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Post by zanygame on Sept 29, 2023 20:46:31 GMT
Thanks for this Red, its genuinely very interesting and i quite believe it might be so. Doesn't change anything I shouted above. 'Might be so'! How very dare you, it's from the font of knowledge.  Oh I hadn't realised someone else had told you. 😅 😂 🤣 |
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Post by Red Rackham on Sept 29, 2023 20:56:26 GMT
'Might be so'! How very dare you, it's from the font of knowledge. Oh I hadn't realised someone else had told you. 😅 😂 🤣 Well of course, do you imagine I propose such policy? I'm flattered. |
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Post by zanygame on Sept 29, 2023 21:10:38 GMT
Oh I hadn't realised someone else had told you. 😅 😂 🤣 Well of course, do you imagine I propose such policy? I'm flattered. Well yes of course. I just assumed they'd asked you. |
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Post by Red Rackham on Sept 29, 2023 21:12:00 GMT
Well of course, do you imagine I propose such policy? I'm flattered. Well yes of course. I just assumed they'd asked you. LOL good man. |
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Post by Dan Dare on Sept 29, 2023 21:26:29 GMT
Regarding high-speed rail in the UK, I was originally a supporter of it if only because it's one of the attributes of a proper, first-world nation. However the debacle of HS2 (and by extension, Crossrail) and particularly the anarchic state of both financing and schedule has converted me to the opposite camp. I think it should be scrapped and the money spent instead on bringing the network up to continental standards in respect of electrification, loading gauges and high-capacity i.e duplex rolling stock. Regarding Red Rackham's remarks about piggy-back freight, I think it is wrong that the haulage industry should decide what travels by rail and what does not. Every truck that arrives at one of the Channel ports and is destined for north of London should be transported by rail to a hub in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds or wherever. The basic infrastructure already exists in the form of Eurotunnel and once the vehicles are loaded they can be transported to wherever their destination. The earlier remarks about electrification and loading gauge obviously apply. Ref piggy back, we went into this in some detail on the other forum. Plans were fairly advanced but it was scrapped because ultimately England is too small to make it pay. Hauliers were not in favour because the majority of them didn't want to travel directly from Dover or the South East to a hub in Birmingham. The reason piggy back and high speed rail works in Europe is because Europe is much bigger than England. Come on Dan buck your ideas up theres a good chap. No actually Red me old mucker the reason has to do not so much with size as with regulation. The photo in your post shows entire trucks including tractor and trailer on railway carriages however this is relatively rare and is usually only seen where full trucks are transported for short distances through Alpine tunnels like the Tauern in Austria or the old Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland.
Far more common are long-distance trains that carry trailers or even just containers only, reason being that many European countries ban heavy trucks at weekends and most alpine countries at any time at all. This is a much more common sight on the continent than your example. It's not clear why this couldn't work in the UK too. You'd not only be spared the congestion and pollution of foreign trucks but also the presence of foreign drivers too. What's not to like?
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Post by Red Rackham on Sept 29, 2023 21:54:11 GMT
Dan, me old mucker lol, whether we're talking semi trailers or complete units, the industry decided the UK wasn't big enough to make it pay. As for driving in Europe, yes I remember very well even military trucks were not exempt their draconian rules. If for whatever reason we couldn't get to a given destination by midnight on Friday we had to pull into a rastplatz or carpark until Monday morning. The German government like their army thought wars were faught Monday to Friday. I may have digressed.
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Post by Pacifico on Sept 29, 2023 21:56:39 GMT
It's not clear why this couldn't work in the UK too. It's not financially viable. You would either have to re-engineer thousands of bridges and tunnels to make them big enough to accept these trains or lay new rail routes. Simply not worth the money. |
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Post by Red Rackham on Sept 29, 2023 22:19:39 GMT
It's not clear why this couldn't work in the UK too. It's not financially viable. You would either have to re-engineer thousands of bridges and tunnels to make them big enough to accept these trains or lay new rail routes. Simply not worth the money. Good point, Victorian engineering. |
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Post by jonksy on Sept 29, 2023 22:47:24 GMT
It's not financially viable. You would either have to re-engineer thousands of bridges and tunnels to make them big enough to accept these trains or lay new rail routes. Simply not worth the money. Good point, Victorian engineering. Even new railway rolling stock is delivered by Road. It's the easiest and cheapest option. |
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Post by Dan Dare on Sept 30, 2023 8:16:48 GMT
It's not clear why this couldn't work in the UK too. It's not financially viable. You would either have to re-engineer thousands of bridges and tunnels to make them big enough to accept these trains or lay new rail routes. Simply not worth the money. I already mentioned that instead of HS2 one of the things that the money should be spent one is adapting lines to the continental loading gauge (and electrification). Some like the WCML already are and others are in the process but the whole process is far too slow.
Britain's 19th century rail network is simply not fit for purpose.
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Post by Dan Dare on Sept 30, 2023 8:18:53 GMT
Dan, me old mucker lol, whether we're talking semi trailers or complete units, the industry decided the UK wasn't big enough to make it pay. As for driving in Europe, yes I remember very well even military trucks were not exempt their draconian rules. If for whatever reason we couldn't get to a given destination by midnight on Friday we had to pull into a rastplatz or carpark until Monday morning. The German government like their army thought wars were faught Monday to Friday. I may have digressed. The 'industry'? Who they? |
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Post by sheepy on Sept 30, 2023 8:22:02 GMT
In the spirit of being fair, good old Victorian engineering has stood the test of time, while much of what has come after, certainly hasn't. Things were built to last and that they have, although bad for the throwaway society, they were great engineers.
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Post by Dan Dare on Sept 30, 2023 8:31:35 GMT
Well so has Hadrians Wall but it's doing a piss-poor job of keeping the Jocks out in the 21st century.
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Post by sheepy on Sept 30, 2023 8:36:02 GMT
LOL I thought we were knocking the Victorian engineers, the Romans were some other timeline.
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Post by sheepy on Sept 30, 2023 9:04:11 GMT
On another note, thanks to the ability of Victorian engineers the UK managed full employment until the 70s what went wrong then is open for debate.
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