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Centenary cars (East Lancashire Coachbuilders)
The last first-generation trams built for a British tramway: bus-like single-deckers from East Lancashire Coachbuilders, named for the tramway's centenary in 1985, to replace the OMO cars. They worked the all-year service until the traditional tramway closed in 2011.
Drawing to come
- Type
- Tram, single-deck, one-person operated, double-ended
- Builder
- East Lancashire Coachbuilders, Blackburn
- Built
- 1984–1987
- In service
- 1985–2011
- Lines
- Blackpool Tramway
- Formation
- One single-deck car, 8 ft wide, the widest in Blackpool's fleet; seven (641-647) and the experimental 651 (1985), renumbered 648 in 1990
- Trains in fleet
- 8
- Power
- 550 V DC overhead, pantograph; English Electric motors with thyristor control · how it works
- Car width
- 8 ft 0 in (2.438 m)
- Profile
- tram
- Seats per train
- 54
- Total capacity
- 54 seated and 16 standing (National Tramway Museum)
- Status
- Withdrawn from regular service on 6 November 2011, after running the last day's Little Bispham service (British Trams Online); 646 has since been scrapped. Heritage: 642 and 648 survive at Rigby Road, 648 with its original fronts; 648 last carried the public on the heritage tours in 2023 and 642 in 2021, 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
- 642 and 648 in Blackpool; 645 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 ↓
Before this train
The Centenary cars, from 1984, were meant to replace the OMO cars: pre-war railcoaches rebuilt in the 1970s to be run by the driver alone, whose lengthened bodies drooped at the ends and needed repeated repairs. The Centenaries had reliability problems of their own, so a handful of OMOs were kept on, 5 until 1993.
Now Centenary cars (East Lancashire Coachbuilders) 1985–2011
No drawing yet: no dimensioned source found
Before OMO cars (rebuilt English Electric railcoaches) 1972–1993
No drawing yet: no dimensioned source found
Sources
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- Blackpool Transport Services No. 645 National Tramway Museum (Crich Tramway Village), read 12 October 2026builder; seven cars and the experimental 651, renumbered 648 in 1990; 8 ft wide; 54 seated and 16 standing; motors and control; entered service 1985; the facelifts
- Blackpool Tramway: Trams TheTrams.co.uk, read 12 October 2026numbers 641-648; built by East Lancs in 1984-8
- British Trams Online at 15 - Events: Last Day of traditional trams operation in Blackpool British Trams Online, 10 December 2017the Centenaries on the last day; 646 scrapped since
- Blackpool Tramway fleet list British Trams Online, updated 3 October 2026642 and 648 in the heritage fleet and the year each last ran
- 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
- The first car's date: the National Tramway Museum has the class entering service in 1985; 641 is said to have arrived in April 1984 (TheTrams.co.uk gives the class as 1984-8)
- The build years 1984-1987 for 641-647 are taken from TheTrams.co.uk's 1984-8 and the museum's account
- 641's whereabouts (Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust) rest on search results, not a page read
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