| Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad | |
|---|---|
 Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad Box car 40 on the Blackpool Tramway | |
| Operation | |
| Locale | Blackpool, Fleetwood |
| Open | 14 July 1898 |
| Close | 1 January 1920 |
| Status | Taken over by Blackpool Corporation Tramways |
| Infrastructure | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
| Propulsion system(s) | Electric |
| Statistics | |
| Route length | 8.21 miles (13.21 km) |
The Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad operated a tramway service between Blackpool and Fleetwood from 1898 to 1920. [1]
Construction of the tramway began in 1897. Within Blackpool, the tracks were constructed by the corporation. Services started on 14 July 1898.
There were three depots:
The company had a fleet of 41 tramcars in a brown and cream livery.
The Crossbench Rack cars were 16 open-sided trams built between 1898 and 1899 by G.F. Milnes. They were originally numbered 1-13 and 25-27 in the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad fleet, before being renumbered 126-141 after being purchased by Blackpool Corporation Transport in 1920. The Crossbench Rack cars were 1-10 (126-135) and 25-27 (139-141) and the trailer cars were 11-13 (136-138). The trailer cars were later converted to motor cars. Rack car No. 2 (127) is preserved by the National Tramway Museum in Crich.
The Box cars were 15 trams built between 1898 and 1914 by G.F. Milnes. They were originally numbered 14-24 and 38-41 in the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad fleet, before being renumbered 101-115 after being purchased by Blackpool Corporation Transport in 1920. Box cars 20-24 became 101-105, Box cars 14-19 became 106-111 and Box cars 38-41 became 112-115. The last four cars were built without clerestory roofs and were known as New Fleetwood Box cars. Box car No. 40 (114) is preserved by the National Tramway Museum in Crich.
The Yankee cars were 7 partially open-sided combination trams built in 1899 by the Electric Railway and Tram Carriage Works (ER&TCW). They were originally numbered 28-34 in the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad fleet, before being renumbered 116-122 after being purchased by Blackpool Corporation Transport in 1920. Apart from No. 30 (118), they were rebuilt with enclosed saloons between 1920-1921 and became known as Greenhouse cars and Glasshouse cars.
The Vanguard cars were 3 trams built in 1910 by United Electric Car Company. They were originally numbered 35-37 in the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad fleet, before being renumbered 123-125 after being purchased by Blackpool Corporation Transport in 1920. Blackpool Corporations' OMO car No. 7 was rebuilt as a replica Vanguard car in 1987 and was renumbered 619, its previous number when it was a Blackpool Corporation English Electric Railcoach prior to its rebuild as an OMO car. It is preserved by the Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester.
The Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad was taken over by Blackpool Corporation Tramways on 1 January 1920 at a cost of £284,000 (equivalent to £12,136,195 in 2021). [3] Two tramcars survive, both in the National Tramway Museum collection. Rack No. 2 built in 1898 is on display at the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire. Box No. 40 built in 1914 is operational at the National Tramway Museum in Crich. In addition, Replica Vanguard No. 619 from the Blackpool Tramway, rebuilt in 1987, is in the Heaton Park Tramway collection.
Brush Traction was a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England whose operations have now been merged into the Wabtec company’s Doncaster UK operations.
The Heaton Park Tramway is a heritage tramway that operates within Heaton Park, a large municipal park in the English city of Manchester. It is operated by the Manchester Transport Museum Society, a registered charity.
The National Tramway Museum is a tram museum located at Crich, Derbyshire, England. The museum contains over 60 trams built between 1873 and 1982 and is set within a recreated period village containing a working pub, cafe, old-style sweetshop and tram depots. The museum's collection of trams runs through the village-setting with visitors transported out into the local countryside and back. The museum is operated by the Tramway Museum Society, a registered charity.
The Blackpool Tramway runs from Blackpool to Fleetwood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, England. The line dates back to 1885 and is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world. It is operated by Blackpool Transport Services (BTS) and runs for 18 km. It carried 4.8 million passengers in 2019/20.
Sheffield Tramway was an extensive tramway network serving the English city of Sheffield and its suburbs.
A double-decker tram or double-deck tram is a tram that has two levels or decks. Some double-decker trams have open tops. Double-deck trams were once popular in some European cities, like Berlin and London, throughout the British Empire countries in the early half of the 20th century including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand; Hobart, Tasmania in Australia and in parts of Asia. They are still in service or even newly introduced in Hong Kong, Alexandria, Dubai, Oranjestad, Blackpool, Birkenhead, Franschhoek, Auckland and Douglas, mostly as heritage or tourist trams.
