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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
End of
the On-line article. You can read the full article in the latest
issue of Old Glory.
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