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Original Manchester Metrolink Trams starting to be withdrawn

Discussion in 'Everything Else Heritage' started by DJH, Apr 21, 2012.

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  1. DJH

    DJH Member

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    May be interest to some but the first of the Manchester metrolink trams T68 1011 has now been withdrawn.

    Others to follow as they are being replaced by new trams.

    Duncan
     
    DJH, Apr 21, 2012
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  2. buseng

    buseng Part of the furniture

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    buseng, Apr 21, 2012
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  3. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    How is it that the Manchester trams are being withdrawn after only 22 years service, seems to me if they are unreliable then we were sold a poor quality product..
    Other countries however have trams running that are over 40 years old. Examples are those in Basle, Switzerland, the older ones look fine but I do think the new ones are awful, like something drawn by a child, just boxes with huge windows, but the one at 8.19 is fabulous....


    [youtube]Ycp9INsp0vc[/youtube]
     
    RalphW, Apr 21, 2012
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  4. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    gwalkeriow, Apr 21, 2012
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  5. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    So putting it bluntly, someone bought either bought cheap and the price is now being paid, or was ripped off with as you say a tram that was never going to be long lasting.
     
    RalphW, Apr 22, 2012
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  6. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    I think it was both they were neither cheap or long lasting!

    A number of assumptions were also made that were to prove very poor. For instance being light rail that the tyre profiles wouldn't wear very quickly. This asumption lead to the lack of a depot wheel lathe, in practise the tyre profiles needed reprofiling more often than on heavy rail.
     
    gwalkeriow, Apr 22, 2012
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  7. DJH

    DJH Member

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    DJH, Jun 16, 2012
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  8. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    Are these trams still serviceable or have they got into such a state that repair/refurb is not viable? Some countries seem to run trams that are 30/40 years old, maybe more..
     
    RalphW, Jun 16, 2012
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  9. Guest

    Guest Part of the furniture Account Suspended

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    Ralph - Metrolink simply want to standardise on the Bombardier M5000s and have managed to fund an entire new fleet - so out go the old cars. Thats it. There is no will to do anything else.
     
    Guest, Jun 16, 2012
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  10. Christopher125

    Christopher125 Part of the furniture

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    Taking the opportunity to eliminate what will be an old and non-standard fleet of trams with a single fleet of M5000's seems like a pretty good call to me, no doubt they got a good price tagging it on the back of the current order.

    Chris
     
    Christopher125, Jun 16, 2012
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  11. DJH

    DJH Member

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    With respect the main reason for the withdrawal is two fold:

    Light rail assumption that wear would be light (even with heavy trams) has proved itself wrong. The 12 worst offenders are being removed as they account for a large part of the breakdowns on the network. This has resulted in some pretty damning criticism of the service and equally a lot of embarrassment to the city.

    The article below covers the history (metrolink is 20 years old this year):

    Manchester Metrolink 20 Years of Evolution

    Duncan
     
    DJH, Jun 17, 2012
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  12. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    I was just thinking of the trams in Basle that I have travelled on several times, they range from new, ie built in the last 5 years, to those which date back to the fifties, there are many different types and manufacturers but they still manage to keep all the fleet running. Brought out on special occassions, which I understand means fairly regularly, are some going back to 1925.
     
    RalphW, Jun 18, 2012
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  13. DJH

    DJH Member

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    They dont build them like they used to. Only need to think of Blackpool.
     
    DJH, Jun 18, 2012
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  14. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    I wasn't going to mention them, didn't want to upset Frank.
     
    RalphW, Jun 18, 2012
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  15. DJH

    DJH Member

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    Aim wasnt to upset and my sincere apologies if this has. Getting back on topic it is good that things are starting to get better in manchester. Holy grail for metrolink for me would be real time display screens.... Hopefully one day.
     
    DJH, Jun 18, 2012
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  16. ADB968008

    ADB968008 Guest

    Wasn't this the one on display in Bolton street at the ELR gala back in 1992 ?
    there was also one stored in Buckley Wells for a while in 1991/2 during commissioning, which was used for spares until deliveries caught up and spares became easy to get.
     
    ADB968008, Jun 18, 2012
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  17. DJH

    DJH Member

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    Would of been about 3 at the time at that gala so I wouldn't know even if I was there.

    Duncan
     
    DJH, Jun 19, 2012
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  18. Allan Thomson

    Allan Thomson New Member

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    I'm curious will any of them be earmarked for preservation in for example MOSI, or at Crich?...
     
    Allan Thomson, Jan 27, 2013
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  19. ADB968008

    ADB968008 Guest

    At the time of Metrolink conversion, it was decided not to renew the track, but to turn the bullhead inside out "to get a few more years" out of it..
    The popular comment at the time was that the poor state of the track anyway at the end of the BR ownership was not good.. but putting new trams on it would make them suffer in the long term.. it was even mentioned in various media at the time.

    Descending from Whitefield to Radcliffe was always a bouncy ride on a tram..

    looks like this popular theory has been bourne out.

    Talking of old trams.. how old are some of those soviet ere Eastern European trams... you know the ones chisled out of stone by pick axe.. seem to have no problem keeping on going...now how is it Manchesters trams are at Platform height.. making them a bespoke product not just for one.. but now two generations... \
    I'm sure there's a price attached to that too..
    Shouldnt they consider getting rid of the full height platforms like the rest of the world ?
     
    ADB968008, Jan 27, 2013
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  20. DJH

    DJH Member

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    I remember a very bumpy ride on the Altrincham section. The reason for the full height was metrolink uses old railway lines. It was the cheap option to build a tramline to connect the two former rail lines rather than the Man-Vic tunnel. Had the tunnel gone ahead there would also be no need for the chord currently proposed now...

    I tend to consider the trams at Manchester as light rail rather than tramways in operation. Once out of the city centre it is more like the underground than a tramway.
     
    DJH, Jan 29, 2013
    #20
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