Restoration work starts on OMO car 8
June 2005

Restoration work on preserved OMO car No.8 started on 15 June 2005 funded by contributions to the Blackpool Tramcar Preservation Fund.

Initial tasks will involve stripping off the lower panels and undertaking a detailed assessment of the tram, prior to a complete repanelling. The tasks will be undertaken by Blackpool Transport in between routine overhaul work. Following repanelling, it is expected that 8 will be repainted in one the characteristic liveries carried by the class - either maroon and yellow or red and off-white.

OMO 8 was withdrawn from service back in May 1992 and it was initially retained by Blackpool Transport for possible future use, being in better condition than the other OMO cars still operating. However, plans changed and in 2002 it was donated to the Lancastrian Transport Trust. As the last survivor of a class of tram thought to have saved the tramway from extinction in the 1970s, it is hoped that OMO 8 can enjoy a more secure future after over thirteen years in store.

Platform doors from OMO 8, stripped off some time ago, are expected to be sent away for professional repairs whilst the Wokefield Park Conference Centre in Reading has pledged to assist with glazing. Sister car OMO 10 has been housed there since 1996 but is due to be scrapped later this year. Its glazing will be salvaged to replace the units cannibalised from the other withdrawn OMOs and fitted to Railcoaches.

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Upper Photos: OMO car 8 stripped of lower panelling in preparation for detailed inspection prior to repanelling. 18/06/05.
Lower Photos: OMO car 3 out on test in October 1972.