An idyllic scene with a Blackpool boat tram "at Manchester". Can someone tell me what that means and where it is? Is it in Blackpool, in Manchester city, at the NTM in Crich or where?

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?d ... 9-91TW.jpg

Bob,

I had to find an answer to this as the picture wasn't Crich, Blackpool or modern Manchester. Taking a cue from what I took to be the number of the tram I found the following site http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk which told me that Blackpool #225 was on loan at Heaton Park Tramway, Manchester from 1985-1998.

The Heaton Park tramway is operated by the Manchester Transport Museum Society in conjunction with the city council - link http://www.mtms.org.uk/

So I've learnt something today.

G

You do not have to go to England to see/ride one. I believe SF MUNI has one which runs occasionally and there is one in the Trolleyville collection near Cleveland. Although they are now closed for relocation.

The open air car design certainly resembles a boat hull; thus the origin of the name. They were not made from boats, meet boats, haul boats, deliver boats, - - -

Bob Kutella

There is an additional Blackpool Boat at the Bay Area Electric Railroad Musuem at Rio Vista California, and the Oregon Electric Railroad Museum has a Blackpool double decker.

Tow of those very interesting and unusual tramcars have been in this country for some years.

The 226 was imported by two members of the Western Railway Museum for a
British themed event in San Francisco in the 1980s.

The MUNI Railway later leased it for the Trolley Festival which took the place of the Cable Car Lines which were being rebuilt at the time.

The MUNI later went to Philadelphia who had also imported one of the cars and today it runs on the F Line in the City of San Francisco. Was out of service for a while due to a truck crashing into it. But I rode it a while back, and people really get a kick out of seeing the car.

At WRM it serves as a hot weather car; but now it has a flashed motor and is waiting for time and money to fix it,

I believe there is another one preserved at the National Tramway Museum in England.

Ted Miles

Greetings:

The Municipal Railway in San Francisco has open boat car 228 from Blackpool, this the same one that operated in the mid 1970's in Philidelphia

Also the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine has double deck car 144, also from Blackpool (along with 3 others from the UK).

Karl Johnson