The Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad started operations in 1898 running between the two towns, then separated by countryside. Sixteen Crossbench Rack open sided trams were built for the company by G.F. Milnes as part of the original fleet. Three trailer cars were also built, these were later converted to electric operation.
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| Number 2 at Crich |
| Information |
| Number built: |
16 |
| Built: |
1898-99 |
| Builder: |
G.F. Milnes |
| Motor: |
2 GEC 1000 electric motors (550v DC OHLE) |
| Power: |
70 hp (52 kW) |
The trams were high capacity "toast rack" cars with forty eight seats. Later the capacity was increased to fifty six by allowing passengers to ride on the platforms. Unusually for street trams they had oil lamps not electric headlights (see below for an example). The trams were absorbed into the Blackpool Corporation fleet when the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad company was taken over in 1920. They were withdrawn from passenger service in the late 1930s.
Preserved No. 2 (127 when in the Blackpool Corporation fleet) was retained as a works car and snowplough until the early 1950s. In 1960 it was restored back to it's original Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad livery to celebrate seventy five years of Blackpool trams [2]. Since 1963 it has been at Crich Tramway Museum.
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| Tramcar not long after the opening of the line, public domain image [1] |
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| No. 2 in service, public domain image [1] |
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| Another view of No. 2, this time with oil lamp |
[1] Sidney H. Short, "Electric Railway Practice in Great Britain", Electric Railway Journal Vol. XV (October 1899) p. 363
[2] R.W. Rush, British Electric Tramcar Design (Oxford Publishing, 1976) p. 91
