There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That's noted for fresh air and fun...
...wrote the (Scots!) poet Marriott Edgar in around 1930. I suspect that neither he, nor the fictional Ramsbottom family immortalised in 'Albert and the Lion' would care for some aspects of 21st century Blackpool, a large town struggling with dereliction, poverty and the economic fallout from two generations of changed holiday patterns in the UK - most of today's visitors will come only for the day and in their cars. However, Blackpool remains a fascinating place to visit, not least out of season when the crowds on the promenade are manageable and, of course, for the now 148-year old tramway. That system's upgrade a decade ago into a modern urban light rail system ensures it remains a major asset to local people; thankfully the 'Heritage' operations remain popular and well curated. An unusual chance for me to enjoy a Sunday (when I normally work) BLS outing - part of our 2023 AGM weekend - was too good a chance to miss, with the prospect of a depot visit and many 'rare' manoeuvres.

A glance at the title of this report suggests, correctly, that not all went according to plan. The original tour name was presumably based on us using the curious single deck Tram 736, mocked up as Royal Navy frigate 'HMS Blackpool' - originally built in the mid 1960s and rebuilt about 20 years ago. If you have never seen it, find a picture online (and in e-BLN) as it really does look gloriously odd and certainly turns heads. Indeed, said frigate/warship arrived at a chilly but dry North Pier just before 10am and, with just under 50 members squeezed on board, duly set off north towards Bispham.

After precisely 8 minutes, a loud bang and flash accompanied by smoke, (with the knowledge that it wasn't November 5th!) was the precursor to a major change of plan. Our driver announced that the 'main roof fuse had blown'. Fortunately, thanks to his skill and knowledge we managed to gravitate to Bispham for a replacement tram (or possibly an engineer to fix 736, by now parked on the normal northbound running line of the three track section). This meant that 'Normals' (plus Kev Adlam) were able to do the very rare centre road on service trams to pass our stricken vessel. An hour passed, with many taking advantage of the small coffee bar (the proprietor was delighted with the extra business) in the building grandly labelled 'Bispham Station'. Others of us enjoyed the fresh air but increasingly perhaps feeling not so much the fun as the cold breeze. Thankfully, no one got wet with this order to 'abandon ship!' - the day's promised rain not in fact arriving until well after the tour was over.















Relief arrived in the form of 1934-vintage double decker 'balloon' tram No700, which remained as our vessel for the rest of the day and 736 was nursed back to port (in this case, Starr Gate Depot) by the relief pilot. In fact, the new traction enabled us to spread out over the two decks, the extra space being much appreciated as the day progressed. So, the tour proceeded, first south to Starr Gate and, most unusually, entered directly via the facing crossover rather than the end of line loop. (Needless to say, the trailing crossover was also covered on this comprehensive tour.) Depot Road 1 (the furthest right facing the depot doors, reaching the wheel lathe), the Depot Headshunt, then Road 10 and Road 7 were visited. These three Roads had not been done on our previous tours, showing that it is worth coming again. Then it was round the loop which (at this end of the line, isn't traversed by service trams) and northward to Fleetwood. We had an abbreviated lunch stop at Fleetwood Ferry doing both loops - although the Knott End Ferry was not operating. (Here, for some reason, my lunch didn't arrive despite me being first off the tour into the café!). Our railtour then returned back southwards again.


















I won't try to explain the movements in and out of the two intermediate turning circles (Little Bispham and Pleasure Beach, the latter traversed three times to do all the track, once in the rare direction), nor the various crossovers but, needless to say (this being the BLS, after all!), every available stretch of track on the normal 'public' network was covered, with just two non-wired crossovers unavailable; one (Victoria Street) is out of use. The Blackpool North extension and crossovers are expected to open in April - the building work that surrounds the terminus has to be completed. Rigby Road Depot and its access crossover were the other exclusion this time as that building is being refurbished for the 'Tramtown' project which (according to online reports) seems to be going well. Some alighted at North Pier at 4pm for Blackpool North station to head home; most remained for a final trip to Starr Gate and back as darkness fell and the extensive Illuminations began to make their colourful presence felt.

I left the tour at Starr Gate for the chance to make a quick connection to Squires Gate NR station, a train to Preston and then my, thankfully, short drive back home to Hellifield. It was noticeable how crowded the central promenade had become by dusk, with large numbers of families enjoying the various rides and facilities even on a Sunday. That's perhaps the thing to remember about Blackpool - it felt sad, empty and unloved at 10am but lively and quite transformed in the dark by 5pm. Is there anywhere in Britain quite like it? Incidentally, the illuminations now extend from 1 Sep until 1 Jan.

[Those who remained at Starr Gate had an extra trip from Road 3 in balloon 717 to Manchester Square - a short walk back to North Pier and only 20 min late. It is ironic that some heritage trams are presently stabled at Starr Gate as, with modernisation, there was going to be 'a brand new heritage depot' (nice oxymoron) within the turning loop - the points were even laid for it and are still there, never used. However, with the rising costs of modernising the tramway and trams, it was cancelled.]



A thoroughly enjoyable day, then, despite the minor maritime mishap of the morning and over £2,000 raised for the Heritage Trams. Blackpool Transport staff were engaging and helpful all day, and thanks as always to the BLS fixtures team for making this possible. If you've not done an all-lines tour of Blackpool's Trams, I thoroughly recommend the next one; you'll have plenty of fresh air and fun.

Postscript: (TRACKmaps 4 p47E 2022) During the day it was discovered that the separate Heritage tram stop at Fleetwood Ferry is known as 'Fleetwood Pharos Street'. With a name like that, unsurprisingly, it is next to the lighthouse. Victoria Street X/O (crossover) remains out of use; it requires significant expenditure moving a traffic bollard for clearance to commission it and is unwired. Ash Street X/O is north of Fisherman's Walk stop. North Pier North X/O has been renamed to just North Pier X/O while North Pier South X/O is now Festival House X/O. Foxhall X/O is the one just south of Central Pier, Tower X/O (north of that stop) is unchanged. Manchester Square X/O (unwired and not done) and Victoria Street X/O were not listed in the tour scheduled so not known if their names have changed.