And it made it onto the lunchtime and early evening "Spotlight" news for the south west on the telly.
Yes, Seaton Tramway's new terminus building opened for business yesterday. It stands on the site of the old quaint station ...
... and is not the flavour of the month for many Seatonians. It is too big, they say ...
... matching the height of Tesco (above right). It has four "platforms" each with huge electric doors ...
... which cut off the power to the overhead when they are closed; sophisticated, but a lot more to go wrong.
Whilst the main crowd assembled at the entrance, fbb joined a small gaggle of observers outside Tesco's CostaLot coffee shop.
Before the jollification began, one of the drivers popped out to talk to the assembling observers.
This, it turned out, was the man of the moment - the driver of the very first departure.
The first load of passengers loaded ...
... and amidst a display of fireworks, a brass band playing, hundreds of balloons released and a troupe of dancing girls - actually a toot toot on the hooter - the first ever tram in service left the station; four minutes late.
Note the cameraman, standing, and the small boy in yellow, seated. The beeb really did travel on the first trip.
Somewhere in the gloom of Tesco stood fbb recording the auspicious egress of tram no. 11.
All four bays had trams awaiting ...
... it was quite impressive but sadly not as visible from the road as in times past - but good viewing as you toy with your Bumpy White Mocca Maximellata with sprinkles and sea salt. Or you might have a cup of coffee instead!
Having waved the first away, fbb nipped round to explore the full gamut of the exciting appurtenances.
A bit more signage is needed ...
... but the "front end" is impressive, if you like that sort of thing.
Inside, the 1020 was loading ...
... and there was a queue for tickets. Or was it a queue for the caff? The two are side-by-side, a set-up which might cause some problems on busy days.
The fare has been increased from £10 to £11 for a day "rover"; not cheap for one round trip ...
... but a single to Colyton at £7 seems unreasonably high.
One tram on "standby" was No 19.
This originally ran on 3'6" gauge track (a bit bigger than a metre) in Exeter, where it was an open top double decker bought in 1906.
It was rebuilt at the Seaton depot as a conventional single deck for the unique 2'9" gauge.
One tram on "standby" was No 19.
The planned "printed timetable" blog will follow tomorrow. After an hour or so on Wednesday evening wrestling with two keyboards, fbb was so anxious to put yesterday's post to bed that he completely forgot about the trammy news! No 3 son arrives on Sunday to install a new keyboard.
Next printed timetable blog : Saturday 30th June
The building does seem to be out of keeping with its function. I would have thought they could have built a waiting room, shop and cafe complex in the car park. I will have to visit again to get a better idea.
ReplyDelete