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29-540: The City Class tram began life as a research paper in 1987, which addressed the question of LRV models increasing in weight and cost. A 4-tonne quarter-size mockup was built in 1993. A redundant 1930s tram in Blackpool had City Class running gear installed at one end and was tested from 1995 to 1997. A full-size 29-metre-long prototype LRV was built in parallel; it ran until 2000, when the TRAM GROUP, which had sponsored

58-584: A B road with the same number in North Wales. London Road, previously the former A5 between Emstrey and The Column, created when the original Shrewsbury bypass opened in 1933. Renumbered to A5064 in the 1970s when a new relief route was built around the east side of Shrewsbury; this route took over the A5112 number. It runs around the town centre, to the east. Number also used along Farrar Street in Bangor, but

87-531: A Wirral Street Car Project, to provide a tramway service to the Wirral Waters development. The council therefore decided to pursue the transfer of management to MTPS. While this had been going on, the tramway had been forced to close in October 2011, after the council's electrical engineer retired, and although MTPS were initially told that they would not be able to resume operation in 2012, this decision

116-559: A large model railway, as well as various other static displays and information about old vehicles. The museum is run entirely by voluntary staff, who can provide much information about the exhibits. The museum is one of the most comprehensive transport museums in the country and connects directly to Woodside with the Wirral Tramway. A554 road List of A roads in zone 5 in Great Britain starting north/east of

145-522: A regeneration of the docks to the north of the tramway. Discussions took place with Peel Holdings, who were managing the dock redevelopment, and were prepared to donate land for the tramway. They also suggested an extension to the International Trade Centre site, following the alignment of the former dock railway. The extension would be about 1,900 yards (1,700 m) long, and Merseytravel proposed to use three refurbished trams from

174-632: A spur of the A510 in 1935, but has since been declassified and is now Obelisk Road. Previously allocated to a road from Station Road to B5010 via Donington Lane north of Castle Donington; this was declassified in the 1960s. Originally ran along Ordsall Lane in Salford between the A6 and A5063. Renumbered to the A5066 and B5461 in the 1960s. Used a second time by 1926 from Hinckley to Stoney Bridge as an upgrade of

203-608: A tram line in Preston, Lancashire . Wirral Tramway Wirral Tramway was a heritage tramway opened in 1995 by the Wirral Borough Council and Hamilton Quarter partnership and was operated by Blackpool Transport Services until 2005 when the council took over the licence to run the tramway. 53°23′42″N 3°00′36″W  /  53.395109°N 3.01°W  / 53.395109; -3.01 The Wirral Transport Museum and tramway were set up with

232-640: Is unknown if the two routes co-existed or not, as no number can be identified for Farrar Street when the A5122 was rerouted. Previously allocated to a road from Braunstone to Abbey Park, bypassing Leicester to the east; this was the B583 before it was upgraded. Later became part of the A46 and is now unclassified except the northern end, which is now the B5327. Originally began at Bronham; the section between Bronham and Elstow

261-911: The A5 , west of the A6 , south of the Solway Firth / Eden Estuary (roads beginning with 5). Originally ran from the A5 at Marble Arch to the A1 at Tally Ho Corner in North Finchley. In 1935 it was extended and rerouted over the A5088 Watford Bypass (the original route became the A598). Renumbered to A41 in the 1950s when it was deemed sensible to give the lower numbers of the bypassed routes to new-build bypasses and radials north of London. Originally ran from

290-748: The A554 , it runs between industrial units on a segregated formation, before finally crossing Taylor Street to enter the Wirral Transport Museum. There is a siding just before the Taylor Street crossing, and a passing loop at Pacific Road. In 2010, Wirral Council reviewed their strategic assets, and decided to dispose of the Tramway, the museum at Taylor Street, and the depot at Pacific Road, part of which had been converted to an Arts Centre. Merseytravel initially expressed an interest, but

319-715: The A5 in Hockliffe to the A508 south of Northampton. Became a southern extension of the A50 in 1935 and has since been downgraded (one section is now B526). The A511 number also appeared in the "Co-driver: The AA Motorists Companion" (1965) on a route linking the M6 to Wigan. Only the first section east of the M6 was built, however, and it is designated as the A5209. Used again in the 1990s from Swinscoe to Newcastle-under-Lyme (formerly part of

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348-639: The A50 in 1998. Originally ran between Boar's Head and Duxbury Hall; became the A5106, probably early on as the number was recycled in 1934. Originally ran from Maghull to Scarisbrick; did not appear in the 1922 Road Lists, but was upgraded from the B5196 by the end of the 1920s. Renumbered as an extension of the then-A567 in 1935 and is now the A5147. Previously allocated to a road from A6 to A510 in Finedon; became

377-577: The A5032 in 1935. Used a second time in 1935 for the Barnet Bypass (former A5092 and A5093). After the pre Worboys direction signs were introduced, it was decided to give the route a more unique number to aid navigation, and it became a portion of the A1 in 1954. Some portions are now the A1(M) and A1001. The original A563 appeared in the 1922 Road Lists as "Liverpool - Manchester (Proposed new road)";

406-885: The A52). This almost immediately became part of the A52 again, as the old route of the A52 reverted to the previous designation of A523. Originally ran between Newcastle-under-Lyme to Salford; renumbered as a portion of the A34 in 1935. Portions in Manchester are now parts of the A5145, A6010, B5093, and B5117. Originally ran from Ellsmere Port to the A51 at Backford; extended to the A51/A5032 in Little Sutton by 1929. Renumbered as an extension of

