Special extended edition - 100 minutes plus - filmed and edited in 16:9 widescreen for maximum viewing pleasure!

AUTUMN 2009: The sights and sounds of autumn 2009 with the return of the Western Train to Illuminations tour duties; 602, 604 and 605 on specials, 672+682 on an enthusiasts tour crossing at Broadwater and with attention focused on the Fleetwood end of the tramway, some unusual evening journeys are featured including an exceptionally rare post-midnight journey by 619 on specials and the Saturday evening when three Twin cars managed to make it to Fleetwood.

During the autumn, Balloon car 722 was scrapped and 720 emerged with its new wider central platforms - footage of both cars is included.

MAD WEDNESDAY: Wednesday 28th October was one of the best days for the tramway in a decade. With mild, dry and even warm(!) weather it was the midway point of the busy October half term week and Blackpool was bursting at the seams.

Filmed at North Pier from dusk at 5pm, see the events of this amazing evening unfold with Twin cars to Fleetwood, cars 40, 66, 147 and 706 on specials and tours, all four Illuminated trams work tours.

Then it gets serious - Stockport 5 appears - making its first passenger outing in 2009, a huge queue for Illuminations tours results in Boat cars 602, 604 and 605 all at North Pier TOGETHER!

Service cars and specials add to the scene and after filming for four hours, the cameraman takes a break with a journey on the top deck of 706 on what was the record-breaking 17th Illuminations tour of the evening!

At midnight the trams continued and the day finishes with cars 5 and 40 running into depot together.

 
LAST WEEKEND TO FLEETWOOD: Saturday/Sunday 7th/8th November 2009 was the final weekend of tram operation to Fleetwood prior to a three year closure and upgrade for ‘Supertrams’.

Full coverage of the final weekend starting with 717 on a private hire on the Friday evening, service cars, specials and all the tours on the Saturday and Sunday, the final trio of 40, 702 and 627 from Fleetwood - and 627 arriving back in depot at 3.05am on Monday morning!

YEAR END: The entire operational Blackpool tram fleet as they finished the 2009 season. All 55 cars which ran in passenger service are featured.

Click here to order Blackpool Tram DVD No.57 Winter 2009/10

If you're interested in the Blackpool Tramway and the Manx Electric Railway then TRAMS magazine is for you. 

Published four times a year - March, June, September and December - each issue is packed (and we mean packed) with extensive news, features, articles and colour photographs from the previous three months.
 
If you want to know what's really going on then TRAMS is an absolute must.
 
TRAMS magazine 47 is available now, 64 glossy colour pages bursting with colour photographs and articles including: Full coverage of the final weekends, farewell tours and closures of the Starr Gate to Pleasure Beach and Ash Street to Fleetwood Ferry sections of the tramway; The tramway upgrade for 'Supertrams' begins; Update on the Starr Gate depot residents dispute; 722 is scrapped; Overhaul of Boat 600 begins; The Western Train wins an award; Trams magazine takes over North Pier shop!; Mad Wednesday - the best day for the tramway in years; 2010 Anniversary celebrations details announced; Preservation and fleet news; End of year fleet review; Boxing Day tram quiz; Bus fleet news; Manx Electric news from the autumn plus numerous high quality colour photographs.

We also give you all the Manx Electric news stories from the summer, plus fleet news and lots more colour photographs!

Join the 1000-strong army of enthusiasts already reading the magazine - by taking out a subscription to what is surely the cheapest tram magazine in the world!

It's back, it's bigger, it's brighter and it's more beautful than ever before...
it's Blackpool's world famous Western Train Illuminated tram.

This is the story of how, after ten years out of service and a two year restoration job, this majestic creature rose from the ashes back to the promenade. Jointly financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Blackpool Transport, once again Blackpool and it's visitors can enjoy the sights and sounds of this wonderful tramcar as it glides through the Illuminations. Smoke even comes out of the chimney!

With full access granted and produced in co-operation with Blackpool Transport this is the story of how a derelict wreck was stripped to a shell and rebuilt piece by piece.

The story of this Blackpool icon begins in the 1960s and with regular appearances each autumn through to the 1990s the tram is established as a firm favourite. Then it's 1999 and its final year in service. Withdrawn due to its condition, the scrapman was looming and the end was near. Hidden at the back of the depot, the tram was dragged in two halves to Fleetwood for the Tram Sunday event in 2003. This was its last public appearance. Again the trams lay rotting away in the depot. In October 2006 it was announced that Blackpool Transport had been successful in securing a £278,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The train was coming back!

