No, hopefully what they would do if anything occurred is turn them short. On your example they would be turned at Velopark and if completely necessary, Piccadilly Station, there's also the possibility to turn short at Droylsden in other cases.

But if you mix routes ie the Bury line extended to Ashton as well as the Eccles service, then you have another service disrupted as well.

Then there's the nightmare of trying to sort out 2 (possibly 3)services after the event, the third being the Altrincham service, if the delayed Bury service then changes to an Altrincham one, and getting services back to normal is something which they seem to have a problem with.

True. The new lines all have turn back on Metrolink only places (Velopark, St Werburgh's Road for Airport) so this would minimise any major delays I suppose. It's never coping with disruption that's the issue, it's the getting back to the timetable after wards that's the headache!



I heard 3023 has problems with the bogies that may have to be changed. True or not? I haven't seen it about and 3025 was supposed to be the replacement. I think I saw 22 recently, but not sure.

How can a brand new vehicle have defective bogies?

Bombardier delivered a 377/5 with a busted transformer. It happens.



Surely Bombardier will have to come and sort that one out.

Oh yeah, there is a pic of 3025 on test knocking about on here somewhere.

There was a picture of 3025 on here as I've got it save on my iPad!



It's the orange strip present on all UK EMU's equipped with a pantograph.

Actually it's on all railway vehicles. Even DMU's and 3rd rail EMU have it on it.

Tram 3025 out on the network

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7066/7044600651_719caebedd_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/d33206hg/7044600651/)
3025 on Test Stretford Metrolink 008 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/d33206hg/7044600651/) by d33206hg (http://www.flickr.com/people/d33206hg/), on Flickr

I still cannot get over how close those tracks look to the wall...

Anyway, still some work to do and there is too much skirt underneath the doors methinks but....
http://www.ill-tonkso.co.uk/images/portfolio/tram.jpg
...getting there :)

Not bad... but I'd suggest you go find the square on schematic pictures of the new yellow livery on the M5000 to check your measurements against

as in...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Metrolink_New_Livery_on_Both_Trams.jpg

I used this to attempt a K4000 reskin

www.ill-tonkso.co.uk/images/portfolio/tram.jpg


I think you need to get rid of the advertising boards. None of the m5000's actually have them fitted.

Ok I'll guess...

WTH Withington
BUR Burton Road
WDB West Didsbury
DVL Didsbury Village
EDB East Didsbury

:-)

East Didsbury's CRS code is EDY =)

Just because its brand new doesn't mean it doesn't get used........the Old Trafford lot still get run every now and again, i think its OT depot to Timperly and back.

Yup, the PSR's have "drive a tram day" sometimes when they get to do a lap of OT depot and back ;)

I think you need to get rid of the advertising boards. None of the m5000's actually have them fitted.

Yep, they don't any longer. Remember the one they fitted with the boards? Gawd awful, luckily common sense prevailed.

And I've never seen the strip....maybe it's on the bit where the side curves into the roof?

So do we as yet have the definitive list of three letter codes for stops? And many thanks to all those whom have contributed so far.

Pls dnt srt usg txt spk. ts lzy & atyscl.

Yesterday Mrs. F-F gave me a treat in the form of an afternoon in Didsbury to photograph progress on the SML. Below are a selection of images and I have tried to avoid too much duplication (although there is a bit).

Looking north from Wilmslow Road, lovely to see track in place:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000531.jpg

Looking south from the S&L car park. Voldermoort and JdR have to be right in asserting that the track still needs slewing:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000530.jpg

And looking back from School Lane:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000527.jpg

The big result of the day was capturing the welding crew at Didsbury Station:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000516.jpg

And further south I looked back on the station from the newly-rebuilt Sandhurst Road bridge:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000540.jpg

Looking south to Parrs Wood Road, note how the Transpennine trail will provide some excellent photographic opportunities:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000543.jpg

Looking north from Parrs Wood Road:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000534.jpg

And finally a slightly different view south towards Kingsway: the upright post with the two holes in it is a point rod that will probably date back at least 50 years!

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000538.jpg

I have more but there's no point in duplicating the good work of others.

Finally a curse on the house of Photobucket: their site seems to have slowed down to a crawl thanks to the welter of crappy video adverts that keep getting in the way. It took me the best part of an hour to get this lot uploaded and posted. Where do I send them the invoice for my time?

Rant over.

Neil

True. The new lines all have turn back on Metrolink only places (Velopark, St Werburgh's Road for Airport) so this would minimise any major delays I suppose.

Is the St. Werburgh's Road turnback not too far south to be used for the Airport Line? I though it was going to be removed..?

Yesterday Mrs. F-F gave me a treat in the form of an afternoon in Didsbury to photograph progress on the SML. Below are a selection of images and I have tried to avoid too much duplication (although there is a bit).

Looking north from Wilmslow Road, lovely to see track in place:


Looking south from the S&L car park. Voldermoort and JdR have to be right in asserting that the track still needs slewing:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x461/nferguso_wyvern/Metrolink/WP_000530.jpg

And looking back from School Lane:

Neil

I'm not sure those rails will be able to be moved very far... it looks as if the OLE poles are to be in the middle and not strung from the walls, so doesn't give a lot of space to move them. Maybe it's do do with the drainage being all down one side?

And am wondering why the sleepers change from concrete to wood?

Is the St. Werburgh's Road turnback not too far south to be used for the Airport Line? I though it was going to be removed..?

Was thinking if something happens on the street running section just after St Werburgh Road, they can divert trams or short turn them there. Was thinking all street running sections have a turn back point prior to street running don't they?

I'm not sure those rails will be able to be moved very far... it looks as if the OLE poles are to be in the middle and not strung from the walls, so doesn't give a lot of space to move them. Maybe it's do do with the drainage being all down one side?

And am wondering why the sleepers change from concrete to wood?

Good points both. It does seem tight in the southbound direction but you raise a good point about OHLE and drainage. Also the switch to wooden sleepers intrigued me too. Certainly they're concrete emerging from the Wilmslow Road Tunnel, so my theory about using wood in tunnels is blown.

Pls dnt srt usg txt spk. ts lzy & atyscl.

Its not lazy and its not text speak (this is coming from someone who detests mobile phones) Using the three letter codes makes sense.

Could Metrolink/TfGM not make a lot of money if they covered up that cutting and built apartments on top? They'd make money through selling/renting and also the residents would be likely to use the tram ... win win!

Assorted comments and questions.

1. The M5000 vehicles have cab doors for driver entry and egress. The assumption would be that these would be platform side for leading and trailing cabs. The Frankfurter trams travel on the right. The seating position is the same as the M5000 - it has not been transposed to the offside for UK working. The assumption therefore is that German and English trams have cab doors on opposite sides. Is this correct?

2. I have counted 8 different rail mount combinations on the Manchester system.

Note that under the Didsbury Road bridge, some concrete channelling is in place, seen nowhere else.

Lengths of wooden sleepers appear for no apparent reason. One assumption
would be that equipment is fitted between the rails at that point.

3. I also suspect that the in-cutting tracks are in their final position, as close to the wall as a platform edge. Yet no speed limit signs has been erected.

4. On the WCML, tunnels were remodelled to have a concrete floor, to which the track was bolted. The Slug and Lettuce track has been ballasted, and wooden sleepers used.

A derailment, or fire, at that point will have difficult emergency vehicle access over ballast rather than a solid surface.

I'm not sure those rails will be able to be moved very far... it looks as if the OLE poles are to be in the middle and not strung from the walls, so doesn't give a lot of space to move them. Maybe it's do do with the drainage being all down one side?

And am wondering why the sleepers change from concrete to wood?

The reverse alignment is such that you would want to hug one side in the foreground to reduce the transition lengths into the tunnel / bridge in the background. If you think the wall is close, watch the OLE poles from a tram in Piccadilly Gardens!

As to the apparently random stretch of baseplated timber sleepers, it's got me and my colleagues in the field baffled too. My best guess is that they are filling a gap and will dissappear in due course.

Yup, the PSR's have "drive a tram day" sometimes when they get to do a lap of OT depot and back ;)

psr,s ?:banana:

Possibly a forummer from Metrolink would enlighten us, but do the stops as yet have three letter codes? eg Cornbrook=CRB etc, if not shall we complie one (saves constantly having to write the name of the stop out in full)...Airport codes in some cases are quite staright forawards eg Manchester= MAN, London Hearthrow=LHR, others are done phonetically, otherS Birmingham=BHX,Los Angeles= LAX, SanFrancisco=SFO, to start us off

Eccles=ECC
MediaCityUK=MCU
Bury=BRY

any more suggestions?

They have always had three letter codes:)

psr,s ?:banana:

Passenger Service Representatives?

As to the apparently random stretch of baseplated timber sleepers, it's got me and my colleagues in the field baffled too. My best guess is that they are filling a gap and will dissappear in due course.

Maybe sound reduction? Do the trams make less noise when going over small concrete sleepers with lots of ballast in the middle or over wooden sleepers with not so much ballast?

Could be I guess... But they wouldn't be going that fast through that curved tunnel would they? I wouldn't have thought the sleepers would make a noticeable difference to noise being transmitted to outside the tunnel..?

Assorted comments and questions.

1. The M5000 vehicles have cab doors for driver entry and egress. The assumption would be that these would be platform side for leading and trailing cabs. The Frankfurter trams travel on the right. The seating position is the same as the M5000 - it has not been transposed to the offside for UK working. The assumption therefore is that German and English trams have cab doors on opposite sides. Is this correct?




Our trams are nearly carbon copies of the Cologne ones. The internal seating on their's is different at the ends in that there isn't that huge grey thing behind the cab so there are 2 inward facing seats and the single seat at the front also faces inwards.

The platforms are usually side ones (in most cases)where the driver changes over so the cab door is on the offside for that reason. Although it's possibly the nearside to them) The other use for the door whether official or not is to have it open to let in fresh air in the summer. There even seems to be a doorstop on the door to allow this.I've seen loads of drivers doing this and the Inspectors don't say anything so it's obviously allowed. Stuttgart do this too. (Another thing they do there is sometimes wear white gloves and wipe down the cab screens when they get in! Explains why they are so immaculate.)

Maybe they didn't think it was worth changing it for ours which means that at many changeover points it's useless, especially at the Queens Road depot where it would save them trying to get through passengers.

Cost cutting maybe or the usual one size fits all...:lol: (like the new shelters)?

Could be I guess... But they wouldn't be going that fast through that curved tunnel would they? I wouldn't have thought the sleepers would make a noticeable difference to noise being transmitted to outside the tunnel..?

On the picture it seems they change when they come up by the side of the flats. But it looks as if it happens in other places too so maybe not the reason.

Passenger Service Representatives?

Permanent Speed Restrictions?

Maybe sound reduction? Do the trams make less noise when going over small concrete sleepers with lots of ballast in the middle or over wooden sleepers with not so much ballast?

