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The changing face of Bristol


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  • 4 weeks later...

So it sounds as though Bristol City Council & associated authorities are starting to make serious noises about building an underground railway network. You'll have to forgive me if I'm maybe a little sceptical at the idea of Bristol delivering anything in 10 years, let alone one of the most ambitious local transport schemes envisaged anywhere outside of London...

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who are they kidding? How much is Crossrail in London going to cost by the time it opens? That’s tunnelling through clay, most of Bristol is on sandstone? The mainline link up to London was being electrified, but they’ve given that up reaching Chippenham, why? Just give everyone in Bristol an electric pogo stick.

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Anything happening on the site of Bath Road shed yet?

Surely you jest?!

 

Actually they did close Cattle Market Road for over a year so they could build a bridge onto the empty waste ground. And then made Cattle Market Road one way (Temple Meads to Feeder) just to screw with everybody. They did use the extra lane to build a nice big cycle path that goes from nowhere useful to nowhere useful, though.

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Bristol Parkway Update:

 

We had back the Stoke Gifford Yard, Bristol Parkway Relief and Platform one for about 25 minutes after last weekends weekly T3 until it went back under T3 for finishing works on platform one.

 

Hopefully we're on course to have all the Parkway related infrastructure signed int service after Xmas engineering possessions.

The only bits we won't have are the crossovers on the UP and DN tunnel which allow Platform 3 to DN Tunnel moves with a train into plat two from the west, and the Patchway end connection into the IEP depot.

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City centre to the airport? How is that going to work, given that the city is close to sea level and the airport is 620ft above that?

 

What would the gradient of that underground line be?

All on the level with very long escalators? :jester:

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City centre to the airport? How is that going to work, given that the city is close to sea level and the airport is 620ft above that?

 

What would the gradient of that underground line be?

The gradient would be roughly 1in 50 - entirely plausible for an electric railway.

 

I can understand the cynicism of others on this thread, but Bristol needs a metro system more urgently than ever before.

 

Maybe it will actually happen this time?

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The gradient would be roughly 1in 50 - entirely plausible for an electric railway.

I can understand the cynicism of others on this thread, but Bristol needs a metro system more urgently than ever before.

Maybe it will actually happen this time?

Yes, it's already happening, it's getting MetroBUS, which is going to solve all Bristol's transport problems.

 

 

 

Isn't it?

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City centre to the airport? How is that going to work, given that the city is close to sea level and the airport is 620ft above that?

 

What would the gradient of that underground line be?

The gradient will not need to be that steep if they build the second runway below ground level,

 

cheers

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Yes, it's already happening, it's getting MetroBUS, which is going to solve all Bristol's transport problems.

 

 

 

Isn't it?

Looking at the plans for the new road layout in the Temple Gate area, it appears that going to Temple Meads from the Bath and Wells Roads means driving down York St to cross the Avon at Bedminster Bridge, then up Redcliffe Hill and along Redcliffe Way. This adds about 1 mile to the journey. So far from easing congestion, it is being moved elsewhere. Then of course each vehicle will create another miles worth of emissions.

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The gradient will not need to be that steep if they build the second runway below ground level,

If they convince the airlines to use Seaplanes they could use Blagdon Lake as a second runway!

 

I can understand the cynicism of others on this thread, but Bristol needs a metro system more urgently than ever before.

Absolutely; which is why one should have been started 20 years ago, with a reasonable plan that could have been expanded slowly.

 

Unless Mayor Marvin knows where that Magic Money Tree is being hidden and has a cunning plan that somehow means this transport scheme won't be an abject failure and/or killed by political backbiting and u-turns, this one is possibly one of the least likely to happen out of all the scheme we've heard of since the Luftwaffe closed the tram network in the 40's.

Edited by Vanders
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I guess it was in 1970 when we used to go to 'The Old Granary' for jazz (and beer- plenty of). Then on Weds. nights they introduced 'pop groups'. The bar maids referred to Weds. as 'pig night'. They had a new manager/ess, who spent a whole morning trying to book a group named 'glasses and ashtrays' based on a note one of the barmaids left. Used to frequent 'The Coronation Taps' towards Clifton for cider. The floor covering, puzzled us, not that you could see much of it being generally packed in there. It was a sort of shiny black tarpaulin type of material. Dropped half a crown, which rolled under a bench, and found the floor was at one time a decent blue carpet.

