Tram Talk

Blackpool Centenary 648 with its excellent retro livery to 1985 appearance as the GEC test car (minus test bogies) representing the final 'traditional' British tram design. Immaculate Glasgow open balcony 'Standard' car 779 accessible to visitors Beamish Museum Tram Workshop and Depot with one trolleybus just visible. The quite eclectic running fleet includes an Oporto 2 axle car; ex Gateshead bogie car in its BR malachite green 'electric' livery of final years at Grimsby a

As 2017 winds it way down and gives way to the next calendar year - signs of change are evident at many levels in the town's fabric. Continuous work along the main rail link into Blackpool from Preston is seeing metal fabrication now appearing to host the overhead power wires for electric trains running into Blackpool North. Contractors are preparing the ground with realignment of utilities before wholesale excavation of road surface on Talbot Road allowing embedding of a

A long time ago Talbot Square was the hub of Blackpool's tram services (there were no Corporation buses before 1922). Two inland routes to Layton and Marton terminated by the elegant Victorian fountain which by 1920 had been completely surrounded by a glazed circular shelter and information point complete with clock tower. To the left of the shelter stands Marton 'Box' 33 with added top deck short cover just unloading from its short journey from outside Layton Cemetery gate

Trams finally reach North Station (well figuratively) with the placement of new visual vinyl posters on the grim exterior of the Wilko property this week (Below). Portents of improvements to streetscape and transport links the newly installed signage faces directly across from the executive offices of Blackpool Council in Bickerstaffe House. They also serve to blot out the depressing concrete structure which replaced the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Station origi

Everyday scenes in Fleetwood pre-light rail when double deck trams ruled the town's tram service. All images John Woodman

The opportunity to place some of the FHLT's trams into a secure structure with potential for restoration is emerging from exploratory discussions now underway in Fleetwood. Examination of the building reveals office and workshop space suited to medium term storage and refurbishment work on up to six trams. An agreement on terms will be negotiated next year allowing transfer of at least three of the trams presently stored at Wyre Dock to be moved under cover. It is likely

The now established Beamish Museum in Co. Durham was the brainchild of one man who very early on in the 1960s saw the importance of conserving threatened structures and industrial artifacts which reflected a passing age in the northeast. By good fortune he secured a 'buy in' to the eventual purchase of the large estate of Beamish Hall by the County Council and other contributors. This allowed the transfer of dismantled buildings, engineering equipment and all manner of mate

The current spate of public disquiet with traffic rerouting in Blackpool's town centre, and the essential reconstruction work on two important road bridges over the railway from Blackpool South - are understandable. Particularly during an important holiday season. They echo in a familiar way similar and understandable concerns by Fleetwood's traders and community during the extensive reconstruction of Lord Street and Bold Street when the tramway was undergoing upgrading to

The colourful pageant of tramway history has many tales to tell - diverting from the long familiar municipal enterprise of the late 19th century and early 20th when the role of electric power forever did away with horse drawn urban railed transport. It was of course closely followed by motorbus and attendant road building interests which would in time come to supersede initial dominance of the tramcar. Among the more unusual origins of tramway development were initiatives s

Blackpool's transport scene has undergone so many changes that it is hard to put a definitive year or period which sticks out more than any other. Each evolving era is recalled by a new livery, new tram, new bus, new manager, new marketing strategy. Today attention is being focussed on current works enabling the first new tramway extension in Blackpool since the early 1920s when the south promenade/clifton drive line was built from the Pleasure Beach terminus. A lengthy per