A Slight Technical Problem

Blackpool's tramway service came to a halt this afternoon when Boat car 600 on the heritage tour fouled the overhead as it was about to enter the Pleasure Beach turning circle when the trolleypole came off the overhead wire and proceeded to dislodge fixtures at the junction. The boat car lost its trolley wheel and services were terminated along the southern section of the tramway whilst the overhead crew rushed to the scene to make temporary repairs.

Below : the overhead team out in force with service vehicles straddling the junction as repairs to the power wire and fittings were carried out.

Trolley wheels dewiring on light rail operations are fortunately an infrequent occurence

Number 600 looks very much adrift as its crew waits for essential repairs to the trolley head once the overhead crew have dealt with the main line power supply with waiting queues wondering when their next tram is going to appear. One of the problems with the Blackpool setup which operates without realtime information signage - unlike all other UK light rail systems (and most others in the EU).