Midland Metro

• Along with the canal bridge in Wolverhampton (see below) the other significant gradients on the Metro line are the ones over the viaduct at Handsworth. This structure was built to provide a non-conflicting route across the railway line into Queen's Head sidings, which once served the cement terminal, and was used to run-round scrap trains from EMR at Handsworth. This pic shows tram 08 climbing up the viaduct towards Birmingham at 14:01 on Wednesday 4th February 2009.
• Three minutes later tram 03 breasts the summit with a northbound service. Directly at the bottom of the gradient is Handsworth Booth St station.
• Not an accident, nor a near miss. Tram 03 is slowing to a stand, checked by a signal on the far side of Swan Lane level crossing, West Bromwich, and the traffic lights will be on green for road traffic. You'd think that trams would always have priority here, but it isn't so. It's not unusual for trams to come to a complete stop here, waiting for a proceed signal. It can be mildly disconcerting for car drivers if a tram is approaching (albeit slowly), or is stopped right at the crossing itself, when the lights are at green for road traffic.
• Swan Lane level crossing seen from the other side. Tram 15 was photographed at 17:01 on Wednesday 24th August 2005, and is just about to stop at Black Lake station. Apart from the street running section in Wolverhampton there are two level crossings on the Midland Metro. This one crosses a very busy road; the other crosses the access road to the Metro car park at Priestfield station. There are conventional tram signals either side of the crossing, one of which is visible here showing a stop aspect (horizontal white line). Even with a proceed aspect trams often slow almost to a stop before crossing the road. Motorists see conventional traffic lights, with three heads facing each direction. Note how the right-hand mast carries both contact wires. There are a couple more like that behind the photographer.
• Same spot, looking the other way, tram 06 heads south away from Black Lake station and passes tram 01 on a northbound run. This shot was taken at 15:34 on Friday 2nd September 2005. Another obvious gradient change here, as the line falls sharply towards Hill Top tunnel. Somewhat asymmetrical masts here, but still only carrying a single contact wire each.
• In autumn 2006 I acquired a new lens which had an image stabilization feature, and I was interested to discover what could be achieved using it handheld at night. In particular I was keen to find out the maximum exposure time that would produce sharp results. These test shots were taken on Sunday 17th December 2006, and they suggested that it's possible to take unsupported shots at 1/15 and get a decent result most of the time. Bracing against some sort of support, as was the case in this shot, extends that time to as long as 1/4 of a second. This shot isn't pin-sharp, although you can't see it in the downsized JPEG. It shows Midland Metro tram number 05 pausing at Black Lake with a Birmingham bound service. I was leaning on a handrail, and the exposure was 1/4 sec at f4 with the sensor set to ISO400. The Canon 24-105 lens was set at the long end (97mm), which might have contributed to the slight softness in the original image.
• Tram number 13 climbs away from Hill Top tunnel on the approach to Black Lake (West Bromwich). This shot was taken at 16.41 on Friday 2nd September 2005, and the tram is heading south towards Birmingham. A deceptively rural looking spot this, but it isn't really - the tree-lined cutting just gives that impression. Wednesbury has two Metro stations which are very close together, but either side of those two stations are the two longest stretches between stations. Tram 13 is on the Wednesbury Great Western Street to Black Lake stretch.
• Trams 06 and 03 pass between the two Wednesbury stations at 12:19 on Saturday 17th January 2009. 06 is just drawing into Wednesbury Parkway while 03 heads south towards Great Western St. The telephoto lens accentuates the gradient changes with the line falling as it heads north, levelling through Parkway station, and then falling again towards Moxley. Also noticeable are the different types of OLE support. In the foreground are masts supporting a single contact wire, which is the conventional arrangement on the ex-railway alignment. Beyond that a mixture of portal (gantry) and headspan supports carry the contact wires across the three-track alignment through Parkway station.
• Tram number 13 approaches Wednesbury Parkway at 13:21 on Sunday 7th December 2008. The area near the depot entrance, which is the right-hand track in this shot, has the most complex track and signalling on the line. The station here also has three platforms, the third one normally being used only for very early and late trains which start or end at Wednesbury. There are no signals in this shot, the diagonal orange lights are indicators to show which way the points are lying. These are numbered with a PS prefix, whereas the signals show horizontal (stop) or vertical (proceed) white lights and are numbered with an S prefix.
• This shot was taken on Sunday 17th December 2006 and shows tram 13 at Wednesbury Parkway with a northbound service. The illuminated building to the left of the tram is the Metro depot. The exposure details for this shot are the same as the one above, i.e. 1/4 sec, f4, ISO400, but this time there are no problems with the sharpness of the original image. The focal length used was 32mm, and again I was able to brace my arms on top of a fence.
• Tram 12 is just about to leave the street running section and join the ex-railway alignment in this shot, which was taken at 13:23 on Saturday 31st January 2009. Priestfield station is about 100 yards to the south of this point. The tramway runs along the A41 Bilston Road, but on this first section, as far as the A4126 Ettingshall Road junction, trams and cars have separate lanes. From the left there is the northbound tram and bus lane, the northbound car lane, the southbound tramway (protected by small bollards), and finally the southbound bus and car lane. This arrangement runs for about 300 yards, as far as the cars in the background which are waiting to turn right onto the A4126.
• Just north of the A4126 junction all vehicles share the same carriageway. This shot was taken six minutes after the previous one, and shows tram 16 running behind WMT's 4563 working a 79 service. The bridges in the background are number 83A, which carries the single line connection from the Stour Valley railway into Wolverhampton Steel Terminal, and hidden behind that is number 84, which carries the main Stour Valley line.
• Tram 02 crosses the bridge over the Birmingam canal in Wolverhampton. The photo was taken at 13:45 on Saturday 31st January 2009.
• Tram 16 heads north over the canal bridge on Saturday 24th January 2009. I'm fairly sure this bridge was re-profiled to accommodate the trams, but it's still something of a humpback. On the street running sections the OLE contact wire is strung from headspans supported by a mix of lamp posts and dedicated masts. Note the section break and feeder cables on the nearside of the bridge. Another feature of the power supply is that all the pantographs face the same way, and are at the Wolverhampton-end of the trams.
• This shot shows a tram in exactly the same position as the previous shot, but seen from the northern side of the bridge. Tram 04 was photographed at 15:01 on Saturday 31st January 2009.