Most railway noise is radiated noise between rail and wheel, and much better vibration mitigation systems exist than hoping a bit of wood will work!

Timber sleepers are generally only used:

- to replace concrete where a higher degree of elasticity in the sleeper (wood is springy) can compensate for a lack of ballast over a bridge deck, for instance.

- if you had to have something to screw to them

- if you had a lateral clearance problem (round a catchpit or manhole)

- if the rail you were using wasn't compatible with any known concrete sleeper (v. rare these days)

- if you were replacing some but not all of an existing run of wood.

None of these ideas appear to apply here!

Wood are actually worse in terms of holding an alignment than the twin-blocks, as they have less "end area".

The reason I said about the difference in noise is (not necessarily about wooden sleepers) but if you stand on Mosley Street trams going inwards are much much quieter then the outbound ones. The reason for this is that they are riding over tarmac going in and stone blocks going out.

After a flying visit yesterday, here's a very quick update from Oldham - much orange jacketed labouring going on at Mumps, and if you look closely at the background, you can see at least one track now runs down from Mumps Temporary to the Huddersfield road crossing. (Only the one photo, sorry).

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/lostinfens/metrolink%20construction/P4120118.jpg

Ideal spot to go for a pint as the black swan(if still open) is just to the left of this picture if/when the trams start going upto shaw.:cheers::banana:

They have always had three letter codes:)
c

Thing is no body was sure, and if they did what they were..:nuts:

Timber sleepers are generally only used:
...

- if you had to have something to screw to them
...


With regards to the use of wooden sleepers:

Perhaps it is for no other reason than they had some left over?

I imagine they must have ordered some for the places were they DO have things to screw to them and maybe the minimum order quantity was greater than the number they actually required

With regards to the use of wooden sleepers:

Perhaps it is for no other reason than they had some left over?

I imagine they must have ordered some for the places were they DO have things to screw to them and maybe the minimum order quantity was greater than the number they actually required

Possibly, but it's a funny place to put them (they have a shorter life than concrete ones, so you'd want to put them somewhere that's easy to get to (well, I would).

Our trams are nearly carbon copies of the Cologne ones. The internal seating on their's is different at the ends in that there isn't that huge grey thing behind the cab so there are 2 inward facing seats and the single seat at the front also faces inwards.

The platforms are usually side ones (in most cases)where the driver changes over so the cab door is on the offside for that reason. Although it's possibly the nearside to them) The other use for the door whether official or not is to have it open to let in fresh air in the summer. There even seems to be a doorstop on the door to allow this.I've seen loads of drivers doing this and the Inspectors don't say anything so it's obviously allowed. Stuttgart do this too. (Another thing they do there is sometimes wear white gloves and wipe down the cab screens when they get in! Explains why they are so immaculate.)

Maybe they didn't think it was worth changing it for ours which means that at many changeover points it's useless, especially at the Queens Road depot where it would save them trying to get through passengers.

Cost cutting maybe or the usual one size fits all...:lol: (like the new shelters)?

Just for clarification - you are saying that the door positioning of UK and German Bombardier vehicles is identical?

In other words all Bombardier trams are left hand drive, in some sense?

Just for clarification - you are saying that the door positioning of UK and German Bombardier vehicles is identical?

In other words all Bombardier trams are left hand drive, in some sense?

The door is in the same position because its not worth Bombardier offering it on both sides.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5190/5622841754_42bd45c867_z.jpg

oops, double post

Possibly, but it's a funny place to put them (they have a shorter life than concrete ones, so you'd want to put them somewhere that's easy to get to (well, I would).

Could it be that that location has been identified as weak and unable to cope with a team and concrete? So they used wood instead to reduce the stresses? Maybe explain no slab track in the tunnel too?

Could it be that that location has been identified as weak and unable to cope with a team and concrete? So they used wood instead to reduce the stresses? Maybe explain no slab track in the tunnel too?

Slab track would be the best solution (lower and more even distibution of bearing pressure) if the formation or structure is weak, it would allow a managed solution to vibration, and the alignment could be managed better than ballasted track.

Phase 1 & 2 are as follows. Bury BRY, Radcliffe RAD, Whitefield WFD, Besses-o-th-Barn BOB, Prestwich PRS, Heaton Park HPK, Bowker Vale BKV, Crumpsall CRP, Abraham Moss I don't know, Woodlands Road WDL, Victoria VIC, Shudehill SHL, Market Street MKT, Piccadilly Gardens PCG, Piccadilly PIC, Mosley Street MST, St Peters Square SPS, GMex was GMX I don't know what Deansgate Castlefield is, Cornbrook CNK, Trafford Bar TFB, Old Trafford OLD, Stretford STR, Dane Road DAN, Sale SAL, Brooklands BRK, Timperley TMP, Navigation Road NAV, Altrincham ALT, Pomona POM, Exchange Quay EXQ, Salford Quays SAQ, Anchorage ANC, Harbour City HBC, Broadway BDW, Langworthy LGW, Weaste WST, Ladywell LDW and Eccles ECC. I can't comment on the newer and Phase 3 stops but perhaps given the precedents set above someone can give educated guesses.

They are all correct Freel, these are your missing ones, Deansgate Castlefield DCF, Abraham Moss ABM, MediaCityUK MEC, Firswood FIR, Chorlton CHO, St Werburghs Rd SWB

Slab track would be the best solution (lower and more even distibution of bearing pressure) if the formation or structure is weak, it would allow a managed solution to vibration, and the alignment could be managed better than ballasted track.

That's me out of ideas. Thanks for the technical help :-)

Hi all

Wow u don't look at this website for a day and they are six pages be added, anywhere notice u been taking about Metrolink codes so I been thinking about Oldham & Rochdale line, what codes they what have so here what I think they will be.

Monsall - Mon?
Central Park - CTP?
Dean Lane - Dea or DLE?
Failsworth - Fai?
Hollinwood - Hol or HOW?
South Chadderton - Sou or SCD (I'm unsure about that one)
Freehold - Fre?
Oldham Mumps - Old or OLM?
Derker - Der?
Shaw & Crompton - Shaw or Scp?
Newhey - New?
Milnrow - Mil
Kingsway - Kin?
Newbold - New (but Newhey will be call that so) NEB?
Rochdale - Roc

:banana:

That's me out of ideas. Thanks for the technical help :-)


That'll be 10 guineas ...

I would have to go with weight distribution, its the only way in which they are superior. Presumably the smaller footprint of the concrete sleepers would lie alarmingly close to the drainage concentrated weight may collapse it since ths ballast will also be shallow. The wooden ones however have a much much larger footprint. Like snowshoes.

Hi all

Wow u don't look at this website for a day and they are six pages be added, anywhere notice u been taking about Metrolink codes so I been thinking about Oldham & Rochdale line, what codes they what have so here what I think they will be.

Monsall - Mon?
Central Park - CTP?
Dean Lane - Dea or DLE?
Failsworth - Fai?
Hollinwood - Hol or HOW?
South Chadderton - Sou or SCD (I'm unsure about that one)
Freehold - Fre?
Oldham Mumps - Old or OLM?
Derker - Der?
Shaw & Crompton - Shaw or Scp?
Newhey - New?
Milnrow - Mil
Kingsway - Kin?
Newbold - New (but Newhey will be call that so) NEB?
Rochdale - Roc

:banana:

I can see your cunning method there. Surely you should have said CEN for Central Park ;-)

One thing I forget Dean Lane will't be called that it will be called Newton Heath and Moston but it not in Moston so it should really called Newton Heath?, anywhere the code for that is probably NHM?

Just for clarification - you are saying that the door positioning of UK and German Bombardier vehicles is identical?

In other words all Bombardier trams are left hand drive, in some sense?

Hardly worth the expense of changing it though as many others stops would then be wrong sided! Well a few anyway.

Central Park well either be CRAP our CERN.

Or have I misunderstood?

deleted

Please please do not start using those bloody codes on here.

Ok airports yes, as this is possibly recognizable by most people, even if it's only because it's attached to their baggage.

But not blady tram stations/stops/halts.

Please.

"Our City, Your City" sounds great until you realise it sounds like the presumptuous bollix of the marketing Dept of an expensively manicured Wendy ball club.

Its not lazy and its not text speak (this is coming from someone who detests mobile phones) Using the three letter codes makes sense.Only to those who know the system. I can't remember the ones you regularly quote now, please don't make it even more incomprehensible! It may be less typing for you but takes time for those of us less familiar with the codes to work out what they mean. (Often to the point of not bothering and scrolling to the next post in the thread)

If you want to speak in code that's your choice but bear in mind that people may not want to read it.

Please please do not start using those bloody codes on here.

Ok airports yes, as this is possibly recognizable by most people, even if it's only because it's attached to their baggage.

But not blady tram stations/stops/halts.

Please.

Y They R GR8 :lol:

Those wooden sleepers look like a temporary job to me. i'd be very surprised if they're still there when testing starts.

Please please do not start using those bloody codes on here.


I agree. Imagine how off putting it will be for new users or people who don't check the forum often?

This thread must have hundreds of people who read it every so often but never post.

Only to those who know the system. I can't remember the ones you regularly quote now, please don't make it even more incomprehensible! It may be less typing for you but takes time for those of us less familiar with the codes to work out what they mean. (Often to the point of not bothering and scrolling to the next post in the thread)

If you want to speak in code that's your choice but bear in mind that people may not want to read it.

Oh come on, surely you can see the great time savings in typing BRY rather than laboriously typing out Bury?

Oh come on, surely you can see the great time savings in typing BRY rather than laboriously typing out Bury?


:lol:

As for Our City, Your City, MediaCityUK... it always annoyed me to see that on the SML line trams for some reason!

They should have decked one out with "Our Burgh, Your Burgh, St Werburghs".

:lol:


They should have decked one out with "Our Burgh, Your Burgh, St Werburghs".

Now that I do like!

They should have decked one out with "Our Burgh, Your Burgh, St Werburghs".

Love it! :lol:

:lol:

As for Our City, Your City, MediaCityUK... it always annoyed me to see that on the SML line trams for some reason!

They should have decked one out with "Our Burgh, Your Burgh, St Werburghs".

U could do one for Oldham

Our Crap town, Soon Your crap town, Oldham Town Centre "please don't go to that Town" :lol:

U could do one for Oldham

Our Crap town, Soon Your crap town, Oldham Town Centre "please don't go to that Town" :lol:

Now that is a winner slogan! :banana:

Here's a few pix of the budding alignment North of Derker.

Seen from Sholver, it runs left <> right across the centre of these next 2 shots :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9374.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9373.jpg

Descending Cop Road, the tramway comes into closer view :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9384.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9386.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9387.jpg

Approaching Bullcote Bridge :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9388.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9391.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9395.jpg

Looking North, the poles are in, but no catenary as yet :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9399.jpg

This is the current limit of the catenary, looking South. It has just been loosely thrown over at present, and extends only from here to Bell Street in Oldham :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9401.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9404.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9411.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9412.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9415.jpg

The catenary here passes Derker station, above centre right :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9416.jpg

And for now, ends at the vanishing point of this shot, where Bell Street meets Brook Street :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9417.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9418.jpg

-/--
:banana:

^^^ Single wire catenery? :dunno:

^^^ Single wire catenery? :dunno:

I was thinking that.

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Rochdale/Derker/101_9399.jpg
I'm sure that cost was the primary reason behind having the single, central electrification masts, but they will be great for clear photographs of trams in this scenic area.

Here's a few pix of the budding alignment North of Derker.



I think I'm going to spend much of my retirement just riding up and down this line :cheers:

I'm sure that cost was the primary reason behind having the single, central electrification masts, but they will be great for clear photographs of trams in this scenic area.

I'm sure the explanation is much more technical then that.
On the SML for instance, they have single central poles on the straightish sections and double poles at the bends, oh and from Chorlton to St Werburghs!

Thanks for the encouraging comments, Tractor & Chorlton - yes, that's my retirement plan also, but I might risk the other lines as well!!

:cheers:

And cheers, Fallow, for those pics around Didsbury. I might borrow a couple if ok, especially those of the parallel Trans-Pennine Trail - it's looking great. I do hope that this time they will not put an opaque barrier here, that kills the lineside views and provides a hidden den for anti-social behaviour - like they did with the already grafitti-ridden excrescence just South of Chorlton.

Anyway, back in Oldham, this now seems to be the only missing bit of track on Phase 3a - seems strange to think that a couple of years ago we would have been standing underneath a viaduct! :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9429.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9430.jpg

You're right about only one line having points and the other plain line throughout - very intriguing :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9431.jpg

Unless perhaps they are going to put a crossover in the missing bit, and then when the time comes, keep the service going by a bit of temporary single-line running while they do the other one? :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9432.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9442.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9443.jpg

Lancashire now has a through road to Yorkshire again, re-opened this week :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9435.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9440.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9437.jpg

Now with its very own level crossing :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9372.jpg

Finally, it's 'spot the new station' time. Which one is this? :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Hollinwood/101_9362.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Hollinwood/101_9361.jpg

:banana:

Great pics as always JdR

Driver Training due to commence week beginning April 23rd on the Oldham line.


Please don't blame me if nothing happens on that date!! But it could be like those exciting times just before the SML opened!!

:banana::banana:

Ok, bit of an update... I am told that the ORL gets handed over to Metrolink on the 24th April. From then the driver trainers will practise, before then doing the full driver training from the 30th. :banana::banana:

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps/101_9429.jpg


And that's catenary, not single wire. Maybe wrong, but isn't catenary for higher speeds?

I agree. Imagine how off putting it will be for new users or people who don't check the forum often?

This thread must have hundreds of people who read it every so often but never post.

Not really most are recognisable, and given that many airport codes are not, GRU? (without looking it up on the web) :nuts::nuts:

I'm sure that cost was the primary reason behind having the single, central electrification masts, but they will be great for clear photographs of trams in this scenic area.

yes I agree much more pleasing on the eye, I wish they were more widely used.

yes I agree much more pleasing on the eye, I wish they were more widely used.

To me, the single central poles make it look like a tramway a lot more than the railway-style side poles; that's why I like them so much.

Ok, bit of an update... I am told that the ORL gets handed over to Metrolink on the 24th April. From then the driver trainers will practise, before then doing the full driver training from the 30th. :banana::banana:

That gives us a rough possible starting date of June 11th at the earliest then if my figures are correct?

**EDIT**

Actually will they spend first few weeks training out the depot and the latter few doing St Werbrugh's Road to Victoria, emptying out the carry on straight to Oldham?

Passenger Service Representatives?

psr,s do not drive trams on the system or at old trafford.:banana:

[QUOTE

Finally, it's 'spot the new station' time. Which one is this? :-

:banana:[/QUOTE]


You could start a weekly mystery picture competition. Where on the metrolink was I this week? Is this one Hollinwood or is it a trick question?

First post on here, but first one I've felt I've been able to contribute to! (long time lurker) - if the station codes are the same as the ones TfGM publish on datagm.org.uk, then these are all the codes for the currently released station list (they all share a prefix of '9400ZZMA' which I believe uniquely identifies them in the national dataset)

Abraham Moss ABM
Altrincham Station ALT
Anchorage ANC
Brooklands BKS
Besses o'th'barn BOB
Bowker Vale BOW
Bury Interchange BUR
Broadway BWY
Chorlton Station CHO
Cornbrook CRN
Crumpsall CRU
Central Park Station CTP
Dane Road DNE
Eccles ECC
Exchange Quay EXC
Firswood Station FIR
Deansgate-Castlefield GMX
Harbour City HCY
Heaton Park HEA
Ladywell LDY
Langworthy LWY
MediaCityUK MCU
Market Street MKT
Monsall Station MON
Mosley Street MOS
Navigation Road NAV
Old Trafford OLD
Piccadilly Gardens PGD
Piccadilly Station PIC
Pomona POM
Prestwich PWC
Radcliffe RAD
Stretford SFD
Shudehill SHU
Sale SLE
Salford Quays SQY
St Peters Square STP
St Werburgh's Rd Station STW
Timperley TIM
Trafford Bar TRA
Victoria Station VIC
Woodlands Road WDS
Whitefield WFD
Weaste WST

but completely agree that they're useless for a layperson to interpret, especially as there's no consensus to what the right code is (people on here have used different codes, so it's entirely possible that there are different codes in use for the same stop!)

Load of mistakes in that, some of them are....

Brooklands BKV
Bowker BKV
Traff Bar TFB
Bury MDC
Moseley St MST
Salford Quays SFQ
Picc Gardens PCG
Harbour City HBC
Cornbrook CNK
Exchange Q EXQ
Crumpsall CRP
Woodlands WDL
Dane Rd DAN
Sale SAL

....and loads more. One of the earlier list had most of them right.

Load of mistakes in that, some of them are....

Brooklands BKV
Bowker BKV
Traff Bar TFB
Bury MDC
Moseley St MST
Salford Quays SFQ
Picc Gardens PCG
Harbour City HBC
Cornbrook CNK
Exchange Q EXQ
Crumpsall CRP
Woodlands WDL
Dane Rd DAN
Sale SAL

....and loads more. One of the earlier list had most of them right.

The list comes direct from TfGM... Where does your list come from? The point is that I guess there's lots of different codes, the one I got is what TfGM submit to DfT and Traveline and they're the codes used in the timetable data

The list comes direct from TfGM... Where does your list come from? The point is that I guess there's lots of different codes, the one I got is what TfGM submit to DfT and Traveline and they're the codes used in the timetable data

:lol:

That's a good start Laser2k; your first post and someone comes in and shoots you down!

Have a beer:cheers:

To me, the single central poles make it look like a tramway a lot more than the railway-style side poles; that's why I like them so much.

I'd suggest a key reason for not using central poles is the big railway's once-upon-a-time high use of track relaying machines or TRMs (http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/photo/scaled/9118/) (which run on the other line).

The one relaying site on the big railway I can remember which had an OLE mast between the tracks ended up over-running when the tracklayer driver forgot and ran into it at about 20mph, leading jib loaded with a Wacker Pack. Sadly the upright supported a boom which spanned the Fast Lines near Euston. After the ensuing possession over-run, the design office recovered the ID plate and it became the "G-02-28 Award for Site Management". G-02-28A now stands in its place.

ty ;)

The DataGM website is potentially interesting imo, recently they changed the format of the Metrolink timetable data (Cunningly disguised as 'bus stops and schedules') so no 'TMS' parts of the system were included (so MediaCity trams appeared to finish at Harbour City and St Werburgh's Road ones at Trafford Bar) and then they changed them again to include platform data (and reintroducing the TMS parts of the system) so I'm wondering if there's been back-office progress on TMS and it's now generating their feed for Traveline...

*idle thoughts*

Also, I live near the New Islington stop and I'm sure they've been doing some tidying round there, but nothing definite yet!

Loving the pics of mumps and the shaw line is coming on nicely and the black swan is still there(cream building in JDRs second set 6th pic).

Just had a peruse of the DataGM site and the file references at
http://datagm.org.uk/package/gtfs-schedule-data
is awesome.
Direct Link
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1420387/gmpte_gtfs.zip
Looks like a direct DB dump from somewhere in GMPTE/TfGM

Looks like a direct DB dump from somewhere in GMPTE/TfGM

Nah, not that feed. That was someone's attempt at taking the raw data that TfGM do provide and converting it into the much more useful GTFS file format as a one off, so it's out of date. The raw feed is something called ATCO-CIF which is a horrendous file format to work with :) The raw DB dump is called 'Bus stops and schedules' and TfGM update it weekly

The OpenDataManchester people have a good relationship with TfGM and they sometimes turn up to give talks at their monthly sessions - there's been talk about getting feeds from the PIDs exposed, but as we all know, that's dependent on TMS :) (apparently I can't post links as a new user, but Google for OpenDataManchester to find their site and there's a blogpost about the last TfGM meeting there)

First post on here, but first one I've felt I've been able to contribute to! (long time lurker) - if the station codes are the same as the ones TfGM publish on datagm.org.uk, then these are all the codes for the currently released station list (they all share a prefix of '9400ZZMA' which I believe uniquely identifies them in the national dataset)

Abraham Moss ABM
Altrincham Station ALT
Anchorage ANC
Brooklands BKS
Besses o'th'barn BOB
Bowker Vale BOW
Bury Interchange BUR
Broadway BWY
Chorlton Station CHO
Cornbrook CRN
Crumpsall CRU
Central Park Station CTP
Dane Road DNE
Eccles ECC
Exchange Quay EXC
Firswood Station FIR
Deansgate-Castlefield GMX
Harbour City HCY
Heaton Park HEA
Ladywell LDY
Langworthy LWY
MediaCityUK MCU
Market Street MKT
Monsall Station MON
Mosley Street MOS
Navigation Road NAV
Old Trafford OLD
Piccadilly Gardens PGD
Piccadilly Station PIC
Pomona POM
Prestwich PWC
Radcliffe RAD
Stretford SFD
Shudehill SHU
Sale SLE
Salford Quays SQY
St Peters Square STP
St Werburgh's Rd Station STW
Timperley TIM
Trafford Bar TRA
Victoria Station VIC
Woodlands Road WDS
Whitefield WFD
Weaste WST

but completely agree that they're useless for a layperson to interpret, especially as there's no consensus to what the right code is (people on here have used different codes, so it's entirely possible that there are different codes in use for the same stop!)

Welcome Laser2k great find, I might email Metrolink to get a defintive list, ( but we know they read this forum anyway)

Nice pics of what is going to be the most scenic line by far. Does anyone know if the poles are going to be painted in the colour of the Oldham line, like the ones in Droylsden?

Load of mistakes in that, some of them are....

