For his actions at Newbold alone, Rob is an absolute legend. I can think of a couple of systems where the drivers would have just left without the passenger. Excellent Video finishing in my neck of the woods.

Absolutely superb. Great to have a Manchester tram video with such comprehensive and informative commentary. Couldn't be better!

That was a fun journey. I never thought I'd see and learn so much. Thank you!

The incident with the Deliveroo cyclist reminded me of something my father once told me- Before WW2, he did deliveries for Liptons in Cardiff with a bike that had a large basket on the front. One day, he was coming fast down a hill when he managed to catch a wheel in the tram track and went over the handlebars and landed in front of a tram. It stopped, luckily for him, and me.

As an old codger been on that trip many times but the driver has never stopped to show me the signs! great video beautiful scenery after Oldham.

This has been as interesting as I thought it would be and love the way it dovetails with your other videos. Thanks Don.

Very enlightening. Excellent video and commentary - thanks Don.

Back in the 1980s I used to live in Didsbury and loved walking the old railway, although the trackbed was often waterlogged in places. I remember several station platforms surviving, although not their buildings. It's good to see it back in use.

Many Thanks to all concerned in producing this Video As always very informative and a real insight to the working of the modern Tram system Thanks Don

Hi Don, a fan from New Zealand here, finally got round to watching this video as we are in lockdown again here, and this video was brilliant to watch, really informative, beautiful scenery, excellent video quality, just the perfect thing that I needed to remember that the world will one day be better again Thanks so much for your content, I really appreciate it and these dark times

Very excited for this! I'm just waiting for my Metrolink depot tour

Another great addition to the collection Don. Informative, descriptive and hugely enjoyable. Thank you for a great channel

Greetings from Cape Town, Don. Like all your videos, it shows us what public transport should be like, something we can only dream about here in South Africa. Keep up your good work.

Tnx for another great video. The historical info takes it to another level.

Thanks Don - and Rob! - another good journey & video.

Another Fanstastically created Video, by Don. Thank you. Really Enjoyed. Well worth the wait.

Fantastic Video Don, many thanks to yourself and of course Rob too. It's nice to see old heavy rail lines still being used for light rail use :)

Can I put my hands down now my arms are aching. Another Fantastic Vlog Don. Keep Well and stay safe.

Thank you so much. Excellent view and fantastic high quality video.

Thanks Don, great ride, great commentary as usual!

Four thumbs up! Thanks for the new and different adventure!

Most enlightening to someone who has never travelled on a British tram. So informative.

Loved the video and hope it will not be too long before the next one. Although I've travelled this line many times visiting relatives in Milnrow I still managed to spot features I have never seen before, perhaps due to the vantage point, and learned lots of new things about Metrolink infrastructure as well.

Very good video, it was good to view it clearly from the cab from one terminus to the other 🙂

Wow this was absolutely fantastic! Loved that part while we were on the Hazel Grove freight line, I've always found that line quite interesting! Excellent in every shape or form! Job well done and top class as well! Great work from you! I've always also found it interesting with the tram pantograph and how it has to be very high because of trucks. Absolutely love your cab rides Don, there so inspiring, enjoyable, interesting and informative! I must thank you for always putting a smile on my face! Enjoyed every second! Thanks for sharing, keep up the fantastic work! Take care, stay safe and well, keep up the fantastic, inspiring and enjoyable videos we all appreciate your time and effort into them! Have a great rest of your weekend and all the best!

Another really interesting video from the Don. Great to see a well organised light rail system. Must check it out for real on my next trip to the UK. Whenever that might be. Greetings from a Lancashire lad in New Zealand.

How good is this!?! Lived in Cheadle Hulme 79-82, working in Northenden with a regional office off Cross Street, driving a dog-dirt coloured company Marina. Roads choked, old Central station a dump and getting from south Manchester to Rochdale was akin to a journey to the moon. Manchester can be a hard place, but it gets things done. Excellent video.

Don, really enjoyed this video. You spoke of the tram pushing through switches. Here in the US we call these "spring switches". The other interesting point to me was the tram going up that 6.5% grade, I watch Swiss cab ride videos and on the RhB meter gauge their EMUs will do 7% with 4 or 5 trailers at a steady 30 Km/h, and this is adhesion not rack.

I just finished watching this excellent video. Your comments were so informative and amusing and your enthusiasm shines through, you are so dedicated. I watch your videos in stages while I am cycling on my bike trainer and they are just perfect. I get to see places that I will never get to visit and get some exercise at the same time! As skinny as I am, I need it at my stage of life. One of the dangers is trying to cycle as fast as a diesel doing 90 mph! hahaha. Another famous child of Rochdale was Gracie Fields. I think she may be controversial to some people but I do love some of her songs. 😊

Brilliant. Hope there’s a Bury line video in the offing.

i lived in leigh, going to manchester i was always interested in the trams' tracking system. after returning to Poland, I only have memories of them. this great video with great information reminded me of everything, even the places I have been. greetings and waiting for the next production from Manchester

What always amazes me about the viaducts is the number of bricks them boys used it must be millions especially the viaducts going into Manchester, great video thanks

This is really nice to see, definitely all still familiar 👍

Thanks for another great video. I haven’t done 2CC yet let alone the full route to Rochdale. I did get to the original tram replacement for Oldham Mumps however. Used to work in Rochdale many years ago but always travelled by bus and latterly car as the station was too far away unfortunately.

