Blackpool ‘Coronation’ car No. 304 pictured alongside ‘Balloon’ No. 713 at Blackpool Tramtown at Rigby Road on September 6, 2022.
GRAEME PICKERING
THE project to return Blackpool ‘Coronation’ car No. 304 to operational condition suffered a setback when one of the tram’s brake blocks was found to be cracked.
Fylde Transport Trust (FTT) had no spares and, as the blocks on ‘Coronation’ trams differ from others in its fleet, was unable to swap them from another vehicle.
In order to solve the problem, it sent one of No. 304’s brake blocks to a parts specialist to be copied and a batch of new ones made. This will allow complete renewals to take place on No. 304 and Marton VAMBAC No. 11, which has the same type of blocks and is based at East Anglia Transport Museum