Brooklands BKV
Bowker BKV
Traff Bar TFB
Bury MDC
Moseley St MST
Salford Quays SFQ
Picc Gardens PCG
Harbour City HBC
Cornbrook CNK
Exchange Q EXQ
Crumpsall CRP
Woodlands WDL
Dane Rd DAN
Sale SAL

....and loads more. One of the earlier list had most of them right.

Dunno where you got that data, but Bury has been BUR, and Sale has been SLE since 1992, and also prior to that.

Welcome aboard laser. Your reference to datagm.org led me on a bit of a surf. I finally ended up at the following site which has some fantastic maps:

http://www.itoworld.com/map/main

There are some great maps for the railway networks. I found this one in particular very fastinating:

http://www.itoworld.com/map/26#fullscreen

Hi

Good picture of Shaw and Mumps Johnny:cheers:

Ok, bit of an update... I am told that the ORL gets handed over to Metrolink on the 24th April. From then the driver trainers will practise, before then doing the full driver training from the 30th. :banana::banana:

So we will't see any trams on the Oldham line until 30th April then, also that Engineering works on 28 & 29 April 2012 for Bury Line, is that to do with Oldham line like are they testing tram on the crossover at Irk Valley junction?

My Prediction for Oldham line to opened on 6th June start to look very good idea:)

:banana:

Nice pics of what is going to be the most scenic line by far. Does anyone know if the poles are going to be painted in the colour of the Oldham line, like the ones in Droylsden?

^^^^ To asking ur question No, I think the only did that on East Manchester line becuase it on road and that Street lights near by too?

psr,s do not drive trams on the system or at old trafford.:banana:

I was told that they have those fun days by someone high up in the PSR department management. :lol::lol:

...
So we will't see any trams on the Oldham line until 30th April then, also that Engineering works on 28 & 29 April 2012 for Bury Line, is that to do with Oldham line like are they testing tram on the crossover at Irk Valley junction?
...


Well you might see some before then... the line gets handed over 24th, then the driver trainers have to learn the line before the 30th, the date from which the rest of the drivers are trained on it. :banana:

The Bury line closure... no idea yet. I may ask one of my contacts :)

Where are we now with M5000's, was 3052 due on Saturday?

QUOTE="kriis101"]

Well you might see some before then... the line gets handed over 24th, then the driver trainers have to learn the line before the 30th, the date from which the rest of the drivers are trained on it. :banana:

The Bury line closure... no idea yet. I may ask one of my contacts :)[/QUOTE]

Fingers crossed.

Dunno where you got that data, but Bury has been BUR, and Sale has been SLE since 1992, and also prior to that.

Sorry to correct you but bury has always been bry.:nuts:

Nah, not that feed. That was someone's attempt at taking the raw data that TfGM do provide and converting it into the much more useful GTFS file format as a one off, so it's out of date. The raw feed is something called ATCO-CIF which is a horrendous file format to work with :) The raw DB dump is called 'Bus stops and schedules' and TfGM update it weekly

The OpenDataManchester people have a good relationship with TfGM and they sometimes turn up to give talks at their monthly sessions - there's been talk about getting feeds from the PIDs exposed, but as we all know, that's dependent on TMS :) (apparently I can't post links as a new user, but Google for OpenDataManchester to find their site and there's a blogpost about the last TfGM meeting there)

ATCO-CIF format specified here
http://travelinedata.org.uk/CIF/atco-cif-spec.pdf

If they can expose their PID data as an Internet API then there's some superb possibilities...

Had a letter through the door about the progress on the line out to East Didsbury. Nothing particularly interesting although overhead line poles will be going up in early May apparently, if that wasn't already known.

http://www.itoworld.com/map/main

http://www.itoworld.com/map/26#fullscreen

Wowser McTrouser HiFi - I hope "ScouseInManc" has seen these. I fear you may have discovered a whole new way for us to waste even more precious time! Confound you! LOL

Dunno where you got that data, but Bury has been BUR, and Sale has been SLE since 1992, and also prior to that.

May have been prior to that under BR, and TfGM & ATOC may still use these to describe the stations, but Metrolink's official code for Sale is SAL and Bury is BRY. One of the earlier lists posted had almost all of them right.

Soz if I sounded rude Laser, but these official codes are ones Ive had drummed into my head for a long time, and get screamed at if wrong :nuts:

Soz if I sounded rude Laser, but these official codes are ones Ive had drummed into my head for a long time, and get screamed at if wrong :nuts:

I'm just wondering what context those other codes are used in, if SLE (for example?) is used in their station lists and timetable feeds?

Nice to see the young ladies of today are big fans of urban transport networks:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6935212404_6e462cd9c9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/75964651@N03/6935212404/)
photo-4 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/75964651@N03/6935212404/) by scientist12 (http://www.flickr.com/people/75964651@N03/), on Flickr

It makes me feel like getting manchester metrolink tatooed on my ass :lol:

It makes me feel like getting manchester metrolink tatooed on my ass :lol:
With the rapid expansion going on, would it be big enough? ;)

I'm just wondering what context those other codes are used in, if SLE (for example?) is used in their station lists and timetable feeds?
In the CIF feeds its SLE! Actually prefixed with 9400ZZ and with a platform number suffix of 1 or 2
I've got an 'awk' script decoding the monthly MET CIF files already :-)

With the rapid expansion going on, would it be big enough? ;)

That appears to be undergoing expansion as well these days, hopefully not as rapid as the metrolink! :lol:

I was told that they have those fun days by someone high up in the PSR department management. :lol::lol:

sorry to disappoint but that is oh so not true

sorry to disappoint but that is oh so not true

Kriis I would sack your contact! Is 1011 still out and about? ;-)

Edit: actually, wait and see if he was right about the Oldham Line driver training.. if he is, don't sack him just yet! :-)

Kriis I would sack your contact! Is 1011 still out and about? ;-)

Edit: actually, wait and see if he was right about the Oldham Line driver training.. if he is, don't sack him just yet! :-)


That bit is true, so don't sack him just yet. Ask him about Etihad Campus though, that'll test him

And that's catenary, not single wire. Maybe wrong, but isn't catenary for higher speeds?

# Yes, motor, I was hoping the pictures would speak for themselves, it's Bell Street, the other end of the same catenary that I mentioned at Bullcote bridge in the first place!!!!! viz:-
= Johnny de Rivative; This is the current limit of the catenary, looking South. It has just been loosely thrown over at present, and extends only from here to Bell Street in Oldham

It seems to be 50 mph from Bell Street to at least Bullcote bridge, including Derker station, and then probably all the rest of the former Oldham Loop as far as the singling at Newbold, I would guess?

# Kriis, we better put Monday 23rd on hold until we hear more. Might try Thorpes Bridge at about 1030 on Tuesday 24th to see if anything is happening - Monday 30th deffo!

# Rip - I don't think there's a general policy on pole colours across Metrolink - seems to be down to individual local authortities. Tameside in particular has very strict and distinctive 'liveries' for street furniture as idents for its sub-areas. In the two of these that Metrolink penetrates, it's dark red for Droylsden and dark blue for Ashton. We've also noticed black in Rochdale and grey in East Manchester.

:banana:

sorry to disappoint but that is oh so not true

I will go re-ask the 4 PSR's that all mentioned the same thing individually then??

Kriis I would sack your contact! Is 1011 still out and about? ;-)

Edit: actually, wait and see if he was right about the Oldham Line driver training.. if he is, don't sack him just yet! :-)

Yeah 1011 is still around, no idea what is going on with those few that were to be removed from service....

And the ORL info was from a driver briefing sheet. Don't blame the messenger...

And cheers, Fallow, for those pics around Didsbury. I might borrow a couple if ok, especially those of the parallel Trans-Pennine Trail - it's looking great. I do hope that this time they will not put an opaque barrier here, that kills the lineside views and provides a hidden den for anti-social behaviour - like they did with the already grafitti-ridden excrescence just South of Chorlton.



Fill yer boots and if you need any more, just PM me.

Agree re. barrier: it looks excellent down there right now and it would be a shame on several levels to block the view. BTW, the rebuilt Sandhurst Road Bridge is a very smart affair (I have pics) but the pallasaide fence is b----y sharp. There has to be a fine dividing line between security and a safety hazard.

Neil

Well my mate told me about 5/6 weeks ago, that driver training would start about the middle of April for about 4 weeks then it would open very soon afterwards. That was just before one of the blockades at Irk Valley. He said that was only if all had gone to plan and seems there was a delay of a week, so far spot on. Again, if everything goes to plan trams will start rolling end of may, beginning of June.
But nothing more said of the ridiculous idea of turning an extra 12 minutes service back at Victoria from Oldham.

I will go re-ask the 4 PSR's that all mentioned the same thing individually then??

The 4 psr,s are winding you up lol
:banana:

Yeah 1011 is still around, no idea what is going on with those few that were to be removed from service....

And the ORL info was from a driver briefing sheet. Don't blame the messenger...

Sounds like they have pick the first tram to go but aren't in too much of a hurry. May make sense to get the addtitionals done first do the can run to Oldham then start withdrawing the bad T68's.

I will go re-ask the 4 PSR's that all mentioned the same thing individually then??

Yep, I would do if I were you.

The 4 psr,s are winding you up lol
:banana:

Well either 5 sources are incorrect or you are.... I'll take my side of the fence thanks...

Spotted some Thales engineers on high street with some kind of antenna on a stick. Must be TMS related I suppose.

Regarding the Didsbury cutting, I think the track is in its final position as they now seem to be working on the OLE supports between the tracks, so the track against the wall has nowhere to move to...

Next up...
East Manchester Line Video - Part 1, Piccadilly to Holt Town :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKFVRWeczcc

Alan Turing Way to Ashton Under Line in preparation...

Regarding the Didsbury cutting, I think the track is in its final position as they now seem to be working on the OLE supports between the tracks, so the track against the wall has nowhere to move to...

I think the photos give a false sense of how close to the wall the track actually is, to be honest.

I think the photos give a false sense of how close to the wall the track actually is, to be honest.

Yeah I do too actually.. Theres a little ledge at the bottom that makes it look closer too. Lots of orangemen in the cutting thus afternoon!

Kriis I would sack your contact!

One point Martin... you know my contact I think :p

One point Martin... you know my contact I think :p

Oh do I? Better not sack him then, I don't think he'd be too happy!! :)

Yeah I do too actually.. Theres a little ledge at the bottom that makes it look closer too. Lots of orangemen in the cutting thus afternoon!

My below pic taken 2nd April from School Lane bridge Martin --
looks like there's just enough room on that ledge to sit down and put your feet on the line :)
http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x324/sport47/Metrolink/P1020919.jpg

My below pic taken 2nd April from School Lane bridge Martin --
looks like there's just enough room on that ledge to sit down and put your feet on the line :)


Love it :-)

Yep I would say there's plenty of space for a tram against that wall, it's the perspective as you say.