Don its what i said on another video all that brickwork and its still standing amazes me and I find it beautiful. Its a wow moment to see Manchester inner city I have never been there, family live well south in Sussex so am used to going up to London by train, but the tram takes it to another level well thought out to

I'm looking forward to this!

Fascinating Video. Thanks a lot.

Nice one Don. Made my day.

Very interesting! Greetings from Marcel, tram driver from Berlin, and friends in Manchester!

Wow. What a great ride and a change from trains although at times it appeared as if it was on a train.

good town trip mate. loved it

Fantastic journey the best thing they ever did bringing the trams back to Manchester & Nottingham

Very interesting video, thank you for posting this. The mills outside of Oldham in your video look very much like those in greater Pawtucket Rhode Island, Lawrence, Lowell, Manchester, and many other cities throughout the area. The sad thing is we too lost our textile mills in the last century as business moved south then overseas. New England, where I grew up and still live had some of the largest mills and all are idle today. Many of the mills too succumbed to urban renewal, arson, and outright demolition. After years of demolition, however, there's been an urge to preserve them and cities such as Lowell Massachusetts, located 35 miles west of me, has a number of preserved buildings, which have been turned into loft apartments, a museum, and small industrial spaces. Lawrence, located about 10 miles west, and Manchester too have woken up too and finally preserved their heritage. Lawrence like many of the cities, hired 10s of thousands of people in its mills and once was the home to the largest worsting mill in the world. American Woolen company once took up a 2 mile stretch along Merrimack Street for its operation. Today, the mill houses doctor's offices and small businesses. The tram line its self is great to see. I'm sad in some ways that the regular lines aren't used for heavy rail, but then again there's the alternative that could have happened, which sadly has occurred way too much where I live where everything is turned into those rail-trail bike and walking paths. In greater Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) runs a "High Speed Line", which was once a former heavy rail branch line. This line was sold to the then Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) back in the 1950s and opened in 1959 with the then high-speed PCC trolleys. Today, this is the fastest line on the system with Breda LRVs running at their maximum of 50 mph on that line. This line was once a commuter loop operation between Newton and Needham. Today the Riverside and Newton Highlands branches are run as light rail lines. Boston also has one of the tightest curves of any light rail transit system. The curve between Boylston and Tremont Streets is rated at 5 mph maximum and is so tight that any tram needs to be customized to run in the tunnel otherwise it will derail. This has been an issue with the past few orders from Breda including the last one with trams derailing and getting stuck inside the tunnel and causing not only long delays, but also much costly damage to the infrastructure.

Excellent and informative

many thanks for this trip which change from Class66 :)

Excellent video, Don. I lived and worked in the Oldham area for 21 years so it looks very different. Hope to visit Llanberis Lake Railway this summer. See you there?

Smashing video !

Very Good Video Thank You .

I wasn’t sure if I would find it as interesting as the normal heavy rail videos, but it was great. I didn’t realise the metro link covered such a large area.

Very very good video.

In a way it’s a shame this was filmed during lockdown. It could have been interesting to see how the tram interacts with heavier (and unpredictable!) vehicle and pedestrian traffic. But another great video nonetheless, thanks Don.

loved the trip😄😄😄

Enjoyable. Interesting that they went for Imperial speed units, compared with Tyne & Wear, which adopted metric right from the start.

Much as enthusiasts lament the loss of heavy rail on these routes, you can clearly see the advantages of light rail/trams. Much faster acceleration and braking and the lines are a lot cheaper to operate and maintain.

My lovely Manchester

I work in the centre of Manchester, so interesting to see this from a different angle. Never actually ridden the trams, they're surprisingly noisy - unless the camera was stuck to the outside!

Your railway videos are the best. Could you do the London Overground?

Have done most of the Metrolink lines, still to do the Airport and Trafford Centre

I look forward to when the line is extended from East Didsbury to Stockport.

Rochdale looks bigger than I thought Don. I enjoyed this run. I've covered most of the route in it's heavy rail days but never by tram. I was only ever on one of the trams and that was just in Manchester city centre. I'm needing to put together a "Trams of England" tour for myself; I've only seen Manchester and Blackpool. Thanks for another interesting video. You seem pretty keen on the trams, going by the number of captions on this one - must have taken ages. 👍👌😁 A wee heads-up(certainly not a criticism) something goes wrong with your captions at Cornbrook. You seem to have two Cornbrook stations/stops in the heavy rail clip.😁 Cheers for now, Dougie.

@23:00 - very smart idea, to create passing point for trams. Our tram overtake previous one (propably to keep schedule right)

Sat here in the USA, can’t wait for a ride around Greater Manchester.

I hope you’ll do all the lines !

They certainly didn't plan on that falling down did they !! [at 21.07] Civil engineering at it's absolute best.

The Sheffield - Rotherham TramTrain would be a good one to video. Lots of different signalling, some for the tram, others for the train.

