Heaton Park Tramway

27/12/2019

Who has lost this magnificent hat? Was found on Blackpool 623 this evening.
If it's yours, get in touch, I want to know where you got it 😏

24/12/2019

We've been rather busy of late with Lightopia but we would still never forget to wish you

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

17/12/2019

British Trams Online - Tram of the Year

We've been nominated as Tramway of the year and Manchester 765 has been nominated as Tram of the year in the British Trams Online competition.

Its only a bit of fun but we'd love to have your votes. See the link for more info.

http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/tramofyear.html

15/12/2019

Photo courtesy of Joshua Haworth

09/12/2019

Products – Heaton Park Tramway

Stuck for ideas for a friend or family member this Christmas?
We now have Tram Driver Experiences available for our 2020 season starting March 2020.
Gift Vouchers are available on our new online store.
http://hptramway.co.uk/index.php/shop/

Vouchers will be sent via email to and can be printed and presented to the giftee.

03/12/2019

Swedes prank electric car show with a 100-year-old electric streetcar | Trains Magazine

The Swedes have it right here, and in Manchester its even a year earlier
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/12/02-swedes-prank-electric-car-show-with-a-100-year-old-electric-streetcar?fbclid=IwAR3THpyXq9MEai-JVe3AC-GcMZWkG3KOHQFxnFUu5CnNToGoUPpdtyGDjlw

Swedes prank electric car show with a 100-year-old electric streetcar

02/12/2019

Due to essential maintenance, our website will be offline for a day or 2.
This is to allow us to test our DR processes.
ID:10t Administrator Error.... For those who know 😜

29/11/2019

It's Black Friday!

If you're shopping on Amazon today please use the link https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/505601-0

Amazon will then donate to the Manchester Transport Museum Society who operate the trams in Heaton Park.

22/11/2019

Lightopia

Lightopia is up and running and it looks amazing.

Why not visit on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday and enjoy a tram ride though part of the display as well.

Normal fares apply on the tram with access to the park only available to Lightopia ticket holders.

Take a look at the first evening of Lightopia Manchester 🧚‍♂

These glorious handmade lanterns will be avilable for you to see until the 31st Decemeber in Heaton Park, Manchester.

Get your tickets now lightopiafestival.com

17/11/2019

Well that's it for our regular operating season folks but we're not quite done yet.

We are delighted to announce that we will be supporting the Lightopia Festival in Heaton Park by operating a tram service on Friday, Saturday & Sunday evenings from 17.00 - 21.30

The service will be operated by the newly illuminated Blackpool 623 along with Hull 96 and of course Manchester 765 both of which always look stunning in the dark.

Normal tram fares for Lightopia ticket holders will apply but for more info on Lightopia tickets and accessing the park please visit https://www.facebook.com/LightopiaFestival/

17/11/2019

A soggy morning, but we're still running.
765 and 96 start the service, with 623 joining in at 12.

03/11/2019

As we are approaching the end of our operating season, we will only be running on Sundays until our last day of the season on Sunday the 17th November.

02/11/2019

Click here to support Rare Trolleybus barn caught fire, help needed! organized by Keith Walker

Absolutely devastating news from Cardiff with their vehicle restorations set back years and their facilities heavily damaged.

We know ourselves how heartbreaking it can be to see your hard volunteer efforts undone.

Please donate and support them if you can.

Keith Walker Rare Trolleybus barn caught fire, help needed! BARN FIRE - 2 UNIQUE TROLLEYBUSES DAMAGED & 1 RARE MOTORBUS DESTROYED...HELP NEEDED TO RECOVER

29/10/2019

A real day of leaves on the line today but shows the beauty of the park at this time of year

27/10/2019

Both 96 and 765 out in the sunshine now as the parks nice and busy today

27/10/2019

First tram of the day out in service full load and lots of people out and about who saw us on the telly last night

27/10/2019

Lost property alert.
People loose all sorts at times but yesterday we had a nice black lightweight waterproof jacket left on the tram during the reopening days events. If it’s yours message me and let me know what was in the pocket and we’ll arrange to get it back to you
And a prize for the best guess 😀😀

26/10/2019

We're OPEN!!! 🚋🚋🚋

26/10/2019

All in the day of a #TramwayEngineer.

26/10/2019

Today's the day!

At 11.30 this morning we officially reopen the tramway for service.

What's better is it's free travel all weekend.

We hope to see you all later.

We're back!

We are delighted to confirm the testing of our overhead repairs is complete and we are ready to welcome you all back again.

Thats not all though we also feel we should say thank you so from 11 on Saturday 26th till 5 on Sunday 27th it will be completley free to ride our trams.

26/10/2019

And so.... The day begins.

