John Woodman
- Jun 27, 2019

Centenary 641 Makes It Back to Fleetwood

The long familiar outline of Centenary Car 641 on static display at the Pleasure Beach loop is no more. Under arrangements of Blackpool Council and Lightworks the tram was removed from the display track on Wednesday through the combined efforts of Scotts team and Blackpool Transport's Engineering Workshop Expert - John Houghton. Starting onsite in the morning 641 finally reached the Wyre Dock tram storage site of the FHLT in the evening with unloading completed at a somewhat late hour.

The extra length and lack of any braking fixtures on the tram made the task of both loading and unloading particularly difficult. Nonetheless with a lot of muscle power and joined up endeavour 641 was finally eased off the extended trailer rig and on to its former parking site at the FH:LT compound which it shares with familiar compatriots.

Some scenes from the evening activity observed by the Author and fellow enthusiast Colin MacLeod.

641 catches the rays of the setting sun as it awaits unloading in the early evening on Wednesday the 26th June. One of the Trust's trailers is caught in the background.

A reversing move out of the yard to permit the extended rig reverse back for removal of the frontal 'pulling' unit just visible on the lefthand side.

Re-entering the yard this time in the correct sequence

Then comes the tricky part, unloading the tram from the extended trailer with slight problems at the front end.

Colin MacLeod was on hand to supervise ..... Whilst the real work was being dealt with by Scotts and the redoubtable John Houghton. Their combined efforts finally managing to see 641 slowly eased onto hard standing which it had previously occupied when it first arrived at Wyre Dock from Kirkham Prison. That's another tale.

641 rejoined fellow survivors held by the FHLT with privately owned 637 still with its original hand painted advertising for Blackpool Zoo (and in the background 678), And the Twin-Car Set 673/683 - amid vegetation.