Waiting for the passenger was heartwarming.

All aboard!

Glad to know I am in this video 🙃

1:15:12 The 19th century stonemasons would be bewildered how much technology has changed since their lifetime and appreciate the advancement of their craft. At least I haven't heard an elderly physician, biologist or doctor lament about the progress in their own fields witnessed by their own eyes.

What a wonderful video Don..thoroughly enjoyed it...and then nil points in the song contest? Something had to ruin the day!! Can you give details on the end trailer of the music played please? As always, thanks for all your time and effort in making this. Cheers, Bob

58:12 - Love the way the "T" sign is fixed to the pole with duct tape. Very high tech! But seriously: Is there any chance of doing a similar video to this one for the other long route: Altrincham to Bury?

Amazing how much traffic is on this line.

Nice

I hate to disagree with you, but Derker does not serve Royton AT ALL! Even Royton Junction was over a mile away from the town. I lived for many years on the route of that branch, great for dog walking and cycling once the trackbed had levelled! There was even evidence of sidings around right up to the early 2000's when I moved away. It's really quite surprising (in a nice way) just how much of my life could be contained in this video! Many thanks for sharing this and sparking so many smiles!

Absolutely fascinating. I'm about to join the team at KeolisAmey Metrolink as a new driver and this has been such a great insight. Maybe I will be lucky enough to have Rob by my side one day.

Considering how quiet it was in the city compared to normal, I would have loved lockdown if I was a tram driver I reckon!

I'm a DC groupie. I say it loud, I say it proud.

On 28:39 it’s St Peter’s square Mosley street got demolished

My sister in law and her husband live 5 minutes walk from the West Didsbury station.

Hello Don Thanks for your comments on the Earle's to Crewe light engine movement. I replied but later got a message to say it was undeliverable. You referred to this video so thought it would be appropriate to respond here. You referred to part of the Midland route now being used by the Metro. It is good that the old lines are being brought back into use. One of my customers who lives in Oldham qualifies for free travel and uses the metro for days out all over the system. Back in the early 60's my first job was in Didsbury and by then the local trains were powered by Ivatt 43xxx moguls and the blue pullman used to put in a regular appearance. I have just watched the Earle's to Bedford video and wondered how you manage food and comfort breaks on a fairly long run. Do you have loo facilities on the loco. Thanks Peter Hoyland

its amazing how they biult some of the bridge arches and those steel bridges etc without modern tools of today

Marvellous!

That was brilliant Don are there going to be more on Trams.? as a railway guard for 40 years out of Bristol T M A and Bath road its good to see other Railways work

48:33 is where it starts so sound weird but nice and it’s my local tram stop LOL

my abiding memory, early on, of Metrolink, was blagging a run round the turning circle beneath Manchester Piccadilly. I don't think it's still there, or if it is, it's not used anymore. but god it was tight......any-one else remember it?

Thanks Don. A quick question (to which I probably should know the answer) What are the short 'ladder-like' sections between the rails? I'm guessing at some form of tram locating system?

Absolutely amazing Don, what would happen if the tram coming in from the airport arrives at the same time as the tram we were on, is there any sort of warning when trams get too close.

Excellent video, Don. Will there be more tram videos?

Loved every second of this Don. Much much appriciated. I really enjoy the metrolink system and would love to be a driver one day. Do you think it would be hard to get in to or what the best way would be. I'm 19 thanks.

Thank you soooo much Don, Freehold in the first video! This is such a good cab ride and a lot of people including myself are grateful to be able to witness this. One question if you don't mind, around the Cornbrook area there are a lot of signals 'bagged up', what are these for and why are they bagged up may I ask?

I've been an avid follower of your heavy rail videos for ages. I never thought that a Metro cab ride could be so fascinating. But I should have known that any video by you would be up to your usual standards. Well done! I'm now looking forward to the Bury line, if it's on your agenda. One question: when light rail takes over existing heavy rail infrastructure do they keep/re-use the existing track or is absolutely everything re-laid?

Really enjoyed this video. Are you going to do any more Metrolink videos?

Which line are you planning to do next? Also big fan of your vids

Hello nice video I had been looking for cabin video’s for a while. Now I finally found it. I had a question are you familiar with the Randstadrail light rail network in the Netherlands In south holland? Regards Jayden

"Thanks for tuning in, premiere ended 13 hours ago “ - I wish people wouldn’t use this broken feature -.-

you mentioned that you push through some of the points. With metro link even on the ex railway lines average speeds (including station stops) are below 20mph. If Metro link had the money (which they obviously don't) could the points be upgraded to allow them to lock to allow trams to go over points at much faster speed, thereby reducing journey times into Manchester by a couple minutes? Sorry if that seems a stupid question.

When you cross over to the left track , look at the points at 1:28 they were not changed for the direction your travelling in.

Question why does it sound like there is wind did the driver have the windows open or is the canmera strapped to the front of the tram like outside of it because all I could here was a continuous gust of wind blowing I’m confused

How does "line of sight" signalling work at night or in fog?

Don, Do the trams run to a timetable or do they just start the journey at regular intervals?