20/10/2019

We're back!

We are delighted to confirm the testing of our overhead repairs is complete and we are ready to welcome you all back again.

Thats not all though we also feel we should say thank you so from 11 on Saturday 26th till 5 on Sunday 27th it will be completley free to ride our trams.

17/10/2019

With all our attention on overhead repairs and preparations for reopening it’s easy to lose track of our other projects.

Thankfully our friends don’t as proved by this lovely new set of replica blinds ready for Stockport 5 as part of its overhaul.

As always we are very grateful to PWC Replica Blinds for their high quality work.

The team are really working at full speed after their recent holidays! Over the last 2 days we have printed some new blinds for our friends at the Heaton Park Tramway. These are for Stockport 5 which is looking absolutely stunning and its restoration is not yet fully completed.

These blinds are made up from photos and scans from the previous blinds fitted to the tram. We also had the opportunity to check some details with other Stockport tram blinds in the Archives at the Museum of Transport in Manchester. All this information was then turned in to the required artwork for printing by our resident artwork guru Greg Taylor.

The photo shows the majority of the blind, there are other destinations towards the end that will be revealed in full once fitted to the tram.

16/10/2019

173 for 175.

Manchester Victoria station is turning 175 and we're going to the party.

This Sunday the 20th October sees a fun day being held at Manchester's Victoria station learn about the fascinating history of the station and the secrets behind the scenes, listen to live music, visit the stalls of the supporting societies and above all make sure to come and see our very own 1901 built Manchester 173.

12/10/2019

Hello all, as you can see from the images below, we have started work on leveling the floor at our Lakeside Depot. Does anyone have a Wacker plate that the tramway could borrow for the day or possibly longer as ours has developed a crack.

10/10/2019

We are very keen to show our gratitude to all those that have supported us recently and one such organisation is our tramway neighbours the Wirral transport museum.

Therefore on the 6th October a small group of our guards attended the Wirral bus and tram show to assist as extra crew for this well attended event.

08/10/2019

Transport for Greater Manchester

Transport for Greater Manchester

We're proud to have helped the historic Heaton Park Tramway back on track, after the recent theft of its overhead wires. Here's Graham Thornton from KeolisAmey Metrolink explaining the work we did with specialist transport contractors, Pod-Trak. 🚊

As Graham explains, we all feel it's important to help preserve Greater Manchester's transport heritage for everyone to enjoy 😊
#Teamwork #Partnership #Metrolink #Manchester

07/10/2019

Our volunteer heritage tramway conductors are responsible for passenger safety, taking fares and assisting pasengers in their journey.

The correct candiate must be over 18 years of age and physically fit.

No prior experience is neccessary as full training will be given.

After a qualifying period Conductors have the opportunity to progress to driver training

04/10/2019

We at Heaton Park Tramway are extremely greatful to the organisations that have supported us with engineering services and support this week.

We will shortly start a period of testing and finalising plans for a grand reopening.

Watch this space......

Teamwork makes a difference! Together with KeolisAmey Metrolink, Pod-Trak, City Council officers, and volunteers from Heaton Park Tramway, yesterday we repaired the overhead cables that were damaged by thieves last week.

Huge thanks to everyone involved - with this support the tram will be able to reopen to the public later this month. It's great to be able to support such a well-loved local treasure!

#HeatonPark #Manchester #teamwork #trams

27/09/2019

Wow folks, we genuinely can't believe the love everyone has shown us.

From feeling like the world had ended on Tuesday we've been absolutely overwhelmed with all the donations, messages and offers of support.

Although our tramway is closed we are planning to be opening our shop this weekend and have volunteers available to talk and update anyone who pops by.

As well as this we also hope to be working on repairs and a wide range of other jobs we already have ongoing.

Please do come and say Hi.

We will endeavour to keep you all updated on progress but for no we just all want to say a massive

THANK YOU

25/09/2019

Click here to support Fundraiser for the replacement of Stolen overhead organized by Ed Ainscow

On behalf of everyone at Heaton Park Tramway I would like to thank everyone who has helped support us during this time.
Our GoFundMe appeal has been hugely successful and has met its target of £3000 within 24h and is continuing to receive donations. If you would like to make a donation, please click the link below.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fundraiser-for-the-replacement-of-stolen-overhead
Any monies remaining after the repair of the overhead will be moved to our Lakeside Depot fund.
We have received hundreds of comments and messages of support and this means a huge amount to all of us.
We are still coming to terms with this situation, but plans are starting to come together, and teams are being built to start work on the repair.
We will keep you updated over the next few weeks as to what work will need to be done and how we do it.

