Manchester77
Established Member
1011 can never run again. It's had it's notorious equipment and door stuff removed and is sat at old trafford with 1004 iirc
And 1020 is also out
And 1020 is also out
With 1011 being a T68M and 1020 being a T68 even if they were both in service it wouldnt hvae been likely
I was in the area yesterday and noticed that the T68s appeared to be confined to the Altrincham-Bury route (the majority operating in pairs). I didn't notice one running into Piccadilly, although the T68a sets were on Piccadilly services.
Am I right in thinking there haven't been any more withdrawals recently?
Thanks for that update Peter. 1009 and 1017 were out yesterday as a pair - I had them back from Bury at about 16.30, they had arrived ECS so perhaps didn't come out until that time. I also noted 2001 had also moved onto Bury services by 16.30 as I passed it heading in that direction.
3060 was also in traffic yesterday (not sure how long it's been out?), so by my reckoning, now in service are 3001-45/48/49/60. Does anyone know which is the highest numbered one to be delivered?
With the opening of the Droylsden line in around 3 weeks, and with the Bury to Piccadilly services being extended to run through to Droylesden, it will further reduce the possibility of T68's operating in and out of Piccadilly unless a single one ends up on the Eccles/Media City to Piccadilly services as I believe the T68's wont be allowed to run on the extension to Droylesden.
id love these M5000's to have better seats fitted European standard seats just dont cut it in the Uk.
I've heard drivers announcing they are held at a signal before, but I don't think I've heard an automated announcment to that effect. I don't think I've ever seen 3xxx trams (I call 'em Metrolink mrk3 trams, 'cos T68 and M5000 are harder for me to remember) run in multiple, despite them having less seating capacity than the 1xxx and 2xxx (metrolink mrk1 and metrolink mrk3). Any particular reason why this is (is it just there's not enough mrk3s due to some being stuck in the depots because they only have the new signalling system which isn't working yet)?Yesterday it seemed like the majority of T68s in service were in double formation and almost every tram not doubled up was a M5000. The Old Trafford depot now seems to see a lot of T68s sitting there out-of-service when previously it saw a number of M5000s sat there.
I thought yesterday evening at first glance I saw a T68 joined up to a M5000 but then realised it was the yellow T68 and not a M5000.
There seems to be a new automated announcement on the M5000s which says something along the lines of "We apologise for the delay this is because we are currently stopped at a red signal. We expect to start moving again shortly."
This is generally my observation also, a right mixture (single mrk3s and double mrk1s, maybe even the odd single mrk1) on Altrincham-Bury, mrk3s on Altrincham-Piccadilly and Oldham/Shaw-St.Whatsists.Rd. and a mix of mrk3s and mrk2s on Eccles and/or MediaCity services. The Bury services I've seen leaving Piccadilly seem to be mrk3s also. Judging by how rarely the mrk1 trams seem to be in Piccadilly, the diagrams don't seem to interwork (unless Bury/Altrincham - Piccadilly services do), which supprises me. Anyone know how many diagrams there are on each route? Do they even run to a timetable, and if so why don't the stops have signs telling you which minutes past the hour trams are due (at least for the periods when the frequency is less than every 6 minutes)?I was in the area yesterday and noticed that the T68s appeared to be confined to the Altrincham-Bury route (the majority operating in pairs). I didn't notice one running into Piccadilly, although the T68a sets were on Piccadilly services.
I don't think I've ever seen 3xxx trams (I call 'em Metrolink mrk3 trams, 'cos T68 and M5000 are harder for me to remember) run in multiple, despite them having less seating capacity than the 1xxx and 2xxx (metrolink mrk1 and metrolink mrk3). Any particular reason why this is (is it just there's not enough mrk3s due to some being stuck in the depots because they only have the new signalling system which isn't working yet)?
Can/do the M5000 stop at Mosley Street? How does that work as they have no retractable steps and the platform is lower than all the others?