So here we are again at the end of another year (although it really doesn\u2019t seem like 12 months ago since we were saying the same thing!) and as is traditional we start to look back at what has happened in 2014 but also to look forward to 2015. We won\u2019t be having a full and comprehensive review of the year this year but what follows are some memories of the year from your Editor (and I have probably forgotten some major events so if you favourite isn\u2019t included sorry!)<\/p>\n
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On the light rail front this year we have had to hello and goodbye in equal measure. Edinburgh Trams has joined the UK light rail family with the opening of the line between the Airport and the city centre finally taking place in at the end of May whilst Manchester Metrolink has continued to expand throughout the year. We have had the Oldham Town Centre, Rochdale Town Centre and Airport extensions open and let us not forget the opening of the new line through Deansgate-Castlefield in the last few days.<\/p>\n
2014 has also been a year of new LRVs entering service. Of course Manchester Metrolink has continued to introduce new M5000s into service but we have also seen the first Nottingham Express Transit Alstom Citadis and Midland Metro Urbos 3 vehicles carry passengers. As we approach 2015 more of these vehicles will enter service but on Midland Metro this will lead to us having to say goodbye to the T69s. Only 50% of the original T69 fleet now remains operational and it is expected it won\u2019t be too long before the last of these are taken out of use bringing to the end another LRV fleet in the UK. 12 months ago we were preparing to say goodbye to Manchester Metrolink\u2019s T68 and T68A fleet and that is indeed what happened during the early part of the year with the final chance to ride on one of these vehicles on their home system taking place in May with a special charity farewell tour. But during that tour there was some good news with the official handing over of 1007<\/strong> to the Heaton Park Tramway where it will become the first UK LRV to be preserved.<\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t all been good news for our light rail systems though. By now we should have been enjoying the Phase Two extensions of Nottingham Express Transit (scheduled for a 14th December opening) but delays in the construction have meant this was delayed with no official date now on the table. Elsewhere there have been delays on the track relay on Midland Metro whilst on London Tramlink we still have to wait to see whether we will ever get any extensions \u2013 although it might be a case of wait and see who the next Mayor is.<\/p>\n And what about the UK\u2019s traditional tramways this year? It has been another good year with both Crich and Blackpool dominating the biggest news stories throughout the year (which of course means we have a bias (just to let you know we don\u2019t!) \u2013 we don\u2019t make the news we just report it!) September saw the Electric 50 event at Crich which had 25 different passenger trams in action over the weekend including three loanees (although strictly speaking Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40<\/strong> wasn\u2019t really on loan as it belongs to the TMS!) and the entry into service for Blackpool Jubilee 762<\/strong>. The sight of the 25 (or 27 on the Sunday) tram cavalcade was certainly something which will linger long in the memory. Although most of the year at the home of the National Tramway Museum was geared towards that event it wasn\u2019t the only event of note with the Best of Sheffield event in May seeing the return to service after overhaul of Sheffield 510<\/strong> and then in October there was the chance to say goodbye to Box 40<\/strong> and Blackpool Balloon 711<\/strong> ahead of their return to the northwest and also a last chance to ride of Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2<\/strong> which was withdrawn for overhaul.<\/p>\n Probably the highlight in Blackpool was the loan of Pantograph 167<\/strong> from Crich which saw extensive use between May and August and proved to be a very popular temporary addition to the heritage fleet. Of course 167<\/strong> was in the news a lot as it equalled the record of running on three tramways during the year having spent the early months at Beamish. Back to Blackpool and the year also saw the return to service of Coronation 304 and also the repaint of Balloon 701<\/strong> into the Routemaster Red and White livery it previously carried in the 1990s.<\/p>\n But probably the biggest news story of the year came from across the Atlantic Ocean in the form of Burton & Ashby 14<\/strong>. This tram had been sold to Detroit over 30 years ago and towards the end of the year came up for auction with the real fear being that it may be lost forever. But a group of enthusiasts got together and bid for the tram at the auction securing its future, which will eventually see 14<\/strong> return to the UK. Just goes to show that if you want something bad enough you can achieve it!<\/p>\n The year did see a few disappointments including the controversy of Leeds 602<\/strong> and the rejection of plans to restore the tram at Crich, the delay to the launch of Liverpool 245<\/strong> at Birkenhead and several other protracted overhauls across the country. Despite these setbacks it doesn\u2019t take away from the fact that 2014 hasn\u2019t been a bad year at all for our heritage tramways.<\/p>\n What will 2015 bring us? At this stage we don\u2019t know a huge amount of any plans but what we do know is that in September Crich will celebrating the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Tramway Museum Society with another two day spectacular whilst in June London County Council 106 will return to service at another special event. Meanwhile the year should hopefully bring us the opening of the Phase Two extensions in Nottingham whilst more new LRVs can expect to carry their first passengers although that will be tinged by sadness as the T69s will run their last on Midland Metro. Apart from that it is probably a case of expect the unexpected as I would imagine that most of the highlights of 2014 we didn\u2019t have a clue about at this stage last year!<\/p>\n And what of British Trams Online<\/em>? Well you don\u2019t have to be an expert to realise that 2014 has been a bit of a struggle for us to keep up-to-date with all the latest goings on (sometimes I look back with envy to the early days of the website when it took me a couple of hours on a Sunday to do the complete update!) This has been for a variety of reasons and we have had to apologise time and time again for the delays in uploading material so I apologise for apologising so much! Unfortunately delays are inevitable when the site is done in our spare time (which sometimes doesn\u2019t seem to be very long) but hopefully in 2015 these delays will be a bit less than this year. And then there have been the problems of the comments section of the news page. It seems at times that the section has been hijacked by people who have a certain agenda and we have had to wield the moderators finger to delete some comments from appearing. It\u2019s not something we have ever done lightly but it does appear some people are like a dog with a bone on some subjects and to be honest it just gets boring reading the same thing over and over again! Everyone is entitled to their opinion (and we do let opinions different from ours appear as believe me if we only included comments I personally agreed with there would hardly be any approved!) but please think before posting and try and add something else to a discussion. Rant over!<\/p>\n During the early part of 2015 we will be having a review of the website ahead of a major (and probably the most radical) redesign. Our early thoughts on the review is that we will attempt to concentrate on what we do best and reduce the number of sections we have but we will be asking you our readers as to what you like to read and see before making final decisions.<\/p>\n A little bit of housekeeping to finish with. There will be one more main site update of British Trams Online this year which will follow over the next few days (it all depends when I finish it!). This will include four or five more Photo Galleries with images from the DLR, Crich, Midland Metro, Manchester Metrolink and Blackpool. We will then practically be closed from Christmas Eve until New Years Eve (and possibly beyond) unless some ground breaking news is released during this time. This will not only mean no updates but we will also be switching off the ability to comment on any articles (this will be done early on Christmas Eve so if you really want to get something off your chest you have a couple of days still!). We will also not be responding to any emails during this period (some of you may say no change there then!)<\/p>\n It just leaves me to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. A huge thank you to everyone for their support during 2014 whether you have contributed news and photos, read all the articles, looked at all the photos or even just popped in now and again. Without are contributors British Trams Online<\/em> would not be the website it has grown into and without our readers there really wouldn\u2019t be a lot of point to doing it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So here we are again at the end of another year (although it really doesn\u2019t seem like 12 months ago since we were saying the same thing!) and as is traditional we start to look back at what has happened … Continue reading