The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway (G&IER) was an electric light railway, primarily for passenger traffic, linking Great Grimsby with the Port of Immingham in Lincolnshire, England. The line was built by the Great Central Railway (GCR), was absorbed by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923, and became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways. It ran mainly on reserved track.
The Chesterfield and District Tramways Company and its successors ran a tramway system in the Derbyshire town of Chesterfield, England. The first horse-drawn line opened in 1882, and in 1897, the system was taken over by Chesterfield Corporation, who extended and electrified it in 1904 and 1905. Additional tramcars were purchased, but two had to be scrapped after a disastrous fire at the depot in 1916. The system suffered from a lack of maintenance as a result of reduced staffing levels during the First World War, and the trams were replaced by trolleybuses in 1927.
Over the years of trams and tramways, there have been many designs of tramcars for use on the tramways, ranging from historical locomotives pulling wagons, to some of the preserved cars such as the Pantograph, Coronation, Balloon or Standard cars at the National Tramway Museum or at the Blackpool Tramway. During the 1990s and early 2000s there was a renaissance in UK tramways with several new networks opening and expanding, leading to a second generation of modern tramcars such as the Bombardier Incentro and the AnsaldoBreda T-68 and T-69s, as well as Sheffield's Supertram.
Glasgow Corporation Tramways were formerly one of the largest urban tramway systems in Europe. Over 1000 municipally-owned trams served the city of Glasgow, Scotland, with over 100 route miles by 1922. The system closed in 1962 and was the last city tramway in Great Britain.
Dundee Corporation Tramways formerly served the City of Dundee in Scotland. The corporation had financed the construction of a horse tramway in 1877, but had then leased it to the Dundee and District Tramways Company. They had replaced most of the horse trams with steam tram locomotives pulling trailer cars from 1884, but in 1897 the corporation decided that it would run the tramway system itself. After some negotiation and the payment of compensation, they took over the system in 1899, with a view to electrifying it. Electric trams started running in 1900, and the changeover was completed in 1902.
Edinburgh Corporation Tramways formerly served the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. The city used four-wheeled double-decked trams painted dark red (madder) and white – a livery still used by Lothian Buses and the post-2014 Edinburgh Trams.
Manchester Corporation Tramways 765 is the only remaining electric tramcar from Manchester Corporation Tramways in regular operation. It is at Heaton Park, Manchester, UK.
Bournemouth Corporation Tramways served the town of Bournemouth in Dorset from 23 July 1902 until 8 April 1936.
Dundee and District Tramways operated a tramway service in Dundee between 1877 and 1899.
Halifax Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England between 1898 and 1939. After considering lifts and inclined planes to assist trams in negotiating the steep hills to the south of the town, they obtained permission to build a conventional system in 1897, and the first three routes opened in 1898. By 1905 there were 37 miles (60 km) of track and 96 tramcars, supplied by two manufacturers. In 1921, an additional route was added to the system, and the Corporation embarked on a programme of building their own tramcars, some of which replaced existing vehicles, while some extended the fleet. During the 1930s, the trams were gradually replaced by motor buses, either run by the Corporation or by private companies, and the last tram ran on 14 February 1939.
The English Electric Balloon is a type of double-decker tram that is operated on the Blackpool Tramway. Initially brought into service in 1934, the Balloon formed the backbone of the Blackpool tram fleet until the tramway's conversion to a modern light rail network in 2012. Following the network's re-opening, nine Balloons were converted to meet the disability regulations to serve as a supplement to the modern Flexity 2 vehicles. Some of the Balloons have been retained for use within the heritage fleet.
Bradford Corporation Tramways were a tramway network in the city of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England which operated trams from 1882 until 1950 and trolleybuses from 1911 until 1972. The track gauge of the tramways was 4 ft.
Blackpool Heritage Trams are a mixed fleet of restored vehicles that run on the Blackpool Tramway, which runs from Blackpool to Fleetwood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, England. The line dates back to 1885 and is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world. It is operated by Blackpool Transport (BT) and is the last surviving first-generation tramway in the United Kingdom. Excluding museums, it is one of only a few tramways in the world to still use double-decker trams.
