Fleetwood Transport Festival 2008 (North West) Dedicated to Fred Dibnah
 

Fleetwood Transport Festival, also Known as "Tram Sunday" is a transport rally with a difference in Lancashire. This year is a special one, as the event is dedicated to Fred Dibnah, who regularly attended our event with his own engine.

Fred's wife, Sheila, put this idea forward to us and it will co-incide with Fred's statue being unvieled.

Hopefully we will be able to attract as many steam vehicles as possible. We currently have a small collection of steam vehicles which attend the event regularly, including a steam wagon, a steam organ, steam "gallopers", a steam loco and Martha - the world's only Steam sentinel passenger bus which also gives rides.

But this is where you all come in - it would be great to focus this year's event on steam vehicles even more. So if you can bring a vehicle (steam or not!!) then please let me know!!

Usual details in the next post. :)

Fleetwood Transport Festival - aka "Tram Sunday". 20th July 2008 (North West nr Blackpool)


Pictures of 2007's event are at the end of this post.

Hello everyone.

The organising committee invite you all and your vehicles to be a part of Fleetwood Transport Festival 2008!!

Fleetwood Transport Festival is widely acknowledged to be the most unique, transport-themed, FREE family day out in the North West of England. The Fleetwood Transport Festival has been firmly established in the rally calendar for 24 years, however it is more commonly known as "Tram Sunday" (especially to the locals).

The next event falls on Sunday 20th July 2008. (Always the 3rd Sunday of July)

Fleetwood Transport Festival 2007 was the best event that we've had in many years, despite severe weather warnings which may have put some vehicle owners off attending. We had an exceptionally wide variety of vehicles attend the event and vehicle management and placement was much improved with our new plans which will continue in 2008!!


The festival is uniquely held in Fleetwood's Historic Town Centre, which is the part of the world's first electric street tramway. This means that the roads are closed and your vehicles will be parked on the firm road surface rather than a muddy field, especially useful for heavier vehicles which sometimes have a tendency to get stuck on fields.

The event is only a short way from Blackpool off the M55 motorway.

Usually attracting around 50,000 visitors it is a tremendously fun day with attractions for people of all interests and ages including Vintage Trams, Classic Cars, Buses, Commercial Vehicles, Motorcycles and other Special Interest Vehicles of all types, sizes and descriptions.

There is also much to entertain families with a national gathering of Town Criers, bands, dancers, miniature and model railways, military, gymnastic displays, fairground rides and of course the scenic sea-front and beach. There are many one day only transport-related trade stands along with many of the local shops, cafés and restaurants open, ensuring all the family get maximum enjoyment throughout the day.


This means that Fleetwood Transport Festival is not only great for the individual classic owner, but also an ideal place for your North West club meet, not only to witness it's wide range of enthusiast vehicles but also for those club members who have families who will the masses of amusements and performances throughout the mile-long, seaside event. Please let us know in advance if you intend to come as a group.


For peace of mind, a large dedicated team of marshals will ensure correct vehicle placement and that everyone has a thoroughly enjoyable and safe day out. An early arrival would be advised at the event.

To take part in this wonderful and totally free event please email me for an entry form. Entry AND entrance is all free and we appreciate all of the support we can get at the event. A vehicle pass and parking details will be sent to you closer to the event.

My email address is: lawrence.tramsunday@googlemail.com

I will send entry forms to those interested ASAP. You can also email me simply if you need more information and I will endeavour to help you.

You can visit www.fleetwoodtransportfestival.co.uk to see pictures of last year's events and get a feel of what the event is like.


Here are some of my favourite pictures from the 2007 event:

Reliant Scimitars' Club Meet at the Festival
"Martha" - The World's only Steam Sentinel Passenger Bus
Around 40 buses attended the event.
These included a left-hand drive half-cab bus from Portugal
The Ausin Bullnose was the oldest car at the event
As we can see, this was a very popular event with vehicles, attractions and visitors alike... even in the rain!!
The Monster Truck was a hit with the children
A rare DeLorean DMC12 found a prominent position
There were even minature versions of things
Another, slightly more rare, gorup of cars gathered too

The entry form can be downloaded here:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/1/...stival2008.pdf

If you have any problems then please email me as I can send it as an attatchment or via the post.

Thanks,
Lawrence

Sorry for posting in here YET AGAIN, but I thought you might like an update on what's going on.

We've still not got it all confirmed, but we're *hoping* to have Fred Dibnah's famous engine "Bessie", and three of Fred's old friends have also been in touch to express an interest in attending with their three engines too...

Also, dependent on whether repairs will be carried out in time or not, we could have another engine which is based locally and interested in attending.

Even if you can't make it with your own vehicles, the possibility of five of these magnificent machines could be very interesting to some of you who may just want to attend as visitors. We've also got a record number of entrants overall this year and we are still hoping to work on that number. If you haven't ever been before then this is the year to give our event a go!!

