Blackpool is a large town and seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is 27 miles (43 km) north of Liverpool and 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manchester. At the 2011 census, the unitary authority of Blackpool had an estimated population of 139,720 while the urban settlement had a population of 147,663, making it the most populous settlement in Lancashire, and the fifth-most populous in North West England after Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton and Warrington. The wider built-up area had a population of 239,409, making it the fifth-most populous urban area in the North West after the Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Birkenhead areas. It is home to the Blackpool Tower, which when built in 1894 was the tallest building in the British Empire.
Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec.
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 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 (BT) and runs for 18 km. It carried 4.8 million passengers in the 2019/20 financial year.
Blackpool Illuminations is an annual lights festival, founded in 1879 and first switched on 18 September that year, held each autumn in the British seaside resort of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire. Also known locally as The Lights or The Illuminations, they run each year for 66 days, from late August until early November at a time when most other English seaside resorts' seasons are coming to an end. They are 6.2 miles (10 km) long and use over one million bulbs. The display stretches along the Promenade from Starr Gate at the south end of the town to Bispham in the north.
Blackpool Airport is an airport on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, England, in the Borough of Fylde, just outside the Borough of Blackpool. It was formerly known as Squires Gate Airport and Blackpool International Airport.
Blackpool North railway station is the main station serving the seaside resort of Blackpool in Lancashire, England. It is the terminus of the main Blackpool branch line and is 17+1⁄2 miles (28 km) northwest of Preston.
Squires Gate railway station serves the Squires Gate area of the popular seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, England, although it is located just outside the borough boundary. It lies on the Blackpool South to Preston line and is the nearest station to Blackpool Airport. Squires Gate is located about 400 metres (1,300 ft) from Starr Gate tram stop on the Blackpool Tramway.
The Sydney Tramway Museum is Australia's oldest tramway museum and the largest in the southern hemisphere. It is located at Loftus in the southern suburbs of Sydney.
Bispham is a village on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England, a mile and a half north of Blackpool town centre.
South Shore is the southern coastal area of Blackpool, an English seaside resort in the county of Lancashire. It has a large local community and a number of tourist attractions.
The Bombardier Flexity 2 is a family of tram or light-rail vehicle manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is 100% low-floor, in order to easily accommodate wheelchairs and pushchairs. The trams are bi-directional, with cabs at both ends and doors on both sides, and are articulated with five or seven sections. This family of trams debuted on the Blackpool Tramway, England.
In 2012, Blackpool Council ordered 16 Bombardier Flexity 2 trams for the Blackpool Tramway, becoming the worldwide launch customer for Bombardier Transportation's new design. The modern 100% low-floor trams replaced the Blackpool Tramway's tourist-focused and high maintenance heritage fleet, some of which have been retained with modifications for use as a supplementary fleet alongside the Flexity 2 trams and some for tourist services on the promenade. Blackpool's Flexity 2 trams are intended to be suitable for daily commuters and to provide a service competitive with other modes of transport and comply with legislation on accessibility for disabled users.
The Lytham St. Annes Corporation Tramways and its predecessor companies operated an electric tramway service in Lytham St Annes between 1903 and 1937.
Wigan Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wigan, England, between 1901 and 1931. The first tramway service in the town was run by the Wigan Tramways Company, whose horse trams began carrying passengers in 1880. They began replacing horses with steam tram locomotives from 1882, but the company failed in 1890 when a Receiver was appointed to manage it. The Wigan & District Tramways Company took over the system in 1893 and ran it until 1902. Meanwhile, Wigan Corporation were planning their own tramway system, obtaining an authorising Act of Parliament in 1893, and a second one in 1898. This enabled them to build electric tramways, and in 1902, they took over the lines of the Wigan & District Tramways Company.
The Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad operated a tramway service between Blackpool and Fleetwood between 1898 and 1920.
The tramways in Plymouth were originally constructed as four independent networks operated by three different companies to serve the adjacent towns of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport in Devon, England. The merger of the 'Three Towns' into the new borough of Plymouth in 1914 was the catalyst for the three companies to join up under the auspices of the new Plymouth Corporation. The network was closed in 1945, partly as a result of bomb damage during World War II.
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.
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.
