Western Train Tram

Choo-choo – all aboard the Western Train Tram! We all love the Illuminated Trams – is the Western Train Tram your favourite?

The Western Train Tram is a twin car. It’s been sponsored by various advertisers over the years. Originally known as the ‘Santa Fe Carriage’, it was made from trams 209 and 174 coupled together – the only double car tram.

It ran for the first time on 7 September 1962 and was later known as the Western Train. But it met a sad end in 1999 when it eventually collided with another tram and retired from the tracks.

Afterwards it stood derelict and forlorn in the old tram sheds at Rigby Road… Then a Heritage Lottery Funded restoration enabled it to return to service in 2008. During its operational periods the Western Train has never missed an illuminations season until 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Getting the Western Train Tram Back on the Tracks

The Western Train Tram was always the most popular of the illuminated trams. With a design based on a Santa Fe train, it could originally blow smoke from the chimney. But as Blackpool can be a windy place it often blew into the face of queueing passengers!

It had been out of service for some years until 2006 when the Blackpool Gazette ran a public campaign to get this much loved tram back on the tracks. After a £278,000 Heritage Lottery grant it was back in action for the 2008 Illuminations Switch On evening.

The Western Train is still in service today. You can enjoy a ride on it with one of the special Illuminated Heritage Tram Tours. Don’t forget though – Illuminated Heritage Tram Tours ONLY depart from their own special tram stop. Find it at the loop opposite the front entrance to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Get details about Illuminated Heritage Tram Tours here

An Important Moment in Time!

Still known as the ‘Santa Fe Train’ tram, on 31 May 1963 it made two moments in history.

First of all it carried Cliff Richard and the Shadows through town to the opening of the ABC Theatre where they were starring in ‘Holiday Carnival’.

At the same time as opening the ABC, this historic journey also marked the moment when the last tram travelled through the town centre, before the line was removed.