salvage squad Blackpool Coronation Tram No 304 Revisited

[Music] this week's average squad is off up north to the land of rockin donkeys to revisit a project I helped restore with Axel and Jerry [Music] a year ago sorry squad was finishing one of its biggest ever projects not tower at a Blackpool tram it was a 1952 coronation tram to be precise owned by one Philip Higgs man obsessed with the things so Phil let's face it you are mr. tram I know when did it begin I began when my mum and dad used to take me to Blackpool they used to go on the funfair with my brothers and sisters and I used to say look I don't want to go on the funfair I just want to watch these trams go back they were fascinating to me more so than riding up and down on some rollercoaster history - I says that's gonna flat rollercoaster was still a fun ride to me yeah and how did you become the proud owner of a Blackpool tram yourself I'd actually I actually wrote a book on Blackpool trams and then with the proceeds of the of the like the royalties that came off that I actually bought this tram well how it struck the 600 pounds sounds you know doesn't say it sounds like nothing but it was actually quite a lot there well it's pretty extraordinary that you wrote a book when you were 16 about terms firstly but to then spend the money you made from it on a tram when others will be buying guitars or record players or and there was me you know there was me bana Blackpool tremors a bit difficult to explain to Moe my mouth up mates at college I'm sure I mean you know half the notion of buying a guitar was maybe to get introduced to some of the opposite sex I can't imagine a tram necessarily enough factor the opposite sex weren't all that interested [Laughter] Philips obsession with the magical world of the tram got worse the older he got and he spent ten years working as a tram driver before becoming a transport consultant promoting the cause of the tram around the world he first got hold of the coronation in 1984 when he was only 16 years old and although he and his mates have done a great deal of work on the since it's basically still wreck I've driven from you know basically every tram in the fleet but I've never driven this one you're telling me you've owned this fan for 20 years but you've never driven it nor indeed seen it running never never because this term was phased out before I mean when this tram was phased out I was actually three years old okay Phil well here's the deal we'll take it away and we'll do it up but you won't be allowed to see it it's absolutely perfect okay bo believe it when I see it you manage not be able to see it for a bit well I'm have to do some people no promise no okay the big idea at the time was that the tram will be finished so that Philip could strut it's stuff under the famous Blackpool Illuminations [Music] but even with the help of Philips mates and the engineers at Blackpool transport we were well and truly beaten by the complexity of the trams control unit and when Philip finally got in the cab the lights have been switched off for months [Laughter] these beauties were introduced the year our Liz got her crown hence their snappy name but coronation tram back then they were to be the future of the Blackpool fleet with a super high-tech control unit designed to offer a ride fit for a queen unfortunately they are a bit too high-tech for their time and the whole fleet were withdrawn from service 20 years later trundling down the prom that day she looked great but looks can be deceptive and as Phillip tried to accelerate he found the tram was only capable of doing about 10 miles per hour flat-out even after all those months of work the control unit still wasn't working properly one year later and it's still ain't since the cause of all our problems this is the old culprit the run back unit yeah after all that work and all that money that was spent on it still wasn't no that was Jerry's area can you Ben pin the blame on him I don't think so no we needed some robust testing after 30 years of not going anywhere I was just unfortunate that this problem arose two days before I was due out I'm relieved to hear it wasn't our fault even though it wasn't our fault we've had to take it out strip it down and have experts inspect each part to try and find out why only 1/3 of the electricity is reaching the motors [Music] ting one of the biggest projects Axl Jerry and I ever took on a 1952 Blackpool tram even finding it in an old tram shed in st. Helens was enough of a task for sucks but once we'd been safely reunited we were soon hard at work Cliff Richard rides again shifting buses and winching her onto a low loader for her first journey in decades back to her home sheds in Blackpool where we were going to fix her up for her owner Phillip Higgs this is the first time I've seen this move of 1986 when it first came here we drove there north to Blackpool to find that the tram spotters had got wind of our arrival and we're out in force it was when the tram arrived back here almost a year ago I realize what an incredible beast it was dozens of trams Potter's came along especially to see it returned one bloke said to me seen lots of them leave but this was special this was the first to come home it was after that I walked into the tram shed and sword just how big and complex a finished tram really is up close these things are monstrous I mean they're more like trains or even boats and buses [Music] even finding out what was wrong with ours took a ladder that can't stay on for sure with Jerry getting acquainted with the rotting roof electrical engineer Brian pickup introduced me to the control unit that was to cause so many problems it looks disgusting the complication it is very very complicated this what we call a knitting machine and we're going to have quite a struggle with that when we get it down so that takes us to down into that control system what it does is it actually controls the amount of electricity unless you through its controller like a scale electrics exactly the same thing axles big job as the motors underneath the floor is the use of the motors how many things for altogether yes how long has it been sitting here be about 20 odd years since it was used so really they want to a thorough check they're full of damn they'll be full of damped it won't be an easy job right well I'd say this job's mine it looks like that's a deal for you the first real job was taking the control units out and for that we moved the tram into the electrics Bay at Blackpool transport I drew the short straw going up on the roof or to electrical engineers right in the frazzle zone of the 550 volt power lines so none of us got cooked the juice was switched off then each of us locked the switch closed by our own lock taking the key with us that way the switch could not be switched on again if one of us was still on the roof so going to lift her up spin around slightly and then drop it down you know what sort of wait no no one had shifted one of these in years and there are only three like it in the world so as the last cable was cut we were in uncharted waters okay you have to drop back in a minute cause you something's coming up against the page it looks like something from doctor who's TARDIS bearing the official name the variable multi notch acceleration and braking control unit orb I'm back for short it was the key to making the coronation better than any tram that had come before it's like an electric tap but a very flash one when the driver pushes a lever in the front of the cab the tap opens an electricity begins to flow to the motors and the tram moves off push the lever further and you go faster pull it back and the tap switches off and you slow down all the trams have similar units but compared to this they were about as sophisticated as a village pump mind you there are plenty of VidCon troll trams deliberating on Blackpool prom as sucks' found out when he went tram spotting for the first time there's over 80 of these things whizzing up and down between here and Fleetwood it really is like going back in time trams first arrived on the prom in 1885 but they reached their prime in the 1930s when the then boss Walter luff introduced this balloon class which still earned their keep on the prom today 70 years later in 1950 when the rest of the world was scrapping their trams Walter laughs wanted to make sure the trams on Blackpool prom would still be around long after he was gone that was the idea behind the coronation tram it was meant to replace all those old bone shakers a fact that was puzzling suggs i've been transporting now for a couple of hours and I think I'm becoming a bit of an expert I've even bought Phillips book but one thing still puzzles me I've seen loads of trams of the 1930s quite a few from the 1980s but none from the 1950s why with suck safely out the way doing his sleuthing bit back at the workshop the show's boffins Jerry and electrics expert Brian pick up but getting to grips with our crazy control unit and proving that two great minds are no better than one and so we should check which ones connect to each other all right well let's start with this one which is monks LS signal and up the lime switch now that's you're coming on this one oh yeah just check that the meter works yes to me to work so we'll see which one it should come in on so that looks like that one problems we've got to solve already because that circuit doesn't connect lovely MC 1 MC 1 that's motor contact number one now that should come in oh well brilliant right fine - okay yeah I'll try another one pc cohn break baby break contact to work I've got this well that should connect through to something no oh oh we have to sort these out won't we so what you're trying to tell me is it's supposed to work thirty years ago and right now we've got not a sausage not a sausage but there again things have been disconnected so we'll have to go through this sort it all out you're groping in the dark we are drilling in the dark yes but carry on and see how far we get with the buffing scratching their heads me an axe for getting the motors out at best they were going to need a complete overhaul and at worst they'd be beyond repair what's it look like down there dirty heavy prop shaft or first pair what so we're dropping this the motor yeah yeah it's big yeah on paper it's a fairly simple job undo 12 bolts on the driveshaft and then another four big ones that actually hold the motor in but that seems the nuts are going to cooperate why my fingers and when they don't there's always the gas torch [Music] so much more fun than a spanner now all that's needed is a jack underneath four bolts whipped out from the top and the whole lot can be dropped down and pulled out well almost everything on this Tran was to be bigger and better than anything that had gone before it had four of these great motors most of the other trams only had two the whole design was the brainchild of Walter laughs boss of Blackpool