Storm damage to Cambrian Coast Line

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...What would be beneficial if possible would be to see whether there is any strengthening that could be built in while repairing the storm-damaged sections, to increase their resilience against similar storms in future ...

 Rerouting so it isn't actually built almost on the beach might be a better long term approach. 'Water level' routes tracking the high tide line were a response to the low power of early steam traction. With contemporary rail traction able to reliably tackle worse gradients it isn't necessary to keep the line in such close proximity to the water.

[Poggy1165]

There should be no question of closing any of our remaining railways. On the contrary, we should have more generous criteria for opening closed ones. Traffic is growing all the time and capacity is insufficient. In the old days, this would have been justification for a company to promote an Act of Parliament to build a new line. In addition, the population is soaring, roads are becoming dangerously crowded, and oil can only go up in price as the years go by. The economy depends on high quality transport links. These are particularly lacking in Wales, as anyone who has ever driven from (say) Llandudno to Aberystwyth is well aware.

[marc smith]

I meant to add that I'm still not sure what has happened re the bus services
since the withdrawal of buses to Aberaeron, NewQuay, Cardigan etc
Of course, there are the small towns and villages en-route to said destinations to consider too

Anyone know what the latest news is, re other companies taking over the services?

[marc smith]

There should be no question of closing any of our remaining railways........ The economy depends on high quality transport links. These are particularly lacking in Wales, as anyone who has ever driven from (say) Llandudno to Aberystwyth is well aware.

 

Absolutely. In Wales there is the crazy situation

whereby, if you want to drive from the South to the North, or vice-versa

It's actually quicker to drive in to England, then go North (or South depending on destination)

and then drive back across....

It may be longer in terms of mileage - but it can be much quicker

 

As the population grows, surely closing railway lines only means more congestion on our already overcrowded roads?

I'm amazed that some people just can't see this.....

[7APT7]

Absolutely. In Wales there is the crazy situation

whereby, if you want to drive from the South to the North, or vice-versa

It's actually quicker to drive in to England, then go North (or South depending on destination)

and then drive back across....

It may be longer in terms of mileage - but it can be much quicker

 

As the population grows, surely closing railway lines only means more congestion on our already overcrowded roads?

I'm amazed that some people just can't see this.....

 

 

To many brown envelopes at the top, where it as nothing to do with roads or railways if the truth be known.

 

Jamie

[Edwin_m]

It's fundamentally a vicious circle. 

 

Fifty years ago many rural areas had decent bus and/or train services.  Then people started getting cars, probably the people who travelled most.  So there were fewer people on public transport, its economics got worse, the service got worse and the fares went up.  So more people decided they had to get a car, eventually bringing in (for buses at least) the extra factor of traffic congestion delays.  Repeat until nearly everyone who is able and can afford to is driving for most of their journeys. 

 

In urban areas this can be arrested by measures such as bus priority measures and investment in light or heavy rail, plus traffic congestion probably makes it self-limiting.  It's much more difficult to see what to do in rural areas.  The only answer I can think of is massive investment in and ongoing commitment to public transport to create a Swiss/German style network where almost everywhere has a reasonable and reliable public transport link which connects to an integrated network allowing travel anywhere.  There are no major restrictions on car use but many people don't need to use a car because the alternative is available. 

 

Needless to say our traditions of political disagreement, the Daily Mail tendency and more recently the fashion for austerity mean that's unlikely to happen here. 

[wombatofludham]

I meant to add that I'm still not sure what has happened re the bus services

since the withdrawal of buses to Aberaeron, NewQuay, Cardigan etc

Of course, there are the small towns and villages en-route to said destinations to consider too

 

Anyone know what the latest news is, re other companies taking over the services?

If you are referring to the Arriva pull out, the Welsh Assembly Government has awarded emergency funding for six months to continue some of the services, which have been awarded to local companies and First.  I can't recall the exact details but I'm sure the Ceredigion council website will have details.

[Kenton]

 

It's fundamentally a vicious circle. 

 

Fifty years ago many rural areas had decent bus and/or train services.

... and don't forget 50 years ago Wales had industry that required transport in a big way - workers and product. Now what has it to offer in return for investment? Wales like Scotland is becoming marginalised - they crave Independence with their own Parliaments but still want the rest of the UK to support them.

 

What Wales needs is a new industry to generate employment and investment. Then such things as transport links would be inevitable and justified rather than simply a social service. Rural issues of public transport are not just a problem in Wales - but by reading some post you might well be led to think so.

 

Is there really a population increase? All those workers employed in the pits, steel, chemical, ... 50 years ago the place seemed much more crowded then - now it seems to be tourists.

[Xerces Fobe2]

It appears that bus services except those in large city's have been suffering massive cuts over the last few years so to close railways as well would make things worse than Beeching!

