Road trains

"Martin Dann" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4235338.stm

Quoted message said:

Nothing good can come out of this.

Which matches exactly what I thought about the subject!

Cheers, helen s

Martin Dann said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4235338.stm

It seems are wonderours government is thinking about 60ton 83ft long road
trains in this country.

Nothing good can come out of this.

Compare and contrast with the recent Sustrans thread.

I recently went to the Linux Bier Wanderung in Killin.
At one time there was a railway from Crianlarich to Killin, then on to
one of my favourite places, Comrie.
Why have we abandoned these railways in the UK? The investment in sheer
human effort and money to construct them must have been vast.

Quoted message said:

Why have we abandoned these railways in the UK? The investment in sheer
human effort and money to construct them must have been vast.

The financial returns would probably not repay the considerable expense of
upkeep.
Cross subsidies kept unviable railways open for longer than was financially
prudent.

A study of the grouping of smaller railway companies in 1923 and then
nationalisation in 1948 bears testimony to unsuccessful endeavours in
railway
transportation being pruned out.

Incidentally am I wrong in thinking that Railtrack/Network Rail are still
responsible for
the maintainence of all railway bridges even when they are no longer in use
by railways.
If so Sustrans has got a bargain with its many disused railway track routes.

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 19:33:39 +0100 someone who may be "vernon"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Incidentally am I wrong in thinking that Railtrack/Network Rail are still
responsible for
the maintainence of all railway bridges even when they are no longer in use
by railways.

Unless taken over by another organisation, like Sustrans or a
council.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

"Martin Dann" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4235338.stm

It seems are wonderours government is thinking about 60ton 83ft long
road trains in this country.

Nothing good can come out of this.

They do seem like a bad idea. I would prefer to eat seasonable vegatables
and pay an extra 3p for a newspaper than have these things on our roads.

John

vernon said:

Quoted message said:

Why have we abandoned these railways in the UK? The investment in sheer
human effort and money to construct them must have been vast.

The financial returns would probably not repay the considerable expense of
upkeep.
Cross subsidies kept unviable railways open for longer than was financially
prudent.

A study of the grouping of smaller railway companies in 1923 and then
nationalisation in 1948 bears testimony to unsuccessful endeavours in
railway
transportation being pruned out.

Incidentally am I wrong in thinking that Railtrack/Network Rail are still
responsible for
the maintainence of all railway bridges even when they are no longer in use
by railways.

Not AFAIK, many tunnels and a few bits of old trackbed are owned by the
BRB which is now just an asset disposal agency. Most lines were sold
off piecemeal after closure, partly to prevent any U turn which would
re-open them. The number of re-openings of abandoned lines for
passengers is tiny (many were still in use for freight) and mostly by
local rather than national funding. To go back to the reasons for
closure you have to look at why many of the lines were built in the
first place, competing companies vying for the same trade over sparse
areas or "defending" their territory by constructing little used lines
to keep others out where an act of Parliament was required for all
lines. Labour was cheap, there was no road alternative. The "Beeching
era" (it actually started long before and continued after him) was
tragic and carried out according to the wrong principles (financial
rather than strategic) but it is very unlikely that we would ever have
kept most of the lines which closed apart from maybe in the South East
and other densely populated areas. I still get very sad when I see an
abandoned line.

Martin Dann said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4235338.stm

It seems are wonderours government is thinking about 60ton 83ft long
road trains in this country.

What a ****ing stupid idea! Yes, road trains may well be a good idea here
in Australia, but there are some rather serious distances involved on the
routes they travel, e.g London to Edinburgh would just be a short jaunt,
and the traffic along those routes is minimal compared to the UK.

Having driven across a fair chunk of Australia (Tasmania to Perth, plus
large chunks of WA) I can tell you that even on the long, straight roads
(e.g. 120km with no bends except the up and down ones!
<http://tinyurl.com/9pb2n>😉 over here, these road trains can be a pain to
overtake. UK roads would just not be suitable for them, particularly as the
inclines are generally greater in the UK. Imagine one road train trying to
overtake another going up Shap.

They're talking about travelling by motorway to regional distribution
centres. There's already the infrastructure and transport to allow them to
do this with *real* trains (which are cheaper per ton of freight in most
cases), not some trucker's wet dream of a hedgehog crusher.

Graeme

On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:30:26 +0800 someone who may be Graeme Dods
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

They're talking about travelling by motorway to regional distribution
centres.

At the moment. However, the lorry lobby has a way of claiming that
something will only be used in one way then using it in others. Look
at the way large lorries trundle along small roads quite unsuitable
for them around most of the UK.

Quoted message said:

There's already the infrastructure and transport to allow them to
do this with *real* trains

The Labour bunch haven't made much of a go of the railways, but are
busy building large roads. Some of the railways' problems are own
goals, but not all.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

John Hearns said:

I recently went to the Linux Bier Wanderung in Killin.
At one time there was a railway from Crianlarich to Killin, then on to
one of my favourite places, Comrie.
Why have we abandoned these railways in the UK? The investment in sheer
human effort and money to construct them must have been vast.

In those days you could build anything with sufficient large Irishmen
and shovels!

Unfortunately everyone wanted their own railway, so many lines were
constructed at great cost when they would never be profitable. Some
were only open for a few decades in the late 1800s and were long gone
before Beeching.

ISTR reading that more people in the UK travel by train now than at any
time in the past, but that could be bollix [1].

[1] a Latin word meaning possibly not true.

Quoted message said:

bollix [1]
[1] a Latin word meaning possibly not true.

Is the x in bollix silent?

Zog The Undeniable said:

ISTR reading that more people in the UK travel by train now than at any
time in the past, but that could be bollix [1].

[1] a Latin word meaning possibly not true.

Would that be pronounced "bow-licks" or "boll-icks"? Or maybe "Bollé"?

--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:32:26 +0100 someone who may be Zog The
Undeniable <[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

ISTR reading that more people in the UK travel by train now than at any
time in the past

Journey km are slightly higher than before Beeching. However, this
consists of fewer people travelling further.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

JimP said:

Quoted message said:

bollix [1]
[1] a Latin word meaning possibly not true.

it is indeed true, and when you consider that the previous record was
pre-Beeching (and pre ~8000 route miles closed)

Danny Colyer said:

Would that be pronounced "bow-licks"

"bow" as pronounced for a neatly tied ribbon.
Or "bow" as in to bend over before a queen. :-o

I wondered:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Would that be pronounced "bow-licks"

and Bertie Wiggins noticed:

Quoted message said:

"bow" as pronounced for a neatly tied ribbon.
Or "bow" as in to bend over before a queen. :-o

Doh!

"Bow" as in (see above).

--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine