Trams: Is There Much Tramway Interest On Here??

Re turning circle at Rostock, think this is one that I took in there Feb 1984. Pretty sure that this is the lication. If not will post some other of my BnW to sort the locations if anyone knows! Behind the Tram would be the wonderful old Rostock Station. What a beuty!
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Taken on my Kitchen Worktop if you wonder what the Brown below is!
JonD
 
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You guys in the UK and Europe are miles ahead of us in this area. We're making progress, but more slowly than I believe we should.
 
Madman said:
You guys in the UK and Europe are miles ahead of us in this area. We're making progress, but more slowly than I believe we should.
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Think you can probably forget any progress in this department with the Blond Bombshell that is now in charge. In fact our Blond Idiot Cancelled pretty well, every planned Tram System Proposal when he was the Mayor. Though if he had got the PM Job with Trumpie in US, at least they could have held Bad Hair Summits.
JonD
 
dunnyrail said:
Think you can probably forget any progress in this department with the Blond Bombshell that is now in charge. In fact our Blond Idiot Cancelled pretty well, every planned Tram System Proposal when he was the Mayor. Though if he had got the PM Job with Trumpie in US, at least they could have held Bad Hair Summits.
JonD
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Ah! It must have been the sight of their hair that made me think they were twins!

But to be fair (why?) - it's the idiots that run the country - civil servants.
Just look at the MILLIONS spent in Leeds - down the drain. No modern Rapid Transit, no modern trolleybuses. Just polluting buses!
 
trammayo said:
Ah! It must have been the sight of their hair that made me think they were twins!

But to be fair (why?) - it's the idiots that run the country - civil servants.
Just look at the MILLIONS spent in Leeds - down the drain. No modern Rapid Transit, no modern trolleybuses. Just polluting buses!
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Yup and of course Liverpool that even had spent money on the Rail. Kahn goes on about pollution in London but is only doing sticking plaster jobs, much of it with Diesel Buses that cut out at Traffic Lights then run a few yards on Battery. Not completely convinced about this technology.

By now London should have had (all cancelled)
-Cross River Tram from Euston via Waterloo I think and further on to ?
-Oxford Street Tram
-Uxbridge Tram
-Croydon extension to Crystal Palace
-Tram replacement for Watford - St.Albans line

No doubt if those 4 had not been cancelled by Nimbies (Uxbridge) and as well to pay for Blairs Vanity Wars we could be on with more by now. Watford was cancelled due to inability of Network Rail and Councils to come up with a cost acceptable scheme. How backwards London is compared Cities that do not have Trams, visitors from such places must wonder what is up with UK.
JonD
 
I wonder how many politicians /civil servants looked at Edinburgh and decided not to risk their pensions.................

To be fair, the Oxford Street tram wouldn't solve the pollution problem, as there are dozens of different bus routes that use Oxford street - hence the pollution.

Our traditional problem is the lack of a co-ordinated transport strategy.

Croydon Tram has been extended - with double platform access at Wimbledon, but I'm not sure where or whether it's been extended at the outer ends.

The cross river (Euston Waterloo tram may have been shelved in favour of Crossrail 2.

Part of the UK's problem is that many of our town and city streets aren't big enough for vehicular traffic and trams - and tram / pedestrianisation isn't the complete answer. Croydon tram does comparatively little street running.
 
Manchester's tram system has extended though?

It's now the biggest in the UK.

Nottingham has been successful, although some won't be in favour of how it was funded, by car parking space taxes.

And even Edinburgh is now hailed as a success despite its earlier build problems?

There is a lobby group in Cambridge which wants to build a metro system, which would use tunnels under the historic core, and link former railway lines such as that which went to Haverhill. I reckon it is a great idea which would solve Cambridge's traffic issues, but unfortunately the local politicians are pro-bus and guided busway minded....
 
Gizzy said:
Manchester's tram system has extended though?

It's now the biggest in the UK.

Nottingham has been successful, although some won't be in favour of how it was funded, by car parking space taxes.

And even Edinburgh is now hailed as a success despite its earlier build problems?

There is a lobby group in Cambridge which wants to build a metro system, which would use tunnels under the historic core, and link former railway lines such as that which went to Haverhill. I reckon it is a great idea which would solve Cambridge's traffic issues, but unfortunately the local politicians are pro-bus and guided busway minded....
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I have been hearing through the grapevine that Businesses are saying that they would not have relocated to Cambridge if they had been aware of how awful the acccesibility is in the area due to Road Traffic. Current Political thoughts are indeed softening to the concept of an Underground (Trams?) for the City Centre popping up to Street Trams where possible. Might just work, it does in Charloi in Belgium. Be even better if it came over to St.Neots via Cambourne and the other major Housing planned (known proposed and undeclared) between those 2 points. Apparently the Univercities that pretty well own Cambridge are distinctly opposed to Trams in the Streets but are apparently unconcerned about polluting Diesel Busses.

http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/be/char/charleroi.htm

As for London I do not see that the Cross River may have been shelved due to Crossrail 2, this will come under the River much further to the West and serve a pretty well different area.

