Balloon 707 stands within the confines of the new Starr Gate depot, in the area occupied by the wash plant which will be used by the Flexities upon returning to the depot after a day on service. This line is a continuation of the former passenger loop and leads ultimately to the track fan in front of the new depot.

The stretch of track between Pleasure Beach and Starr Gate, supposedly closed until the advent of the Flexity service next year, has seen a surprising amount of use lately, as trams continue to breach the divide and operate along currently unfamiliar territory.

Apart from the new Flexity 001, which has made the journey between Pleasure Beach and Starr Gate several times recently in order to begin accumulating test mileage, many members of the traditional fleet have also been noted using this section of the line, some of which, with withdrawal looming, may never get the chances to venture beyond the Pleasure Beach again. Continue reading →

The service changes have relegated the Centenary Cars and Brush Cars to use only on specials in their last week of service, if they see further use at all. Seen here on their last day of timetabled service, Brush car 632 running on the Little Bispham service, passes Centenary car 647 reversing on the short working North Pier shuttles.

In a year characterised by unusual decisions adopted by Blackpool Transport, the events of the final week of the season have proved that the company have managed to maintain their contradictory approach to the operation of the tramway right up until the closing chapter of the 2011 season.

The core timetable in operation throughout the busiest period of the year has involved the use of single deckers for the bulk of the day on both the Little Bispham and North Pier diagrams, with the former then swopping to double deckers for the evening service, supplemented by specials, while the North Pier trams return to depot after the early evening peak. This has ensured that the higher capacity trams are in use during the evening, which is traditionally the busiest part of the day, although it has often resulted in capacity issues during the morning when North Promenade generally experiences a high volume of demand, far in excess of the capacity of the single deck service. Continue reading →

The last two Balloons awaiting widened doors are 711 and 719. Seen in their last season in unmodified form, these two trams are expected to be amongst the last to receive major attention at Rigby Road. Both trams share the Pleasure Beach loop in this view taken in May 2011.

The last few weeks have not been a particularly good time to be an employee of Blackpool Transport, with two recent decisions by the management having negatively affected many of the people they employ.

Perhaps the most unfortunate has been the announcement that around nineteen positions within the engineering and maintenance department are shortly to become obsolete, leading to many long term employees facing redundancy. This has come about due to the differing requirements of the new upgraded system and the consequent reduction in the number of heritage trams operated, which will result in less people required to maintain them. A similar reduction in the bus fleet has also impacted on the decision to lose these positions, although the management are looking, in the first instance, at re-deployment of the surplus staff before considering compulsory redundancy. Continue reading →