If you would like to become involved with the Tramway as a volunteer, please click the link below to become a member. (£15 adult - £7 Child.)
http://hptramway.co.uk/index.php/come-and-join-us/

Ed Ainscow Fundraiser for the replacement of Stolen overhead On Tuesday the 24th of September our hardworking volunteers arrived on site to discover that a 40

24/09/2019

It is with great sadness that we must announce that we are indefinitely closed due to the theft of overhead wire.

Our dedicated volunteers are working hard to work out how best to replace missing wire and repair other damaged caused.

***Update***
We have now launched a GoFundMe page at the suggestion of many of our followers.
If you would like to help us get the Tramway up and running again, Please click the link below.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fundraiser-for-the-replacement-of-stolen-overhead
^ed

10/09/2019

Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester

Very briefly, Heywood Corporation ran its own trams - but instead of using electricity or even horses, the motive power was the 'steam tram' - a small steam locomotive that the law said had to 'consume its own smoke' (but it didn't!).

09/09/2019

We're having a recruitment drive over the next few weeks starting with Volunteer Tram Conductors.

If you would like to get involved check out our

Jobs link @ https://www.facebook.com/pg/HeatonParkTramway/jobs/?ref=page_internal

e-mail [email protected]

Or send us a message

06/09/2019

In Pictures: Heaton Park pull out the stops for late summer event | British Trams Online News

In Pictures: Heaton Park pull out the stops for late summer event | British Trams Online News

In the wake of the cancellation of the Trans Lancs Rally because of ground conditions on the rally ground in Heaton Park the Heaton Park Tramway organised a short-notice late summer event which saw all three operational passenger trams in service with stored trams on display plus a model tram exhibi...

05/09/2019

#Throwbackthursday

This week we bring a location that should be familiar to all of our followers but which looks a lot different today.

The large number of Manchester Corporation trams present can be seen bringing large amounts of Sunday school Children to visit.

But who knows where it is?

04/09/2019

#Workshopwednesday

As well as the work carried out by our dedicated volunteers we also use contractors for some jobs and last week saw our good friends at Heritage Painting on site.

The top deck panels and trolley mast on Stockport 5 have been repainted to improve the appearance of the top deck.

We are as always grateful for their hard work.

03/09/2019

Replica Blinds by PWC

During our weekend "road trip" over to the UK, we met up with our friends at Heaton Park tramway. This provided us the opportunity to see some of our blinds in use, as can be seen on Manchester 765 and Blackpool 623. At the same time the artwork for their next blinds was validated, watch this space to find out for which tram!

02/09/2019

Yesterday saw a number of great photo opportunities at the tramway.
Despite the cancellation of the Trancs Lancs show our friends at the Museum of TransporTransport were kind enough to arrange for vehicles to visit the tramway.

01/09/2019

Look whats just arrived in our shop. Replica Tram Blinds from both Blackpool and our very own 765! Priced at £7.50 each.

01/09/2019

At Middleton Road Depot today we have a selection of buses, several model railway and tramway exhibits, a book store and the Heaton Park Tramway Shop.
At Middleton Road gates we have a pop up book shop and a free connecting bus service to the Museum Of Transport.

01/09/2019

Morning all.
We have started the preparation work for today's 3 car service.
We hope to see you today 😁

30/08/2019

Good Morning

On Sunday 1st of September Heaton Park Tramway, Manchester will be holding a Late Summer Spectacular event. This replaces the Translancs Rally which has been cancelled.

Between 1000 and 1600 a small model exhibition will be taking place in the Middleton Road Tram Depot.
There will be several layouts in attendance, mostly tram, and a couple of railway layouts. There will also be a 3 car tram service in operation, using Manchester 765, Hull 96, and Blackpool 623, as well as a vintage bus service linking us with the Boyle Street Transport Museum.

Entry to the exhibition is free, tram tickets are £2 Return or £5 all day. (children half price)

Here are a few images of the layouts taking part.

As well as the layouts pictured, there will also be a Hornby Clockwork O gauge layout attending, built by Andrew Smith.

29/08/2019

#Throwbackthursday

As the last Camwell Image Colourised by S.E.Letts was so well received we have another for you.

The Tram is SHMD 63 at Mersey sq Stockport. Built by the joint board in 1925 at its park road workshop in Dukinfield. It was one of the last 6 cars to run being withdrawn in May 1945. It was fitted with route stencil boxes to allow it to work on the joint 19 route with Manchester into the city.

Of interest this tram is also the one featured in the logo of the Tramway Museum Society.

28/08/2019

Just a remind that this Sunday's Late Summer Spectacular event is a tram only event following the cancellation of the usual Trans Lancs Rally. There will not be room for the large scale display of other visiting vehicles within the park. The trams and model tramways will however be in service throughout the day based around the Middleton road Depot.