Manchester Tram number 765

Manchester Tramcar No. 765 is the last remaining electric car from Manchester Corporation Tramways still in regular operation.
Construction
No. 765 is the last remaining electric car from Manchester Corporation Tramways still in regular operation (No. 173 is also operational but for practical purposes has not been in regular operation). It was built in 1914 and was one of a series of unusual combination bogie cars (cars with a central saloon and open smoking compartments at the ends) built for routes such as the No. 53 route with low bridges. The '53' route ran from Stretford Road to Cheetham Hill Road, near Belle Vue. The first batch of these trams made their appearance in Manchester in 1903. They were built by G.F.Milnes with car 765 being built at the Hyde Park Car Works. They are of basically an American design - which has led to them being referred to sometimes as a 'Californian' type. In total 67 were used by Manchester Tramways. Their route, the 53 was converted from trams to buses in 1930 and most of the combination cars were disposed of then.
Restoration
No 765 is the only surviving combination car; having been stored in Yorkshire at Pioneer Farm, Blackmoorfoot, near Huddersfield. Members of the then Manchester Transport Historical Collection (MTHC) (later to become the Manchester Transport Museum Society (MTMS)) set about preserving the tram in 1960. For a period the tram was stored at the National Tramway Museum, Crich but was moved to the Birchfields Road depot in Manchester for restoration. After restoration it returned to Crich for a couple of years before returning to Manchester in 1979. Since then it has operated on the Heaton Park Tramway. Its bogies are not the originals and are regauged ones from the Hill of Howth Tramway in Dublin, Ireland.
Current location
In June 2010 No. 765 was given the honour of being the first of many historic tramcars to go to Blackpool for Blackpool Tramway's 125th anniversary celebrations.

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