Blackpool tram memories sought by new museum

Volunteers at Tramtown, the home of Blackpool’s heritage trams, are looking to interview anyone who remembers riding, or worked on, the old inland tram routes in Blackpool including the lines on Whitegate Drive, Dickson Road or Lytham Road.

Tramtown, on Rigby Road, offers tours around its depot where the heritage fleet is stored and restored – but is now seeking to add human stories to its treasure trove of transport history.

Chair of the Board of Blackpool Transport Coun Paul Galley said: “Tramtown has been a huge success since it opened to the public, with thousands of people visiting us.

“We are now keen to connect the public and their memories to Tramtown by not only preserving those memories for everyone to listen to in the future, but use them to create sensory activities for our Tramtown visitors.

“I was inspired by a series of Titantic interviews I heard on Youtube and I realised we will soon lose the last generation of people that used and worked on the old lines, and with them those first hand memories.

“We are therefore keen to interview as many people as possible who can remember riding the trams or working on them on the old inland routes.

“The interviews will go on our Youtube page and will also be incorporated into different parts of our Tramtown tours. This is everyone’s chance to be part of history.”

Until the early 1960s Blackpool had a number of inland routes running on Whitegate Drive, Lytham Road and Dickson Road, plus routes on Talbot Road and Central Drive that closed in the 1930s.

The project comes as Blackpool prepares to launch its first extension to the tramway in 100 years with the opening of the section linking North Pier with North Station due in 2023.

Coun Galley added: “Blackpool is rediscovering its love of trams and their role in its development.”

Anyone who would like to take part, or knows someone who remembers the old inland routes and would like to be interviewed, can contact Coun Galley by emailing [email protected]