127/8 were last used in the early 1950s and by 1957 the Corporation had bought two new, smaller snowploughs for fitting to passenger cars when required. In 1958/9 railcoaches 268/270 (615/7) did the honours with 266/9 (613/6) the following year. For winter 1960/1, railcoach 268 was joined by Balloon 240 (703) – the first time a double decker had been allocated. The railgrinders continued to see occasional use as snowploughs, both being so used in January 1963.  Balloons then became the favoured cars, with 704 and 706 in use during the late 60s/early 70s. 704 was used on 7/8 February 1969 to clear drifts north of Bispham – with trams restricted to the Starr Gate to Bispham section. Charging snow at speeds results in sudden reductions in speed as the tram hits the blockage and the inevitable happened with 704 burning out its resistances.

722 had taken over from 706 as 704’s partner by 1976, probably around 1972 when 706 was overhauled. January 11 1977 saw heavy snow and the Railgrinder was reportedly used to clear the line with both 704 and 722 also on duty. Their most unusual duty was probably an all night operation on New Year’s Day 1979 to clear the tracks for service on the 2^nd. They were called into use again on 26 January 1979 and on 2 February 1980. The January 1979 snow coincided with single line working from Pleasure Beach to Starr Gate using the inner loop and northbound track for southbound trams, which resulted in some interesting scenes of OMO cars in the snow. Similarly in February 1980, single line operation was in place from Gynn Square to Cabin.

For winter 1981/2, 704 was replaced by 723 and a heavy snowfall on Sunday 13 December led to their finest hours. Snow fell through the evening and the service trams struggled back to depot – all except OMO 7 which became well and truly stuck just after leaving Starr Gate. On Monday morning the tramway was closed and very few buses were in operation. Workers were trying to dig out car 7, while 752 had tried but failed to shift some snow. 722 and 723 had run in tandem to Talbot Square but the latter burnt out a resistance and they returned back to the Tower with 722 charging the snow with a 100 yard run up. 723 was repaired at the tower and the two cars couple together made better progress back to depot. Here 710 was extracted and coupled between 722 and 723. The three trams, each of course with its own driver, set off northwards along the cleared track to Talbot Square and round the Metropole – stopping to bounce an abandoned car off the tracks.

The combined power of the three cars saw them power through the snowdrifts until they came to a halt at Little Bispham due to a power failure. Eventually they reached Ash Street and returned south. No trams operated on Monday and further snow fell with 716, 710 and 723 operating as a triple set – 716 standing in for 722. By mid afternoon OMO cars had been despatched to run a Talbot Square to Ash Street Fleetwood service following a trial trip by 716 and an OMO. Cars 1, 2 and 9 were used on the Tuesday. OMO 7 meanwhile was still stuck, but had been dragged closer to the Pleasure Beach and on Wednesday it was finally freed and returned to depot. Very low overnight temperature saw the snow turn to ice blocking the track grooves. On Thursday 716 attempted to unblock the tracks south from Manchester Square but abandoned the attempt at St. Chads Road. The following day saw 634 and 701 used to break the ice and they reached South Pier before turning their attention to the northbound line. Saturday evening saw the tram service extended to run Pleasure Beach to North Albert Street in Fleetwood, finally resuming normal operation on Monday 21 December.

722 and 723 continued as snowplough cars until 1988/9 winter when 722 was replaced by 724. They saw little use, 723 supported by the Unimog operating on 27 January 1984. This was followed a long snow free period, the only excitement arising from a prolonged cold spell in February 1991. This saw OMOs 5, 8, 10 and 11 shoulder the burden of the tram services as the Centenaries failed to cope with the temperatures. The worst day was 14 February, 621 and 703 had run all night to burn frost off the wire and allow pantograph fitted cars to operate. By the end of the morning peak the service had been suspended and the Centenary cars taken out of use due to several failures. The service resumed mid morning with three OMO cars, two Brush cars (621 and 626) and two buses in use. 621 and 703.

723’s spell as a plough car ended following accident damage in Summer 1991. It was replaced by 716 for winter 1991/2 but from 1992/3 708 and 722 took over from both 716 and 724. Neither 716 or 724 had seen use, but in February 1994, snow returned in style. 722 was called into action on the 16^th to deal with a small covering of snow and again on the early morning of the 23^rd with 708 and new Engineering car 754 – the latter using its angled plough style lifeguard to shift snow, railgrinder 752 also helping out. Meanwhile the morning trams were blocked in the depot by a further snowfall and buses covered some early journeys until a path was cleared. However compared to 1981, the service was now operated by wider Centenaries and lifeguard gates were fouled by some of the snow pushed aside by the 7’6” snowploughs! As a result buses operated the service until mid afternoon once 754 and its crew had cleared more snow, with 708, 722 and the Unimog continuing to patrol the system to keep tracks clear.

5 February 1996 saw another heavy snowfall which caused the tramway to be suspended. Like 1940 and 1981 a tram was abandoned with 647 stuck at Bispham mid evening. Part of the route was cleared by 708/22 on the 6^th but 647 was not rescued until the 8^th and trams were confined to depot until the 10^th. A new plough car took-up duties in 1998/9 when 702 replaced 708 which was out of use for a repaint. 702 has continued in use since and 722 has been replaced once again by 708.

The snowplough cars remained idle until 12 March 2006 when a heavy overnight snowfall caused 702 and 708 to be called out for duties early Sunday morning. This was 702’s first use as a plough car and 708’s first use at all since 7 November 2004 – the car having been mothballed in early 2005. Both left depot ahead the first service car around 6am. 702 headed north to Fleetwood then back to Starr Gate, running back in to depot from the Tower. 708 – which was facing south in the depot- turned at Tower and went to Starr Gate then Fleetwood before returning to depot. With an all Centenary service safely out 702 headed back to Fleetwood around 9am and on its return collected 641 which had failed at Anchorsholme Lane and been pushed to Bispham to await rescue. Unlike previous failures its stay out was short, 702 towing it back into depot at 1100.  762 replaced it.

708, perhaps over-exerted by its sudden escape from retirement, stayed confined to depot while 702 did a third trip to Fleetwood around lunchtime. 641’s failure was followed by 642 and this was replaced by a bus. Further failures saw the abandonment of the tram service and bus replacements. It is believed compacted snow caused air pipes to fail and brakes to lock on.

© LTT 2006