Richard's Tram Blog

Sunday, October 18, 2015

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL SEP/OCT 2015 - ZARAGOZA

After a long day on the bus, 843km, we arrived in Zaragoza in the evening and were pleased to find our hotel was in the central area and next to a tram stop. The tramway completed in December 2012, is a cross city route and operates 21 CAF Urbos 3's, with a capability of off wire operations using capacitors.

Tram coming off the bridge over the river

View of the bridge taken from the old bell tower

Tram from the bell tower at the stop outside our hotel

Spacious interior with striking red hand rails

Passing the depot

Departing Mago de Oz terminus

At |Parque Goya terminus

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL SEP/OCT 2015 - TOURS

We moved on to Tours for the night, where thenew 15km tramway opened in August 2013, served with 21 43m Citadis cars.

Tours have gone for a different design on their bodywork, Very flat fronted with lighting down each side of the front section to show which way the tram is travelling

The navette tram was in use for a couple of stops due to a weakened bridge travelling out from the centre. On the way back into town the trams ran straight through.

Busy stop - the first one after getting off the navette

Different seating too, a bit like velvet sofas!

Such a lot of hand rails make the interior look very clutttered

Showing the way the lighting works

Running without poles in the central streets

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL SEP/OCT 2015 - LE MANS

From Le Havre we made a stop at Le Mans to have a look at the new extension from Espal - Arche de Nature to Bellevue - Hauts de Coulaine.

At Bellevue

Detail of the tramcar ceiling

Departing the station

At the station stop

Coming down the hill towards the station

Espals

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL SEP/OCT 2015 - LE HAVRE

This year's Autumn tour was of Iberia, covering a few new tramways, some with extensions to the systems and some which are long awaited. After taking the ferry crossing from Portsmouth to Ouistreham, arriving about 2130, we drove the 100km or so to stay in Le Havre for the night. We last visited Le Havre in Autumn 2012 when we saw a few trams at the depot, but the system was not then running. The system opened on 12-12-12 and this was our first view. Le Havre iA 13km system operating two routes with 22 Citadis cars.


A simple cream livery with some squares in places under the windows

The seats were a reflection of the squares on the bodywork, but |I did wonder how long they would be this colour

Very bright and spacious interior

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

NEWS ON POSSIBLE NOTTINGHAM LINE 4 -Frank Bagshaw

Check out: richardsrobinson.org.uk

Very positive about proposals to extend Nottingham trams Kimberley, Eastwood & into Amber Valley. The link to the Mott MacDonald report is very interesting, it includes alternative routes and also the line to Ripley, but unfortunately not through Waingroves.

Needs 4 x new trams but cautions about the single line from Phoenix Park to Highbury Vale.

CRICH ON 28 SEPTEMBER and 7 OCTOBER 2015 - Frank Bagshaw

I had an enjoyable day's conducting at Crich this week working on Glasgow 1068. My driver was Ian Gledhill. Other trams in service were Oporto 273 and Blackpool 166. Access tram Berlin 3006 also made one journey.

1068 at Town End

Also running on 7 October was Liverpool "Green Goddess" 869 on the "Ultimate Driving Experience."

This week I conducted at Crich on a wet day on former LCC E/1 class tram 1622. Driver Andrew Willis attends to the trolley change at Glory Mine.

HONG KONG 1998 - Martin Miller

Had some old video tapes converted to digital in a format I could edit. These Hong Kong excerpts are from 1998.

https://youtu.be/Skj_KwYkbjE

https://youtu.be/nGXdtWqz3tA

https://youtu.be/gTghgBvvHcg

https://youtu.be/uyfRCdlLE5w

BIRMINGHAM PROGRESS ON 28 SEPTEMBER 2015 - Martin Miller

I had a look round the extension of Midland Metro of barely over 1 mile and was surprised at how little progress seems to have been made. France would have built a whole new system in the time it has taken.

And a video showing the new CAF Urbos passing the site of the start of the extension.

https://youtu.be/KmGkvXMudXc