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Blackpool Tramway

Britain's first electric street tramway, opened in 1885, and the only one of its first-generation tramways still running: one line of 40 stops and about 12 miles along the Fylde coast, from Starr Gate, south of the Pleasure Beach, past the Tower and the piers, through Bispham and Cleveleys to Fleetwood Ferry. Since 2024 every other tram has also run up Talbot Road to North Station, by Blackpool North railway station. Rebuilt between 2008 and 2012, it is run by 18 Bombardier Flexity 2 trams. Many of the older trams are kept for heritage tours. Regular tours have been suspended since December 2024; the last public ones, illuminated tours, ran on 2 and 3 January 2026, and there will be no more this year.

1885Opened
11.8 miles (19 km)Route, with the North Station branch
40Stops
4.7 millionJourneys a year, DfT (2025–26)

Facts

Opened
29 September 1885
Termini
Starr Gate – Fleetwood Ferry
Type
coastal tramway, from Starr Gate along Blackpool's promenade and the coast to Fleetwood, with a street branch up Talbot Road to Blackpool North station; 600 V DC overhead
Depots
Starr Gate, Rigby Road (heritage trams)
Operating company
Blackpool Transport Services Ltd, a company wholly owned by Blackpool Council, which also owns the tramway

unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓

Bombardier Flexity 2 (Blackpool) · Bombardier Transportation, Bautzen (Germany)
5 sections, 106 ft (32.2 m)

Route 40 stops

Starr Gate – Fleetwood Ferry 38
Starr Gate – Fleetwood Ferry: schematic, not to scale Starr GateStarr Gate Harrow PlaceHarrow Place Burlington Road WestBurlington Road West Pleasure BeachPleasure Beach South PierSouth Pier Waterloo RoadWaterloo Road St Chad's RoadSt Chad's Road Manchester SquareManchester Square Central PierCentral Pier TowerTower North PierNorth Pier Pleasant StreetPleasant Street Wilton ParadeWilton Parade Gynn SquareGynn Square Cliffs HotelCliffs Hotel CabinCabin Lowther AvenueLowther Avenue Cavendish RoadCavendish Road BisphamBispham Sandhurst AvenueSandhurst Avenue NorbreckNorbreck Norbreck NorthNorbreck North Little BisphamLittle Bispham Anchorsholme LaneAnchorsholme Lane CleveleysCleveleys West DriveWest Drive Thornton GateThornton Gate Rossall BeachRossall Beach Rossall SchoolRossall School Rossall SquareRossall Square BroadwaterBroadwater Heathfield RoadHeathfield Road Lindel RoadLindel Road Stanley RoadStanley Road Fishermans WalkFishermans Walk London StreetLondon Street Victoria StreetVictoria Street Fleetwood FerryFleetwood Ferry
Starr Gate – Fleetwood Ferry, by way of North Station 40
Starr Gate – Fleetwood Ferry, by way of North Station: schematic, not to scale Starr GateStarr Gate Harrow PlaceHarrow Place Burlington Road WestBurlington Road West Pleasure BeachPleasure Beach South PierSouth Pier Waterloo RoadWaterloo Road St Chad's RoadSt Chad's Road Manchester SquareManchester Square Central PierCentral Pier TowerTower Talbot SquareTalbot Square North Station — change for National RailNorth Station North PierNorth Pier Pleasant StreetPleasant Street Wilton ParadeWilton Parade Gynn SquareGynn Square Cliffs HotelCliffs Hotel CabinCabin Lowther AvenueLowther Avenue Cavendish RoadCavendish Road BisphamBispham Sandhurst AvenueSandhurst Avenue NorbreckNorbreck Norbreck NorthNorbreck North Little BisphamLittle Bispham Anchorsholme LaneAnchorsholme Lane CleveleysCleveleys West DriveWest Drive Thornton GateThornton Gate Rossall BeachRossall Beach Rossall SchoolRossall School Rossall SquareRossall Square BroadwaterBroadwater Heathfield RoadHeathfield Road Lindel RoadLindel Road Stanley RoadStanley Road Fishermans WalkFishermans Walk London StreetLondon Street Victoria StreetVictoria Street Fleetwood FerryFleetwood Ferry

Schematic, not to scale. Ringed stops are interchanges. One strip for each of the two services in the operator's timetable (from 11 January 2026), both written from Starr Gate. In the daytime every other tram runs by way of North Station: it leaves the Promenade at North Pier, calls at Talbot Square and North Station, reverses there and rejoins the Promenade at North Pier, so every stop along the coast is on both strips. Talbot Square is served only by trams towards North Station, and North Pier has separate northbound and southbound stops either side of the junction. North Station is beside Blackpool North railway station; the operator's map also shows Squires Gate and Blackpool South stations near Starr Gate and Waterloo Road. The last two trams each night run from Fleetwood Ferry straight to Starr Gate. Heritage tram tours aren't shown: regular tours have been suspended since December 2024, and the last public ones ran in January 2026. Stop order from the operator's tramway maps and timetable (see Sources).

