The Edinburgh Tram Fiasco Continues
Over the last few years, there have been several local transport prjects in the UK. Most like the London Overground have been completed on time and on budget, with one in London the DLR Extension to Stratford International being a year late.
Two major projects though have gone seriously over budget; the Cambridge Busway and the Edinburgh Tram.
The former is now up and running and most of the reports are positive. Extra buses are supposedly being ordered to cope with demand. But it will be easier to sort out the problems of the cost overruns for a success than a failure.
But the Edinburgh Tram fiasco continues according to this report on the BBC. So for a large cost overrun, Edinburgh will get what half they originally ordered. When what they are now getting is completed, passengers arriving at the airport will be unable to take the tram to the City Centre to see the similarly half-finished National Monument. But at least the tram will serve the headquarters of the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers at Gogar!
At least it has given a lot of work for consultants and material for comedians at the Festival.
Edinburgh’s Best Joke
This one from Nick Helm has been voted Edinburgh’s best joke according to the BBC.
I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
I always thought that Edinburgh’s best joke was the tram!
Edinburgh’s Second Disgrace
The National Monument on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is unfinished and according to Wikipedia it is often known as Edinburgh’s Disgrace Folly. I’ve never heard any of my friends in Edinburgh call it a folly.
This morning the BBC is discussing the new Edinburgh Trams, as the Council is deciding today, whether to complete or abandon the project. The BBC reporter, who is from north of the border, has just called the trams, Edinburgh’s Second Disgrace.
Can We Reverse Multiple Sclerosis?
It would appear according to this report, that scientists at Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities have made a major breakthrough in the understanding of multiple sclerosis, which may lead to a treatment that could reverse the disease.
Surely the way to save money in future years in the caring and health industries, is to invest in science now!
An Edinburgher Makes Peace with Glasgow
Gavin Mackay successfully makes sausages in South Korea. He had a bit of a problem with the seasoning and eventually found one in Glasgow. This he admitted is very unusual for a man from Edinburgh, as ne’er the twain shall agree!
Airdrie to Bathgate
Modern Railways also has an article about the opening of a new electric railway between Airdrie and Bathgate, which effectively creates a fourth link across Scotland’s central belt between the two main cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
I’ve read the article in detail and it states that a new station is being built at Drumgelloch to serve just 3,700 local inhabitants. This really shows how different rules starve East Anglian stations of money. Bury St. Edmunds for example has a population of 35,000 and the best thing that could be said about the station is that it compliments the Abbey Ruins. Haverhill has a population of 22,000 and no train station at all.
I think East Anglia could take a leaf out of Scotland’s book and reinstate the line between Sudbury and Cambridge. But that will never get done in my lifetime, despite the fact it could probably be done for a lot less than Airdrie to Bathgate.
The only thing we get is other areas’ hand-me-downs and a virtual busway.
Edinburgh Tram Stalls
That is the headline in Modern Railways this month.
They reckon that there might be enough money left to complete the Edinburgh Tram from Edinburgh Airport to Haymarket, but say some politicians want to kill the whole project off. Wikipedia describes the whole sorry mess.
Apparently, Starbucks or was it Costa, has made a proposal to convert the tram marooned in Princes Street into a coffee shop.
Edinburgh to Inverness in the Cab of an HST
Part of the reason for the trip north was to travel in the cab of a diesel High Speed Train from Edinburgh to Inverness. This was organised by East Coast and I don’t think they’d be too happy, if you used this page as an excuse to try to do the same. But thanks to everyone at the company, for giving me the trip of a lifetime!
I travelled with their Driver Manager, who himself had spent years driving trains, and an experienced driver from Newcastle, so if anybody thinks that having me in the cab compromised anything, then there was no way I could.
The first thing that struck me about the journey was how quiet it was in the cab of the HST, despite having a 2,250 horse power diesel engine in the next room. Compare this with the engine in a typical heavy truck and it’s about five times as powerful, but then it has to pull nine full coaches, with the help of the other power car at the back of the train and a total of 4,500 horses. Compare it too with the 3,300 horse power of the Deltic of the 160s and 1970s. But that was a 100 mph train, as opposed to the 125 mph of the HST.
It should also be said that the noise and vibration was much less than that I experienced as a passenger on one of the dreaded Pacers on my way to Scunthorpe.
Before you watch the video, note that the occasional screeches are the signal warnings, which must be cancelled by the driver.
As they say, enjoy the film! The video has now been shortened, by cutting out some of the repetitive bits!
Incidentally, my typing and vision has improved a bit, since the trip.
Was that improvement caused by travelling in a HST? If it is, then it’s a very unusual cure and something you won’t get on the NHS!
To say the least it was a train journey of a lifetime, usually at 90 mph on a line that rises to 1,400 feet above sea level. How many trains in the world do that sort of speed on a line that was opened in the last century. Remember too, that the youngest HST is 27 years old!
Some journey! Some train! But then good engineering is absolutely timeless!
Some of my friends, think that I didn’t take this film. So here’s a picture of me in the cab.
I actually didn’t realise I looked that scruffy, but then I was travelling to be warm! Hence the Ipswich Town woolly hat! Was it the first time, such a hat had been worn on an HST?
The Two Forth Bridges
You shouldn’t go to Edinburgh on a trip like mine, that is looking at the engineering that has shaped this country, without going to see the two Forth bridges.
The Forth Rail Bridge
The rail bridge is probably the most recogniseable bridge in the world and despite being 120 years old it still carries upwards of ten trains per hour. Incidentally, as modern trains are lighter than steam ones, it is probably under less stress now than it was in the past. It’s been under less stree too in recent years as coal trains no longer use the bridge.
I do wonder that if can see this bridge in twenty years, whether the trains going across the top will be electric!
I’ve actually never been across the rail bridge and it’s been many years since I travelled across the road bridge. I think it was with my hosat in Edinburgh and my late wife, when we went to St. Andrews.
The Forth Road Bridge
It is rather ironic, that if I could return to this spot in 2100, it would be more likely that the older rail bridge would still be carrying traffic, whereas, it would appear that the road bridge will have to be closed by 2020.
So much for modern engineering!
Open Door in Edinburgh
Sunday was Open Door in Edinburgh, which is Scotland’s version of Open House, where historic buildings that are not normally opened, can be viewed by the general public. It is a good idea.
The list for Edinburgh was perhaps what you’d expect from Scotland’s capital, but for me, there wasn’t enough on the industrial and engineering side.
My host and I did have a good walk on Calton Hill with its views all over the city.
In the gallery you can see the National Monument. This is said about it in Wikipedia.
Particularly due to the use of high-quality materials, the project ended in 1829 with funds running out. Local legend suggests that the city of Glasgow apparently offered to cover the costs but Edinburgh was too proud to accept the other city’s charity. As a result, the monument is often given the nickname Edinburgh’s Disgrace or Edinburgh’s Folly.
Edinburgh and Glasgow are just like North and South London or on a national scale, Australia and New Zealand.
