This year marks the 125th anniversary since the construction of Blackpool and Fleetwood ‘Rack’ 2, which was built by G.F. Milnes & Co. in 1898. Number 2 was one of ten crossbench rack trams that were delivered for the opening of the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad on 14 July 1898.
One of the Blackpool & Fleetwood crossbench tramcars photographed in 1898, shortly after the opening of the line. Sidney H. Short, “Electric Railway Practice in Great Britain”, The Street Railway Journal Vol. XV No. 10 (October 1899).
Such was the enthusiasm generated by the event that the trams were all packed to capacity and the timetable had to be abandoned until the novelty wore off! Indeed, so successful was the tramroad that it became the most profitable company-owned tramway in Great Britain before it was acquired by Blackpool Corporation in 1920.
Rack 2 was originally designed to be operated with a crossbench trailer, which would have increased its initial 48-seat capacity still further. However, trailer operations were discontinued at an early stage following a number of accidents at the termini, where the need to turn the two-car units round also caused operational problems.
No. 2 in service; location unknown. Sidney H. Short, “Electric Railway Practice in Great Britain”, The Street Railway Journal Vol. XV No. 10 (October 1899).
Following the assimilation of the Tramroad with its Blackpool Corporation-owned neighbour in 1920, Rack 2 acquired a new number (127) and standard Corporation red and cream livery. A programme of fleet renewal in the 1930s rendered the old crossbench cars redundant and 127 became a works car, occasionally seeing service as a snowplough too.
In 1960 the tramcar was restored to its original identity for the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Corporation tramway. It was subsequently presented to the Tramway Museum at Crich, which had recently been established. On 6 June 1964, Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2 became the first electric tramcar to make use of the recently commissioned overhead wires at Crich Tramway. Barely a month later, it became the first electric tramcar to operate in passenger service at the museum – an appropriate double-first for such a venerable tramcar.
Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2 on the first day of electric tramcar operations at Crich, July 1964. Photograph: JJ Richards. This photograph was originally published in the Tramway Museum Society Journal, Vol. 5, no. 21, p. 66.
Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2 with Blackpool 49 at Town End, Crich Tramway. Photograph: Howard Parkinson.
As well as the tramcar itself, the museum also has another artefact from the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad – a sandstone plaque retrieved from the tramway’s former Copse Road depot. The plaque is now situated on the wall alongside the footpath just to the south of the Bowes-Lyon bridge at Crich Tramway. However, the Copse Road depot building itself was, sadly, demolished in 2016.
Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2 last ran in public service at the “Simply Trams” event in September 2018. By this stage it had already been effectively withdrawn from operational duties in 2014 pending a much-needed overhaul once space becomes available in the workshop.
Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2 pictured alongside Blackpool 167 during the ‘Simply Trams’ event at Crich, September 2018. Photo: Malcolm C Wright.
For further details about the history of Blackpool & Fleetwood Rack 2, please see its tramcar profile page here: https://www.tramway.co.uk/trams/blackpool-and-fleetwood-2/
Thanks to TMS Volunteer Jim Dignan for preparing this article.