CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Hello
Curious to know whether anyone's travelled Edinburgh-Glasgow recently by ScotRail with their (full-sized) bike? How busy is the train?
I'm heading west today but need to decide on whether to use the folder (and train it up to Edinburgh from Musselburgh) or head out on the full-sized crosser and ride up to town.
ScotRail imply that travel with a normal bike is likely to be tricky on trains.
Any thoughts appreciated...
Is your folder that much more uncomfortable /slow? What do you ride?
Almost always space on the via Bathgate line of course. Slower but can be convenient. Particularly if you need to go beyond Glasgow city centre.
Low level trains via Queen Street generally faster for West side.
Edinburgh-Ayr service and Edinburgh GLC with XC are faster than diverted trains
Shotts Line fast trains are only slightly slower Shotts line slow trains are ...... a drag
Citylink and M8 Express Coaches are now comparable for trips, especially the Bruces service (M8) which is likely to take a bike without grumbling but only hourly - and wrinklies go free
Proper closures don't start till Monday. You should be able to get through today without issue. Ardrie - Bathgate line (my usual commute) has been as normal this week. Plenty of space for bikes on these trains.
"...miseryyyyyyyyyy..."
Passengers will merely have to "board replacement bus services" whilst those taking alternative trains must "cram themselves onto slower services taking secondary rail lines". At least they'll be cramming themselves, not being compacted into the carriage by people with poles or bats. At least there'll not be any chaos, too.
Bless their cotton socks.
My folder is a a Revolution Compact, EBC's rebadged Dahon from c. 2008. Nice bike, bit heavy, but it really needs a different pannier rack to the one fitted.
In the end my decision was made for me. Once I'd packed my pannier for the day it was sufficiently heavy to rule out using the courier-style strap it came with and needed to be rack-mounted. Crosser it was.
The pleasant sunny morning convinced me I'd made the right choice. There were lots of friendly cyclists on the road, the peds were smiley, dogs suitably circumspect. Few drivers seemed to be out and about and all was well. As I sped up to Edinburgh, I realised I might even make the 9:18 XC service to Central and duly stepped on the gas.
Now riding at a fair old clip, I was on the 'home straight' to Waverley (Calton Road) when my left foot randomly unclipped itself...
...and next thing I knew I was in a Superman-style slide along the tarmc. As chin connected with Edinburgh tarmacadam I thought 'This really is gonna hurt...' and dully considered this wasn't going to end well.
<KKKKKERRRRRUUUUUUUUUMMMMMPPPPPPP!!!!!>
Evidently I have a Desperate Dan-style jaw as I took no damage (must be the beard...) other than a little tenderness here and there (I'll take my title-fight shot with Floyd Mayweather now please).
Damage report - road rash along one arm, a lightly skint knee and a dunt to one thigh (bit achey now). Small cut just above ankle.
Two workies dusted me off, scooped up my pannier and asked if I needed any help/something to drink/'a wee sit doon'. They looked genuinely baffled at what had just happened. Even more baffling was my desire to get back on my bike and ride off. Actually that was pretty daft.
In the end, I missed the 9:18 (drat). But the 9:30 was pretty quiet so no problem with the bike. If nothing else, I evidently provided a talking point for the tourists on the train since they kept looking in my direction...
Hope the bike is ok.
Also your face.
Some might opine that a spot of vigorous tarmac exfoliation might improve my complexion...
Bike's fine mechanically. Cosmetically it's now on the way to needing that respray I was musing on for next summer.
What's in a name?
"Mando Wn"
Proper closures less impact than this weekend - Polmont also blockaded for bridge lift work, and then derailment near Lenzie (location unclear) so all trains via Cumbernauld.
Replacement road services mostly coaches at weekend, and generally sanguine about carrying cycles.
Set down on Eastbound side & either U turn (high risk possibly not official route) or round via Morrison Street
Just waiting for the moment where the rear end of a coach (2 max that fit) just violates the DKE of tram at end of set down lay-by.....
Well my Haymarket to Livingston North train was slightly busier than usual, but there were no issues.
My only "problem" was that they've put up a lot of guidance tape at Haymarket obviously to sort queues if they need to, so I had to pay attention to where I was going in order to make my way through it!