Transport from the early 1930s until the year our coronation was put into service he founded like a man with a vision and we would keen to find out more about him sadly he's dead now but thugs had tracked down his daughter Daphne he had a five-year plan during which time he completely renovated the whole system and he introduced a whole lot of new trams they call them balloons the big ones and then the little ones and rail coaches and then there was some open deck things called and boats lofts new fleets were the pride of Blackpool for the next 20 years but times move on and Daphne's dad was keen to go on further and introduce a new tram that would be even better so this is where the coronation came in he wanted something it was faster smoother yes what is he wanted to be more comfortable for the driver and the conductor as well give a little bit more space because they were 50 feet long and eight feet wide when it was unveiled hundreds turned out to watch the lord mayer driving our coronation along the prom but behind the scenes there was a battle going on in the council chambers with many wanting to do away with trams altogether and make do with buses instead he had great arguments with the council but he was also fighting against sort of general opinion in the country where other people who had got rid of them and they all got these trolleybuses and they felt he was a dinosaur an actual fact he was far more forward-looking than any of the rest of them before it entered public service the anti tram Lobby did all they could to discredit it even organizing a public demonstration to prove that it was too big to go around one particularly tight Bend but nothing would faze Walter laughs my father was at home with me and it's about half past 10:00 the phone rang and it was mr. Jack Parkinson the traffic superintendent and he said it's all right sir she's round my father said oh thank you very much and he put the receiver down and I have a surprise because I said well when you were yeah you could have influence but it all said you know what weren't you pleased to go round and he said oh no I knew it would go around so I said well I know you've done all the work though working it you worked it all out so know mathematically and all the rest of it he said oh no he said she went round a fortnight ago mr. bell house took her round and two o'clock in the morning once the public got to ride on them it seemed that the problems for the coronation were over I heard that when they came out people would actually miss a few trams just in the hope of getting on a coronation yes that's quite true they did yes a lot of people just just went for a ride along the promenade just for the sake of having ridden on one they weren't really going anywhere they just went there and back with all that popularity Walter laughs dream of a tram for the future must have seemed secure but the thing that was still puzzling thug's was why you can still take a ride on this balloon class tram from the 30s but not a coronation from the 50s sadly this was a question even the great man's daughter couldn't answer I know it's something do with the controls but to really find out you really ought to talk to an old driver who's had actually driven one of the coronation trams because I don't think the people nowadays could possibly drive it because it is so different it happened to care to us that we wouldn't be able to find anyone that could drive it that's because her controls are totally different to any Tran before since and that was the problem weighing on sug his mind as he made his way back from Daphne's changing you know maybe we've done loads of work we don't realize is that most of these trends don't have two motors and we had four it was quite hard working them out but we did it I'm gonna say having travelled us more than two trams you can't see how much wider and bigger the interior this is this is the ultimate 1952 tram is that they threw everything that's it double the number of motors make it bigger better the control unit I think it makes get fast and so it's just out of this world something from Doctor Who we got it out and Jerry's sorting at a moment we've gone so Brian he's our electric explain yeah I've not made yet where is he he's looking down the front with Jerry I should go meet him keep up the good work see that maybe later hello Jerry oh you must be Brian I am pleased to meet you I dunno what are we looking at here Brian well this is the main control unit from the junk out there and it normally lives up in the roof so basically this controls the flow of electricity to the motors that's correct yes it's controlled from the driver in the cab the complexity of the unit really pushed the technology of the 1950s to the max nowadays all this lot will be replaced by a little black box of electronics compared to the unit the controls in the cab appeared to be simplicity itself this is it forward to go and back to stop as opposed to having a separate brake as opposed to having a separate brake you've got the braking on this although it looks that simple there's no other tram in of Blackpool fleet that has the accelerator and the brake combined in one control and the more we thought about it the more we realized that we were going to have to find someone who'd actually driven one so Phillip could get some tips otherwise there was a good chance he would be mowing down pedestrians all along the prom but no one was going to get to drive it unless we could get