wow - dinosaur watch!!

Just for a laugh I googled 'Railway Conversion League' to see when they vanished. The League were a very strange bunch of people back in the 60s and 70s who - quite seriously - suggested converting railways into roads. Yes, you read that right! Amazing ...

Anyway, the League have of course vanished, but I did find this - Transwatch! I assumed this was a spoof site, as they're very effective these days. But I'm not sure. There are links to modern sites - TfL, Greenpeace etc, but there seem to be links to other propaganda set ups that are pro-road. Yes, you read that right - pro-road! In 2007.
There again there are still people who believe the world is flat, is run by a secret society or even that believe that oil is spontaneously generated! It's what makes the world an interesting place, if a little mad at times!

Transwatch seem to consist of one person, with a long list of letters after his name. They seem to relate to engineering. Perhaps he runs a road construction business that's in trouble. Or perhaps lost a friend or family member in a rail accident - let's not be too harsh!

It's a really sad site because you can hear the sound of empty vessels fighting the zeitgeist, like a lone commie crying at the felling of the Berlin Wall (these people are always lefties). Saddest thing is the advertised forum (which doesn't exist) and the letters section which consists of dozens of badly-written (and mainly unpublished LOL) letters to various rags, ALL FROM THE SAME PERSON!

Had there been a forum I may have suggested that rail will always be superior to road because of energy efficiency, life of vehicles, improved environmental conditions for residents, ability to use sustainable fuel (solar/wind/nuclear electricity, wood-burning steam etc) and its ability to carry huge amounts of passengers and freight just using 1 or 2 workers.

But of course the biggest point is if we did convert our precious railways to roads (at what cost!) we'd have to reconvert 'em all in 10 or 20 years time once the oil runs out. I wonder if this character will still be going in 10 or 20 years time? I somehow doubt it!

But as I said it made me laugh, and that's really what their role is these days.

helston revival continues

Liskeard 29.8.1972

Tracklaying was due to start on the Helston branch in early May. The first couple of panels are already down. The Cornish rail revival is currently in its infancy, but the Bodmin and Wenford have led the way and there are still a few lines that are empty trackbed rather than transport links.

Other Cornish lines have fared much better, with Looe, Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay and Gunnislake still having (often very busy!) passenger trains. But Padstow and Bude and Helston still await their trains, as well as other large Cornish towns such as Launceston and Wadebridge.

back soon?

A particularly crazy closure was Lewes-Uckfield in 1969. This seemed, even at the time, to make little sense. For the sake of a few miles not only did the large town of Uckfield lose its rail link to the county town of East Sussex, but it also meant that there was no practical diversionary route for trains from Brighton to London, particularly as a few years before the Shoreham-Horsham line was closed. These were both double track routes serving reasonable-sized communities.

Ever since it closed there have been calls for the reopening of this essential link. In the 70s perhaps the dinosaurs were hoping the whole Oxted to Uckfield line would close - the link from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells really did close in 1985, the last real rail closure in southern England. How times have changed. Now rail is in the ascendant and lines and stations are reopening everywhere. How much longer can this link remain broken?

And once this is restored lets look at the Hailsham-Eastbourne, Shoreham-Horsham and Three Bridges to Eridge lines. The rail revival in Sussex will soon begin.