Thanks,
Lawrence

Lawrence,

sorry to piss on your chips, Freds roller was called Betsy, and Alison before that.

Oh and Martha isnt the only Sentinel bus, I can think of at least two others. Please PM me if you want the details

Eeek, I'm sorry. :( That's what I get for being an 18 year old trying to keep an event that's 7 years older than me going without enough knowledge, hehe!!

As for Martha, I'm sure that is what they had been quoting however I cannot find any reference to that on their website.

My apologies, and thanks for the corrections. :)

Fred's engine Betsy
 

Sorry to be a spoilsport but as the custodian of both Fred's engines and living van I can confirm that they will deffinitely not be attending Tram Sunday.

So what condition is Betsy in then? What does she need, tubes?

It's not the condition of Fred's engines that are stopping them from being exhibited. They are impounded waiting for settlement of Fred's will. I find it hard to believe therefore that anybody could believe they would be attending Tram Sunday.

Well, this thread was an unmitigated disaster... sorry all.

As far as I was aware, there were still outstanding legal issues but it was hoped that they would be sorted. I apologise if this is not the case as I've made a bit of a mess of things in all honesty. :(

Don't worry
he that never tries never does.
He that tries sometimes does
she that tries always does provided he does not mess it up first.
The melter

I'm sure that your intentions were well meant. It could be that you have been misled.

I am sure that your intentions were honourable. I think you have been misled

Ever so slightly. :)

The event, in its 24th year, was almost cancelled last year. The committee is small at around 8 core people. Some of the committee have been working on the festival since close to the time when it began, and to further exasperate problems we don't really get any help from the local council in staging the event - although they're happy to add it to their reasons for people to visit the area.

Last year my dad was responding to an article in the paper, suggesting that the event could be scrapped. He mentioned it to me, and I said I'd help out. I'd had no previous knowledge in classic cars, etc, before other than that passed down by my dad who is an avid bus enthusiast.

We joined the committee in early April 2007, and there were still no vehicle entries whatsoever. We quickly got to work, and managed to scrape together 130 vehicles. This year we decided to start early in December. We sent vehicle passes and details of the event to over 500 car clubs, every transport related museum in the UK and everyone who has exhibited at the event over the past 4 years, as well as visiting other shows to drum up support. Thanks to this, we're 6 weeks off and just passing the 200 vehicles mark.

Last year, Sheila Dibnah got in touch with some suggestions about Fred who, as far as I am aware, attended the event on numerous occassions. I believe Sheila did attend the event last year, but felt that it would be nice if the event could be dedicated to Fred this year to coincide with the unveiling of the statue of Fred. It was Sheila who suggested that Betsy might be able to attend, and we had provisionally arranged transport in case this was viable. Betsy also features on the commemorative brass rally plaques this year.

As far as the event goes, it's not a traditional one at all. It's not a steam fair, it's not specifically a car show. It's an amazing family day out. The massive variety of vehicles that really does interest me and the members of the public, making it an amazing family day out. Working with the organisers over the last year, at such a young age and just before I am going to disappear to University, has been an amazing experience and I've learnt so much. I've been boring my friends with the running commentary on what's coming to the event; it really has been a huge part of my life this year. This hopefully pays off when people notice that I've been adding my own touch to the event too, such as persuading owners of Limosuines, a Replica "Del Boy" Van, DeLorean DMC-12 and a 16-foot tall limosuine to bring their attractions to the event. Not only that, but I have helped to secure the presence of a small passenger hovercraft which will be giving rides out to sea...

The three traction engines (or steam rollers, as one member of the committee pointed out) that have been promised by Fred's old friends would be stunning in themselves. It'd probably be the most of these vehicles we've had attend in one year and I'm chuffed that they've shown an interest... whether Betsy will be able to make it or not, it's quite a big thing for us. And let's not forget that Sheila will be there too chatting to the public.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it makes what I admit was a bit of shameless promotion of our event into something a little bit more personal for you all.

I do believe that Betsy was not in a fine fettle though, or so the media said, is this true?

Betsy would probably need re-tubing but the Aveling & Porter Colonial tractor is in perfect working order as is the living van.
In the past few years I have noticed a decline in the number of vehicle exhibits at Tram Sunday so I am delighted that somebody is trying to remedy this decline. I wish you every success in your endeavours as there is never a shortage of public at this event.

Hi

I thought it was something like that, but nice of you to confirm it for me!

Cheers

Dave

Thatnks for your comments. Me and my dad totally took over the vehicles this year. It's slow, but at least it's steady. Volunteers for these things always seems to be the problem.

I started an event listing on facebook to market the event, and 500 members of the public have already said they're coming or thinking of coming - which is a huge number considering it's only a relatively new marketing outlet and hence a small number of potential visitors on the day.

:)

I hope some of you will be able to come and see how we get on.