 

Ah 'The Granary' - wonderful memories!  I was at college in Bristol in the early 1970s and saw Vinegar Joe - featuring Elkie Brooks and the late Robert Palmer - at 'The Granary' although I seem to recall it was Thursday nights that rock bands played there. After the gig was over the bar was still open and Elkie came down and had a drink with us - I regret that I was too shy to speak to her!  Note my avatar picture - Elkie Brooks in the Vinegar Joe days.

 

Gerry

 

P.S.  Back in the bad old sexist 1970s some of the staff of The Granary used to go out onto the streets around Bristol and give out free passes for the rock evenings to the best looking girls!  As a result the venue had something of a reputation and The Granary was always a popular place for bands to play at and they had some big names there!

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Unless Mayor Marvin knows where that Magic Money Tree is being hidden and has a cunning plan that somehow means this transport scheme won't be an abject failure and/or killed by political backbiting and u-turns, this one is possibly one of the least likely to happen out of all the scheme we've heard of since the Luftwaffe closed the tram network in the 40's.

Marvin seems to think the Magic Money Tree is in China.

 

Most of the Bristol tram routes had already been closed before the bombs fell that severed the power cables serving the last few remaining routes, merely bringing forward their total closure by a few months. Like most tramways (thanks to legisislaton allowing local authorities to buy up existing tramway networks at minimal cost) Bristol's had no further investment after the system reached its peak - it was probably more out of date than any other by the late 1930s.

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I believe Marvin also wants to demolish the flyovers and swing bridge over Cumberland Basin as he thinks they are unsightly. And you thought traffic was bad enough in Bristol now.! Come back Mr Red Pants (almost) all is forgiven.

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I believe Marvin also wants to demolish the flyovers and swing bridge over Cumberland Basin as he thinks they are unsightly. And you thought traffic was bad enough in Bristol now.! Come back Mr Red Pants (almost) all is forgiven.

Actually, he wants to redevelop the area where the flyovers are - that is, build expensive (to sell, that is) luxury apartments with a nice view. Now that's hardly going to solve the 'housing shortage' if there's an influx of new yuppies moving in, is it? He hasn't yet answered where the traffic's going to go if the main swing bridge is removed... He doesn't really want traffic in the city centre, but this isn't anywhere near the centre.

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The gradient would be roughly 1in 50 - entirely plausible for an electric railway.

 

 

 

1 in 50 for 6 miles, in a tunnel? 

 

I can't imagine the safety problems that would present; but I can imagine it not being completed in 10 years even if it does go way over the £4billion budget. 

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'The Coronation Tap' (sic) [or 'TheCoriTap' according to their website] is still the premier Cider place in Clifton/Bristol/the World. Thankfully, they, at sometime over the intervening years, have replaced the floor covering...

 

Was always amazingly busy. As I  recall, only managed to get a drink there once. Every other time, could not even get through the door.

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I am entirely in favour of a Metro scheme for Bristol. But underground!

 

Not affordable and mostly unnecessary. Even with some poorly thought out developments which have blocked former rail routes, there is plenty of scope for a metro to run above ground. It will involve some demolition but that will still be way cheaper than a lot of tunneling and the extra costs of stations below ground.

 

Edit (having taken a look at Google Earth): The line northwards is the most difficult. The lines to Airport and Emerson's Green can easily be overground, the latter mostly on the former Midland. Cheaper to build a replacement bike path than tunnel a railway.

Edited by Joseph_Pestell
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I believe Marvin also wants to demolish the flyovers and swing bridge over Cumberland Basin as he thinks they are unsightly. And you thought traffic was bad enough in Bristol now.! Come back Mr Red Pants (almost) all is forgiven.

Reading stuff like this makes me glad I don't live/work near Bristol anymore....

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