 

I live in the Thames Valley and bus service start winding down from @18:30 and only one bus that takes for ever to go to Heathrow via a curvaceous route and who their right mind would go by bus to catch a plane in the evening. This service is heavily subsidised

by BAA as a sweatner!!! for the 3rd runway?

 

The politicians are in a mess, cars pollute so reduce speeds on motorways, HS2 a rail line without a clear purpose,Rail fare rises well above for years and buses being cut in rural areas. All of this on background of an unprecedented increase in the UK's population!

 

Given that there is an election next year no one would dare suggest the closure of rail lines,however you can bet that after the next election the old ideas may well return. Maybe Sustrans should take over DaFT with Boris at the helm!

 

Remember no politician has an original idea they just regurgitate old ones time and time again. Let's hope the Cambrian Coast Line is rebuilt quickly before an old idea reappears!

 

XF

[Neil]

 ... and don't forget 50 years ago Wales had industry that required transport in a big way - workers and product. Now what has it to offer in return for investment? Wales like Scotland is becoming marginalised - they crave Independence with their own Parliaments but still want the rest of the UK to support them. .....

 

If like me you think that fairness is best expressed "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" then you won't have a problem with that.

[marc smith]

 ... and don't forget 50 years ago Wales had industry that required transport in a big way - workers and product. Now what has it to offer in return for investment? Wales like Scotland is becoming marginalised - they crave Independence with their own Parliaments but still want the rest of the UK to support them........

 

I'm not sure who you think "they" are

Recent polls suggest that in Wales independence is not wanted - least of all "craved"

On a personal note, I don't know any fellow countrymen that want independence...

 

In Scotland it appears to be split 50 / 50

That's hardly what I would describe as a craving for independence either....

 

As for requiring the rest of the UK to "support" Wales and/ or Scotland

I wonder where the rest of the UK and for that matter, any country which grew during the industrial revolution would have been,

were it not for the millions of tons of coal and steel produced here....

or how many buildings across the world would have fared, were it not for the fact they have the best slates in the world on their roofs....

 

Comments such as this underline why some in the country feel as if we've fulfilled our requirements, now we can be discarded!

.... after all we're not in an important place, like London

 

Without getting too far into the distorted (or otherwise)

realms of "How Green Was My Valley" - if you're anywhere near the midlands

will you still be requiring a glass of Welsh water?

[roundhouse]

Quite agree.

 

Where would we be without Brains!!

 

Ian

[cromptonnut]

Quite agree.

 

Where would we be without Brains!!

 

Ian

Hungry?

 

 

... or perhaps not?

[roundhouse]

Hungry?

 

 

... or perhaps not?

I was thinking of the liquid sort!!

 

http://www.sabrain.com/

[Fat Controller]

I was thinking of the liquid sort!!

 

http://www.sabrain.com/

If combining the two, do not work in an enclosed space without additional ventilation..

[petethemole]

That reminded me of the pub in Larkhall called The Brains Surgery. I just googled it and sadly it's been turned into flats. I'm contemplating a trip to a bookshop there and that's one less watering hole to visit. 

 

Pete

[The Stationmaster]

That reminded me of the pub in Larkhall called The Brains Surgery. I just googled it and sadly it's been turned into flats. I'm contemplating a trip to a bookshop there and that's one less watering hole to visit. 

 

Pete

 

An excellent bookshop, unlike Brains beer which I always found to be atrocious stuff (although that was 40 years ago).

 

BTW having seen Marc mention 'How Green was My Valley' I'm wondering if the Red Valley (as it was known locally at one time) is figuring in his future plans - once a fairly awful place so I'm told although by the time I got to see it in the early 1970s the tips were being lansdscaped and there was little evidence left of the course of the railway or the coal industry.

[roundhouse]

An excellent bookshop, unlike Brains beer which I always found to be atrocious stuff (although that was 40 years ago).

 

BTW having seen Marc mention 'How Green was My Valley' I'm wondering if the Red Valley (as it was known locally at one time) is figuring in his future plans - once a fairly awful place so I'm told although by the time I got to see it in the early 1970s the tips were being lansdscaped and there was little evidence left of the course of the railway or the coal industry.

I nearly hit the dislike button there but then realised it probably depends which of Brains beers you might have tried as some aren't to my liking but some are great IHMO!!!!

[marc smith]

I nearly hit the dislike button there but then realised it probably depends which of Brains beers you might have tried as some aren't to my liking but some are great IHMO!!!!

I have to say, that years ago it really depended on where you drank Brains Beer

and which type of ale it was. Some pubs kept a variety better than another.....

It was always said that Brains didn't "travel" well

 

These days though, it's pretty good wherever you drink it, IMHO

I can recall one sunny Friday afternoon -  a couple of decades back

there was a pub in Fairwater, near the site of the old Ely brewery

Me & a pal had a few pints of Brains Dark....

