Going past the tram depot every day since it was a muddy puddle, this is probably the pinnacle of excitement...
Even saw one moving on its own steam (well, technically via power supplied by overhead cables via a pantograph) the other day there.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Trams getting lively...
(19 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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So they've finally come clean that the trams need to use a catenary? All the artists impression I have seen had no overhead line equipment and the trams gliding silently along powered by the council's limitless supply of hot air. But I must take a wander up one dry lunchtime and see for myself.
Posted 13 years ago # -
There are trams routes through historic city centres all across Central Europe. I don't recall visiting Prague and being shocked by how spoiled it was by some overhead lines so I'm not really very worried about the same in Edinburgh.
Particularly when you compare it to the automotive debris that litters our streets. George Street, which could be the finest street in the country is basically a car park.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Must go and have a look at the trams - bated breath and all that.
I'm not a fan of the idea of the overhead power lines, especially as the Bordeaux tram system (built just a few years before they start the Edinburgh tram) uses a ground level power supply and it looks really good. There were teething troubles with it initially, but we've seen worse... However, I suspect the overhead lines will be something we get used to.
Posted 13 years ago # -
George Street, which could be the finest street in the country is basically a car park.
Yes, it's weird that Edinburgh has allowed that to happen. Been like that since at least the 1970s. Cities like (cough) London would not allow fine thoroughfares like that to be messed up in this way.
Posted 13 years ago # -
When I lived in Lyon for a short while they had buses powered by overhead cables which were particularly ugly and obrtusive. However it did mean that when the trams came in in anticipation of the World Cup they didn't have anything new to foist on the public (have to admit I visited after the trams went in and took a trip on one and it was most comfy).
Of course Lyon also has an extensive and good underground system and a couple of funicular railways. And get this, tickets bought on any system are valid on the others. That was 15 years ago.
(though obviously the bus and trams will be interchangeable here both being LRT)
Posted 13 years ago # -
George Street, which could be the finest street in the country is basically a car park.
Thirded.
I don't have a problem with the overhead lines - they're no more ugly or intrusive than the "automotive detritus". It's a shame the poles seem so modern and functional, it wouldn't have been hard to model them on the traditional ones, examples of which can be seen on Melville Drive and the Mound, sawn off a bit and re-used as lamp posts.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Walking along George Street on Monday, some work going on in the road outside the Assembly Rooms meant that parking was suspended on that section between Hannover and Frederick Sts. It showed how much spaces there would be in George Street, how much more open it would be, without all the cars parked up the middle. Room for a dedicated E-W cycleway for a start. ;)
The sheer number of buses haring up and down it didn't help, but hopefully that's a temporary issue...
Posted 13 years ago # -
@PS indeed,
it could look something like this;
(clicky biggy)
Posted 13 years ago # -
"It's a shame the poles seem so modern and functional, it wouldn't have been hard to model them on the traditional ones"
I mentioned this to a guy from TIE several years ago - how it would be good to have something that showed a bit of civic pride/identity (like in the good old days, or even like some of the bins with the city crest on them). I seem to remember that he said that would be nice but it would probably cost too much :-o
Posted 13 years ago # -
Worse than that its very potholed, rutted, and a real mess. a couple of stretches have been relayed but the vast majority is a horrid surface as is Queen Street to a lesser degree.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Queen street has some absolute bike-eating corkers at the mo. Fell down one last night and though I'd really done in my wrist.
Dark thoughts towards CEC.
Posted 13 years ago # -
This is one reason I take a longer detour down to Broughton and along the cycle path from Tesco. The cycle paths may be icey or covered in a film of dead leaves but there are no potholes. That sepia picture of George St with cobbles ridden on buy fine chaps on penny fathings looks painfull.
Posted 13 years ago # -
With wheels the size of those on (probably properly-laid and not-continually-mucked-about-with-and-not-put-back-evenly) cobbles the effect would more likely be a gentle soothing rumble rather than the harsh juddering one receives on the Lawnmarket, or Rutland Place, or Cranston Street, or Croft-an-Righ, or the diagonal cobbledybit of Abbey Lane...
Posted 13 years ago # -
Of course Lyon also has an extensive and good underground system and a couple of funicular railways. And get this, tickets bought on any system are valid on the others. That was 15 years ago.
This is something that still annoys me so much here. In my home town (Brussels), it's always been the case that once you have a ticket, you can take any bus, tram and underground and change any number of times you want during 1 hour, all that for about £1.
Posted 13 years ago # -
it could look something like this;
Ah, that must have been the inaugural CTC Saturday ride...
Posted 13 years ago # -
Christchurch was the same, think it was $2 with a 2 hour transfer, which could be used as a return if you were just popping into the (formerly) city.
Had a hub/spoke/radial type transit system though where everything seemed to terminate at the (former) bus station. God knows what they have now.
Wellington has a fairly extensive network of trolley buses, there are a LOT of wires strung up especially as they don't use a pole system, everything is attached to buildings. The junctions are REALLY complicated too.
I found it really visually cluttering at first, but once you're used to it, and trolley buses are awesome.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Other Tram livening up action - girders for bridge over road have gone in at Stenhouse [apologies if this has appeared elsewhere]
Posted 13 years ago # -
@gembo - didn't notice them this evening but then was having a game of chicken with a taxi who didn't want to let me make the left turn. I've been pleasantly surprise how fast the bridge is going up compared to other works.
Posted 13 years ago #
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