Blackpool, Lancashire 1930s

“Who was this mysterious man, who were the men in the crew that encountered him originally?” The Jolly Reiver

Whew, there is not much at all documented about Tram 703 and the ghostly goings on that occurred on that particular Blackpool Tram. I thought I would scrape together the crumbs I’ve found to make sure the tale of this haunted tram continue to live on! If anyone has any more info, do comment!

I can, however, find a lot of history of the 703 tram, so let’s have a whizz through some of this tram’s context. Walter Luff, manager of Blackpool Corporation Transport in 1933, decided trams needed a rebrand, refresh and a more modern appearance. He introduced open-topped double decker trams that could seat up to 90 people and boasted fancy folding entrance doors. These new trams, numbered 237-249, were fondly nicknamed the ‘Balloons’ because of their streamlined bloated appearance.

These trams then, as fickle as the general public is, became too old, outdated and clunky for some. New Coronation single decker trams ended up replacing them, but Joseph Franklin (who took over as manager) repainted the ol’ Balloon trams and installed new seating to push the capacity up to a whopping 94. These were then renumbered, and the 240 became the 703 tram and trundled around Blackpool for over 3 decades.

So… haunted?! The story of spooky happenings occurred in the 1970s during the season of the Blackpool Illuminations in late October. One evening, the 703 tram was on a late night journey from Fleetwood back to the depo. It was after midnight and conditions were rough with a huge storm blowing chaos on the streets. Due to the weather, on the way back into Blackpool, the crew were expecting a quiet journey and had begun to count up their cash.

However, at one of the remote stops around Russell, a figure in a large overcoat was seen waiting at one of the stops. Curious. The elderly gentleman boarded the tram and went immediately to the top deck. After sitting himself down at the very back of the tram, the conductor followed him up and the tram set back off. The man asked for Talbert Square, offering up a bank note for his 40p fair. The conductor had to head back down to his crew to find change for the man.

After managing to get enough change for the traveller, the conductor made his way back up to the top deck… to find it completely empty. The crew stopped the tram to try and find the gentleman, where could he have possibly gone? He wasn’t under the stairwell, he wasn’t under any of the seats, the windows were closed due to the storm.

After this event, of which I’m sure the crew were ridiculed for regaling, the 703 tram endured many mystery bell-dings whilst being empty of customers. There is an account from someone who worked on the 703 on an online chat forum, they claim:

“There are many tales of strange goings on with this tram, footsteps upstairs when empty, bells being rung, disappearing passengers etc. While working on this tram as a guard on Sun 17th Aug, myself, top guard, and driver were all stood on the platform at Cleveleys, the tram was fully stopped with brakes on. The driver who has only been driving for a few months remarked what a good tram it was to drive, to which I replied it was because you have assistance in the cab. As soon as I said this, the tram began to shake and move for a few seconds as if it was trying to move off the stop.”

As far as tales of the strange occurring on the 703, this is as much as I can find! The 703 tram was then repainted into the Sunderland red and cream livery and transferred to Beamish Museum on 15 September 2010 on a five year loan as a working exhibit, masquerading as ‘Sunderland 101’.