the motors working again and to do that axel had to set off to a specialist firm in Nottingham to work with Jeremy Clarkson look-alike Dave Hesketh like axle when it comes to stripping things down he's a man who prefers heat to a spanner let's bet since a spit off at the end of the motor off they can strip down the rest of it with more conventional tools [Music] the electric motor is in fact one of the simplest motors around in essence it consists of a series of electromagnets called the armature spinning inside a set of permanent magnets the electricity to power the electromagnets enters at the back by two bits of metal Bush's rubbing against a ring of copper contacts around the axle armature here ya 5 to 5 volts DC ya into here boost it up this whole thing spins yeah it gives us forward and backward motion and yet - yeah brilliant key to a smoother running motor at the copper contacts at the back where the electricity enters it's important that they're clean and perfectly smooth so axle whacked it on the lathe to take off just a few thousandths of an inch to get back to shiny metal and our day feels now because if I make this cut to date I'll miss the whole job [Music] 60 years of crime now we have a brand new one it's perfect you've got perfect but new copper so again perfect I like that it's perfect yeah that done Axl's next task was to refurbish the metal bushes that will run on the newly cleaned contacts it's amazing 50 years old in this brand new once it was all back together it headed off to the test Bay in the tram it runs at about 750 rpm and to make sure it was up to the job the plan was to spin it at twice that speed either it would hum away nicely in a rather unspectacular way or there would be a loud bang and a lot of blue smoke [Music] yeah brilliant brilliant indeed at least one of the motors worked three more and we'd be in business but for the motors to run they need a controller a back in Blackpool Jerry was busy stripping ours down what makes it so special and complex over 90 contacts that control the flow of electricity each one is like a switch allowing a little bit more juice through to the motors older trams had eight of these switches which accounts for their jerky motion but by using 90 switches the coronation had an acceleration smoother than your average Rolls Royce unfortunately it also meant Jerry had weeks of work ahead stripping down and refurbishing each one what's not supposed to happen although they're all but just when he was getting to the end of the job he found something totally unexpected and the chances of us ever getting our tram finished took a nosedive we better fire on ya house very expensive toast at rat a whole ring on to which all the switches are attached we're going to have to be replaced and that wasn't a job we could do ourselves so heap of scrap what we need is a piece of material to replace it with that is not only insulating but heat proof but also can be bent in a circle and be capable of taking a thousand won holes I don't have to do that I knew we were betting off more than we could chew when we took this thing on and now we're in very very serious stuck - right we're in stuck no ring no controller no controller no tram that was I mean no one could have known that there was that problem hidden deep inside the unit you just can't buy these things off the shelf only a few were ever made in the first place and what's worse today we just don't use those materials as soon as cherry discovered evidence at the fire the lights went out on the chances of us ever getting the tram ready for the illuminations markula welcome the outside of the tram will be covered by a thin skin of aluminium so axle popped over to the body shop to cut out some new panels so they don't vibrate against the metal frame of the Jerry and I got into some recycling cutting out old seat covers and gluing them onto the frame where's Linda Barker when you need her [Music] next we painted the back of the panels with red oxide paint to help tecnine from the salt air [Music] this Redhawks like J statistic is in there oh it's great I love it keeps all the rust on Minister regular Lowrey over here with Gerry's masterpiece painted out we go on with nailing them onto the tram itself hook it on beneath that's it wake it up just slide a bit [Music] well two one many more to go it looks good doesn't it yeah beginning to look like a start 20 panels later and we can finish the job with a simple aluminium bead to top the whole lot up which I think works really really well so good they're still coming together oh and you got a line the screw heads up properly when you went on the other charms up and down the front every single getting the body work done did make us feel like we were making progress and blue skies seem to be returning for socks to he'd managed to track down an old Tran man Jack Nichols who he hoped could give Phillip a crash course in driving our coronation we will make cab decent seat said with a bit of wood with a bit of plastic on it um it said down all of you controls around you very hard you know and beautiful to look at it was good looking you know and there's a different look it's so much as it were and they saw me it's called by the old green and cream of the other cars it did start now with more hours driving coronations than anyone else alive Jack had a pretty good idea of why the fleet was scrapped it was no problem until it could be driving sort of 99 times out of a hundred on to all not one