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smartie

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About smartie

  • Rank
    Registered User
  • Birthday 09/01/1984

Personal Information

  • Location
    Derbyshire Dales
  • Interests
    Cycling, sudoku, SABRE!
  • Occupation
    HBOS junkie
  1. It is a shame they were scrapped. It was claimed they were 'expired' and 'redundant', yet the sister Class 77s, also used on Woodhead, spent many happy years working in the Netherlands. You've one up on me, all I've got is memories of Reddish Depot either being derelict or demolished, and the static locos on display at MoSI, Manchester and NRM, York. Only other thing I could think of is maybe posting a question on the Woodhead site , see if anyone could answer there?
  2. Wikipedia has quite a bit of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_76 Have you tried asking in news:uk.railway ?
  3. Reason why EMT are doing this is because they got the sums wrong on the franchise, expecting the economy to keep spinning along on the debt carousel. As revenue has fallen, they have had to start making staff redundant, cut cleaning, etc. Perhaps SYPTE/SCC should politely withhold any further public funds on subsidised routes, stop awarding contracts for any new services, stop payment of ENCTS (OAP/Disabled free trips), time Hillsborough Tram Gate in disadvantage of trams, until they relent on this silly charade. Perhaps a taste of their own medicine (parking vehicles outside Stagecoach depots) might teach them a lesson?
  4. Incident happened about 16.20-ish. Both buses were going downhill into town, opposite Belly Busters sandwich shop. Double decker (poss 08/58reg) driven by male, was shunted by single decker (N*** CKY reg) driven by female. Both drivers were really swift and professional in making sure passengers were ok, and kept clear of the vehicle. Windscreen of single decker was hit in drivers cab area, making spider web effect, but stayed intact. Their controller was quick to answer and gave reassurance, contacted emergency services. Traffic was building up badly and had to almost scrape past. Myself and two other young lads co-ordinated traffic, stopping traffic in either direction to let wide vehicles (like buses) past the scene. Also to enable clear way through for fire/ambulance/police when they arrived. Either two or three fire engines arrived, along with two ambulances, all within less than a few minutes. Police took 10-15 minutes to arrive, single officer, IIRC. Goodness knows how he managed to clear traffic, we were advising people to turn around, find other routes, because fire officers said it would take a while to clear.
  5. Shortage of (affordable) housing?? What we have is 420,000 empty homes across the UK. Channel 4 documentary Dispatches showed the other night parts of Salford and Manchester have approx 30% unoccupancy rates due to BTL "investments". We have an oversupply of unaffordable housing! House builders are holding huge land banks and are not developing them, in order to restrict supply and drive the cost of what is available higher. Just look at areas around Crystal Peaks, plenty of land available alongside Donesk Way for new housing. Sat undeveloped for years whilst the land value increases. I think the solution is to bring back proper co-ordinated new town planning policy. Owned by the people, for the people. Not just profit motivated companies answerable to shareholders. Also not necessarily build on greenfield sites, but new towns within towns themselves. Imagine how many houses could be built on the car parks Meadowhall and Crystal Peaks alone! Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  6. Taken from: http://www.politics.co.uk/press-releases/public-services/rail/rail/drc-gojo-aims-bridge-travel-gap-on-public-transport-$473259.htm
  7. I can't understand why Stagecoach Sheffield doesn't try a daytime commercial service in competition with First, then that would rid them from that corridor altogether. Divide and conquer! The tram-bus interchange transfer sounded very sensible to me. Imagine that bus being put to better use elsewhere, like running Middlewood - Stocksbridge half-hourly instead of hourly? What is the point of duplicating the route with the tram into town? Nottingham does this with their system, even with different (competitive) operators: http://www.thetram.net/buses/tb_buses.asp Trentbarton used to run "Flyer" (aka limited stop) express service from Hucknall into Nottingham. NET destroyed their market. So instead of fighting it out (like most companies would have done), they worked together, for the benefit of all. Instead of the "Me, Me, Me" car culture that exists! Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  8. In an ideal world, public transport should be free (for EVERYONE) at the point of use! Imagine the savings possible: reduced boarding times - improving overall journey time reduced cash management - less cost to operator on administation/banking equality for everyone - regardless of income, background, age extra capacity created on roads for essential car/lorry journeys - without having to resort to billions spent on new roads/motorways/bypasses If not, we could at least look at moving towards use of smartcard technology like Oyster / OV-Strippenkart to give genuine reward to use of public transport, and proper pricing of non-essential urban motoring. Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  9. Isn't a supertram is regarded as a rail vehicle, so I imagine that use of a mobile phone whilst at the controls would be a definite no-no? Doesn't mean that the vehicle itself could be stopped, parked stationary and powered down. Guess its all to do with good old "health and safety"! Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  10. I love snow, especially in January (birthday time) or February! Only time to UK looks clean and tidy! Watching the weather forecast on BBC EMT earlier tonight mentioned there could be a "winter shower, even snow" over higher ground on the Peak District tonight. Fingers crossed! Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  11. Funny how four major cities in the Randstad (Netherlands conurbation) can cope being served by one airport (Amsterdam Schiphol), but we in northern England all need one each!? Liverpool John Lennon Manchester Ringway Leeds/Bradford Doncaster-Sheffield Why do we need all the duplication? Except Manchester, all have poor surface transport links, which require major investment to bring them up to national (never mind international!) standards. Instead of spending millions on duplicate airports, I think we should concentrate on creating a frequent, sustainable way (say an electric, double deck, high quality/frequency train service) connecting all the major cities of the north, based on a Liverpool - Liverpool Airport - Warrington - Manchester Airport - Manchester - Leeds - Sheffield - Hull axis, and routes in between! Long term, we could just get rid of the UK regional airports altogether, hop on a TGV style service along a new high speed line to take us down (in less than 3 hours) to Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle, Schiphol, etc? Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  12. Apologies if I've offended skala! I think of those who died for freedom and the right to vote. They sacrificed life for a decent, just cause! I respect you may not wish to vote, but I do not agree with it, it just doesn't make sense. Would you prefer being denied the right to vote instead? Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  13. I have always voted since 16yo (now 22yo). People died for the vote and our freedoms. Those who don't have no respect or brains. At the beginning of the 19th Century, out of the 16million population in the UK, only around 400,000 were allowed to vote. Only after dedicated campaigns from reformers, it took until 1928 before all adults, men and women, had a vote. People, or "sheeple" as we are now affectionately known, have turned into brain-dead zombies fed on a diet of consumerism and reality TV, trying to emulate celebrities, but actually living in high amounts of debt for a little poke hole and to drive around (sorry, sit in traffic congestion) in 4x4s, escaping numerous times a year on 9p budget airline flights to some east European or Med beach holidays. Probably own a BTL or two, maybe abroad? They don't need to vote. Perfectly in control of their own futures. While the banks, politicians, etc. count their money laughing. Its time to wake up people. If you are unhappy, vote accordingly. Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  14. Sorry to sound rude, but surely you could see what the parking situation at Hallamshire was like when you took the job(s)? It ain't no edge of town, served by motorway type affair is it? You see cars parked all along the advisory cycle lanes on Clarkhouse Rd, all day long, causing cyclists to ride on the pavement and car/bus drivers to scrape past one another. Commuting from Barnsley - free park and ride at Meadowhall? Train takes only a few minutes to Midland, then hop on a tram up to University? Short walk from there. I regularly attend Hallamshire for appointments, and despite driving in from Derbyshire, I manage not to park at Hallamshire itself. Its called using your brain. Places like Aunt Sally pub do season parking tickets too. Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
  15. Now back on at a much reduced £119k! The end is nigh!! Charley http://www.gmroads.co.uk
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