Marton Box Car 31 between illuminated Frigate and Western Train Trams, South Shore Turning Circle, Blackpool Illuminations, UK
Night shot, looking north to the Velvet Coaster, of illuminated Western Train Tram, Marton Box Car 31 and illuminated Frigate Tram at the South Shore Turning Circle, picking up illuminations tour passengers. Blackpool's Western Train Tram (right foreground) first ran in 1962 and was withdrawn from service in 1999. It returned for the switch-on of the 2008 Illuminations, after a campaign by the Blackpool Gazette and renovation with the help of a £278,000 Heritage Lottery Fund. The tram was originally sponsored by ABC Weekend Television, whose illuminated logo lies under the funnel. In the North of England, in the early days of Independent Television, from 1956 until 1968, Granada ran the weekday schedules and ABC (Associated British Corporation) ran the weekend slot. Marton Box Car 31 (centre foreground, with 'Circular' on the headboard) was built in 1901, as one of fifteen double-deck tams supplied by the Midland Carriage and Wagon Company for the opening of the Blackpool Marton route. It was originally built as a 4-wheel open top, double deck tram, but it was among five of the type rebuilt and lengthened to an 8-wheel bogie car in 1920. Marton Box Car 31 was withdrawn from service in 1934, becoming Blackpool Engineering Department's works car 4. In 1983 it was transferred to Beamish Museum, County Durham, and restored to its 1922 condition. Tram 736 'HMS Blackpool'. Tram 736 'HMS Blackpool' (left background, with 'Illuminations Tour' on the headboard) was originally built in 1965, being based on a Whitby-Class or Type-2 anti0submarine frigate of the Royal Navy. The tram was withdrawn from service in 2001, but, with its body re-designed (loosely based on HMS Beaver) and carrying 64 passengers, it was returned to service for the 2004 Lights.
Size: 5472px × 3648px
Location: Western Train Tram and Frigate Tram, South Shore Turning Circle, Blackpool Illuminations, UK
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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