interurban rebirth

The Interurban is an idea whose time has come. Once the USA was covered in these electrified lines, which brought modern transport to many towns and villages for the first time.

Unfortunately the rise of cheap oil meant that in many cases they only had a short life span. Amazingly modern, cheap and fast travel was replaced by spluttering and 'cheaper' anti-social cars and buses. With the end of cheap oil the interurban will return, some of the new batch of American tramways and light railways already show interurban characteristics as they edge out of the city centres.

But this line, the Chicago and South Bend, has kept going the whole time. It includes sections of classic street-running as well as fast reserved sections. Soon this will be just one line among many, but for a while it was the only survivor!

street running in eastern germany

This is a little bit of self-indulgence - a nice video clip of the Mollibahn in eastern Germany.

But back on message this is one of many narrow gauge lines from the former East Germany which have survived and flourished under privatisation. Trains operate every hour on every day of the year. Although now owned and operated by a private group and primarily aimed at tourist traffic it does also fulfill an important transport need as it operates to the fairly large and very popular seaside towns of Heilegendamm and Kuhlungsborn on the Baltic.

The most interesting feature is the street running for about a mile through the narrow main street of Bad Doberan. Under communism this wasn't much of a problem as few people had cars, but now it's considered a unique feature and is likely to remain. It's quite an experience sitting in a cafe whlist long steam trains run past, ringing a warning bell as they pass.

german lessons ...

This video shows part of a new inter-urban light rail line that opened in 1989 and is part of the Karlsruhe (Germany) city tramway system.

Much of the extension actually saw the light rail vehicles using (sharing) the tracks of an existing freight line, but to serve the village of Linkenheim a brand new deviation was built.

The video starts in Leopldshafen where the new tram line had to be dovetailed to fit through in an area where housing already pre-existed. It was found that with concrete baffles overgrown by climbing plants it is possible to maintain the householder's privacy in a visually attractive way.

Then there is a short view inside the central section of one of the very comfortable outer-suburban light rail vehicles, showing the spacious 2 + 1 seating and large panoramic windows. Most of the rest of the video is a view out of the front window, showing how the new line serves the village centre, which was traffic calmed.

Ideas which we in Britain would do well to copy. (text accompanies Youtube submission)

llangollen railway

An official video for the Llangollen Railway. Although primarily a tourist route now there is huge potential for this route when it reconnects with the network at Ruabon. How a town the size and importance of Llangollen ever found itself off the network is remarkable!

dublin's magnificent LUAS

Showing it's bigger cousins across the water how to create clean, efficient, profitable and sustainable city transport, Dublin's LUAS is a fantastic and expanding system, bringing modern transport back to the capital of Ireland after a long break stuck in the dark ages!

croydon's tramlink

A video of Croydon's superb Tramlink system. One of the new breed of British tramways, and a tenuous footstep into the maze of London's transport, this is an example to all forward-thinking cities both in the UK and elsewhere. Parts of the track utilised closed railways, some is on street, some were converted railways and there is a completely new section to New Addington which had never previously been served by trains or trams.

cambridge-st ives - time for sense!

This insane government has decided to waste 90 million quid on a totally untried and impractical - not to mention unsustainable - 'transport system.

Rather than creating a guided busway (LOL!) why not, for a quarter the price, build a MODERN, SUSTAINABLE and WELL-USED and PROFITABLE tramway which as well as taking passengers quickly into and out of Cambridge will in the future be able to carry freight traffic once the oil runs out and roads crumble into ruin?

In the meantime the following video will show the line as it is now - just waiting for TRAINS/TRAMS to return ...