Looks like they will use centrally mounted OLE poles in that cutting...

My below pic taken 2nd April from School Lane bridge Martin --
looks like there's just enough room on that ledge to sit down and put your feet on the line :)
http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x324/sport47/Metrolink/P1020919.jpg

Is that the wall's finish? Or will that ledge be used as a foundation for some brick/stone cladding as appears to have happenned on the other side?

Yeah 1011 is still around, no idea what is going on with those few that were to be removed from service....

And the ORL info was from a driver briefing sheet. Don't blame the messenger...

Last i heard was that 3025 was in QR with a fault.....then once that has been repaired and it is in service 1011 and 1004 will be withdrawn together....hence why they have been doubled together so much recently.

Last i heard was that 3025 was in QR with a fault.....then once that has been repaired and it is in service 1011 and 1004 will be withdrawn together....hence why they have been doubled together so much recently.

Just a few more days please.........

I'm wondering if the M5000 are going to suffer from the same problems like the 38ts (Tube Stock) did. Due to the outbreak of WWII, many of the newly delivered 38ts were stored out in the open for a few years. What it turned out happened is this storage time lead to problems later on in their life's and cut short the useful working lives.

Well my mate told me about 5/6 weeks ago, that driver training would start about the middle of April for about 4 weeks then it would open very soon afterwards. That was just before one of the blockades at Irk Valley. He said that was only if all had gone to plan and seems there was a delay of a week, so far spot on. Again, if everything goes to plan trams will start rolling end of may, beginning of June.
But nothing more said of the ridiculous idea of turning an extra 12 minutes service back at Victoria from Oldham.

If this is the case, then that could be exciting news. It'll be good to finally see a service back on the line again. Hopefully, East Manchester line won't be too far behind.

Have they connection the track from end of St Werburgh's Road line onto line to East Didsbury let?

Have they connection the track from end of St Werburgh's Road line onto line to East Didsbury let?

Nope.

Next up...
East Manchester Line Video - Part 1, Piccadilly to Holt Town :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKFVRWeczcc

Alan Turing Way to Ashton Under Line in preparation...

Nice one, disco - Merrill Street looks great at speed - can't wait to go gliding down underneath those wires! Can you see all the shoe leather I've left along there over the years?

Here's few shots of the budding alignment along the unadopted right-of-way, just South of Northern Moor.

There are bananas at the bottom of my garden! Neswick Walk :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9530.jpg

Farnhill Walk :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9528.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9527.jpg

Hawkridge Drive level crossing :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9533.jpg

The red sign prohibits Metrolink construction traffic from this posh area - it has to use the Council estate in the background :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9540.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9539.jpg

Looking North from Hawkridge towards Northern Moor tramstop - the pylon is near the M60 where Metrolink will fly over :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9535.jpg

The long alignment seen from further South at Kerscott Road level crossing - you can still see the pylon in the distance :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9543.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9549.jpg

I like this area - although suburban, it has an interesting feel to it, something to do with the unusually expansive width of the alignment. (Very much the opposite of the occlusive cutting at Didsbury!!)

:banana:

Is that the wall's finish? Or will that ledge be used as a foundation for some brick/stone cladding as appears to have happenned on the other side?

I don't know the answer to that Altfish but I'm near there fairly often so I'll keep a look out and post a pic if any cladding appears.

I don't know the answer to that Altfish but I'm near there fairly often so I'll keep a look out and post a pic if any cladding appears.

I think you will be waiting a long time. There are concrete and breeze block walls in other areas of 3a such as Trafford Bar Junction.

It makes no sense to add the cladding after the track is laid when you are about to start the overhead wiring.

I think you will be waiting a long time. There are concrete and breeze block walls in other areas of 3a such as Trafford Bar Junction.

It makes no sense to add the cladding after the track is laid when you are about to start the overhead wiring.

Agreed, it's fine finished concrete, they wouldn't have gone to the bother if it was going to be covered up.
There's plenty similar along new sections of line, like all the stops on the SML
except St Werbughs (gosh that was such an effort typing out St Werburghs! :lol: )

The concrete wall to the diveunder at Trafford Bar where the tram rises up to enter Trafford Bar station is now covered in graffiti. It looks horrible, really horrible.

The concrete wall to the diveunder at Trafford Bar where the tram rises up to enter Trafford Bar station is now covered in graffiti. It looks horrible, really horrible.

Stone effect cladding would not have helped

I didn't say it would. I just said it looks really horrible, which it does.

I just said it looks really horrible, which it does.

Agreed

No idea what drives people to make their hometown look scruffy. Of course some graffiti is art, but most of it is just scruffy scribes.

Nice one, disco - Merrill Street looks great at speed - can't wait to go gliding down underneath those wires! Can you see all the shoe leather I've left along there over the years?

Here's few shots of the budding alignment along the unadopted right-of-way, just South of Northern Moor.


Looking North from Hawkridge towards Northern Moor tramstop - the pylon is near the M60 where Metrolink will fly over :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9535.jpg

The long alignment seen from further South at Kerscott Road level crossing - you can still see the pylon in the distance :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9543.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Northern%20Moor/101_9549.jpg

I like this area - although suburban, it has an interesting feel to it, something to do with the unusually expansive width of the alignment. (Very much the opposite of the occlusive cutting at Didsbury!!)

:banana:

My disco would make short work of that alignment, do you think the men in hardhats would let me run my "camera vehicle" down that stretch ;-)

Agreed


I should really have said that in the other thread as its not construction related, only did as someone happened to mention it :-) I hope they clean it off soon.

re graffitti, I think I saw some Metrolink out on the Cornbrook viaduct painting over it with grey paint, which looks just as bad imo :(

re graffitti, I think I saw some Metrolink out on the Cornbrook viaduct painting over it with grey paint, which looks just as bad imo :(

I'm waiting for them to paint the Cornbrook viaduct in Metrolink yellow. Think it would really brighten it up!

It seems to have sprung up again over the last few weeks and its likely the same person who's been spraying the canal/irwell walls. I bet they've been targeting Network Rail equipment and boxes on the railway line next to it too. People can face jail for these offences and the amount of graffiti should warrant it. I'd hope the Police, Metrolink, Network Rail and British Waterways all have a plan in place to catch who ever it is. That area just past Cornbrook is targeted over and over again. It can't be that hard to catch them. Cameras would be a basic start.

Well either 5 sources are incorrect or you are.... I'll take my side of the fence thanks...

Your 5 sources are wrong i should know i work there.
:banana:

My disco would make short work of that alignment, do you think the men in hardhats would let me run my "camera vehicle" down that stretch ;-)

Well, he allowed me to take pix, but another one elsewhere allowed me on to the alignment briefly and then started panicking in case 'the boss' was watching!

I once had a thought of walking along these off-road alignments with a camcorder, then speeding it up later, hopefully to produce a similar effect to your car-mounted one. Not sure how that would quite work though, and of course very few of the proto-alignments are even walkable nowadays - all fenced off for obvious good reasons.

Here's a few updating shots around Wythenshawe Park tramstop.

Looking South from Kerscott Road level crossing, where after a long straight run of nearly a mile, the alignment will suddenly take a sharp turn to the left, by Baguley Brook :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9551.jpg

It's a slightly convoluted area, also involving quite a slew across Wythenshawe Road, and showing off a tram's flexibilities :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/IMG_0007.jpg

Looking back at the old footbridge over a culvert of Baguley Brook :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9556.jpg

The same place two years ago :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/100_4740-1.jpg

The old youth club, then in a Nissen hut used to stand in the foreground here, now rebuilt by Metrolink further back :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9560.jpg

The new club seen from Bordley Walk :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9553.jpg

The same shot in April 2010, when the old and the new stood side by side :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/100_4737.jpg

There is now a bigger gap in the houses on the other side :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9552.jpg

Where the long-blighted properties have now gone :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/100_9729.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/100_9728.jpg

Baguley Brook is looking a bit sorry for itself in these drought-ridden times, as the alignment now takes a swing to the right, forming the approach to the tramstop beside the Gardeners Arms :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9554.jpg

Looking back from the Gardeners Arms :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9562.jpg

And the stop site itself, seen from the top of Moor Road :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/101_9563.jpg

:banana:

Agreed

No idea what drives people to make their hometown look scruffy. Of course some graffiti is art, but most of it is just scruffy scribes.

When they were toddlers their parent(s) probably stuck every incomprehensible scribble they ever did on a sheet paper on the fridge with a door magnet for everyone to see and said "well done, aren't you clever". Now that they are grown-up (but with confidence issues, evidenced by the amount of time yobs seem to walk around, hand down their trousers, clutching their knackers in their hands - it's the same form of reassurance that a 3 year old reaches for!) they are looking for the same hit of approval and acceptance again, thus the concrete walls are nothing more than giant fridge doors for their immature scrawls!

Moor Road tramstop - the second bit of track & platform base on the Airport line – thanks for alerting us Martin! :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Moor%20Road/101_9567.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Moor%20Road/101_9566.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Moor%20Road/101_9572.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Moor%20Road/101_9571.jpg

Looking North from Altrincham Road :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Moor%20Road/101_9581.jpg

And South towards Baguley by Pocklington Drive – a brave new world is on the horizon! :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Moor%20Road/101_9583.jpg

I am not sure whether this plan has been superseded, but it adds a few more convolutions :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/IMG_0005.jpg

New bridge supporting struts beside the Baguley rail line :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/101_9584.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/101_9595.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/101_9590.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/101_9596.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/101_9591.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/bagblog0412.jpg . . Hospital.
GM Transport Campaign #14, April2012

:banana:

The Bury line closure is to renew all the bad track from ELR turn out to Bury so the 35 mph speed restriction will then be lifted. Nothing to do with Irk Valley.

The Bury line closure is to renew all the bad track from ELR turn out to Bury so the 35 mph speed restriction will then be lifted. Nothing to do with Irk Valley.


Ditto :cheers:

I guess it makes sense, with all the other platforms built use the specialist team to build the airport platforms rather than break them up and reform them in three years time.

Hi

I took pictures at Mumps Metrolink stop which I will post them later and at Mumps they have the sign up know.

:banana:

Cool!! What does it say??

Cool!! What does it say??

What on the sign "Oldham Mumps" but my phone don't one them sending them to my email address?

Next up...
East Manchester Line Video - Part 1, Piccadilly to Holt Town :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKFVRWeczcc

Alan Turing Way to Ashton Under Line in preparation...

There you go! 15 minutes of On Street Tram Route, all the way from Asda to Ikea ;-)
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9bbpNJKONc

What on the sign "Oldham Mumps" but my phone don't one them sending them to my email address?


Was wondering if it would say something like "Oldham Mumps (Temporary)", but I guess that would just be confusing!

Was wondering if it would say something like "Oldham Mumps (Temporary)", but I guess that would just be confusing!

^^^^ I through it will say that to but it probably so that the can use that sign for Oldham Mumps stop for 3b.

