a wedding party. Later on, ‘Princess Alice’ 706 <\/strong>appeared on the promenade, on a private hire trip for an enthusiast who had requested use of the tram for a very novel birthday celebration. Decorated with glowing balloons tied to the top deck railings and banners stuck to the lower deck windows, 706 <\/strong>presented a striking sight as it made its way to Fleetwood, and after a layover at Bispham whilst its passengers enjoyed a meal, it then operated some shorter journeys through the illuminations, attracting much admiration from onlookers!<\/p>\n As 706 <\/strong>has been extensively used on public illumination tours recently in response to a spell of fine weather, its use for this role meant that another heritage tram had to be used instead and the 1930s theme of the day was maintained by the very welcome selection of Open Boat 600<\/strong>. This tram – which didn’t operate any lights tours last year – was a very popular choice; so much so that, despite a few minor issues during its tour, the car was out again the following night! 600 <\/strong>is of course fitted with coloured festoon lights, making it a perfect choice for tours of the illuminations in good weather. The other two trams out in the evening were the more familiar fare of Western Train 733+734 <\/strong>and Frigate 736<\/strong>, completing a very impressive line-up and a great day for the tramway.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, it is believed that further budget cuts have caused a reduction in illumination tour output so far this year and just two cars have been used for tours on most nights. Due to the need for the first car to reverse at Bispham to get back to Pleasure Beach in time to fit in a further tour during the short nights for the first two weeks of the lights, this has often meant that only one of the illuminated trams has been used, and the Trawler 737 <\/strong>has not yet operated in normal service thus far in 2014. Hopefully as the nights get darker earlier, this tram will return to more regular use, whilst busy weekends and the October half-term week should see additional vehicles from the heritage fleet supplement the feature cars to cope with the expected higher demand for tours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saturday 6th September was an eventful day for Blackpool’s heritage trams, five of which were used over the course of the day, including two on private hires, plus the first appearance of a Boat car on an illuminations tour this … Continue reading