Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1988

It's another July, this time the year is 1989 and we are once more in Fleetwood for the annual Tram Sunday Festival of Transport.

This is an Austin-Healey 3000. They were built from 1959 to 1967 and had a 3 litre engine that the company claimed could do 0-100 miles per hour in 31 seconds. This was long before the days of a 70mph top limit on all roads in the UK. The white disc roadsign with a black diagonal flash really meant delimited in those days. Production ceased with the Mk.III in 1967 although three proposed Mk.IV cars were built with a 3.9 litre Rolls Royce engine. This car never made it into production however. And after all that excitement it seems that people are more interested in the contents of the butcher's shop window...

An Austin A40 Somerset. It replaced the somewhat chunky Austin Devon in 1952 and enjoyed a production run of a mere two years before it was in turn replaced by the Austin Cambridge in 1954. During that time over 173,000 were produced. This number includes sales of a convertible variant.

A Ford Prefect 100E. The four doors give it away. The Anglia only had two and the slightly later Popular had a different grill. In fact the Popular was just the Anglia refusing to stop being made when a new body shape was given the Anglia name...

In fact the very same thing had happened when the old-sit-up-and-beg Anglia changed to the shape shown previously. Production carried on as though nothing had happened and the new cars with the old shape were called the Ford Popular. Such a one was my Dad's first car.

A Vauxhall Wyvern EIX. ("EIX" - how did they pronounce that I wonder?) Produced from 1951 to 1957, they originally had huge lumps of chromed metal bar around and across the front grill like a grill with lips and an extra bumper across it that with a vertical bar made a cross over the grill opening. That dates this example here no earlier than 1955. The name Wyvern was to die out and the Victor, Velox and Cresta became Vauxhall's major models.

The impressive-looking Jaguar SS Mk.IV. The SS part of the name was dropped in 1948, not long after World War II, because of its unforgetable association with the Nazi SS. It had stood for Sports Saloon although it could also have been a reminder of Jaguar's origins as a small Blackpool-based company called Swallow Sidecars. It's successor became simply known as the Jaguar Mk.V.

The Hillman Minx. This Audax design was built from 1956 to 1967 and this is a later model as evidenced by the lack of splayed out rear fins. I had one as my first 4-wheel car and it was lovely to drive, but less so to stop...

Mystery time and a chance for readers to show off knowledge. This is a 1963 Austin Cambridge which is impossible because production of this body shape finished in 1957 or 1958 depending on whether it is an A40, A50, or A55. The A55 had a longer boot than the A40 and A50 which were identical, but the angle of the photo leaves me unable to guess. From the registration plate it must have been re-registered at some point in time. Over to you: leave a comment if you know.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1995

It's July 1995 and once again the weather is kind enough for us to venture down the road to Fleetwood to have a look at the vehicles at the annual Tram Sunday vehicles festival.

This is a reminder of my own first 4-wheeled car. A 1961 Hillman Minx. Mine had the registration 385 TD. I bought it in 1971 at the the age of 17 after a year of embarrassing myself driving old Reliant three-wheelers about. In comparison this was a tank. The Hillman Minx was a tremendously popular car. Built from 1931 it went though a pre-war (WW2) version, a wartime version then a postwar Mk.1 to Mk.VIII before this version designed by Rootes and labelled the Audax design was released in 1956 going through Series.1 to Series.VI before a totally new body design came out in 1967, known as the New Minx - a basic version of the Hillman Hunter.

This is identical to my car, though later series lost the rear fins, to the detriment of the overall look of the car. Series IV never existed but to make up for it Series.III had Series.IIIa - to Series.IIIc. Confusing isn't it...? Anyway, mine had not so much a bench seat, but two large seats that touched together so the handrake came out from under the dash and the gear lever was... no... not on the steering column but it was a bent affair from far forward on the floor which then bent over the front middle seat. Potentially embarrassing if you had two other passengers on the front seat in those days of mini skirts, but then again I never was one for being easily embarrassed! Braking hard was something of a fear-inducing exercise of holding the steering wheel hard enough and stepping on the brake pedal hard enough that you were in a standing position before the car deigned to slow down...

A 1965 Ford Anglia Super 123E as identified by the two-tone paint jobby with surrounding chrome strips on the side flash. This was the top of the range model effectively replacing for good the Ford Prefect.

Like buses - you don't see one for ages and then two turn up together...

The van-bodied version of the earlier Ford Anglia was known as the Ford Thames van. Note the semaphore trafficators behind the driver's side window.

A Morris Commercial J-Type van. Made from 1949 to 1961, this van could carry ten hundredweight (10 cwt) or half a ton. It was one of the first vans to have the cab right at the front of the vehicle with hardly any protruding bonnet. Over 48,000 were made with the Post Office using them extensively. Their vehicles differed slightly from the standard J-Type in that their front and rear wings were made of rubber.

A 1964 Triumph Herald 12/50 convertible. An deluxe version of the Herald 1200. By the time this car came out the Standard-Triumph company had been bought out by Leyland Motors. They gave the 1200 model a cash injection and came up with improved seating, a rubber-covered bumper (I bet you're all going "Wow!" just at that aren't you?) and wooden trim dashboard. Disc brakes were fitted from 1962 as an option. The following year this 12/50 version came out and front disc brakes were fitted as standard. The Herald had a strange engine covering - instead of an opening bonnet, the entire front of the car including wings and headlights etc. lifted from the rear to stand vertically in front of the car. This meant access was only possible from either side of the engine. They were very popular and photos of Heralds even now draw exclaimations of devotion on online websites and pages where they are affectionately known as "Harolds".

