31st May 2009. A morning of brilliant sunshine found me at the deserted entrance to Birmingham Snow Hill station. Actually it was only 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, so one wouldn’t expect many people about. The station is a modest affair by the standards of its heyday under the Great Western Railway, but the railway side is really quite busy. One day we will get some shots of that aspect; but today we are concentrating on the Metro – a tramway that presently runs from here to Wolverhampton. Several extensions are planned. It’s the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Metro, so a special tram will run. We have to supply some Jazz music, to add to the general festivities.

The corridor, or rather bridge, leads to the railway itself, while to Metro platforms are off to the right.

The platforms, and a Metro Tram. They run on standard-gauge track – 4 foot 8½ inches isn’t it?

There’ll be all sorts of technical details of these on the Birmingham website if you’re interested. Many (if not all) vehicles are named after notable people, and details of the nominee are given inside each tram.

The Anthony Nolan Trust is a bone marrow transplant charity, named after a boy whose serious illness led to the establishment, by his mother, of an organization to foster bone marrow transplants and other allied treatments.

A view from Wolverhampton-bound platform across to the railway, and ‘John Stanley Webb’, the car on which we traveled.

Appropriately, John Stanley Webb was a Walsall man who became a world authority on trams and tramways. Stops were made in various town en route, when the Mayor…

At this point, the commentary breaks off. Clearly, this was an unfinished web page, never uploaded. Please accept my apologies for the fact that, as 10 years have passed since I wrote the above, I cannot remember what the Mayor did or said. Though I would imagine, he got out at one or two important stops, and shook hands woth local people? Yes; that must be it!  8^)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page written 31st May 2009.