The Blackpool Trams Opened on 29th September 1885 this standard gauge (1435mm) tramway started life as a conduit line on Blackpool Promenade between Cocker Street (just north of Talbot Square) and Dean Street (near South Pier). The Depot was situated in Blundell Street. The Blackpool Electric Tramway Company operated the line until 1892 when it was taken over by Blackpool Corporation after expiry of the lease. In 1895 an extension was built from Manchester Square along Lytham Road to South Shore Station where it met the Lytham St. Annes system (see below). Another extension from Station Road to Squires Gate was operated by a horse-drawn car. Still in 1895 the tracks to South Pier were extended slightly to Victoria (South Pier) and a line along Station Road connected Lytham Road with the Promenade in 1897. 1899 saw the conduit system being replaced by the conventional overhead wire method. In 1900 the line was extended north to Gynn Square where it met the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad (see below). The Marton loop opened in 1901. It connected Talbot Square and Central Station (near the Tower) via Church Street, Devonshire Square, Whitegate Drive, Waterloo Road and Central Drive. A new depot was built on Whitegate Drive, Marton. Layton was reached in 1902 by a line from Talbot Square via Talbot Road and Royal Oak via Middle Lane (Central Drive). The Promenade line was running on a double track paved reservation by 1905 and had reached Pleasure Beach in 1903. Blackpool Corporation took over the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company in 1920 and the system thus gained another eight route miles of track (with six on private reservation), two depots in Fleetwood and one in Bispham. The small Bold Street Depot in Fleetwood was soon closed and a loop constructed at Fleetwood Ferry (between Rossall and Broadwater a more direct diversion was also later built in 1925). The original Blundell Street Depot eventually became too small and a larger site was developed across the road in Rigby Road from 1920. The final tramway extension came in 1926 when the line was extended along the new South Promenade from Pleasure Beach to Clifton Drive (today known as Starr Gate) where a connection was built to the Lytham St. Annes tracks. The present day depot at Rigby Road was erected in 1935. 1936 saw the first route closures, the Central Drive and Layton routes. More followed: 1961 Lytham Road, 1962 Marton and finally 1963 Dickson Road (old Tramroad line to North Station). Marton and Copse Road (Fleetwood) Depots closed in 1963 and Bispham in 1966. Today only the Starr Gate to Fleetwood service remains. Blackpool Borough Council transferred the operation of the tramway and buses to Blackpool Transport Services Limited in 1986 but still owns and maintains the tramway tracks. The new company has not yet been privatised and at the end of 2000 transfer of the Council's permanent way department to Blackpool Transport Services was under serious discussion. To strengthen the company it purchased competing bus company Fylde Transport (which can trace it's history back to the Blackpool, St. Annes and Lytham Tramways Company - later Lytham St. Annes Corporation) from it's management buy-out team in 1994. Most trams have been converted from trolley pole to pantograph operation but some cars remain using the old method of current collection (including all preserved cars, the Works Cars, the Open Boats and all Illuminated Cars). The Tram Stops: Starr Gate Abercorn Place Harrow Place Harrowside Burlington Road Star Hotel Pleasure Beach/Sandcastle South Pier Waterloo Road Alexandra Road St Chad's Road Barton Avenue Manchester Square Foxhall Square Central Pier Tower Victoria Street North Pier for Town Centre (Talbot Square) Cocker Street Pleasant Street Imperial Hotel Wilton Parade Warley Road Gynn Square Cliffs Hotel Cabin St Stephens' Avenue Lowther Avenue Miners' Home Cavendish Road Bispham Madison Avenue Leyburn Avenue Norbreck Norbreck North Norkeed Road Little Bispham Melton Place Anchorsholme Lane Lauderdale Avenue Cleveleys West Drive Beach Road Thornton Gate Westmoreland Avenue Rossall Beach Westbourne Road Rossall School Rossall Square Broadwater Southfleet Avenue Heathfield Road Lingfield Road Lindel Road Stanley Road Fisherman's Walk (Ash Street) Preston Street Church Street Victoria Street for Fleetwood Market Pharos Street Fleetwood Ferry Lytham & St Annes Trams Until 1937 a third standard gauge (1435mm) tramway could be found on the Fylde Coast. It was owned by the Blackpool, St. Annes and Lytham Tramways Company and ran from Lytham East Beach to Squires Gate. A depot was situated in Squires Gate Lane. In 1920 the line it was purchased by the St. Annes Urban District Council which amalgamated with the Lytham UDC in 1922. The cars were then operated by Lytham St. Annes Corporation. Over the years through-running into Blackpool was exercised but cars from Blackpool seldom ventured South beyond Squires Gate. Blackpool Corporation was interested in purchasing the line to St. Annes Square but the tramway was abandoned. Interestingly, Blackpool Transport Services at last acquired the bus operations of the by now called Fylde Transport undertaking in 1994. The fleet, still housed in the old tram depot near Starr Gate, was fully integrated into the Blackpool fleet in 1996. The resort town of Blackpool, England, nestled along the Irish Sea, is home to one of the most interesting tramway systems in the world. It has special fondness among the traction faithful in the United Kingdom because it was the last of the traditional tramways--and their double-decker