435-873: The B579. The eastern section (along with the A46) was downgraded to the B4069 (now the B4669) due to completion of the M69. The remainder was downgraded in 1990 to the B4669 (an out-of-zone number as it is north of the A5) when the A47 Hinckley bypass opened. Previously allocated to a road from the A6 via Stricklandgate in Penrith; this became part of the A6 in a one-way pair. Originally used for

464-463: The Blackpool system, which they already owned, to provide the main service. At a meeting of Wirral Council in February 2014, it was noted that Merseytravel was no longer interested in buying the assets. Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society (MTPS) had by then produced a credible plan for taking over responsibility for the management of the museum and tramway, and Peel Holdings were still looking at

493-576: The Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society (MTPS) are also used at various times. These are: There are also two other trams at the museum: Both require new wheelsets, and are not capable of running on the tramway due to them being the wrong gauge. The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway is a narrow gauge of 3ft whereas the Wirral Tramway is British Standard gauge of 4ft 8 1/2 inches. The museum also displays numerous other old vehicles including cars, buses, motorbikes, cycles,

522-551: The Passenger Transport Executive ruled that they would not support the takeover because of the cost. Wirral then looked for operators who would contract to operate the tramway, and removed the requirement that the Pacific Road venue should continue to be an Arts Centre. Merseytravel reconsidered, on the basis that the tramway could become part of a larger system, serving the Wirral Waters development,

551-583: The United Kingdom in 1993, and acceptance trials were carried out on the Blackpool tramway , where the cars ran until the Wirral Tramway opened. Operation of the tramway was managed by Blackpool Transport Services . The tramway was extended along the north side of the Twelve Quays campus of Wirral Metropolitan College to reach Egerton Wharf, where it turns away from the river. After crossing

580-624: The assistance of The Hamilton Quarter and various volunteer groups including Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society, 201 Bus Group and the Merseyside Bus Club. In 2023, the Museum was transferred to Big Heritage CIC and has remained closed since, along with the tramway. Construction of the tramway was authorised by the Wirral Tramway Light Railway Order 1994, obtained by Wirral Borough Council . When

609-523: The fire likely started in the 24-volt electrical system under the floor of the tram. No evidence was found that the driver or infrastructure contributed to the cause of the fire; the Blackpool Tramway was however rebuked for not having carried out a proper health and safety evaluation of the vehicle including a fire risk evaluation, and for not having in place proper safety management procedures for dealing with new technology. In 2008, Tram Power

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638-507: The line opened on 14 April 1995, it consisted of a single track, running largely on its own reservation, from Woodside Ferry Terminal, along Shore Road, to a terminus near Pacific Road. The depot was just before the Pacific Road terminal and the length of the track was around 400 yards (370 m). The track was laid using rails reclaimed from the Liverpool Corporation Tramways system, and there were plans to extend

667-446: The line to Egerton Dock as part of a project to redevelop parts of Birkenhead docks. Two trams were specially built for the tramway in 1992 by Hong Kong Tramways Ltd. They are double deck fully enclosed vehicles, although they run on standard gauge tracks of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) rather than the usual Hong Kong tram gauge of 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ). The vehicles arrived in

696-593: The project, ran out of money. In 2005, the prototype was rebuilt with new running gear. It was tested on the Wirral Tramway for three months, then on the Blackpool Tramway . In November 2006, an agreement was reached for the prototype to run in passenger service until October 2007. Before this could occur, the prototype was heavily damaged by a fire during testing on 24 January 2007. A Railway Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) inquiry determined that

725-404: The proposed Wirral Waters development with the possibility of reusing track, rolling stock as well as pre-existing routes. The two four-wheeled Hong Kong trams are numbered 69 and 70 to follow on from the numbering of the original Birkenhead Corporation Tramways , the numbers of which went up to No.68. These are run from the Wirral Transport Museum in Taylor Street. In addition, trams from

754-512: The route never appeared on any maps nor did it appear on the ground. A 1932 map does show a proposed A road between Walton, Liverpool and Pendlebury, Salford; this opened in 1934 as the A580, although it is likely it took over at least some of the concept of the A563. Next used in the 1990s to refer to sections of the upgraded A50 (e.g. from Foston to Etwall) before the A50 was rerouted; became part of

783-615: The southern half of the Barnet Bypass. Renumbered to the A555 in 1935 and then to a rerouted A1 around 1954. Originally proposed in 1935 as a renumbering of the eastern end of the A572 between Swinton and Worsley, because it ran parallel to the New Liverpool - East Lancashire Road (the A580). This renumbering never happened, and the route remains the A572. The A5104 was instead used to upgrade

812-461: Was one of only two bidders on replacement rolling stock for the tram (streetcar) network in the Canadian city of Toronto . Tram Power's bid was ruled to be not commercially compliant. (The other bid, from Bombardier Transportation , also initially failed but a revised bid the following year eventually won the contract.) As of 2017, the company (as Preston Tram Power) is attempting to build

841-524: Was revoked, and the tramway resumed running in early January. The tramway closed again from October 2012 to February 2013, while new safety procedures were implemented. From January 2014, the MTPS has been responsible for the tramway, and it is now run entirely by volunteers. Wirral Street Car is a proposed extension to the current line to turn it into a feeder service for the Merseyrail network to serve

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