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Metrolink T68 Tram Farewell Tour Monday 26th May

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Rail Ranger

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From the Transport for Greater Manchester website:

T68 Farewell Tour

Special charity event will bid farewell to T68s
A special, never-to-be-repeated event will be held later this month to bid farewell to one of Greater Manchester’s most iconic forms of public transport and raise money for charity.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and the Metrolink operator, Metrolink RATP Dev Limited (MRDL), have arranged for one of the system's original T68 trams to take a final journey on the network on Monday 26 May.
The limited-stop trip, which will take the ‘classic’ network route – Piccadilly, Eccles, Bury and Altrincham - will mark the fleet's formal retirement from service in April 2014.
To add an authentic touch to the occasion, the vehicles will be driven by drivers who drove the first trams back in 1992, wearing their original uniforms.
Non-refundable tickets can be bought in advance by visiting http://*******/RCkmiI with all proceeds going to TfGM’s chosen charities - The Christie and Francis House Hospice. It is hoped that the event will raise more than £3000.
Tickets are being sold on a first come, first served basis with the event being limited to 180 spaces. Once purchased, they will be exchanged on the day of the event for special commemorative day passes, which will provide travel across the entire Metrolink network for the whole day.
TfGM’s Metrolink Director, Peter Cushing, said: “The T68s have enormous historical significance and have played a major role in re-establishing light rail onto the UK’s streets.
“Over the ensuing years Metrolink has experienced unprecedented growth and has provided the blueprint for several other cities that have followed Manchester’s lead by introducing tramways onto their streets.
“I’m sure that this will be reflected in the popularity of the event which has provided an excellent opportunity to raise money for two fantastic causes.”
Chris Coleman, Managing Director at Metrolink RATP Dev Limited (MRDL), said:
“The retirement of the T68 tram from service marks a significant milestone in Metrolink’s history and for public transport in general in Greater Manchester.
“Over the past two decades, the vehicles have served the region well, transporting tens of thousands of customers every day, so it’s only fitting they should have an appropriate send off.
“The day looks set to be a great success and our employees have been keen to support the event with two of our drivers, who have been with the company for more than 20 years, dusting off their old uniforms and volunteering to drive on the day.
“As well as this two of our Control Room operators will be there on the day too to sell and sign copies of the 200 page book they’ve co-authored on the history of the T68 tram. All the money raised from sales of this book will go to Bury Hospice.”
The tram will depart Piccadilly at 10.30am prompt, so ticket holders are advised to gather at the mezzanine level at the Piccadilly Metrolink stop for 10am to ensure they can exchange their tickets in time and do not miss out.
For details of the T68 book written by Control Room Operators, Andrew Coward and John Henderson, visit www.buryrossendalerails.com
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I see that the link to buy tickets has not copied properly. You could try this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/t68-farewell-journey-tickets-11537806891
 
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RailUK Forums

Bill Stanier

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They should keep these 'old' trams and get rid of the new yellow ones. I have NEVER travelled on any rail vehicle with worse riding than the new Manchester trams. How the driver managed to remain in his seat on the faster stretches I don't know!

The old trams ride just fine, so it isn't the track.
 

34D

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Only 8 15 places left. This will sell out today
 
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Emyr

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The old trams ride just fine, so it isn't the track.

Well that's a fallacy.

Any tram would be smooth on a well built, well-maintained track. The Altrincham line has been under-maintained considering its workload and now it's like travelling on a snakes and ladders board.
 

Y961 XBU

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Bloody Hell that was quick, wonder if they will add an extra Tram in as there is clearly a lot of Popularity here!
 

Bill Stanier

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Well that's a fallacy.

Any tram would be smooth on a well built, well-maintained track. The Altrincham line has been under-maintained considering its workload and now it's like travelling on a snakes and ladders board.

