Rolling stock › WithdrawnData updated 13 October 2026

Brush railcoaches

Twenty streamlined single-deckers of 1937 from Brush of Loughborough, a development of English Electric's railcoaches and among the most luxurious British trams of their day. Much rebuilt, they ran Blackpool's daytime service to the end of the traditional tramway in 2011.

Drawing to come

Type

Tram, single-deck, centre entrance, double-ended, on two four-wheel trucks

Builder

Brush Electrical Engineering Company, Loughborough

Built

1937

In service

1937–2011

Lines

Blackpool Tramway

Formation

One streamlined single-deck car with air-operated centre doors; 20 built (284-303), 19 renumbered 621-638 in 1968

Trains in fleet

20

Power

550 V DC overhead; trolley poles at first, pantographs from the 1990s; English Electric control equipment from the 1960s · how it works

Profile

tram

Status

Withdrawn from regular service on 6 November 2011, when 631 and 632 ran on the last day (British Trams Online); 25 trams, Brush cars among them, had been mothballed at the end of 2004 (Fylde Transport Trust). Heritage: 621, 631 and 632 survive at Rigby Road; 631 last carried the public on the heritage tours in 2024 and 621 in 2023, before the tours were suspended in December 2024 (British Trams Online, 3 October 2026). No heritage tram carried the public in Blackpool in 2026 after the Frigate's last Illumination Tours on 2 and 3 January (British Trams Online, 13 July and 1 September 2026); Blackpool Transport says the operational heritage cars need welding, electrical and axle repairs first, and 2027 is the earliest return.

Preserved

621, 631 and 632 in Blackpool; 634 with the Fylde Transport Trust; 630 and 635 at the National Tramway Museum, Crich

Replaced by

Bombardier Flexity 2 (Blackpool)

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

Sources

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• Brush Railcoach 621 Fylde Transport Trust, read 12 October 202620 cars, 284-303, Brush of Loughborough, 1937; 303 scrapped; renumbered 621-638 in 1968; the 2004 mothballing; 621's restoration
• Blackpool Corporation No. 630 National Tramway Museum (Crich Tramway Village), read 12 October 2026the class's origins and rebuilding; pantographs in the 1990s; 630 in service until 2011
• British Trams Online at 15 - Events: Last Day of traditional trams operation in Blackpool British Trams Online, 10 December 2017631 and 632 on the last day, 6 November 2011
• Blackpool Tramway - The End of an Era British Trams Online, 13 November 2011Brush and Centenary cars on the daytime service in the last week, 2-6 November 2011
• Blackpool Tramway fleet list British Trams Online, updated 3 October 2026the Brush cars in the heritage fleet and the year each last ran
• Blackpool Tramway: Trams TheTrams.co.uk, read 12 October 2026the class among the 2000s fleet
• No more heritage trams in Blackpool for 2026 British Trams Online, 1 September 2026, updated 5 September 2026heritage tours suspended since December 2024; none in 2026