.... one of the best pints I'd ever had, and haven't had many better since

 

I don't know what the landlord - Billy, I think his name was

had done to it. He explained that "it was all about keepin' yer pipes clean,

an' keepin' the beer at the right temperature..... see boys"

 

 

 

[marc smith]

All this talk of Brains Beer is making me wish it was Friday evening
And has prompted me to dig this out...... again

[The Stationmaster]

I have to say, that years ago it really depended on where you drank Brains Beer

and which type of ale it was. Some pubs kept a variety better than another.....

It was always said that Brains didn't "travel" well

 

These days though, it's pretty good wherever you drink it, IMHO

I can recall one sunny Friday afternoon -  a couple of decades back

there was a pub in Fairwater, near the site of the old Ely brewery

Me & a pal had a few pints of Brains Dark....

.... one of the best pints I'd ever had, and haven't had many better since

 

I don't know what the landlord - Billy, I think his name was

had done to it. He explained that "it was all about keepin' yer pipes clean,

an' keepin' the beer at the right temperature..... see boys"

 

 

 

 

Always was about keeping the pipes clean etc and pulling though the ullage etc before the first pint.  I do suspect they might not have been ultra fussy in that respect in one of the places I used to drink - 'The Custom House' at the top of Bute St near Snowden's fish market.

[Xerces Fobe2]

Not wishing to cause a storm but has to the original subject been flooded by Brains Beer?

 

XF 

[marc smith]

Not wishing to cause a storm but has to the original subject been flooded by Brains Beer?

 

XF 

You can never have too much beer XF

Can you?

[br2975]

I have to say, that years ago it really depended on where you drank Brains Beer

and which type of ale it was. Some pubs kept a variety better than another.....

It was always said that Brains didn't "travel" well

 

These days though, it's pretty good wherever you drink it, IMHO

I can recall one sunny Friday afternoon -  a couple of decades back

there was a pub in Fairwater, near the site of the old Ely brewery

Me & a pal had a few pints of Brains Dark....

.... one of the best pints I'd ever had, and haven't had many better since

 

I don't know what the landlord - Billy, I think his name was

had done to it. He explained that "it was all about keepin' yer pipes clean,

an' keepin' the beer at the right temperature..... see boys"

 

 

 

 

Marc

.

That would be 'The Railway' in Ely Road - it's still there, and still serving a selection of  Brains products.

It's the second closest pub to me, and the closest for an after work snifter !

.

I recall the place flooding, the barstaff carried on serving and the locals took their shoes off, put them on the shelves under the tables, rolled their trousers up and carried on drinking !

.

Brains were a very localised company, and save from spreading their wings to Penarth and Barry (e.g. The Marine Hotel and 'The Zoo') didn't get much further; save for two pubs in Swansea 'the Vivs' and 'The Bush'

.

Whilst in the Upper 6th. I worked behind the bar  four nights a week in what was then 'The Bulldog' (now Fairwater RFC and in its former life the inspiration for Michael Crichton's novel 'Jurassic Park') and in those days there were but three draught products (i) Dark (ii) Bitter -  always, and I mean always, referred to as 'Light', and (iii) Best Bitter, again, always referred to as "S.A." 

.

You could get bottled " I.P.A. " if you wanted it.

.

Some locals mixed Dark and Light - caled "half and half" -  years later a work colleague (Peter)  always drank 'half and half' and another colleague (Tom)   possessed  a very broad Kairdiff accent, and we were celebrating POETS day in The Admiral Napier, when Tom says "my round, who wants what ?". Quick as a flash Peter says "just a half of my usual" ..... we all crept up to the bar to hear Tom ask the barman for "two lights, one dark an' arf an 'arf an arf'................ Oh did we chuckle !

.

Brains pubs were once  renowned for their working class appeal, ageing decor, stinking toilets, faded dartboards, endless supply of crib boards, cavernous skittle allies and dubious ploughman's lunches (who remembers such a staple lunchtime repast as the trusty ploughman's ?).  

 

Me, I've always been a Brians 'Light' man, even though the only bar staff who now know what 'Light' is are in The Old Arcade ...... took the wife into 'The Vulcan' the week it closed, asked the barman for 'a pint of light please' and he replied "a wha' ?"   The only two other punters, both in their mid-60s laughed, and one asked me "where've you been the last twenty years ?"

 

Mind you, "Hancocks H.B." gives Brians Light a run for it's money.

.

It would appear Brains have now branched out into coffee houses, namely "Coffee #1" apparently there's more money to be made ?

.

Brian R

.

PS

Contrary to popular Kairdiff legend, we didn't put the slops back in the Dark !

.

[roundhouse]

Brains Dark in the Goat Major ......must get back to Cardiff soon!

 

Looks like our usual spring trip by train to Porthmadog will be delayed this year.