Anywhere here are them pics of Oldham Mumps

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/6941288510_c48cf387fb_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941288510/)
Oldham Mumps stop (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941288510/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6941284188_f07bd03aaf_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941284188/)
Oldham Mumps stop 2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941284188/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/7087644445_e5e9801e39_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087644445/)
Oldham Mumps stop 3 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087644445/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7132/6941572024_794196ed3a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941572024/)
Oldham Mumps stop 4 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941572024/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7087643989_0bac470f9d_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087643989/)
Oldham Mumps stop 5 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087643989/)

:banana:

And few more

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5461/7087352045_d3ff013a9c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087352045/)
Metrolink sign at Mumps (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087352045/)

^^^^ The Sign say "trams to All destinations"

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5072/7087643761_95e286bc82_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087643761/)
Metrolink sign at Mumps 2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087643761/)

^^^^ The Sign just say "Metrolink"

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5276/6941570960_9c40e47325_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941570960/)
Metrolink line to Manchester (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941570960/)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5469/7087643493_d232dede06_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087643493/)
Metrolink line to Manchester 2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087643493/)

:banana:

When we start seeing ticket machines being installed. We'll know were not far off from opening.

P.S. Good pics!!!

And is two pics are looking ahead of Mumps by Oldham way Bypass

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/6941299334_4c3c91914f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941299334/)
Oldham way (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941299334/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/7087366169_348d96b9c2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087366169/)
Oldham way and Metrolink stop (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/7087366169/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/

I hope u like all the pics I take today.

:banana::banana::banana:

I saw this in Oldham Chronicle :ohno:

Metrolink work halted by attack on contractor

WORK on Metrolink ground to a halt after an early-morning attack on a United Utilities contractor.

The male employee was carrying out town-centre Metrolink work when he was grabbed by a man on the street, in front of shocked colleagues, at around 7.30am, yesterday.

The incident happened on Southgate Street, Oldham, near the eastern section of Union Street, which is currently closed for utility works.

A United Utilities spokesman said: “The employee was not seriously hurt and this was an isolated incident. Work is continuing in the area.”

Greater Manchester Police said the incident has not been formally reported as an assault.

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/68822/metrolink-work-halted-by-attack-on-contractor

Nice photos Andrew! Now someone needs to get down (up?) there with a zoom lens, please! :-)

Nice photos Andrew! Now someone needs to get down (up?) there with a zoom lens, please! :-)

I've got a x35 times optical zoom, tho not up for a few days yet!

This is a zoom of Andrew's pic, not clear but I am thinking it shows us a little sufffix 'temporary?

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps%20Temporary/April2012ro2.jpg

Great pics Andrew, and your fly-through, Disco is fantabulata!

It shows something which is infuriating local residents again at present, namely no less than three new contraflows between Clayton and Edge Lane, long after all the road works appeared to be finished. But all that's happened in each location is that a little oblong piece of tarmac and re-bar has been cut away between the rails, and then apparently left unattended with nobody doing anything, and causing humungous delays for about the last two months!

Probably a question for Freel, but I am wondering whether it is something to do with TMS, as the cut-outs have a little box in the middle, and are in advance of traffic lights which might be called ahead by the approaching LRV?

:banana:

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Oldham/Mumps%20Temporary/April2012ro2-1.jpg

That's the type of image Motor and I use to suss out approaching destinations anyway!!

No CSI / Spooks type de-pixelating software Johnny? :D :D :D

( looks like it simply says Oldham Mumps to me ;) )

The line is the underscore you get on the signs. (well from my eyes)

Johnny The sign at Oldham Mumps say "Oldham Mumps" as I was surprise it didn't say temporary on it but the probably reuse the sign for Oldham Mumps stop on 3B line.

Easier to click the link to Andrew's Flickr profile and look at the largest version of the image. The Oldham Mumps is visible that way!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/6941288510_c48cf387fb_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941288510/)
Oldham Mumps stop (http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolink_work/6941288510/)

Just wondering, where is the Mumps turnback crossover? Is it before the stop or after it so it operates like St Werburgh's??

Just wondering, where is the Mumps turnback crossover? Is it before the stop or after it so it operates like St Werburgh's??

Is after Mumps stop before it reach the road Kriis.

Is after Mumps stop before it reach the road Kriis.

ah thanks :D

^^^ that's a bit more clearer. Oldham Mumps. :)

I think that 'tagline/line' is just the overhead wire in shot!

I think that 'tagline/line' is just the overhead wire in shot!

Is it picture called Oldham Mumps stop 5? if so then yea wythenshawe u allway seen them going past Freehold alot.

It shows something which is infuriating local residents again at present, namely no less than three new contraflows between Clayton and Edge Lane, long after all the road works appeared to be finished. But all that's happened in each location is that a little oblong piece of tarmac and re-bar has been cut away between the rails, and then apparently left unattended with nobody doing anything, and causing humungous delays for about the last two months!

Probably a question for Freel, but I am wondering whether it is something to do with TMS, as the cut-outs have a little box in the middle, and are in advance of traffic lights which might be called ahead by the approaching LRV?

:banana:

I'd noticed those work sites over the last few weeks and wondered what they were for. I don't think they are anything to do with TMS as the street sections generally just use cable loops laid between the rails and radio based 'virtual' loops. I think it's more likely they may be rail drainage boxes where the rail groove drains into the drainage system.

Just got back from working daan saaf & had 3 pages of brilliant updates from you all.

Great stuff - thanks. Really love the fly-thru's too Disco - well done :)

There you go! 15 minutes of On Street Tram Route, all the way from Asda to Ikea ;-)
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9bbpNJKONc

Great videos Steve. I drive across Ashton Moss every day in my D3 and get caught up in the works both there and on Altrincham Road travelling to and from work.

Thanks for the picture updates Johnny and Andrew - much appreciated.

Great videos Steve. I drive across Ashton Moss every day in my D3 and get caught up in the works both there and on Altrincham Road travelling to and from work.

I second that Steve - great stuff. Ashton Moss will be my station of choice (I live over the hill to the left). I manage to avoid the chaos of Droylsden and Ashton during my commute but get snarled up (in a minor sense) on Oldham bypass on my way to Heywood.

# Cheers Freel. (Whatever it is, I wish they would get a move on and open the road again!!)

# Yes it’s ‘Oldham Mumps’ simpliciter. The phantom ‘strap line’ is the overhead line! But it does seem to imply that life as we know it is imminent, cheers ro2.

# A few bits and pieces. Disco’s fly-through reminded me that Audenshaw will soon be linked up at the Western end :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Ashton/Audenshaw/101_9445.jpg

And I will forgive them for this ugly barrier between Audenshaw and the Snipe, if, as it appears, it is going to become a vertical green. Please, please do the same at Piccadilly Gardens! :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Ashton/Audenshaw/101_9444.jpg

Zapping across to Wythenshawe, work has started on the new Interchange at Leningrad Square :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/101_9600.jpg

And back to Edge Lane for another sunset! :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Edge%20Lane/sunsedge.jpg

Does the coming of Metrolink stimulate regeneration? The shops next to the pub on the left have been derelict for years, but are now being done up with flats above. . .

:banana:

WILL BROUGHTON IN SALFORD EVER GET THE TRAM???

IT REALLY REALLY NEEDS IT, PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN MANCHESTER IS AWFUL

Greetings from Adelaide SA! First time ive been able to check the Metrolink construction thread for three weeks! Talk about Withdrawl simptoms LOL

Its all go it would seem, Glad to see I didnt miss the Oldham line opening while I was away

Keep up the good work all, be back on home turf next week.

In relation to the Audenshaw stop JdR. Is the land next to the stop going to be used for a park-and-ride once the contractors have moved on and the line is open?

Greetings from Adelaide SA! First time ive been able to check the Metrolink construction thread for three weeks! Talk about Withdrawl simptoms LOL

Its all go it would seem, Glad to see I didnt miss the Oldham line opening while I was away

Keep up the good work all, be back on home turf next week.

# Greetings, Tony - I thought things had gone a bit quiet on the 'Local Lad' front - not so local at the moment! Did you get to see the tram system in Melbourne? - probably the one thing which would tempt me down under ( apart from Neighbours and Home and Away of course!).

# Markydeedrop - yes there would certainly be plenty of room there - I have a note somewhere of how many 1930's semis they demolished on that island, far more than apparently neessary for a tramstop. But I don't think a car park would be allowed in the middle of a gyratory, unfortunately, seems a waste.

Here's a few more comments I am making on my current revision of back pictures from the construction process :-

This 1997 render of Audenshaw tram station looks back towards Droylsden – (the big Co-op Hall on Market Street is top right-of-centre), and Manchester on the far horizon. This spot involved one of the largest demolitions of residential property, including the filling station and all the white rendered semi-detached houses behind it, within the gyratory and elsewhere :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Ashton/Audenshaw/ald_0005.jpg

Apart from the tramstop, I wonder what will be in the big open space thus created? There seem to be some mysterious square buildings within the trees . . .

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Ashton/Audenshaw/ald_0006.jpg

Ten years later, looking North-West in 2007, the whole gyratory area has been cleared ready and waiting (compare the half-rendered semi on the far left with the previous visuals). But by this time no funding was on the table for Phase 3b, Phase 3a having been separately re-instated in 2006. Prior to Darling’s earlier cancellation of the whole thing in 2004, GMPTE had already spent £200 million on advance works such as this, but it was 2010 before this area and the rest of 3b was finally ‘signed off’ for construction. I guess sometimes you have to take risks, and sometimes they pay off!! No such luck befell Mayne’s buses, however, which at the time of this photo were in the last year of plying their domestic hinterland :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Ashton/Audenshaw/ald_0002.jpg


(I am also looking at how slender and dainty those ohle poles look in the 'before-and-after' renders!)
:banana:

^^ all that building work and still no-bodys cleared that bit of yellow pipe out of that front garden :D

Going back a few posts, to the ugly barrier between Audenshaw and Snipe, I believe it may be an accoustic wall that greenery can grow up. Not only should it lessen the visual impact but quieten things down a bit for the houses the other side, though I'm suprised they've used it here, I've not seen them bother anywhere else on the network!

Nice pics of mumps tram station, just needs bananas now.

WILL BROUGHTON IN SALFORD EVER GET THE TRAM???

IT REALLY REALLY NEEDS IT, PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN MANCHESTER IS AWFUL

Under the 'Transport Innovation Fund' bid which came with the congestion charge, 'Bus Rapid Transit' was proposed for Bury New Road from the City Centre to Prestwich.

I haven't heard any proposals for anything else (such as Metrolink) to be rolled-out to Broughton. But never say never.

deleted post

wrong thread?

