The Blackpool Electric Tramway Company commenced operation of a conduit
system of railed vehicles along the Promenade between Cocker Street and
Station Road on 29 September 1885. By the 1930s the rolling stock was
becoming somewhat worn out and, following the appointment of Walter Luff
as General Manager in November 1932, the fleet was revolutionised. Over
the next few years Luff introduced a fleet of eighty-four streamlined
cars and built a new depot at Rigby Road in which to house them. These
formed the backbone of the fleet for several decades and a considerable
number, although significantly altered, continued in service until the
end of conventional tramway operation on 6 November 2011. Following a
substantial injection of government funding in January 2008 the failing
tramway was revitalised and like a phoenix from the ashes the whole
system was modernised and reopened as a Light Rail Transit system in
April 2012, with a fleet of new LRT articulated vehicles, which were
housed in a new depot at Starr Gate. This book features a wide
cross-section of trams that have operated at the seaside resort over the
past forty years and follows the line from Starr Gate to Fleetwood, with
many comparisons made between the old and new systems.
