Strange Prototype (of what?) in East Anglia

[Suzie]

Surely a man with a red flag walking in front of the bus would ensure the safety of the passengers ;-)

[Richard E]

3rd crash in 7 months - hmmm. Perhaps we can stop this by using a guide track for the bus across the road as well as gates to protect the buses. But how do we make these guides - how about a steel track let into the road with guide wheels for the bus ...

[Suzie]

Perhaps the buses could stop and drop in a low-speed conduit guide for the crossing.

[stewartingram]

Cue calls for these "dangerous level crossings" to be fitted with barriers because the car disobeyed a red STOP traffic light??

No you have got it wrong - all LC should be replaced by bridges....

 

Stewart

[trisonic]

Stewart, How well patronized is this service, now? any ideas?

 

Best, Pete.

[cctransuk]

How well patronized is this service, now? any ideas?

It's nearly a year now since we moved from Cambridge to Cornwall. However, on the several occasions that we used the guided bus service from Cambridge to St.Ives it was very well patronised.

 

Let's face it - it could be worse. Here in Bodmin we have the Camel Trail - the entire Padstow to Bodmin line, and the Wenford Bridge branch, turned over to pedestrians and cyclists! In these days of heritage railways those lines would be a huge draw if the rails were still in place.

 

OK - the Wenford Bridge branch would need some special short-wheelbase passenger accomodation, but that would not be insurmountable.

 

If only ......... !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[LNERGE]

<chortle>..

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/queen-catches-bus-cambridge-ends-1907517

[lmsforever]

Some years ago the Bodmin Wenford wanted to extend and take clay traffic off the roads but an actor who had a holiday home down there complained and got a group together ,project stopped .The clay went on the roads the actor didnt care he didnt live there,justice?It will be interesting to see how the Dunstable route is going to work and given Luton,s reputation how many accidents will happen.

[ess1uk]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-48336219

 

another crash

[TravisM]

As a former driver for Stagecoach on the guided busway, I always exercised caution at the Longstanton crossing due to the large amount of cars (and trucks ie professional drivers) that would jump the lights.  The problem there is the crossing has large buildings on three sides including the former railway station that hid the crossing and the road itself is very busy with the construction of Northstowe.

Edited May 20, 2019 by jools1959

[caradoc]

13 hours ago, ess1uk said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-48336219

 

another crash

 

The bus does not appear to be particularly fire-resistant !

 

[The Stationmaster]

On 21/05/2019 at 08:16, caradoc said:

 

The bus does not appear to be particularly fire-resistant !

 

Wrong kind of seats?

[DLT]

On 24/05/2013 at 20:53, lmsforever said:

Some years ago the Bodmin Wenford wanted to extend and take clay traffic off the roads but an actor who had a holiday home down there complained and got a group together ,project stopped .The clay went on the roads the actor didnt care he didnt live there,justice?

 

And while that argument was going on the clay works closed, citing the "difficulties with transportation" as the reason.

 

I may have got this wrong, but wasn't the Wenford line closed (in 1983) due to pressure from road transport about the so-called holdups at Dunmere level crossing, caused by the ONE train each way per day?

And the irony was that the clay traffic then had to go by road, causing FAR more congestion.    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodmin_and_Wadebridge_Railway

[phil-b259]

9 minutes ago, DLT said:

 

And while that argument was going on the clay works closed, citing the "difficulties with transportation" as the reason.

 

I may have got this wrong, but wasn't the Wenford line closed (in 1983) due to pressure from road transport about the so-called holdups at Dunmere level crossing, caused by the ONE train each way per day?

And the irony was that the clay traffic then had to go by road, causing FAR more congestion.    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodmin_and_Wadebridge_Railway

 

Given the sharply curved nature of the Wenford line the biggest problem would be rolling stock

 

Short 4 wheeled unfitted  mineral wagons were in need of replacement and I doubt their replacements (the longer CDA hoppers) would have been able to be used.

 

If the line had only one train a day you can forget about making a business case for substantive improvements - even in todays pro rail environment such a large scale investment won't be seen by the Been counters as worthwhile.

[PhilJ W]

Isn't a lot of clay now pumped through a pipeline?

 

[phil-b259]

2 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Isn't a lot of clay now pumped through a pipeline?

 

 

Yup, as with oil traffic while rail is more efficient than road in the long term a pipeline is even more efficient.

[cctransuk]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Isn't a lot of clay now pumped through a pipeline?

 

 

.... and how did the clay get to Wenford Dries in steam railway days?

 

By pipeline !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Edwin_m]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

.... and how did the clay get to Wenford Dries in steam railway days?

 

By pipeline !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

I guess they had to find some other way of transporting it once it was dry. 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Edwin_m said:

I guess they had to find some other way of transporting it once it was dry. 

Bagged up and then by rail van, including by ferry vans.

Edited May 22, 2019 by PhilJ W

[Johann Marsbar]

As this seems to be the only thread on here about the Cambridge-St Ives Busway, I actually had a ride on it yesterday for the first time and was quite impressed with the operation. Its certainly well used, though there was some bunching of buses due to the time taken to load at some places where other buses cannot overtake. The ride quality was better than expected, particularly considering I managed to get a front seat upstairs in each direction on double deck vehicles.

 

The former Oakington Station, complete with platform......

 

 

Fen Drayton.....

 

 

 

 

At least the "track" isn't as obtrusive as the route in Adelaide which I travelled on back in 2004......

 

[woodenhead]

We've got one locally, it's to avoid the A580 between Worsley & Leigh, again along an old rail route in places.

 

But I still don't get the purpose of the guided bit because it creates blockages, why not simply use tarmac but make the route bus only, and then you don't even specialist buses either.

 

It's like we cannot afford a train line, we cannot even afford a tram line so we'll build something tram like out of a bus but lose the benefits of a vehicle that can guide itself around problems.

[LMS2968]

Yes, the ex-LNWR line through Tyldesley. I remember calls to reopen the line as a normal railway, Leigh being the biggest town in Britain no longer rail served (or so it was said). Then one of the idiot councillors suggested it should be a monorail, thereby demonstrating Wigan Metro's go-ahead attitude and ignoring all the disadvantages of route changes and inability to link into the main network. And in the end, they settled for this guided busway.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

But I still don't get the purpose of the guided bit because it creates blockages, why not simply use tarmac but make the route bus only, and then you don't even specialist buses either.

Yeah.

WMPTE tried it in Birmingham years before these current ones and came up with the same conclusion.

 

One of the vehicles (8110) is in the Aston Manor transport Museum, in working condition, complete with guide wheels.

Maybe it would like a day out in Cambridgeshire?😄

Edited August 16, 2023 by melmerby

[Wickham Green too]

33 minutes ago, melmerby said:

... One of the vehicles (8110) is in the Aston Manor transport Museum, in working condition, complete with guide wheels.

Maybe it would like a day out in Cambridgeshire?😄

OK - what's the betting it was built to different standards and wouldn't fit ??!?

[Johann Marsbar]

There is also the rather short guided section at Kesgrave, just to the east of Ipswich, that is only a couple of hundred yards long and which opened in 1995, seen here with one of the original single deckers in 1996....

 

 

The route was originally supposed to have a much longer guided section out at Martlesham Heath, but that part was not built due to complaints from the residents!