A fallacy? Absolutely not! We travelled on a new tram and were thrown around like rag dolls both on the Altrincham and the Bury lines. Did the same journey on an old tram and it was far smoother. Not only that, but on arrival at Altrincham we asked the driver about it and he confirmed the ride of these new trams was 'very rough on the faster sections, the old trams are much better as they have more sophisticated (air) suspension so ride far better at speed'.

What's fallacious about that? Did we imagine the rough ride compared to the older tram? Was that driver telling porkies? I think not.
 
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rebmcr

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On the South Manchester Line, which has never been hammered by T68s, the M5000s are smooth at speed.
 

Bill Stanier

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On the South Manchester Line, which has never been hammered by T68s, the M5000s are smooth at speed.

Is that the new line to Didsbury? That's new track, so when it's had a bit of use can we expect the rag doll treatment on that line as well?

Why not just buy trams with a more sophisticated suspension system, so they'll ride well even on track that's not in A1 condition? Like the old ones did!
 

snail

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Is that the new line to Didsbury? That's new track, so when it's had a bit of use can we expect the rag doll treatment on that line as well?
No. The T68s have worn the Bury/Altrincham track in such a way that the lighter M5000s with their different ride profile experience problems. Now there is only one type using it Metrolink can hopefully work on improving the ride quality.

Definitely the track, confirmed by the fact there are no issues on the new sections which have only had M5000s running on it.
 

Crossover

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Yes, I'm going to be there.

Cool :)
I'll keep an eye out for you. I know of at least another 3 or 4 forum members who are going to be there, and I'm sure there will be more

I intend going off elsewhere on Metrolink after we return to Picc :)
 
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Starmill

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Yes, I'm going to be there.



There are going to be quite a few of us then! :D Crossover and I will be spending the rest of the afternoon using the tickets :)
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Definitely the track, confirmed by the fact there are no issues on the new sections which have only had M5000s running on it.

This argument has been rumbling on for quite some time... there were two slightly different problems. One hopes the issue with track wear can now easily be solved, so I'll leave that for now as it has been well-espoused.

As far as the Altrincham line being 'under-maintained' goes... it was almost entirely relaid less than 5 years ago. Prior to this, yes, the tracks on both the lines inherited from BR were vastly degraded.

The main issue with the M5000s is the suspension and the side-to-side 'hunting'. This will just have to be solved in time; it took many years back in '92 to fine tune the suspension of the T68s so I am told. From what I have heard, the suspension could be tightened up to reduce the bouncing, but that might affect their ability to go around tight corners, of which there are many on the Eccles line.
 

trentside

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There are going to be quite a few of us then! :D Crossover and I will be spending the rest of the afternoon using the tickets :)

That's also what me and my friend are planning to do - so will hopefully see you there :)
 

Manchester77

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From what I read on twitter it sound like someone hacked into Skyscrapercity website and it may not be back online until end of the week.

It came back for like a few ten minute periods yesterday but hasn't been on since for me.

Hope everyone had a good time on the T68 tour hopefully any pictures can be shared on here!
 

Crossover

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I will try share some of my pictures :)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
There is now a trip report here:
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=101173

Also, I don't think the track is the problem with these M5000's - the T68's were rather stable on the old track and when on the line to East Didsbury, the M5000's were hunting like crazy!
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I will try share some of my pictures :)

Please be careful with both the size and the number of any pictorial images you wish to show on RailUK, as familyguy99 used to submit a number of large images on the former Manchester Metrolink master thread (God rest its soul..<() until the forum staff gave their reasons why such large images were not advisable to be part of any posting.
 

Starmill

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Please be careful with both the size and the number of any pictorial images you wish to show on RailUK, as familyguy99 used to submit a number of large images on the former Manchester Metrolink master thread (God rest its soul..<() until the forum staff gave their reasons why such large images were not advisable to be part of any posting.

It's not too much of an issue, Paul. Photos can be downsized if embedded in posts, but Crossover generally adds photos as attachments which doesn't cause too much of a problem at all.

Larger libraries of images can easily be linked to on external sites such as Flickr or Photobucket for members to peruse at their leisure.
 
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