occasion wanting all the times you would put the brake on nothing this was rather off-putting to say the least you know the orders clear just moved across but some power to take her clubs and that some I missed it there's a long trust my partner mr. Bligh about four inches and ether Road the next stop pulled up just normally it was until after the trouble started that drivers began to be a bit wary and they would refer to these terms as Spence that the spins were very flush characters you see they were very good to look up very flashy but they didn't work too well okay tonight it seems the trams control unit the variable multi notch acceleration and braking unit to give it its proper name was key to its demise sometimes jamming on causing eight tons of tram to trundle along the prom out of control and back at the workshop Gerry an electrical engineer Brian pickup had just taken delivery of the refurbished unit it looked fantastic and together with my newly reinstated trolley pole we lost no time in getting it back onto the roof while have we done breaking in this day and age [Music] [Music] yeah brilliant smashing that okay yeah smashing no gran wasn't it then no either give me a mega take fantastic the tower sits above the control unit and forms the base for the poll [Music] the poll is key to making the whole thing work powerful Springs on the tower keep it pushed up against the wire that the other end is a brass wheel with a groove in it which simply rolls along the wire ensuring a good contact is maintained at all times the trolley base rotates through 180 degrees so that when you get to the end of the track and you want to turn around just move it around and the trolley poles sticking out the back so you can change direction it's brilliant really simple very easy can't climb the trolley arm okay [Music] that show up there come on my own start don't worry about easier padlocks off and we could throw the switch by Joey go for it me but that's only to the lights the control units real job is to supply 550 volts to the motors to power her down the prom but there was a lot of work to do before we could take her out all we need now is more training more windows seat soon yep did it pretty shall we yeah and then with the electronics done we turned our attention to the pretty bits getting her back to the Queen she was in 1952 [Music] with Gerry up above I was down below trying my hand at floor laying though a steady hand for this job then there were a few dozen windows to fit each with its authentically squeaky winding mechanism [Music] next up her rather ingenious seats this is looking good they never talked about the motors or the control system or anything like that they always talked about the seats that tip backwards and forwards yeah let's change directions travel then we'll see I've got 22 to go get all in all it took another three months to finish her but with one last coat of paint she was suddenly done [Music] [Music] so it's a big moment Phil wow what a transformation haven't seen it for a while eh no no it's really gonna drive it now let me at it hi guys fabulous job it looks absolutely superb you like it goes oh yeah yeah I'm one keeping wow it looks super it's all come together yeah I've never seen it like that you've even got the original red flooring that's great that's super beautiful guy he's got a great job Ballroom in it I feel like dancing I know what a dance is large enough to drive it yeah well the trams finished and in a few minutes we're gonna get going but I've noticed the Phil is wearing a very smart tram drivers uniform so I think I best smart myself up [Music] take me to my trap with sucks getting tarted-up Jack Nichols was giving Phillip a few tips on how to drive the thing forward to going forward of course um reverse but now back to a joystick mm-hm you don't really need to push it straight down you can just feed it one notch and just sort of listen and you can just feel the car gradually moving off I just sorta jerk off and like some of the old cars you know any questions nothing they'll do the next question is when can I go afternoon when everyone's on board I'm suitably attired let's go although she looked magic hurtling down the prom there were problems right from the start boom that should have been sparking from the control unit was just not there and by the time Phillips tram crazy mates got on all the ways was gone I knew him down the back sadly all she was capable of was a rumbling 10 miles per hour down the prom not really what we were hoping for and here's the culprit itself the variable automatic multi notes breaking an acceleration control unit or van back for short and it's just as complicated as it looks this electrical tap was the reason the tram rumbles rather than whizzed it's like a mechanical version of a dimmer switch for a living room light there's around 90 individual contacts around the main ring when each is switched on they allow a bit more electricity to reach the motors of the tram this is just one of the 90 switches they all have a contact at the bottom there I just put it where it belongs I can really see why Jerry struggled now it's so many pieces each of those switches is operated by a huge magnet which swings past on a big arm pulling the top of the switch towards it and closing the contact at the bottom the fault was with the gearbox that drives the magnet something Jerry never touched so he's off the hook the problem was that it wouldn't go from more than a third of