And I will forgive them for this ugly barrier between Audenshaw and the Snipe, if, as it appears, it is going to become a vertical green.
That's been there yonks. :)

Over the last few nights overhead running wires have been slung on the final section into Droylsden. Not yet spliced to the Edge Lane section :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9610.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9609.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9611.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9615.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9617.jpg

Cemetery Road tramstop :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9619.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9621.jpg

The CIS building looks on :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9624.jpg

Springth the woode new :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/Cemetery%20Road/101_9622.jpg

more later :banana:

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Wyth%20Park/100_9728.jpg

Baguley Brook is looking a bit sorry for itself in these drought-ridden times


That trolley is such a cliché!



http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Wythenshawe/Baguley/101_9590.jpg


:banana:

Great work, JdR! Do the bridge struts get back-filled?

(Edit: Of course they do, what else will hold the track up? Boy, am I stupid sometimes!)

Click on link to access full article. Click to enlarge full article.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/1973/coop2.jpg

http://www.timesnorth.co.uk/

Click on link to access full article. Click to enlarge full article.

http://www.timesnorth.co.uk/

For some reason when I look at that it's a blurry and unreadable :-(

Meanwhile, at the High School compound, the rebar for the bridge is well under way now. Another couple of weeks and it should get exciting!

Apropos of nothing, it dawned on me the other day that the bridge supports don't at the moment span the brook. The culvert passes away from the bridge.

Click on link to access full article. Click to enlarge full article.
http://www.timesnorth.co.uk/

Interesting quote at the end from the council Labour leader regarding city centre crossings...

"We need a second city crossing but there is nowhere to put a third"!

@Chorlton Bloke - interesting about the culvert not running between the bridge supports - I guess it's easier to build a bridge over nothing and then divert the something through it?

Interesting quote at the end from the council Labour leader regarding city centre crossings...

"We need a second city crossing but there is nowhere to put a third"!

@Chorlton Bloke - interesting about the culvert not running between the bridge supports - I guess it's easier to build a bridge over nothing and then divert the something through it?

Queue the return of the Deansgate campaign group.

I want to visit Melbourne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8wGl3CQOx4

I guess this type of thing will be (in theory) possible on all our lines once TMS is open... (though such a frequency would in our case mean thing had gone t*ts up and the trams were bunching!)

Though many people complain that the Melbourne system has too many stops. Some of their trams look a lot older than our T68s!

Sorry, off topic! :bash:

Here's the rest of the overhead line pics from Cemetery Road to Droylsden :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9627.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9629.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9630.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9634.jpg

Approaching the headshunt :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9637.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9638.jpg

The end of the trambaan (and of the overhead line for now). It is still physically possible to drive over it if necessary, although the distinct colouring discourages this :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9641.jpg

Turning back towards Droylsden :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9642.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9648.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9652.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/Droylsden/101_9649.jpg

:banana:

Freel, there are now even more of these little cut-outs than I realised, every few hundred yards between Clayton and Droylsden :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/zmiscellany/101_9614.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/zmiscellany/101_9613.jpg

Nothing much to them apparently, but all requiring contraflows, all causing chaos, and all apparently unattended for weeks on end!! (Although I did see a Total Network Solutions van taking an interest in one of them . . . )

# Sorry, boyami, can't help - what I don't know about bridgeworks and civil engineering in general would fill many libraries!!

# - but I do know why I want to go to Melbourne, and it's not for 'Sons and Daughters'!

:cheers:

The wires were up for a short stretch over Droylsden Stop and the Trambaan when I went past on the 16th but from there, there was a large gap back down towards The Buxton where the wires restarted (heading West)

For some reason when I look at that it's a blurry and unreadable :-(

Not your fault, the fonts too small so even zoomed in its too small to render at a readable font size.

Taken from the Future Metrolink section of www.metrolink.com


19/04/2012 - M56 temporary lane restrictions

Overnight closure of outside lane of both carriageways between junctions 3 and 4
There will be overnight closures of the outside lane on both carriageways of the M56 between junctions 3 and 4 on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th April. The lane closures will be in place between 9pm and 5am, and are to facilitate trial holes and drainage CCTV works in the central reservation at the location of the proposed new Metrolink bridge.


Hopefully they will start construction on the bridge soon! :banana:

Not your fault, the fonts too small so even zoomed in its too small to render at a readable font size.

It zoomed in fine for me, are you sure you're doing it right..?!

Freel, there are now even more of these little cut-outs than I realised, every few hundred yards between Clayton and Droylsden :-

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/Johnny_de_Rivative/zmiscellany/101_9613.jpg

Nothing much to them apparently, but all requiring contraflows, all causing chaos, and all apparently unattended for weeks on end!! (Although I did see a Total Network Solutions van taking an interest in one of them . . . )

:cheers:

They definitely look like track drains to me. I guess the reason the have been left is simply that they are waiting to complete all the drain connections before getting the 'Boys from the Blackstuff' in to surface round them all in one go.

It zoomed in fine for me, are you sure you're doing it right..?!

For me the text is streched with extra pixels so doesnt display right, could be because I have a large screen.

For me the text is streched with extra pixels so doesnt display right, could be because I have a large screen.

you must be dong it wrong, as when I zoom in the fonts redraw nice and neatly at the new resolution.

As far as the article is concerned, I absolutely do NOT like the view at the end which says "There will be a limit to tram expansion, ... as, for it to work, the routes have to come through the city centre" THAT just sums up the "stuff the boroughs, this system is for Manchester" view that has been permeating through the Metrolink for far too long... as far as I am aware the other 9 boroughs are paying into this at the same rates as Manchester but not seeing anywhere near the benefit. Have I got this right?

Interesting quote at the end from the council Labour leader regarding city centre crossings...

"We need a second city crossing but there is nowhere to put a third"!

The answer is simple - cut and cover! :banana:

As far as the article is concerned, I absolutely do NOT like the view at the end which says "There will be a limit to tram expansion, ... as, for it to work, the routes have to come through the city centre" THAT just sums up the "stuff the boroughs, this system is for Manchester" view that has been permeating through the Metrolink for far too long... as far as I am aware the other 9 boroughs are paying into this at the same rates as Manchester but not seeing anywhere near the benefit. Have I got this right?

The busiest route on the old Manchester tramways was the 53, which ran through the suburbs and never touched the centre. There may be a case, one day, for a 'modern 53.'

Anyway I have an idea that a third or even fourth city crossing could be contrived if they set their minds to it. For one thing there is no law that says they all have to cross in the same general axis.

The answer is simple - cut and cover! :banana:

With all the disruption that would cause.

Unlikely.

Maybe, just maybe, they think that 2 lines in the city centre will be sufficient for all feasible extensions and we should take them at their word?

What are we expecting the capacity of the city centre to be post TMS and 2CC?

Something in the region of about 80tph?

That is 16 paired lines at 10tph.

I doubt I will be alive if / when 2CC runs out of capacity.

The only requrirement would be if, for what ever reason, someone wanted to cross the city centre at right angles, but that has never been formally suggested in any TfGM/PTE plans has it?

The busiest route on the old Manchester tramways was the 53, which ran through the suburbs and never touched the centre. There may be a case, one day, for a 'modern 53.'



The 53 had loads of heavy industry at Gorton and around to supply it with loads of passengers. There is nothing like that left.

There is a modern day 53 run by worst bus.

http://www.tfgm.com/upload/routemaps/53_28216.pdf

The busiest route on the old Manchester tramways was the 53, which ran through the suburbs and never touched the centre. There may be a case, one day, for a 'modern 53.'

Anyway I have an idea that a third or even fourth city crossing could be contrived if they set their minds to it. For one thing there is no law that says they all have to cross in the same general axis.

Or have to cross close to the city centre - perhaps we should take this over to the Future/2cc thread...

There is a modern day 53 run by worst bus.

http://www.tfgm.com/upload/routemaps/53_28216.pdf

If we're talking intra-suburban routes, this is a good one:

http://www.tfgm.com/upload/routemaps/168_169_11-1209.pdf

Was a number 19 at one time, not sure it was ever a tram though.

I
Some of their trams look a lot older than our T68s!

Sorry, off topic! :bash:

Maybe they look after them, refurbish them, replace worn out parts? Something Metrolink never did which is no surprise they are clapped out and worthless.

I know alstom has shut down but i am surprised they haven`t sent the T68s to bombardier for refurbishment instead of getting rid.
But i forgot TFGM are tight fisted back pocketers!!!

What are we expecting the capacity of the city centre to be post TMS and 2CC?

Something in the region of about 80tph?

That is 16 paired lines at 10tph.

I doubt I will be alive if / when 2CC runs out of capacity.

The only requrirement would be if, for what ever reason, someone wanted to cross the city centre at right angles, but that has never been formally suggested in any TfGM/PTE plans has it?

If we add 3 tram-train lines - Marple; Hadfield/Glossop; Urmston - at 5tph each.

Then there would be 95 tram services per hour entering the city centre at peak, and 55 tph across the Cornbrook viaduct.

If all the standard tram services are run as doubles (which would require buying and extra 50 M5000 vehicles).

Then the total capacity of all this would be around 36,000 per hour, or 72,000 over the peak period. Which would translate to around 260,000 passenger trips per day.

Current total peak period flow into the city centre plus the two education precincts is around 140,000 - so this maximum capacity would approximate to half of current commuter flows - or, in other terms, the entire current flow from Metrolink, bus, and commuter train combined. Realistically, Metrolink would only run out of capacity once in-communting employment in the city centre increases by around 50,000 - assuming that Metrolink takes up almost all the slack.

I know alstom has shut down but i am surprised they haven`t sent the T68s to bombardier for refurbishment instead of getting rid.
But i forgot TFGM are tight fisted back pocketers!!!

Why? It'd be a complete waste of money. They are knackered. I'm glad they are going. Just hope the cash for 20 new M5000's becomes available to replace the rest of them. I'm confident it will.

Why? It'd be a complete waste of money. They are knackered. I'm glad they are going. Just hope the cash for 20 new M5000's becomes available to replace the rest of them. I'm confident it will.

Agreed. When all the T68's are gone, what's the planned amount of doubles?

If we add 3 tram-train lines - Marple; Hadfield/Glossop; Urmston - at 5tph each.

Then there would be 95 tram services per hour entering the city centre at peak, and 55 tph across the Cornbrook viaduct.

If all the standard tram services are run as doubles (which would require buying and extra 50 M5000 vehicles).

Then the total capacity of all this would be around 36,000 per hour, or 72,000 over the peak period. Which would translate to around 260,000 passenger trips per day.

Current total peak period flow into the city centre plus the two education precincts is around 140,000 - so this maximum capacity would approximate to half of current commuter flows - or, in other terms, the entire current flow from Metrolink, bus, and commuter train combined. Realistically, Metrolink would only run out of capacity once in-communting employment in the city centre increases by around 50,000 - assuming that Metrolink takes up almost all the slack.

If only for a start I'd like to see all Metrolink peak services formed of double units. That would make a great difference.

One question I'd like to chunk in here, if you've got 95tph going through the City Center in peak, won't the road crossings like one south of St Peters Square be effectively shut due to large volumes of trams crossing?

