May 08 Bank Holiday Report

Friday 23rd May

I arrived in Blackpool at 6.45pm. 622 and 623 were returning from Cleveleys to depot. 762 was noted travelling back to depot out of service shortly after 8.45 pm from Fleetwood area however I'm not sure which tram replaced it (possibly 644) 761 was swapped over for 630 at Tower at 9.30pm. Blackpool seemed to be quiet on Friday Night and there was probably enough trams out.

Fleetwood Service 641, 642, 762 (644?), 645, 646, 648, 761 (630)
Cleveleys 622,623 (didnt see other 3 trams)

Saturday 24th May

Up bright and early for a walk to the Tram Depot (this years later start to service means longer in bed in the mornings on holiday this year!!!!)

645 was the first tram to Fleetwood followed by 761, 644 was first to turn at Tower to head to Starr Gate. There appears to be a shortage of Centenary Cars as 761 is once again on service and is joined by 631. 721 is out on an early special at roughly 9.15 am. 721 is soon followed by 701 and 726 with 721 reaching Fleetwood later in the morning. Into the afternoon and chaos ensues as 642 runs into a bus in Fleetwood. 631 ends up operating on specials for a while in the afternoon between North Pier/Cabin and Pleasure Beach. 602 appeared on specials for a very short time during the afternoon whilst 623, 630, 713 and 724 joined 721, 701 and 726 on specials, 630 then took over Fleetwood service from 642. 721 and 623 both operated on specials to Fleetwood at around 5.00 pm. At night, Blackpool was busy and the tramway with only the basic 20 minute timetable operating struggled to cope with 631 and 645 sailing past stops full to capacity on the prom after 9pm. Surely it would have been more sensible for the tramway to be operating with double deckers on the Fleetwood service as it was a Bank Holiday after all!!!

Fleetwood Service

631, 641, 642(630), 644, 645, 646, 761

Cleveleys Service

707, 709, 711, 719, 723

Specials

602, 623, 630, 701, 713, 721, 724, 726

Sunday 25th May

Into Sunday and 645 was first out, again 761 and 631 were also on Fleetwood Service in what was the best day numbers wise for the tramway over the weekend. 701, 721 and 726 arrived at Cabin within minutes if each other on specials at around 9,30 am. Even more specials came out during the early afternoon with 622, 623, 700, 709, 724 and making one of it's first appearances of the year 712 also appeared. 623 remained out on specials till 9.15pm before returning to depot.

Fleetwood Service

761, 641, 644, 645, 646, 648, 631

Clevleys Service

707, 711, 713,719, 723

Specials 701, 709, 721, 726, 622, 623, 700, 712, 724

Monday 26th May

Unfortunately its the last day of my holidays but the first day of the new timetable. 707 was first out followed by 709 also for Fleetwood, 719 was first out for Starr Gate, 646 was first out for Cleveleys. 631 makes it onto the Cleveleys service. It is not known whether Brush Cars are scheduled to work on this service or not or if it was covering for a Centenary car (which is possible given 642 was out of service following its accident and 643 and 647 were nowhere to be seen all weekend). It is thought that the same swapover will occur as last year with 4 cars on Cleveleys and 4 cars on Fleetwood service swapping over at night as 721 and 726 were allocated to the main service. A number of specials were noted out including 622, 623, 700, 701, 713, 724 and 680.

Fleetwood Service

707, 709, 711, 719, 721, 723, 726,

Cleveleys Service

644, 646, 648, 631,

Specials

622,623,680,700, 701, 713, 724

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