Classic Bus North West to Cease Trading

The day after the redundancy announcements, MAL41 is seen leaving for Manchester at 10:30 on 21st December

Further to yesterday's announcement that Classic Bus North West have pulled out of operating the new route 80 between Blackpool and Preston, it has now been officially confirmed that they will cease trading as a company. As well as stopping the new route 80 service, the X70 Red Rocket express to Manchester will also cease running after 22nd December. The only route to continue working is the Catch 22 service, which will in future be operated by Oakwood Travel Services Limited. Classic Bus North West informed their drivers on 20th December that many of them will unfortunately be made redundant as a consequence of this decision.

The service 22 is to continue operating, and Dennis Dart X512 UAT is seen at Talbot Square on 21st December

The Classic Bus North West depot in November, showing some Seafront 12 vehicles and also some preserved buses

Engineering Car 754

Engineering Car 754 sat at the front of Rigby Road depot fresh from its recent repaint into a paler shade of yellow

Engineering Car 754 has emerged fresh from its recent repaint and was noted parked in Rigby Road depot today in a new paler shade of yellow than is usually worn by the ancillary vehicles. There was an interesting line-up of engineering vehicles sat at the front of the depot on 21st December, starting with Snowplough 701, former Permanent Way car 259, newly painted Engineering Car 754 and Unimog 938.

Classic Bus North West in Trouble?

CBNW Volvo No 898 in Corporation St on 20th Dec, about to depart for Preston on the last day of operation of route 80

Lancashire County Council has issued the following statement today regarding the new Classic Bus North West operated route 80 which has been running between Blackpool and Preston for two weeks, commencing operations on 9th December.

"Classic Bus North West will cease to run its 80 service between Blackpool and Preston via Poulton and Great Eccleston, with effect from the end of today (Friday, 20 December).

The service currently runs seven days a week, with the county council subsidising evening and Sunday services between Poulton and Preston.

Classic Bus North West has terminated the service without the required 56 days notice to the Traffic Commissioner. They have also broken their contract with Lancashire County Council to provide an evening and Sunday service, which would require 12 week's notice. Lancashire County Council will inform the Traffic Commissioner of Classic Bus North West's actions.

Lancashire County Council is currently looking into possible options including trying to find out if Classic Bus North West are going into administration and, if so, the identity of the administrators."

Former Stagecoach Volvo B10M R898 XVM on Talbot Rd, heading for Preston on the last day of operation of route 80

Expansion of the Heritage Fleet

Newly arrived former LTT Balloon 715 and Brush cars 632 & 259 seen at the front of the depot on 17th December

The recent rounds of tramcar movements in Blackpool over the last six months has seen a major expansion in the number of trams that will potentially be available for Heritage Tour duty in the future. While some of the new arrivals still require a considerable amount of restoration work, and others are currently basket cases (ie former works car 259), some of the arrivals can hopefully be put to use again in the not too distant future. Among the trams that have returned to Rigby Road depot recently are Brush cars 632 & 259, Coronations 304 & 663, Balloon 715, English Electric Railcoach 279 (679), OMO car 8 and Standard 143, all these trams should eventually be joining the operational heritage car fleet. Brush car 622 and Jubilee 761 are currently being stored for their owners, and are not destined to join the heritage fleet. See this full fleet list for a more detailed breakdown of all the heritage trams that are currently at Blackpool.

Another view showing 631, 711, Trawler 737, 715, 632, 701 & 259, all part of the heritage fleet apart from Balloon 711

New Classic Bus Route 80

Former Stagecoach Volvo B10M R899 XVM at Talbot Square on the new Route 80 to Preston on 16th December

On 9th December Classic Bus North West began operating a new service, route 80, which runs between Blackpool and Preston. The new service starts from Corporation Street in Blackpool and operates via Victoria Hospital, Hardhorn, Poulton, Great Eccleston, Elswick, Inskip, Cottam and Ashton. The service runs hourly in each direction on a Monday to Saturday daytime basis, between Blackpool and Preston. Lancashire County Council will continue to support the two hourly Monday to Saturday evening and Sunday service between Poulton and Preston. Classic Bus North West will extend these subsidised journeys through to Blackpool on a commercial basis, whilst future funding decisions are made, offering an initial seven day a week service throughout the whole route.

Classic Bus's Red Rocket service to Manchester saw Olympian N325 NHG operating the 10:30 departure on 17th Dec

More tram moves at Rigby Road

761 chained down to Scotts low loader in preparation for making the journey from storage in Fleetwood to Rigby Road

Blackpool Jubilee car 761, which is owned by the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust, was finally moved from the open storage yard in Fleetwood where it has sat since 2011, and it is now securely dry stored in Rigby Road tram depot, albeit on a temporary basis. The tram has not been transferred to the heritage fleet, the ownership of it still remains firmly with the Fleetwood trust. 761 cannot be used on heritage tours and will not run while it is stored by the Fleetwood group in Blackpool.

After Scotts Heavy Haulage had unloaded Jubilee 761 in Blundell Street, they then prepared for loading another tram, this time for a much longer journey to Beamish museum in the North East. Former trailer towing car 680, owner by the Heaton Park Tramway group, is departing from storage in Blackpool to spend the winter season on the tramway at Beamish. Before the tram could be loaded, Scotts had to dismantle the loading ramp and shorten the extendable trailer again (it had been stretched for moving the longer Jubilee car from Fleetwood). After the loading ramp had been rebuilt, 680 was loaded under the cover of darkness in preparation for an early morning start for the long trip north to Beamish.

680 chained to Scotts low loader in preparation for the long journey north to Beamish early on the following morning

The last of the LTT trams return to Rigby Road

Brush cars 632 and 259 hiding in the long grass of the storage yard at Marton in Blackpool on 10th December

Tuesday 10th December saw a busy day of trams moves for Scotts Heavy Haulage in Blackpool. Balloon 715 had already been loaded up the previous evening at the storage yard in Marton, and had spent the night on the back of Scotts low loader next to the tram depot in Blundell Street. Scotts made an early start before dawn unloading 715, and the tram was propelled by the small fork lift truck of BTS into Rigby Road depot just after 9.00am. The next tram to be moved from the yard was Brush car 632, and in order to access this tram and Brush car 259, Balloon 704 was dragged across the storage yard by Scotts low loader. Brush car 632 was loaded up and transported back to Rigby Road, finally entering the depot at 14:35. This only left Brush car 259 to collect from the yard, the tram was loaded as dusk fell and arrived back at Rigby Road in darkness at around 6.00pm. For more photos of the LTT tram moves on 10th December see Blackpool Trams on Flickr.
 

Balloon 715 being unloaded early in the morning after spending the night on Scotts low loader in Blundell Street

Scotts low loader passes Bloomfield Road football ground as it returns Brush car 632 back to Rigby Road depot

Brush car 259 basks in a brief spot of sunshine after the tarpaulins had been removed in readiness for transport

Brush car 259 being pulled onto Scotts low loader as dusk fell over the storage yard at Marton

Balloon 704 is not part of the transfer of LTT trams to BTS, but had to be moved to clear the tram movements