If only for a start I'd like to see all Metrolink peak services formed of double units. That would make a great difference.

One question I'd like to chunk in here, if you've got 95tph going through the City Center in peak, won't the road crossings like one south of St Peters Square be effectively shut due to large volumes of trams crossing?


mmmmm good point there. It's already bad enough at the Mosley Street junction although not as bad as it was due to less buses using Mosley Street.

Thanks Johnny for the pics, and Andrew for the Mumps set. I hope to see for myself soon.
For some reason when I look at that it's a blurry and unreadable :-(

Took me a minute, but once I got the floating version in front of me, it was very clear.

Interesting quote at the end from the council Labour leader regarding city centre crossings...

"We need a second city crossing but there is nowhere to put a third"!



That won't go down well with some on here!

For me the text is streched with extra pixels so doesnt display right, could be because I have a large screen.

Stop bragging!

One question I'd like to chunk in here, if you've got 95tph going through the City Center in peak, won't the road crossings like one south of St Peters Square be effectively shut due to large volumes of trams crossing?

But St Peter's Square is to be pedestrianised, the buses diverted and the one-way road traffic through the sguare also diverted. That should reduce traffic somewhat.

But St Peter's Square is to be pedestrianised, the buses diverted and the one-way road traffic through the sguare also diverted. That should reduce traffic somewhat.

But to cope you'd have to remove all conflict traffic to maintain the headways. Only thing to stop a tram with these rots of numbers is a stop. Or you'd end up with grid lock as trams block the roads.

I want to visit Melbourne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8wGl3CQOx4

I guess this type of thing will be (in theory) possible on all our lines once TMS is open... (though such a frequency would in our case mean thing had gone t*ts up and the trams were bunching!)

Though many people complain that the Melbourne system has too many stops. Some of their trams look a lot older than our T68s!

Sorry, off topic! :bash:

What I love about that is you can cycle in complete safety knowing the trams can't swerve into you. I nearly hit a cyclist I didn't see two weeks ago and it properly shook me up -- and her for that matter!

Urmston nerd?

Where and how that one boy?

Anyway I thought adding the Marple line to Metrolink would to provide a easterly extension for the Eccles line (amongst many things) with a vehicle compatible - if possible - for the Metrolink lines, the city centre tracks and of course the renovated heavy rail

Anyway Urmston.

What I love about that is you can cycle in complete safety knowing the trams can't swerve into you. I nearly hit a cyclist I didn't see two weeks ago and it properly shook me up -- and her for that matter!


Ah that's how you young folk meet women these days!

Cheaper, but not much more than a night at the Conti in the 90s.

Cheaper, but not much more than a night at the Conti in the 90s.

Ah, totally off topic flashback to the New Conti in the early eighties.
Wear your wellies :lol:

Urmston nerd?

Where and how that one boy?

Anyway I thought adding the Marple line to Metrolink would to provide a easterly extension for the Eccles line (amongst many things) with a vehicle compatible - if possible - for the Metrolink lines, the city centre tracks and of course the renovated heavy rail

Anyway Urmston.

indeed, but we then need a western counterpart to Hadfield/Glossop.

And the Urmston line - once the Liverpool trains have shifted over to Chat Moss, looks a prime candidate for a tram-train makeover.

mmmmm good point there. It's already bad enough at the Mosley Street junction although not as bad as it was due to less buses using Mosley Street. It is a good point. They shoved the buses down Portland St instead of Mosley St this time last year. I have a theory Manchester will be a car free city in the next few decades anyway.

I'm not a hippie tree-shagger, my view is simply that cars have no right or reason to be in a city centre. Anyone who thinks they do are clearly do not mind paying the excessive car parking charges.

Also, use of Oxford Road will diminish over the next few years due to it becoming a rapid transit road for buses, taxis and bikes. A possible park and ride system for the Metrolink near the entrancess to the city would be a good idea. East Didsbury springs to mind near the A34.

Oh god please no. I actually don't like pedestrianised zones. They're too quiet, the sound of footsteps isn't big-city. I like rumbling, loud streets. It's what a city is about! With well-designed pavements you could easily make areas like this pedestrian friendly still.

Pedestrianised areas are so small-town.

Oh god please no. I actually don't like pedestrianised zones. They're too quiet, the sound of footsteps isn't big-city. I like rumbling, loud streets. It's what a city is about! With well-designed pavements you could easily make areas like this pedestrian friendly still.

Pedestrianised areas are so small-town. Different tastes for different people I guess. The area around Corporation St/Exchange Square is quite pleasant whereas Piccadilly Gardens is horrible with the buses and cars nearby. I believe it was the most polluted public space in the UK a few years back. Not to mention windy and cold to its flatness.

I think Piccadilly Gardens is okay.

I love Piccadilly, Deansgate, Oxford Rd and Portland St are all fab streets. The only thing Portland and Oxford Rd need is trees in the middle to make them nice boulevards.

Hmm, some activity on the EML today :) There was a street cleaner type thing on the tracks near the tunnel under Great Ancoats Street and the tracks near New Islington stop (where it crosses Munday Street) had been cleared out when I was on my way back later, they were previously full up with gunk!

Hmm, some activity on the EML today :) There was a street cleaner type thing on the tracks near the tunnel under Great Ancoats Street and the tracks near New Islington stop (where it crosses Munday Street) had been cleared out when I was on my way back later, they were previously full up with gunk!

Hmmm... routine maintenance or gearing up for something?

I think Piccadilly Gardens is okay.

I love Piccadilly, Deansgate, Oxford Rd and Portland St are all fab streets. The only thing Portland and Oxford Rd need is trees in the middle to make them nice boulevards. I agree, trees would improve the streets more. Its like Kingsway on the A34 into Manchester, the central reservation with trees make the carriageway look all right.

Ah that's how you young folk meet women these days!

Cheaper, but not much more than a night at the Conti in the 90s.

God, was that still there in the 90s. I remember it in the 70s....:lol:

God, was that still there in the 90s. I remember it in the 70s....:lol:

Closed in 2001

I want to visit Melbourne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8wGl3CQOx4

I guess this type of thing will be (in theory) possible on all our lines once TMS is open... (though such a frequency would in our case mean thing had gone t*ts up and the trams were bunching!)

Though many people complain that the Melbourne system has too many stops. Some of their trams look a lot older than our T68s!

Sorry, off topic! :bash:

Now that's what Deansgate could have looked like if they hadn't have gone for second best. Now, all those trams following each other looks impressive, but it won't happen here as they only ever allow one tram at a time to go through traffic lights. I think it was freel that told us that, but can't remember who it was that ruled it, whether it was the council or a "law"?

Also apart from those gawdawful combinos, the trams are all pretty short and i love the bells, it's like being in Germany... much much better and more pedestrian friendly than the horns used here. Still can't work out why we are so different in Manchester. All the new systems in the UK use bells and still we persisit with horns.

Also apart from those gawdawful combinos, the trams are all pretty short and i love the bells, it's like being in Germany... much much better and more pedestrian friendly than the horns used here. Still can't work out why we are so different in Manchester. All the new systems in the UK use bells and still we persisit with horns.

Think it's because a certain number of people in Piccadilly Gardens still can't even hear when there's a horn blasting them as they are walking in front of the trams. :bash::bash:

Aside from that, it's probably more to do with the fact that Metrolink is a bi-product of heavy rail lines rather than a traditional street tramway.

Think it's because a certain number of people in Piccadilly Gardens still can't even hear when there's a horn blasting them as they are walking in front of the trams. :bash::bash:

Aside from that, it's probably more to do with the fact that Metrolink is a bi-product of heavy rail lines rather than a traditional street tramway.

Possibly, but it could be changed. The new trams could come with bells fitted and new bells fitted to the remaining K5000s, easy enough surely, they are fitted on the Cologne versions so same ones could be used here. When the Trabants go, then problem solved.

Possibly, but it could be changed. The new trams could come with bells fitted and new bells fitted to the remaining K5000s, easy enough surely, they are fitted on the Cologne versions so same ones could be used here. When the Trabants go, then problem solved.

Could easily be changed on the M5000s. Remember when the first ones came into service and the street horn was more like a mouse sneezing??
It's just an audio software file that gets played through speakers. Hence why the other cities versions of our M5000s have different sounds.

Could easily be changed on the M5000s. Remember when the first ones came into service and the street horn was more like a mouse sneezing??
It's just an audio software file that gets played through speakers. Hence why the other cities versions of our M5000s have different sounds..

Could be done then?.. but a real bell sounds better... can't see it happening though sadly

The trams in Hong Kong are nicknamed the "Ding-Ding" because if their bell. Sounds better than the fart-horn currently used by the M5000 :)

Think it's because a certain number of people in Piccadilly Gardens still can't even hear when there's a horn blasting them as they are walking in front of the trams. :bash::bash:

Aside from that, it's probably more to do with the fact that Metrolink is a bi-product of heavy rail lines rather than a traditional street tramway.

There was nearly an incident on Thursday where this young lad was on the phone to his mate on a double tram heading into Market Street. He paralleled the track walking to his mate busy looking at him. Thing was he was walking down the southbound tracks and didn't notice the tram heading for him or hear the horn! Wasn't until he was about 4 foot from this stationary tram he turned and noticed. He jumped quite far when he turned to face a T68 face on!

Just shows you people don't pay any attention where as in Europe they don't have this issue? Think the horns need to stay. This was one of many incidents I saw when snapping trams at the delta for an hour.

Great to see so many cyclists in MEL as well, I still wish Metrolink had had the forsight to introduce a low floor system from day one...ah well never happen now! or could it?

Oh god please no. I actually don't like pedestrianised zones. They're too quiet, the sound of footsteps isn't big-city. I like rumbling, loud streets. It's what a city is about! With well-designed pavements you could easily make areas like this pedestrian friendly still.

Pedestrianised areas are so small-town.

I'm inclined to agree with this......the best big city junction was Market St/Cross St, effectively the primary pedestrian route between the two halves of the city centre, always throng on with pedestrians waiting to cross.

Urmston trams

Oh fair enough Nerd, well if that is the case that makes sense.

I thought you had knowledge of some novel plan about to pass through the leafy suburbs of Davyhulme.

However i was under the impression that the Nottingham-Liverpool cattle truck and the Airport train to North Wales would still be passing through.

Great to see so many cyclists in MEL as well, I still wish Metrolink had had the forsight to introduce a low floor system from day one...ah well never happen now! or could it?

Tips good to see you around again.

I am sure they do wish this, but please remember that Metrolink came about in the late 80s under a hostile Thatcher government and slipped through because of pressure from GM politicians and Michael Portillo. (yes i know its was then hard to believe until he did that rail journey programme and showed he is a train spotter).

And then it was a conversion of the existing heavy rail lines and achieved as cheaply as possible.

Explaining why it retained high level platforms and obtained those trams.

On the cheap is your answer Tips,