Croydon's upgrades have just been about Doubling the Wimbledon Route and changing the Platform Layout at Wimbledon, effectively tinkering at the edges. Not by any standards Extensions, but still pretty costly I must admit.

Edinburgh is an interesting one, obvious that it would be popular with the travelling masses. Another story about Polititians not understanding what they are about and no doubt pushing up costs needlessly with endless Consultants Reports.

Still we can look at Nottingham, Sheffield (Tram Train extension finally started to Rotherham), Croydon, Birmingham (extended once, another on the way with consultation for 2 more), Manchester (Cross Town Route 2 imminently to open), Edinburgh (pobably be completed to full original planned system), Blackpool (upgraded and extension on the way) systems with great pride and interest. Plus the feel like Tram Systems at Newcastle and Docklands.

JonD
 
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dunnyrail said:
Think you can probably forget any progress in this department with the Blond Bombshell that is now in charge. In fact our Blond Idiot Cancelled pretty well, every planned Tram System Proposal when he was the Mayor. Though if he had got the PM Job with Trumpie in US, at least they could have held Bad Hair Summits.
JonD
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Bombshell is certainly the correct nickname for the anti-worker that he is. I'll say no more, 'cause my blood boils at the mere sight of him spewing out his rhetoric.....:swear::mad::swear::mad::swear::mad::swear:
 
The other day a group of Melbourne tram enthusiasts commandeered a tram for a day of fun tooling around the city.

iZHM50o.jpg


The city slowly grinds to life as an E class slinks into St Vincent's Plaza in the morning sun. The E class is heading for Bundoora, one of Melbourne's longest and busiest tram lines.

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Our chariot for the day, A2 300 shunts at Orrong road as various tram enthusiasts mill around. The A class was the last single unit tram design built for Melbourne in the late 80's.

vwJzgOe.jpg


Z3 227 turns into Hawthorn road in Malvern. There is still a nicely restored tramway waiting shelter here, painted in the green and cream colours of the MMTB.

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Melbourne is still a traditional street tramway for the most part, with trams running in mixed traffic or in median strip reservations. A rare exception is where the West Coburg line cuts through Royal Park. Don't worry, someone was watching for trams coming the other way!

JXQZR6S.jpg


Mt Alexander road on the Airport West line has a nice avenue of date palms, possibly dating from the days this line was part of the North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting company.
 
I had no idea there was a Tram Only forum on G Scale Central until today! I have always wanted to model trams, but mainly narrow gauge Tasmanian ones, and finally did have some models in 1:48 scale in the late 1980 s and early 1990 s. At 1/4" per foot, they weren't actually huge, but after finding a method of scratch-building I could actually use ( plasticard strips and shapes on perspex sides and ends) I made my first scratch-built Hobart bogie tram in about 1990. Later I decided that a larger scale might be a chance to model the trams themselves, and not just a layout to run them on, so examined 1:33.8 scale or 9 mm per ft. (304.8 mm). There is only one other tramway modeller in New Zealand who models in that scale, as far as I know, and I am the only one in Australia.
 
Andrew B. Middleton said:
I had no idea there was a Tram Only forum on G Scale Central until today! I have always wanted to model trams, but mainly narrow gauge Tasmanian ones, and finally did have some models in 1:48 scale in the late 1980 s and early 1990 s. At 1/4" per foot, they weren't actually huge, but after finding a method of scratch-building I could actually use ( plasticard strips and shapes on perspex sides and ends) I made my first scratch-built Hobart bogie tram in about 1990. Later I decided that a larger scale might be a chance to model the trams themselves, and not just a layout to run them on, so examined 1:33.8 scale or 9 mm per ft. (304.8 mm). There is only one other tramway modeller in New Zealand who models in that scale, as far as I know, and I am the only one in Australia.
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That's an interesting scale! Using 32mm gauge track for 3'6"? There's an article in the latest AMRM about someone who models Sydney tramways in 1:38 scale on 37mm gauge track.

1:24 scale is common for tramway modelling in Australia (common being a relative term, you can count the number of people on the fingers of one hand) either on 60mm gauge track for standard gauge systems or 45mm gauge for 3'6".

Then there's people like me who cheat, and model standard gauge trams in 1:24 scale, but run them on 45mm gauge track. It's not strictly accurate, but allows friends who run on 45mm gauge to visit which is part of the fun. :)

Here's a tram for tramway content:

tRVMkBb.jpg


Also fun fact: The AMRM article gave the scale as 5/16"=1'. To convert that to a ratio (which actually makes sense) you have to convert 5/16" to a decimal, then convert to metric (7.9mm), then convert 1' to metric (304.8mm, since inches and feet don't relate to each other), then 304.8/7.9 = 38.4, which is the ratio. aaaagh, why does the imperial system even exist...
 
I am very glad that there is finally a dedicated forum for tram modelling. I think your idea to run the trams on 45 mm gauge track is a good one, specially for visiting modellers.
 
One of Basils best

Rhine 2017 (366a) (600 x 399).jpg

I have to ask though: is it a tram, or a train?
 
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