A quiet few days on the tramway front was brought to an end with the highly anticipated re launch of repainted Balloon 701 in Blackpool in a special ceremony which resulted in the tram venturing to Fleetwood in passenger service, almost certainly amongst the last heritage tram to run to the northern terminus in ordinary service this year, following by its first evening of illumination tour duties for many years. The completion of this project is the latest rejuvenation to be lavished upon a member of the retained heritage fleet and has totally transformed the look of 701, firmly securing its future as a member of the retained traditional collection and its appearance was definitely the highlight of the week. To commemorate the return of 701, this week’s cover photos feature images from the tram’s past, with two pictures in contrasting green and cream styles. The banner picture hails from 1994 and shows 701 in its first season wearing the contemporary 1990s style fleet livery, applied as a replacement to its red and white Routemaster scheme. The tram is pictured at Bispham heading north to Cleveleys and about to pass sister car 712, in the same livery albeit without the black window surrounds which were carried by 701. The profile picture fates from 2002 and shows 701 in the retro 1930s heritage livery which it received in 1999, slightly controversially as the tram sported several more modern features than other Balloons which could have been chosen to carry the original livery style. Seen on the centre track at North Pier, 701 retained this style, its last ever repaint into green and cream, until it was replaced by its first and only all over advert in 2005. Other than the news from Blackpool which, as well as 701, has also included several new adverts on the Flexity fleet as the Pleasure Beach pull out of several of their previous contracts, it has been a relatively unremarkable week for the rest of the country’s tramway systems, although this has allowed time for a couple of publications to be reviewed, of which the latest Blackpool book ‘From Starr Gate to the Tower’ is especially recommended. The week ahead is also expected to be fairly quiet, with nothing especially momentous expected to occur although the annual ‘Bus and Tram’ show is due to be held next Sunday, albeit almost certainly without the use of Liverpool 245, a tram which has still not been prepared for service after its much anticipated re launch during July was postponed. Despite this, up to four trams are expected to be in use during the event, along with displays of vintage buses and trade stands which should compensate somewhat for the continued inactivity of the Baby Grand. On Trams Today in the week to come, we will feature all the usual news as and when it occurs whilst our two regular features will also be continuing unchanged. We present a continuing run down of all the diverse trams which exist within the Czech capital of Prague and continue to review developments from twenty years ago in 1994, moving away from Blackpool and examining what was happening elsewhere in the country and, especially, in tramway preservation circles. As always, this review of the week ends by welcoming all those who have joined the site in the past few days, I hope you all enjoy the content planned for the week ahead.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 17:56:18 +0000
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