trolleys--to maintain service as other British cities quit their streetcar services up into the early 1960s. At the same time, it carries on the tradition even as brand-new light-rail systems are sprouting up all across England, marking the return of electric traction to surface transport with a vengeance. The tramway system in Blackpool had its birth as a conduit line on the Promenade on Sept 29, 1885, from today's Talbot Square to near South Pier. Gradually, extensions to the Promenade line worked southward to Lytham St. Annes, and from Station Road to Squires Gate. Lytham Road and ultimately to Fleetwood, the terminal of today's route. In 1899 horsecars and conduit operations were replaced by the standard overhead wire trolley current collection system. Meanwhile, the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company opened a standard-gauge, overhead-powered tramway from Blackpool North station to Fleetwood in 1888. Further extensions were built from 1901; the Marton loop, connecting Talbot Square and Central Station (near the famous Blackpool Tower) along Church Street, Devonshire Square, Whitegate Drive, Waterloo Road and Central Drive into Marton. A line to Layton opened in 1902. The original Promenade route was double-tracked and moved onto paved PRW by 1905, reaching south to Pleasure Beach. In 1920, Blackpool Corporation took over the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad Co. in 1920, adding 8 miles to the line. Depots were at Blundell Street, Bispham and two in Fleetwood, with the latter-day Rigby Road depot opening in 1935. The line's last extension came in 1926, with extension from Pleasure Beach to Starr Gate, connecting there to the Lytton St. Annes tramway. Retrenchments began in 1936, when the Central Drive and Layton routes were abandoned. But it wasn't until 1961 before the next route shut down--Lytham Road, followed by Merton in 1962 and finally Dickson Road (the line to Blackpool North railway station) in 1963. In 1966 all remaining carbarns save Rigby Road closed down, including the ones at Bispham and Fleetwood. Today only the Starr Gate to Fleetwood service remains. Blackpool Borough Council transferred the operation of the tramway and buses to Blackpool Transport Services Limited in 1986 but still owns and maintains the tramway tracks. The new company has not yet been privatized. Basic operations on Blackpool Transport's Promenade line consist of eight or nine cars operating the entire route from Starr Gate to Fleetwood, every 15 minutes apart, from about 6:30am to 1:00am. In spring, summer and fall, on busy days (and especially on weekends), as many as 65 cars can be dispatched out of Pleasure Beach toward on-line switchbacks such as Tower, North Pier, Cabin, Bispham, Little Bispham, Cleveleys and even to Fleetwood. This results in service every 2-3 minutes along the busiest portion of the Promenade (Pleasure Beach-North Pier). The most familiar Blackpool Transport trams are the "Balloons", 26 of which were built in 1934-35 by English Electric. Most of these retain the classic curved lines of the trambuilding era of the 1930s, but some have been thoroughly modernized inside and out. All but one remain active (two are undergoing a complete modernization), one (#700) has been restored to its 1934 appearance, and car 706 has been restored with an open top. Both of these cars retain trolley poles, while most of the rest of the fleet use pantographs. Also on the property are five of the remaining 8 "Boat Trams", also with trolley poles. These are built by English Electric, vintage 1934. (Car 226 is at Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista Jct., CA, #228 operates on San Francisco MUNI, and 606, née 235, is at Trolleyville USA in Olmstead Falls, OH. The other four have been scrapped.) Other cars include 13 closed single-deck 2-man trams built by Brush in 1937, seven 2-car motor/trailer sets built by Blackpool Corporation Transport and Metro-Cammell in 1960/61, and Blackpool's newest, 8 "Centenary" single-deck, one-man trams built by East Lancashire Coachbuilders between 1984-88. Restoration is underway of a "Coronation" class car dating to 1952/53, #641, which uses VAMBAC electricals (similar in many ways to a PCC), When operational, this will be the only such car in service anywhere in England. Another remaining "Coronation", 660, using standard motors/controls, is also in service. A group of one-man cars reconstructed from older stock, #1-13, which were operating in 1974 during my first visit, are now scrapped. In addition, there are several historic streetcars on loan to, or actually owned by, Blackpool Transport. There's car 147, a jewel of a classic double-deck design built for Blackpool in 1925; Bolton 66 and Stockport 5, two open-end masterpieces from nearby towns dating to 1901 , and Sheffield streamlined double-decker 513, built 1950. And then there are the special "Tour of Illuminations" trams which come out of Rigby Depot in October and brighten the Promenade. Although the "Rocket Ship" and "Train" trams are now decommissioned, the Illuminations includes streetcars remarkably disguised as the "Fisherman's Friend" and "HMS Blackpool". The Rigby Road depot is only a few blocks from the Manchester Square stop, near the south end of the Promenade. Blackpool is easy to get to by frequent train service connecting to Manchester, Preston (on the London Euston-Glasgow main line) and other Midlands cities. It's a short walk from Blackpool North railway station to the Promenade at North Pier. Although the weather is frequently nasty (especially in summertime). tramway enthusiasts should make Blackpool a "must" visit.