Neil's post on our trip to Butterley on Sunday nicely captures a flavour of the day.
We've been planning to head out to the place for quite some time: we had liked the idea of attending Indie Tracks in 2008, but it just isn't practical to attend a wedding in the West Midlands one day and hike back across the mids to a music festival for the Sunday (I'm too tired these days!)
Still, we'd already booked ourselves for a day at the music festival this year, so we thought we best check out the location.
What a delight! Staffed by enthusiastic people doing everything from manning the shop and buffet tills to sprucing up engine parts that could look irretrievably lost, from stoking up the coal-powered miniature railway (I felt like I was in Wallace and Gromit!) to pruning the verges, everyone gets stuck in. The gricers may be out in number when the big trains are preparing to move between stations, but there is something undeniably attractive about the heavy engineering of pre-WWII trains that is sorrily lacking in modern machinery. The compartments call to mind Agatha Christie mysteries and the sight of steam must thrill even the hardest heart (even if this was an English Electric Weekend, the Duchess of Sutherland was still on show to pump out some good old-fashioned smoke into a brilliant blue summer sky).
We also rode the narrow-gauge Golden Valley Light Railway (the 60SD364 "Campbells" Simplex).
Delightful! Some photographs to follow.
Showing posts with label Public Transport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public Transport. Show all posts
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Nottingham's tram - past, present and future
Nottingham tram is 5 years old.
In 2002, when I was busy making multiple visits to London to see The Coast of Utopia at the National Theatre, I came back from one trip eager to complete my film and get the photographs developed. (Yes, these were pre-digital days for me).
To fill the film I took a large number of shots of the redevelopment of the city centre and the significant road upheaval generated by the coming of the first new tram in decades.
Many were skeptical or disapproving of the development: unsurprisingly, many of those most antagonistic were those who lived close to the scheduled route that inevitably passed close by to some areas of housing. And undeniably the disruption of the tram line being installed was considerable - and, of course, it over-ran.
But five years on, it's hard to imagine Nottingham without it. The speed and convenience it offers from early morning til late is fabulous. Parking is free at the sites and ticket prices are simple and comparable to bus fares (whilst offering routes much quicker).
Sure, there are problems. Not least are the problems of getting this network to be joined up with other aspects of the local transport network - whilst you can get bus/tram tickets, and the current line goes directly to the train station (with an easy walk inside), the single line route fails to address the broader city-wide issues of accessing the city centre, let alone the fact that to the south of the city many residents fall into the county bus provision and so struggle to make city bus company connections.
Which brings me to the future of the tram.
Yes, these developments are expensive - both in the short term and to a certain extent in the long term. But they are important and sadly I don't agree that simply adding bus routes is the way to go (for a start, I really don't want to be adding big bus pollution to the city's roads).
Still, the nay-sayers are currently getting a lot of attention, not least because the Tories see scrapping the tram a vote winning way of lopping some money of expenditure. This will be, frankly, a disaster (and I don't say that just because the planned extension of the route will come close enough to where we live to benefit from this additional travel option: given how long these things take, I'm unlikely to see much benefit for me anyway).
The new tram routes will allow for a much more connected provision to the south of the county and city area. I can't really see what the major savings will be. But then again the Tories are keen to be seen saving money and it's a high profile Labour-supported project... I guess for them it makes 'sense' to cut the project off...
In 2002, when I was busy making multiple visits to London to see The Coast of Utopia at the National Theatre, I came back from one trip eager to complete my film and get the photographs developed. (Yes, these were pre-digital days for me).
To fill the film I took a large number of shots of the redevelopment of the city centre and the significant road upheaval generated by the coming of the first new tram in decades.
Many were skeptical or disapproving of the development: unsurprisingly, many of those most antagonistic were those who lived close to the scheduled route that inevitably passed close by to some areas of housing. And undeniably the disruption of the tram line being installed was considerable - and, of course, it over-ran.
But five years on, it's hard to imagine Nottingham without it. The speed and convenience it offers from early morning til late is fabulous. Parking is free at the sites and ticket prices are simple and comparable to bus fares (whilst offering routes much quicker).
Sure, there are problems. Not least are the problems of getting this network to be joined up with other aspects of the local transport network - whilst you can get bus/tram tickets, and the current line goes directly to the train station (with an easy walk inside), the single line route fails to address the broader city-wide issues of accessing the city centre, let alone the fact that to the south of the city many residents fall into the county bus provision and so struggle to make city bus company connections.
Which brings me to the future of the tram.
Yes, these developments are expensive - both in the short term and to a certain extent in the long term. But they are important and sadly I don't agree that simply adding bus routes is the way to go (for a start, I really don't want to be adding big bus pollution to the city's roads).
Still, the nay-sayers are currently getting a lot of attention, not least because the Tories see scrapping the tram a vote winning way of lopping some money of expenditure. This will be, frankly, a disaster (and I don't say that just because the planned extension of the route will come close enough to where we live to benefit from this additional travel option: given how long these things take, I'm unlikely to see much benefit for me anyway).
The new tram routes will allow for a much more connected provision to the south of the county and city area. I can't really see what the major savings will be. But then again the Tories are keen to be seen saving money and it's a high profile Labour-supported project... I guess for them it makes 'sense' to cut the project off...
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Tube people by Stu
Stu_N has an occasionally regular slot where he writes vignettes of people encountered in the London transport system.
Not only does he write incredibly eloquently of the behaviour and possible personalities of the people observed, but it's also a lovely and inspiring way to make your own journeys by public transport more interesting.
Who have you recently seen and imagined a life for?
Not only does he write incredibly eloquently of the behaviour and possible personalities of the people observed, but it's also a lovely and inspiring way to make your own journeys by public transport more interesting.
Who have you recently seen and imagined a life for?
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