In the end, I don't think there was much need to have worried about commuting with the bike to Glasgow (the crashing/falling off part definitely bears rethinking).
I caught the 7:57 Waverley to Glasgow Central and it sported a whole two cyclists that I could see (yours truly being one). On leaving Haymarket, the carriage I was in seemed as if it was maybe 50-60% empty and stayed that way until we got to Bellshill. This was the semi-fast service via Shotts with only a handful of stops.
Purely on economic grounds, I'd prefer using the 7:26 CrossCountry service as £8 for a return (albeit with a railcard) is hard to turn down. That said it comes with a pile of caveats (very limited bike space being one and a draconian attitude to any infringement). Given my office is 5 minutes from Central, the 'semi-fast' service to Central looks like a good Plan B for me during the Winchburgh upgrade works. I can avoid the thrill-ride across Glasgow city centre...
My Waverley to Linlithgow commute was exciting. We shot out of Haymarket and pulled to a halt just short of Dalmeny station - at which point the driver walked through the train and we set off again in the opposite direction and on a different line. Took 30 minutes instead of the usual 20. The alternative of sitting on the bus for an hour not worth it.
This is the Waverley/Dunblane train which is using the EDB/GLQ carriages so had proper bike provision rather than the horrible cupboards they normally provide.
Just looked at the map.
The Winchburgh Tunnel really is under Winchburgh!
"The Winchburgh Tunnel really is under Winchburgh!"
Can't help it, had to look. And interestingly there are no buildings directly above the track. Is that deliberate?
Which came first - the railway line or Winchburgh (specifically the rows of miners' cottages)?
I think Winchburgh was there first, unless there's a geological/engineering reason to create a tunnel rather than a deep cutting?
The OS 1st edition 6-inch map (published c.1857) shows the tunnel going under a very small row of buildings, which is apparently all that Winchburgh was in 1857. The tunnel *does* appear to directly go under the row of buildings. Prevailing views of Health and Safety in 1857 may have differed, slightly, to modern standards.
National Library of Scotland's online maps are dead handy...
Thanks @Mandopicker1. Looks to me from that map that there is just one or two small buildings half over the line. Later maps which show the course of the tunnel seem to support this.
Google streetview shows what could be the remains of one of the buildings at the entrance to Station Road.
"There has been a settlement in Winchburgh for over one thousand years. Early spellings include Wincelburgh (1189); Wynchburghe (1377); from 'wincel' and 'burh' meaning 'Town in the nook or angle'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchburgh
Mentioned in Barbour's The Brus.
And now:
http://www.winchburghvillage.co.uk/about-winchburgh/
(Tunnel at the bottom of the artist's impression I think)
"Winchburgh Village is a £ 1 billion development encircling the historic village of Winchburgh seven miles from Edinburgh Airport."
"With multiple areas for play and leisure, walkways, cycle paths and areas of outstanding beauty such as the Glendevon Pond and Tippet Knowes"
And the next bit - really?:
"Transportation is clearly crucial for modern day living and as well as designing safe routes around the Village and to school, conditional planning permission has been granted for a new rail station and motorway junctions serving Winchburgh Village with, of course, Park and Ride."
"Passengers left frustrated as rail tunnel work begins"
Followed by no quotes representing anything but understanding and accepting commuters....
I gotta admit I was shocked how little impact this is going to have on my day.
"I gotta admit I was shocked how little impact this is going to have on my day. "
[EENify]Passengers SHOCKED by impact of Winchburgh tunnel delays[/EENify]
"
Rail services disrupted for the past month by improvement works will return to normal next week – providing relief to stressed commuters.
"
That chaos word again.
By contrast -
"
It is not known how many people were caught up in the incident
"
That chaos word again
In reality I think it's been a great engineering achievement that's on time and on budget and people have muddled through without too much disruption.
The day that the chipwrapper runs a banner headline along the lines of "TRAVEL CHAOS AS MORE OR LESS EVERYONE DECIDES IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO TRY AND GET TO WORK IN A SINGLE OCCUPANT VEHICLE AT MORE OR LESS THE SAME TIME AS EVERYONE ELSE"...
FURY as predicted traffic CHAOS happens without a fuss and everyone is relaxed.
We had been going to Edinburgh for the day but after 2 hrs in the queue we gave in and went to Dobbies in Livingston.
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