Tram No. 626 in Sandcastle livery, Promenade, North Shore, Blackpool

Image: © P L Chadwick Taken: 18 May 2000

A little milestone for me, my 5,000th photograph on Geograph, and a historic shot of an old Blackpool tram running on the North Shore. Number 626 was one of a batch of 20 built by Brush in 1937, and was last used by Blackpool on the 17th August 2010. That makes around 73 years of service. When photographed in May 2000, the tram was in an advertising livery for Sandcastle, which is one of the town's tourist attractions. After at least one other advertising livery, it eventually reverted to Blackpool's green and cream livery. The modernisation of Blackpool's tramway service, the oldest electric tramway in the UK, is now well under way. By Easter 2012, basic services will be provided by modern single-deck articulated vehicles. These will be supplemented in the holiday season with vehicles from the historic fleet, but mainly the "balloon" double-deck trams. As a result, a large number of historic trams are being disposed of. Fortunately No. 626 will continue to operate elsewhere. It was transferred on the 19th August 2010 to Birkenhead. There it will run on the heritage tramway line, which is now going to be operated by Merseytravel, who now own this tram.

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