the way around right so it's only getting a third of the way around it's only getting a third of the potential power so what caused that problem the cause of the problems in the gearbox on the other side and to see that we've got to turn this over so as we can take the top off the gearbox like everything on this tram it weighed a ton thank heavens for cranes but once we got it over the top of the gearbox was off in seconds Oh packed full of grease yeah and what do we got here there what's the actual problem what was it that is the problem there back back gear there which is driven by the motor was slipping when the magnets are in about a third of the fault position right so the drivers desperately trying to force the leader and get more power and this is the COG here all it was doing was turning around and slipping on that gear just slipping as far because the bearings were worn in there the shop was wall so it's wobbling in its hole and all it was doing is doing that slipping and not driving this piece such a tiny tiny little thing to stop our great big coronation cloud and now what have we got then we've got all these new bits yeah I've got a brand new gear there and a brand new gear gear here a new shaft and two brand-new bearings in the casting so is it gonna work should work yes no reason why it shouldn't any promises on that any guarantees yeah what to guarantee you yeah yeah so I don't have to come back here again brilliant let's put it back together again hopefully we've cracked it months and months of hard work and the only thing between us and success was a tiny little worn-out cog with any luck when we fire her up again she'll be off down the prom like a whippet or I'll be out of a job a year ago sorry Scott started restoring this magical Blackpool coronation tram after months of work made harder by the discovery of the fire we fixed it all and took her out on the prom only to find that the control unit still wasn't working properly another six months work and we've traced the fault to one tiny little cog it's all been fixed and the big question is will it work but don't get too excited there's still one job to do before we can take this baby out so why am I here a domestic goddess in a boiler suit it's because tonight we're going to do what we failed to do last year take our tram out with her sisters under the famous illuminations but old cinders won't get to come along unless every bit of her is looking better than new hence the scrubbing brush last year I had two helpers with me I can't say I really love this work but it does give me a chance to get to know her it's little details that give this trans age away that sadistic wait for putting his cigarette sir so you don't do it on the lino or the upholstery with the last bit of polishing done I just had time to clean myself up before I headed out to the problem in the hope that I'd done a good enough job for Phillip and his mates to stop and let me on it's 9:30 at night it's the moment of truth for Phillip and his mates we've been working around the clock to get this tram ready for its maiden voyage under Blackpool Illuminations there's a tram coming down the tracks now and it could be ours just admit what a thing of beauty look at its pain let's fill it [Music] [Music] on board burl Phillips tram loving mates he was certainly traveling at some speed back there getting their big night out a year late and upfront was the man himself you pleased with what you've ended up oh yeah I mean without Salvage both the Trump would have still been sat around in a damn hole for several seconds I made certain were coming back to see it beating down the promenade postulation well it's been good to have you back I can say that and also it's been good to show you yeah we wanted to achieve last year but it was a very big project probably one of the biggest avocadoes ever and and again as far as we did in six months it was just an outstanding achievement in itself the hardest things we get my head round is the only thing that sports it last year this one time I know it's so that's it's incredible when you think about it there's something insignificant thing you know in a start-up size could actually so far for all the brave talk we've not really tested the controller and I was dying to see what would happen really gun but we gonna get come on well we'll see you bit further down [Music] guest of honor in the back were philip singh on suffering roads we knew we've got a genius in the pump with because we we ended up with the only thumb driver in black field is having university degree and we wondered why all our expense on his education is gone but they needn't have worried that it might be a tram restoration not by night but his day job is as a tram consultant working on the design for new systems from London to Palm Springs we are definitely proud of him there's no two ways about it ago so thanks to salvage squad the boy who published his first book on trams when he was only 16 is now the proud owner of the only working coronation tram in the world next week another chance to get the fire boat Massey Shore floating down the Thames same time 8 o'clock next tonight a time team puts Castle foot on the map at the very edge of the Roman frontier stay before [Music]

Channel: The Hot Red fox

Views: 9,367

Rating: 4.7560978 out of 5

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Id: NEf-K18IMik

Length: 46min 29sec (2789 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 08 2017