CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

The history of cyclepaths

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    kaputnik noticed this -


    British Railways - diagrams of Edinburgh Suburban services, 1958

    It's only 50 years since Edinburgh had a fairly extensive suburban rail network. Other lines (e.g. Balerno) had already been shut.

    Many have now been converted into routes for other modes of transport.

    A lot of the stations (at least the platforms) are still visible, though perhaps most walkers and cyclists don't know their names.

    It's not possible to go train spotting, how about some station spotting? Tick them off as you travel through!

    http://www.railscot.co.uk is a good source of historic and current railway info.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. SRD
    Moderator

    Find myself again thinking how simple - and wonderful - life would be if the south suburban was a cycle path as well!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    +1 to SRD

    There's a whole network there just screaming out to be used. Surely the Trinity Path and Innocent Path and so on should show just how good and useful and well-used these routes can be!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. Dave
    Member

    Yep, imagine if the west approach road had been made into a cycle path (or a bus + bike route) instead of a slow moving car park. To join up easily with north Edinburgh paths at the Russel Rd end, and the canal...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    This is the front of the leaflet -


    British Railways - introducing the new diesel railcars - Edinburgh Suburban Services - 1958

    It would be better if the South Sub had passenger trains again.

    The next 'rails to trails' (to use the phrase common in the US) will join the NEPN and paths in the east - whenever the Powderhall refuse depot moves and the line shuts.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Arellcat
    Moderator

    To join up easily with north Edinburgh paths at the Russel Rd end, and the canal...

    That sort of plan has been mooted once or twice before with support from Spokes. The West Approach Road could so easily have included a cycle path instead of a glorious strip of plain grass.

    If I were PM, I'd require all overland rail projects in the UK to include a parallel Dutch-width cycle path. Railway land and cycling so often go well together. But imagine if Edinburgh's urban and suburban railway network had not died from lack of passengers, freight and road competition, and had not been transformed into cycle and foot paths. How much freight would our roads now be carrying and what of our bus service? Would all the lorry loads of supermarket produce 'still' carried by rail have left the roads open for additional cars, and would cycling in Edinburgh now be any better?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    "Yep, imagine if the west approach road had been made into a cycle path (or a bus + bike route) instead of a slow moving car park."

    Yes that would make a big difference to the number of cars coming into the city centre.

    Unfortunately I think that it wouldn't work with buses and bikes - it's quite narrow in places.

    HOWEVER if Edinburgh was like some cities it would be shut to traffic every Sunday and open to bicycles, blades, boards and feet!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14227373

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    http://www.streetfilms.org/ciclovia

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Temple qualified as a landscape architect in the 1980s and set about creating the cycleways of Edinburgh on the disused railway network, which have transformed the way people move around the city.

    He said: "The radical thing that's happened in Edinburgh as far as I am concerned is the development of the long distance paths and the path systems across the city.

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/ian-helped-shape-city-as-we-know-it-1-1252962

    Posted 7 years ago #

  10. sallyhinch
    Member

    On narrow bus and bike routes ...

    In Cambridge for the Cycling Embassy AGM we had a tour of the guided bus route, which was using an old railway right of way. The reason it's a guided bus route was because it wouldn't have been wide enough (at the narrowest points, e.g. under bridges) for buses to use safely otherwise. The accompanying track was primarily for maintenance vehicles but very sensibly left open to bikes. Now a brilliant high speed flat route to a couple of outlying business parks that would otherwise have been extremely car dependent

    Posted 7 years ago #

  11. fimm
    Member

    That busway bike path is good but has problems, apparently: it doesn't have any drainage (because it is just a maintenance access route) and so it gets flooded. I don't know if it gets gritted either...

    Posted 7 years ago #

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