Possible threat to GWsR?

Trains, Trams and Heritage Rail on one track are possible!

Hi all,

I had a quick look at a map and, err, Gloucester to Cheltenham would have no impact on the GWsR, would it? Cheltenham to Stratford would, but that's another part of the story.

My fellow authors seem to be of the opinion that you can have either a Heritage Line or a Tram or a line as part of the national network. At best a combined Heritage/National line. Well, you can have all three, on the same track, and there are two examples of this in Germany.

In Kassel, Germany which happens to be my hometown there is tram-train system. There are three connections between the National Network and the tram network, the latest and most important via a tunnel underneath the Hauptbahnhof (main station). Tram-trains run onto three out of four main lines out of Kassel, happily mixing with Intercity, Regional and Freight trains. They also run onto three secondary lines, two of which have been electrified with 600V DC overhead rather than the 15KV AC overhead you will find on the main line. The third secondary line is not electrified and is operated by diesel-electric tram-trains which share the track with DMUs which continue beyond the terminus of the tram-train service. There are four different types of vehicles in service on the tram-train sections, the diesel-electric cars already mentioned, the AC/DC dual voltage version of that, and two DC-only types of cars for the secondary lines. We also have a heritage operation, the Hessencourrier (see www.hessendampf.de ), which shares the track, but not the platforms, with one of the 600V DC tram-train lines.

A similar situation applies to Karlsruhe, Germany, where you will also find DC-tram-trains, dual voltage tram-trains and the occasional steam train to Bad Herrenalb on one system. Some dual-voltage cars have toilets and high-backed seats. The longest distance covered is 110km, roughly 70 miles.

For (Gloucester - )Cheltenham - Stratford this could mean that you have a modern heavy rail infrastructure with heritage stations and a few low platforms for the tram-trains. The tram-trains could run on city streets where former railway infrastructure has been obliterated or where better access to the city is required. The only visual compromise for the heritage operation would be modern signalling. And yes, you might have a tram-train passing the heritage platforms at regular intervals.

You see, with a very tiny bit of imagination you could have everything at once.

Kind regards

Christoph

 

Electoral Calculus http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/ is a useful site for the psepholigists amongst us. It predicts the next British General Election result using "scientific analysis of opinion polls and electoral geography". In this case, it has Cheltenham as a Tory gain with a swing of 4% from LDs.

 

Trains & Trams sharing the same alignment is technically possible but likely to have problems in the UK that would make it a no goer, the two biggest being:

1. if your going to the extra expense of restoring it for heavy rail too, why not depense completly with the trams and get a few DMU's ?.

2. Trams made from Tin Foil and class 66's built like Tanks don't really mix on a crash worthyness basis, the PPM's on the Stourbridge branch were only allowed because the Branch is self contained and they don't come into contact with other traffic.

 

Hi,

Because DMUs will not make it into either Cheltenham, Gloucester or Stratford city centre?

Err, the tram-train vehicles I am talking about are just as crashworthy as a class 66, only that they have heavy iron bars alongside the front windows up to roof height rather than buffers which would be a bit impractical on the street. Think of a low-floor electric Pacer with decent running gear and you are almost there. And they can be bought off the peg, from Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom.

Kind regards

Christoph

 

Let the local press know about every new step in your push on to Broadway. Ask the WSR and SVR, which are located in the same / neighbouring Tourist Board region, to publicise you to their 200K+ visitors and install some "A Pound for Preservation" collecting boxes for you. Get your locos to carry the names of famous Gold Cup winners from March to the end of May, when some will need their GWR identity back. Make sure they're unveiled in high-profile ceremonies at the Racecourse. Milk the roll-out of 35006 for PR in even more ways than you've already thought of. Get a few hundred metres of track down from the northern edge of Broadway towards Honeybourne, even if it ends in the middle of nowhere, to create a fait accompli and a statement of intent.

In short do everything you can to let the local bigwigs know that they already have a dynamic heritage business on their proposed route, and one which they are either going to have to incorporate into their tram scheme as Christof has suggested, or compensate very expensively.

 

BR closed it because the traffic could be accomodated on other lines.

the fact that 30 years on there are no concrete plans to reopen it suggests they looked rather more than 5 minutes in to the future.

 

I'll second that!

 

I think that the money would be better invested in what they already have they wasting it on something else.

They call it common sense but there isn’t much about

 

Who d'you mean by "they" Andy, the politicians or the GWsR?

 

I mean the communities as a whole. Invest the money in the railway this will then also provide jobs and also create a tourist attraction, once again bring revenue to the local community. Building this tramway would prevent something that I feel would benefits the community more in the long run. The tram way is just a short term solution!!!! Also I think if the vast majority off the local were asked what they would rather have running Trams vs. Steam/Diesel Hauled passenger trains (witch are more comfy). It has already been proven that the heritage railway can work together with the communities to be a vital link a good example off this been NYMR.

Cheers
Andy