Balloon car 703, acquired for preservation by the LTT in October last year, is now in the paint shop. However, following a repaint the car will soon be moving away from the seaside town for operation at the North of England Open-Air Museum in Beamish, County Durham thanks to sponsorship from bus operator Go-North East and the BusWorks in Blackpool.
But tram 703 will take on a new identity as a Sunderland tram following a makeover by Blackpool Transport funded by the two principal sponsors.
Sunderland used to operate trams of a design reminiscent to these Blackpool icons and to give 703 local significance to the Beamish museum, the tram will adopt Sunderland's streamlined 1930s red and off-white livery style. The 94-seat tram, built in 1934 should prove to be a popular crowd mover on the Beamish tramway which is used to transport visitors from the main entrance to the attractions located around the 300 acre site.
An impression of what 703 will look like, based on a photograph edited by Jason Cross, is shown opposite. It is not intended to restore the double destination screens before it moves to Beamish but this may happen during its initial 5-year loan.
Brush Railcoach 632 is to return to passenger service this year in a partnership arrangement between TRAMS magazine, the TRAM SHOP at North Pier, Blackpool Transport and the LTT.
Although covered more extensively in 143's own restoration blog, this news update records the arrival of 143's new top deck from Gillett's of Wesham. It arrived on Wednesday 24 March and was fully assembled by the following day. Next week it will be trial fitted on the lower deck so the internal bulkhead partitions can be finalised - and then the lower deck can be shipped off to Blackpool Transport whilst the upper deck is painted, varnished and wired up.
Take a last look at Balloon car 703 in Blackpool green and cream livery - it will soon be wearing Sunderland red and cream. Interestingly, car 703 has worn this 1980s style livery since 1999 but never wore the scheme during the 1982-1987 period when the majority of Balloon cars repainted were given the style. This was because 703 had been amongst the last repaints in the plain 1970s style back in 1981 and it wasn't repainted again until 1989 when Blackpool Transport had reverted to a much plainer livery style but in the post-deregulation shades of green & cream.
Balloon car 703, acquired for preservation by the LTT in October last year, is now in the paint shop. However, following a repaint the car will soon be moving away from the seaside town for operation at the North of England Open-Air Museum in Beamish, County Durham thanks to sponsorship from bus operator Go-North East and the BusWorks in Blackpool.
Ribble 1997 has now left the Busworks paintshop after a complete repaint into original livery. It will now receive mechanical attention ready for an MoT and a return to the road for the rally season.