Work began in April 2007 and the trams were stripped to a shell. Over the next two years the painful job of restoring these trams was recorded in detail. From new timbers and framework, to rewiring, panelling and painting. See the trams as they move from workshop to workshop and then the testing begins. Coupled up, the trams go 'live' for the first time; the first test run on the prom; the first private hire and the official launch in May 2009.

TRAMS magazine hired the train for a special night journey to Fleetwood in June 2009. See the trams as no-one has ever seen them before, at Cleveleys, Broadwater, Ash Street and Lord Street in Fleetwood at 3am! Finally, the story is completed... back on the prom and running through the Illuminations, just as they were built to, 50 years earlier!

This is the story of a Blackpool icon. From zero to hero in two years, the Western Train has been restored and this is the full story of how it was done.

It's back, it's bigger, it's brighter and it's more beautful than ever before...
it's Blackpool's world famous Western Train Illuminated tram.

This is the story of how, after ten years out of service and a two year restoration job, this majestic creature rose from the ashes back to the promenade. Jointly financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Blackpool Transport, once again Blackpool and it's visitors can enjoy the sights and sounds of this wonderful tramcar as it glides through the Illuminations. Smoke even comes out of the chimney!

With full access granted and produced in co-operation with Blackpool Transport this is the story of how a derelict wreck was stripped to a shell and rebuilt piece by piece.

The story of this Blackpool icon begins in the 1960s and with regular appearances each autumn through to the 1990s the tram is established as a firm favourite. Then it's 1999 and its final year in service. Withdrawn due to its condition, the scrapman was looming and the end was near. Hidden at the back of the depot, the tram was dragged in two halves to Fleetwood for the Tram Sunday event in 2003. This was its last public appearance. Again the trams lay rotting away in the depot. In October 2006 it was announced that Blackpool Transport had been successful in securing a £278,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The train was coming back!

Work began in April 2007 and the trams were stripped to a shell. Over the next two years the painful job of restoring these trams was recorded in detail. From new timbers and framework, to rewiring, panelling and painting. See the trams as they move from workshop to workshop and then the testing begins. Coupled up, the trams go 'live' for the first time; the first test run on the prom; the first private hire and the official launch in May 2009.

TRAMS magazine hired the train for a special night journey to Fleetwood in June 2009. See the trams as no-one has ever seen them before, at Cleveleys, Broadwater, Ash Street and Lord Street in Fleetwood at 3am! Finally, the story is completed... back on the prom and running through the Illuminations, just as they were built to, 50 years earlier!

This is the story of a Blackpool icon. From zero to hero in two years, the Western Train has been restored and this is the full story of how it was done.

Special extended edition - 100 minutes plus - filmed and edited in 16:9 widescreen for maximum viewing pleasure!

AUTUMN 2009: The sights and sounds of autumn 2009 with the return of the Western Train to Illuminations tour duties; 602, 604 and 605 on specials, 672+682 on an enthusiasts tour crossing at Broadwater and with attention focused on the Fleetwood end of the tramway, some unusual evening journeys are featured including an exceptionally rare post-midnight journey by 619 on specials and the Saturday evening when three Twin cars managed to make it to Fleetwood.

During the autumn, Balloon car 722 was scrapped and 720 emerged with its new wider central platforms - footage of both cars is included.

MAD WEDNESDAY: Wednesday 28th October was one of the best days for the tramway in a decade. With mild, dry and even warm(!) weather it was the midway point of the busy October half term week and Blackpool was bursting at the seams.

Filmed at North Pier from dusk at 5pm, see the events of this amazing evening unfold with Twin cars to Fleetwood, cars 40, 66, 147 and 706 on specials and tours, all four Illuminated trams work tours.

Then it gets serious - Stockport 5 appears - making its first passenger outing in 2009, a huge queue for Illuminations tours results in Boat cars 602, 604 and 605 all at North Pier TOGETHER!

Service cars and specials add to the scene and after filming for four hours, the cameraman takes a break with a journey on the top deck of 706 on what was the record-breaking 17th Illuminations tour of the evening!

At midnight the trams continued and the day finishes with cars 5 and 40 running into depot together.

 
LAST WEEKEND TO FLEETWOOD: Saturday/Sunday 7th/8th November 2009 was the final weekend of tram operation to Fleetwood prior to a three year closure and upgrade for ‘Supertrams’.

Full coverage of the final weekend starting with 717 on a private hire on the Friday evening, service cars, specials and all the tours on the Saturday and Sunday, the final trio of 40, 702 and 627 from Fleetwood - and 627 arriving back in depot at 3.05am on Monday morning!

YEAR END: The entire operational Blackpool tram fleet as they finished the 2009 season. All 55 cars which ran in passenger service are featured.

Click here to order Blackpool Tram DVD No.57 Winter 2009/10