Blackpool Tramway
The Blackpool tramway is a tramway system serving Blackpool and Fleetwood and the only surviving first-generation tramway in the UK dating back to 1885. It is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world and is run by Blackpool Transport, who are owned by Blackpool Borough Council.
History
The oldest part of the tramway, along Blackpool Promenade, was opened on 29 September 1885 originally using conduit collection. It was the first practical electric tramway in the world, just six years after Werner von Siemens first demonstrated electric traction. The inauguration took place in Blackpool and was presided by Holroyd Smith, the inventor of the system, and Alderman Harwood, Mayor of Manchester. On 1 July 1898 a new line - Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad - was opened. In 1899 the electric supply was converted to overhead power; the Promenade was later widened and the tram tracks separated from road traffic.
The network
The other surviving part of the tramway is the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad, linking Blackpool to Fleetwood on railway-type sleeper track, originally with street running at both ends; trams in Blackpool now go straight onto the Promenade without sharing space with road vehicles, except for a short street stretch, north of Talbot Square, running past the Metropole Hotel. At the northern end of the line, trams continue to share Lord Street, Fleetwood with road traffic.
Thanks to the lack of street track and extensive investment in the 1930s, Blackpool was the only town in Britain that retained its trams. Between 1962 and 1989, Blackpool had the only urban tramway in the UK. (The last English city to lose its conventional trams was Sheffield in 1960; the last in the UK was Glasgow in 1962. The opening of the Manchester Metrolink in 1989 heralded a revival.)
The overhead wiring
The tramcars are powered by 550 V overhead wire with electricity transmitted to the tramcars by pantograph or trolleypole.
The system originally used the conduit system in which tramcars took electricty from a conduit situated below and between the tracks. The system was adapted for a short line operation but resistance was greater than anticipated and current in portions of the conduit was far less than that generated at Blundell Street. The current fed into the conduit had an electromotive force of 230 volts, this diminished to 210 volts at the junction with the main line on the Promenade, 185 volts at Cocker Street and 168 volts at Victoria Pier. This proved to be a problem and in addition to the difficulty to run trams during floodings.
Despite the difficulties, the conduit line was extended to Station Road in 1897 but due to continued problems in 1899 the system was abandonned. Overhead wiring was installed the same year whilst the conduit remained operational during testing of the new system.
Tram depots
Over the years six depots were built throughout the city to service the fleet.
Bispham depot
Built in 1898, it had room to house thirty-six tramcars on six tracks after being extended in 1914 by the Blackwood and Fleetwood Tramroad Company. A substation was built to the side of depot. The depot was used to receive pantograph cars in 1928 and Brush cars in 1940. The depot was closed on 27 October 1963 but used as a store until 5 January 1966. The building was demolished to make place for a Sainsbury's supermarket and its headstone installed at Crich's National Tramway Museum.
Bold Street depot
Bold Street depot opened in January 1899 and had a capacity of four cars, on two tracks. The depot was only used by the last two trams to Fleetwood in the evening and the first two trams in the morning. After passing to the B.C.T., Bold Street was never reused as a depot. Wires were taken down in 1924 when the Fleetwood loop was built. After World War II the depot was used by Fisherman's friend and was demolished in 1973 to make place to flats.
Blundell Street depot
Blundell Street depot opened in 1885 to house ten conduit tramcars. It was extended in 1894, 1896 and 1898 when the roof was raised to accommodate overhead wiring. After extension Blundell Street could house forty-five trams on five tracks. The depot became a store in 1935 when the new central depot opened. The inspection pits were filled in after World War II and after 1956 the building was used as a bus garage. Blundell Street was reopened for tram in March 1963 after the closure of Marton depot. A new entrance was built in July 1964 but capacity was restricted by the presence of an ambulance station in the building. Due to damage to the central roof caused by gale, the depot was demolished on 4 November 1982.
Copse Road depot
Fleetwood's Copse Road depot was built in 1897 by the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad with six tracks, capable of housing eighteen tramcars. It was originally used as a store and service depot. As it passed on to Blackpool Corporation Tramways it was used to break-up old tramcars. Between 1925 and 1949 a line connected the depot with the railway and was used to shunt wagons. Copse Road depot is now a car showroom and the substation still feeds the Fleetwood section.
Marton depot
The depot was built in 1901 to accommodate fifty tramcars. It was used for central routes but saw decline in use after the closure in 1936 of the Layton and Central Drive sections. The depot closed for tram use between 1939 and 1944 due to the war and accommodated aircrafts of the Vickers Aircraft Company, it closed on 11 March 1963. The last car to leave the depot was Standard car 48. The front half of the depot was demolished while the rear half is in commercial use.
Rigby Road
Rigby Road was built in 1935 and is the only depot currently in use. It has capacity for one-hundred-and-eight tramcars. It was designed to replace the Bispham and Blundell Street depots. Rigby Road was modernised several times, in 1955, tracks 15 to 18 were enclosed by a partition to be used as an electrical compound, in 1962, a tram washing plant was built, along with the replacement of the roller-blind doors by folding aluminium doors.
Rolling stock
The 'Standard' cars
The fleet of fifty-five cars were built between 1923 and 1929 by the Blackpool Corporation Transport Department. They were originally double-decked with open-balconies with a capacity for seventy-eight passengers. There were thirty-two seats on the lower-deck and forty-six on the upper-deck. The four window design came from the 1902 Motherwell tramcars. The Standard cars were 33 ft 10 in long, 16 ft 7 in high and 7 ft 2 in wide, possessed Preston McGuire bogies with 4 ft 1 in wheel-base with 30 in diametre wheels, BTH B510 motor and hand-wheel and rheostatic brakes.
The 'Pantograph' cars
The Pantograph cars were built in 1928 by English Electric in Preston. These cars were single-deckers and purchased at a cost of £ 2000 by the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad. These were designed for inter-urban use and possessed an American design in look. The tramcars could carry forty-eight seated passengers. The cars possessed a pantograph built by Brecknell, Munro & Rogers, mounted on a tall tower. The first car, #167 was delivered on 30 July 1928 and the last, #129, in 1929. The Pantograph cars were 40 ft long and 7 ft 6 in wide, possessed Dick Kerr bogies, BTH B510 motor and air-brakes, hand-wheel and rheostatic brakes.
Operations today
Blackpool is notable today as one of the three surviving non-heritage tramways to use double-deck trams, the others being in Hong Kong and Alexandria, Egypt; they are, however, outnumbered by single-deck trams.
The Blackpool tram fleet is diverse. Some of the 1930s trams are still in regular service in virtually unchanged condition; others have had their bodywork rebuilt. Occasionally, historic trams are borrowed from the National Tramway Museum for public service.
The trams run from Starr Gate in the south to Fleetwood in the north. Some services (especially in busy periods such as during the Blackpool Illuminations or Bank Holidays) start or terminate short, either at Cleveleys, the foot of Red Bank Road in Bispham, or at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This is to allow a more intensive service through the centre of Blackpool.
During the Blackpool Illuminations specially-decorated trams carry passengers through the illuminated area.
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Tram-stop, Promenade -
Tram Depot (engineering part) -
Tram (Promenade) -
Double-decker Tram (Promenade) -
Open Boat tram No 600 at Bispham -
Preserved Coronation tram No 304 at Fleetwood -
Illuminated tram No 736 "HMS Blackpool", at Fleetwood
External links
- Metro Coastlines
- Blackpool Trams website by the Lancastrian Transport Trust
- Fylde Tramway Society
- Collection of Google Earth locations of tram stops (Requires Google Earth software) from the Google Earth Community forum.