The now very familiar sight of a Scotts low-loader arriving at our tram depot with a new consignment aboard!  680 was loaded last night as the final piece in a busy sequence of tramcar moves in Blackpool, leaving in the early hours to arrive with us at around 9am.  It was soon unloaded and a start made by Brian, Tom, Darren and Mark on cleaning it – quite a lengthy process as it was filthy and being cream ended up very streaky.  It is now sat on the pit ready for commissioning work to commence.  We will have the tower shot-blasted and then painted early next week, whilst the overhauled trolley base arrived a few weeks ago.  Tony made some trolley planks today and these are now in primer.  233’s old trolley pole and 264’s head will be used.

Below: Here are some photos showing arrival, unloading and cleaning during the day.  Needless to say the power to the overhead in the yard was switched off throughout!

Below: Just to end the day on, here are a couple of photos of 101 and the Access Bus in the Town collecting the last visitors of the day. Weekday operation calls for just one tram and the Access Bus, with a second tram and/or bus being used as required – today 31 was in use for a private party and the B-Type bus was assisting as a number of schools were booked in.  Our weekends are a contrast, with some of the busiest days of the year being recorded at this time (its the Santa thing!) and four trams and three buses being required for service.