A 1935 single-deck half-cab bus owned by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust. Based on a Leyland Tiger chassis, this bus originally had an English Electric 31-seater bus body but after World War II was fitted with a larger engine and a new Burlingham body. It remained in service until 1960 then ownership passed through a few private owners before it was spotted in 1972 masquerading as a garden shed in Fleetwood. It was restored in due course and donated to the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust.

BMW Isetta bubble car. These were originally made by an Italian firm Iso - "Isetta" being a derived name from the Italian for "Little Iso". Both 4-wheel and 3-wheel versions were produced but in the UK the 3-wheeled version was more popular because they were classed as a motorbike and could be driven on a motorbike licence and also cost less in road tax. They were made here in a right-hand drive version which caused a small problem in that the engine was also mounted towards the right so counterweights had to be added on the left to cure the tendency to lean or roll over. They were produced from 1957-1962 in the UK, though production in Italy started in 1952.

A loud rumbling noise mingled with the hiss of steam heralds an Aveling & Porter steam roller, from 1912. Named "Betsy" and given the production number: 7632, such vehicles, a regular sight during my early childhood in the 1950s are now only rarely seen on public roads.

There was something familiar about the chap with glasses - it was steeplejack and demolition expert, Fred Dibnah!

Oh, go on... It's Tram Sunday so let's have a look at a tram. Balloon tram 716 on Lord Street. It was sporting a pantograph, rather than long trailing pole to pick up electricity from the overhead wire. These trams were the mainstay of Blackpool's trams, moving people by the hundred from Starr Gate in the south to the Tower, North Pier, Bispham and beyond to Fleetwood Ferry. This type of tram was first delivered to Blackpool in 1934 and were used on regular service until the new light rail tramway system started in 2012. They can still be seen on service as part of the Heritage Fleet. This particular tram though was sold and used as an office and current whereabouts are unknown, presumed scrapped.

1954 Southern National Bristol LS6G coach with bodywork by Eastern Coach Works.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday Festivals

A collection of articles on the cars, buses, lorries, and trams that have appeared over the years at Fleetwood's annual Festival of Transport, originally and still popularly known as Tram Sunday. This hugely popular event started in 1985 with the centenary of the Blackpool tramway and has grown into a fascinating and nostalgic day out with many on-street stalls, music and fairground rides.

Each article can be accessed by clicking or tapping the photographs below. A link at the end of each article will bring you back to this index page.

Blackpool Miscellaneous Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1985

1985 was the centenary of the Blackpool Tramway. It was the first tramways system operating along public roadways in mainland UK and is unique in having operated trams throughout its history through to the present day, broken only by periods of maintenance on the permanent trackway.

Needless to say, that Blackpool celebrated the tramway centenary in a big way that year with many restored and preserved trams from elsewhere coming to run along the eleven and a half miles from Starr Gate at the southern end of Blackpool to Fleetwood Ferry, the terminus on the end of the Fleetwood peninsula and opposite the entrance to the ferry across the River Wyre to Knott End.

Fleetwood too, despite the fact that trams didn't reach there until 1898 from Blackpool - and even then being operated by a rival company to the Blackpool Corporation Trams, decided to join in the celebrations with a tram and transport festival that became known as Tram Sunday This would feature the preserved and restored trams running up and down the length of Lord Street (Fleetwood's main shopping thoroughfare) whilst more traditional forms of vintage and classic road transport in the form of cars, buses and lorries would form a static display along the sides of the road.

It was a huge success, helped by glorious weather, and it was soon decided that this would become an annual event. Here a restored Glasgow tram is seen, loaded to capacity with excited tourists, returning to the top of Lord Street where it will cross to the north-heading track to repeat the trip with a fresh but equally eager set of passengers.

Even with several trams running such a short distance, they had no problems at all with finding enough people willing to queue for a ride. This tram is from Bolton in Lancashire and had been in Blackpool for a few years already and at time of writing in 2023 it still is, on permanent loan, now forming part of the Heritage fleet of trams.

A 1942 Morris 8 Series Z van. This vehicle was owned by the Commercial Vehicles Museum at nearby Leyland. The type was launched in 1940 and in production until 1953.

A Scammell Scarab three-wheel tractor with flatback trailer. I used to see several of these outside Rochdale and Manchester railway stations, pulling flat trailers, loaded with goods that had been transported by rail. They were built from 1948 all the way through to 1967 and whilst they were used predominantly by railway companies, they also were popular with the military and for deliveries in tight city streets as their use of articulated attachment to trailers made them more manouverable than a standard flatback lorry.

A Jaguar XK120 fixed head coupe, originally sold in 1953 by Henlys in London. These were very high performance cars. Just over 12,000 were made between 1948 to 1954 and in 1949 the second such car to be built was measured through the standing mile on a closed road in Belgium at 132.596 miles per hour. In 1953 a modified open-top version with aerodynamic bubble covering the cockpit (actually from a glider!) clocked over 172 miles per hour along the same standing mile in Belgium. There was no chance of attempting this speed in Fleetwood...

A few people attended in fancy dress, adding to the fun and atmosphere of the day.

Fleetwood tram 167. Built in 1928 it remained in service until 1953 from when it was used as an engineering car until 1962 when it was sold to the National Tramway Museum at Crich, being the first tram to use a motorway (the M62) during its journey to Crich.

Manchester tram 765 of 1914 vintage. The only surving example of over 60 trams of the type, it was retired from Manchester in 1930 when the route transferred to bus operations and it ended up stored on a farm for a while prior to restoration. It currently runs on the Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index