Channel 4 TV’s Salvage Squad programme has restored and returned some unlikely machines back to their former glory in the last three years. One of the most ambitious projects in their 2003 series was a 20-ton Blackpool tram that hadn’t turned a revenue-earning wheel since 1970. Thirty three years later the tram trundled down Blackpool’s promenade once again. Philip Higgs of the Lancastrian Transport Trust, owners of the tram since 1984, tells the story.

Hold tight please! Conductor Bill Thomson makes a final check for any more passengers before the well loaded restored Coronation tram glides away from North Pier in this timeless scene. ALAN ROBSON

I missed an episode of the first series of Salvage Squad in March 2002 whilst away on business. Returning to the office the following day, a colleague of mine who had seen the programme said they had appealed for project ideas for a second series of the show. I was straight on to the computer to find the Salvage Squad website and contact details. I drafted a quick e-mail about the Blackpool Coronation tram, built in 1952, with reference to how appropriate it would be to restore the car for its 50th birthday year and the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. I included my contact details and, to my great surprise, my mobile was ringing 20 minutes later and Alex Finch from Salvage Squad was on the other end!
It would be easy to say that the rest is history. In reality the next ten months were full of anxiety, stress, blood, sweat and tears that eventually culminated in a rotting carcass of a tram being transformed into the gleaming, streamlined tramcar that was delivered to Blackpool in June 1952.
Twenty five of these luxury Railcoaches were ordered by Blackpool in 1950 to update the rolling stock on the 111¼2 mile Promenade route from South Shore through to Fleetwood. Incorporating the revolutionary ‘Vambac’ (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control) equipment and rubber sandwiched wheelsets they represented a considerable development of the Blackpool tram. The electrical equipment of this particular car was exhibited at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and a plaque inside the car celebrates this.

Let there be light! No. 304 is in the electrical compound for fitting of its current-collecting trolley pole allowing the lights and the traction motors to be tested. JAMES MILLINGTON

The bodywork on the trams was built by Charles Roberts, more commonly associated with railway wagons and coaches. During 1953 Blackpool decided to call the new trams ‘Coronation’ cars, though amongst the platform staff they were often referred to as ‘spivs’. Unfortunately the cars were plagued with maintenance problems. The electrical equipment was too complicated and prone to failures and was replaced on a number of cars with controllers from trams scrapped during the 1960s. The bodies were deemed too heavy at 20 tons whilst the rubber sandwiched wheelsets needed additional maintenance and the four motor trucks consumed double the power of other trams in the fleet.
Withdrawal of the class started in 1968 with the cars retaining Vambac being the first victims. Car No. 304 (actually renumbered No. 641 in 1968) was taken out of service in October 1970 and was the last Vambac car to operate. The last Coronations soldiered on until 1975 and one car is retained today by Blackpool Transport. No. 304 was stored at Blackpool until 1975 when it was moved to the National Tramway Museum store at Clay Cross. Later it moved to Burtonwood after being acquired by the Merseyside Tramcar Preservation Society for use on a possible heritage tramway in Bewsey, Warrington.
No progress was made and in 1984 the MTPS decided to concentrate resources on their preserved Liverpool trams and No. 304 passed to the Lancastrian Transport Group, using receipts from a book I had published on Blackpool’s trams.
It was moved to the St. Helens Transport Museum in 1986 and restoration work started in 1993. This involved underframe overhaul, new flooring and rewiring work, partly funded by the Fylde Tramway Society. Funds dried up by 1998 and work was effectively put on hold. This was the position when Salvage Squad was contacted in March 2002.
Arrangements were made for Salvage Squad to inspect Car No. 304 at St. Helens and meanwhile we contacted our good friends at Blackpool Transport to enquire whether the tram could return to the resort for the period of the restoration - and they agreed! A few anxious weeks followed whilst we awaited the selection process. As Claire Barrett explained in Old Glory No. 167, the appeal for projects in the second series resulted in thousands of applications and only ten would be successful.

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