StopInterchanges
Starr Gate
Harrow Place
Burlington Road West
Pleasure Beach
South Pier
Waterloo Road
St Chad's Road
Manchester Square
Central Pier
Tower
North Pier
Pleasant Street
Wilton Parade
Gynn Square
Cliffs Hotel
Cabin
Lowther Avenue
Cavendish Road
Bispham
Sandhurst Avenue
Norbreck
Norbreck North
Little Bispham
Anchorsholme Lane
Cleveleys
West Drive
Thornton Gate
Rossall Beach
Rossall School
Rossall Square
Broadwater
Heathfield Road
Lindel Road
Stanley Road
Fishermans Walk
London Street
Victoria Street
Fleetwood Ferry
Talbot Square
North StationNational Rail

Stops from the operator’s published routes, entered by hand (see Sources).

Rolling stock

Earlier trains on this line

History 14

  1. The Blackpool Electric Tramway Company opens a line of about two miles along the Promenade: Britain's first electric street tramway. Designed by Michael Holroyd Smith, it takes its current from a conduit, a channel under the road, not from overhead wires.
  2. Blackpool Corporation takes over the tramway and begins to lengthen it and enlarge the fleet.
  3. The conduit is given up for overhead wires, after constant electrical trouble from wind-blown sand.
  4. Glasgow, the last British city to keep its trams, holds its farewell procession, three days after its last normal service. Blackpool's is left as the only first-generation tramway in Britain.
  5. After a 'Save our trams' campaign by the Blackpool Gazette, begun in 2006, the government agrees to fund most of a £100 million rebuilding of the tramway, with Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council: the whole route refurbished, 16 new trams and a depot for them at Starr Gate.
  6. The first Flexity 2 tram is shown at the new Starr Gate depot: Blackpool is the first in the world to order Bombardier's new design. The supply is raised from 550 V to 600 V for the new trams.
  7. The last day of service for the traditional trams. Many are kept, and some carry passengers on heritage tram tours.
  8. The rebuilt tramway opens to the public, with platforms and low-floor Flexity 2 trams, every 20 minutes from Starr Gate to Fleetwood Ferry, the first leaving Starr Gate at 05:00. A tram had run the whole line privately the day before.
  9. The government approves a short branch, under half a mile, up Talbot Road to Blackpool North station, and track is being laid from the Promenade by July 2018. It is held up for years: first by a shop on the site of the terminus, then by the pandemic and the building of a hotel beside it.
  10. The first passengers ride to North Station, on a special tram from Starr Gate: the first tram with passengers in Talbot Road since the Layton route closed in October 1936, and the first to North Station since the route by Dickson Road closed in 1963.
  11. Public services to North Station begin, with a new timetable, the day after the first heritage tram tour along Talbot Road.
  12. Regular heritage tram tours are suspended.
  13. The last public heritage tours to date, illuminated tours in an illuminated heritage tram with tickets on general sale, run on 2 and 3 January; they had run on weekend nights since October 2025. Since then heritage trams have carried passengers only on a few private hires.
  14. Blackpool Transport confirms that no more heritage trams will run in 2026: inspections have found the trams need structural welding, electrical work and axle repairs before they can return.

Sources 18

How we source figures →  ·  Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)

Show the 18 sources from British Trams Online, Blackpool Transport, National Tramway Museum and 3 more
unverified
  • Every other tram by way of North Station: the timetable from 11 January 2026, which shows four trams an hour in the daytime; the operator's tramway page says trams run 'from every 10 minutes'
  • The depots: Starr Gate for the Flexity 2s; Rigby Road for the heritage trams (Rail Engineer, 2011; Blackpool Council, 2022), though in September 2026 three heritage trams were kept at Starr Gate (British Trams Online)
  • Heritage tours: the last public ones on 2 and 3 January 2026 (British Trams Online, November 2025 and 1 January 2026); private hires only since then, and 'no public tours have taken place' by 12 July 2026 (British Trams Online, 13 July 2026); 'no more heritage trams operating in 2026' (British Trams Online, 1 September 2026)
  • The line colour: sampled from Kyle's saved copy of the operator's strip map; the other saved map draws the line in a darker plum (#4B254C)

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