The shelter isn't finished: the one at the RBS bridge seems to be the same design but with glass added. I can't help thinking that people are knocking this for the sake of knocking. Wait until its finished! (Although don't hold yet breath)
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
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Posted 11 years ago #
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"Wait until its finished!"
OK
I assumed that when EdinburghTrams put a picture up without adding 'under construction' that it really was the airport tramstop...
Posted 11 years ago # -
@stiltskin the finished tram shelter I encountered in Croydon was no more substantial or practical than what's pictured in this thread, and was not much use against 45 degree rain I can tell you. So I'll be pleased and pleasantly surprised if the Edinburgh one is actually going to be a bit better than that. (Not that I'll ever have occasion to use this tram, it's in entirely the wrong part of the city for me.)
Come to think of it though - if that "big glass roofs" shelter design is going to be used all the way through Sighthill, Broomhouse etc, the glaziers are surely going to be rubbing their hands.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The shelter isn't finished
Why have they held an opening ceremony, parading Lesley Hinds and Keith Broon in front of it then for the news? And publishing press photos? If it's not finished, they should know better than to put across that it is finished.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Why have they held an opening ceremony, parading Lesley Hinds and Keith Broon in front of it then for the news? And publishing press photos?"
Because, by definition, an photograph of a councillor and tram works in the same shot will be of something incomplete? ;-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yeah, I saw two trams running on the track at Gogar on Monday morning as I headed out on the A8 path. Quite impressive beasties.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Just watched the video.
It's got added wildlife!
Posted 11 years ago # -
For a change, I liked one of the Hootsman comments:
"Two deer or not too dear, that is the question"
Posted 11 years ago # -
Trans-Reekie Express
Ah. :) I'm aye partial to a bit of that slightly less well known Kraut electronic band, Rußstadt.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Posted 11 years ago # -
Don't forget, the Mayans prophesised that trams actually moving would herald the end of the world.
Woe, woe and thrice woe
Posted 11 years ago # -
It looks like the stones between the tracks in the picture above form a slightly convex surface. Somehow, despite the contractors doing lots of dabbing with supposedly straight bits of wood when the concrete was poured, there are a couple of bits outside Haymarket where the surface dips noticeably between the rails, including one bit where there was a non-drained puddle right next to one of the between-rail drain-grilles.
Posted 11 years ago # -
There was some discussion a while back about the tram bye-laws*. The consultation docs are now on-line, including an email address.
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20236/about_the_trams/1846/information_about_the_trams/5
Closing date is 21 January.
*edited after first post. wikipedia says that byelaw is correct UK usage. learn something new everyday!
Posted 11 years ago # -
No mention of carrying cycles (cycles only mentioned in the section covering obstructions, etc.) but maybe that's part of "luggage"?
Posted 11 years ago # -
There's something not quite right with it being cheaper to drive a tram from South Shields to Edinburgh, than put it on a ship directly to Leith docks, or at the very least Rosyth.
Also, is this the "last carriage" that is needed? Or does it include the 9-or-so tramsworth of carriages that we haven't figured out what to do with seeing as there aren't any going to be any lines for them to run on in Leith.
I'm not entirely sure why the Johnston press seems to have changed its tune with regards to the tram project and now seems to be giddily regurgitating the official press releases as if they were anything more than churnalism.
Posted 11 years ago # -
There's something not quite right about them not being built in Falkirk...
How did the tube trains get to Rosyth for refurbishment?
Posted 11 years ago # -
There's something not quite right about them not being built in Falkirk...
Lothian Buses has a history in recent times of buying Wrightbus-bodied vehicles, which are from Norn Iron (on a Swedish chassis).
Posted 11 years ago # -
Rail for some at least -
Posted 11 years ago # -
I think the economics of privatisation mean that it's not really practical to move ad-hoc loads by rail so much anymore if they aren't highly radioactive.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Don't think ET does irony -
"
Edinburgh Trams (@EdinburghTrams)
25/12/2012 11:10
A 1950s Edinburgh tram wishes residents a Merry Christmas..."
Posted 11 years ago # -
21 20-milers cycled along a totally empty Princes Street yesterday
Apart from the crossing-of-the-rails it was a lovely experience. No buses! No taxis!
What is the plan for allowing cycles to safely cross (W->E) the rails as they curve up from Princes St into St Andrews Square? At the moment it seems that all one can do is turn and cycle at 45 degrees to the line of traffic, or get off and push. Horrible.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I think that is the plan: just fight your way into traffic to cross at an angle, or get off.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Erm, its a tramtrack in the road, adjust your direction slightly and go on your merry way........kind of like every other day on the roads, with the innumerable obstructions / cracks / potholes etc?
I rode back and forth across the tracks a number of times recently as a wee test - 700x28s - no issues at all.
As to that specific section? Its narrow (which in my opinion helps, oddly) - take a good primary from the lights and you can decide your best line. Allow yourself to be squeezed left, and you are in the lap of the gods, I'm afraid.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I'm with Nelly on this. Ride carefully, and assertively, and the tracks are not really a problem.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The part I'm thinking of, the road narrows from two lanes to one, so one starts on the left and is funnelled in towards the rails on one's right. Fine, and it is (hopefully) too narrow for anything behind to contemplate overtaking. The rails then make a sharp left turn and cross the bike's path at about 45degrees - so one has to at some point deviate right quite sharply in order not to be trapped in the rail. Fine, as long as nothing else is going on (even another bike being there), but really not nice. I am a confident and assertive cyclist, but I will go another way if I need to travel in that direction and there is traffic around.
And cyclists who are distracted by heavy traffic or following something big and therefore can't see ahead of themselves far enough are going to come to grief.
A segregated cycle path taking away some of the pavement, allowing bikes to cross the end of the road where the rails are again at right angles to the route, would have been much safer, I think. But that's never going to happen :(
Posted 11 years ago # -
I'm with LivD on this. Recent rides down the mound to Princes Street, and along Prince Street towards the east end, have been really nerve wracking, given speed of other vehicles around.
Posted 11 years ago # -
And the fact that the only way of doing it is to be assertive and take primary shows that it's not usable by most people. Yes, those of us who ride every day on fast roads and have done for years might be OK, but that's no good for anyone else.
I certainly don't believe it passes the Councillor Hinds test - would she be too scared to cycle there?
Posted 11 years ago # -
That is the Edinburgh way. "Cyclists Dismount" - unless you are very fast and have nerves of steel in which case the two alternative routes of George Street and Queen Street are available to you anyway.
Posted 11 years ago #
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