Friday 16 March 2012

And now there are ten

Flexity 010 entering the Promenade from Squires Gate Lane
Flexity 010 about to pass under the Humber Bridge
Flexity 2 010 arrived in Blackpool today after having departed Hull docks at 0937 this morning. In the photograph on the left, provided by courtesy of Paul Derrick, 010 is seen leaving Hull along the A63 and is about to pass under the Humber BridgeThe transporter and load arrived safely at the bottom of Squires Gate Lane at 1300, after an uneventful journey across the Pennines. A quick unloading by the Bombardier crew saw 010 being driven into the depot under its own power at 1420, just after it had been passed by Flexity 008 returning back to Starr Gate from driver training. During the unloading process the indicator message "No10" was displayed on the destination screen (see below), leaving the onlookers in no doubt as to which Flexity 2 this was.

010 slowly progressing down the ramp


Newly delivered Flexity 010 about to be driven into the depot, being passed by 008 returning from training

3 comments:

  1. So now we have ten Flexity trams, how many in total are there going to be?
    If I'm correct will the the Flexitys' now do most of the services with the older trams just used for peak time in summer and specials?

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    1. Sixteen in total with six more still due. The plan is for the remaining trams to arrive at the rate of one every week until they have all been delivered. The Flexities will run the core service from Starr Gate to Fleetwood year round, and the original plan was for the widened Balloons to run the intermediate Cleveleys route, but the Cleveleys service doesn't appear on the newly published timetable so it's unsure what the latest thinking is. Certainly the Flexities will be able to handle the core timetabled service, as you say the older trams will probably just be used at busier periods.

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  2. Sixteen - that's a lot of investment! It will be weird strolling up and down the prom not seeing much of the old trams, I'm going to miss them, even the centenarys!

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