ORDERS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR - Municipal Transport Heyday - Blackpool's
The story of Blackpool's trams and buses continues with Rigby Road Publishing's new title due out end October. Priced at £26.00 plus post and packing, online orders are now being accepted through our Tramtalk Shop from September 23rd. Paid orders are assured of copies on publication of this limited edition title. The book will also be available to paid subscribers ordering and reserving their copy from Toys2Save Shop in Cleveleys and Brooks Collectables on Waterloo Road. Order are now being accepted online on our Shop Page and paid reservations have been received for first run copies.
Covering the busy years (for Blackpool Corporation Transport) from the start of the 1950s through to end of the decade - 120 pages of coverage in A4 Landscape format with soft covers deals with an era of highest passenger volumes on both buses and trams. Many previously unpublished images convey a thriving ethos in the resort when Blackpool Corporation Transport Department's distinctive fleets totalled 160 plus buses and an almost equivalent number of trams held in five seperate tram depots.
Below : Blundell Street Depot mid 1950s - then housing part of the bus fleet.
Image : John Woodman Archive
The decade saw an important change of Departmental management (the first since 1932) and arrival of a new 'brush' to sweep in major changes throughout the municipal operation. Three street tram services continued to operate in Blackpool against a backdrop of tramway closures elsewhere in Britain leaving only two other operators by the close of the decade, both with closure dates imminent.
Carrying on the story from preceding Rigby Road titles : Municipal Transport in Transition 1932-1940 and Municipal Transport in War and Austerity - 1939 - 1949, 'Municipal Transport Heyday' delivers our usual insightful coverage of the resort's unique transport system through a further decade. Rigby Road Publishing intends to go back in time with the next title in this series by dealing with the period 1910 - 1919 planned for publication in 2018. This will deal with three then thriving and wholly different tramway systems on the Fylde coast from Lytham to Fleetwood; with bus services yet to get a look in, other than chara operators. Our book on Blackpool's buses 'Tilling Stevens to Alexander Dennis 1921 - 2018' ; a portfolio of evolving style and designs up to the most recent deliveries is also scheduled to appear in 2018. Price and Availability of both titles will be notified in due course. The two preceding titles (Transition and War and Austerity) are still available through our online shop at published prices.
Rigby Road Publishing books are not available outside of Blackpool nor through distributors or Amazon. They are printed on the Fylde coast as strictly limited editions and pre-orders directly, or through our local retail partners, are strongly recommended.
