Ian Jelf writes
On a more positive note, I was with someone who was wheelchair bound
and the journey from Marylebone to Parliament Square was very
straightforward with the use of the ramps on the bus. In fact, we
reckon that they were having their first bus ride in nearly 30 years!

That's a shame, the first LFBs appeared in general service in London
about 10 years ago.

--
Dave

In article , Dave
writes
Ian Jelf writes
On a more positive note, I was with someone who was wheelchair
bound and the journey from Marylebone to Parliament Square was very
straightforward with the use of the ramps on the bus. In fact, we
reckon that they were having their first bus ride in nearly 30 years!

That's a shame, the first LFBs appeared in general service in London
about 10 years ago.

Yes but the person concerned doesn't live in London and has only made
sporadic visits there over the 30 years. On those visits, a taxi has
apparently been the norm; it was just my suggestion about "trying out"
the low floor bendibus which prompted the (well received) journeys
yesterday.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 11:28:59 +0100, "Angus Bryant"
wrote:

"Matthew P Jones" wrote in message
...

I heard a story that new Met Trains are going to have a form of
air-conditioning fitted (although for obvious reasons it won't work
underground). Does this mean the Met Line is finally getting new trains
(that don't squeak?)
New trains are planned and yes I heard to they would have a form of air
conditioning. There are plans to standardise the stock on the Met,
Circle and District. I believe we won't actually see any new trains for
several years, so we have to put up with squeaking and more for quite
some time yet.

For all the sub-surface lines, switching off the air-con when underground
should still help the passengers using the underground sections as the air
inside the train will take time to heat back up again.

Angus

Trouble is, air con requires sealing the carriage.

I think you'd have to switch off the cooling circuits when
underground.

Rob.
--
rob at robertwoolley dot co dot uk

Roy Stilling wrote:
Matthew Malthouse wrote:

On Wed, 6 Aug 2003 22:56:22 +0100 CJG wrote:
} I heard a story that new Met Trains are going to have a form of
} air-conditioning fitted (although for obvious reasons it won't
work } underground).

Air con would move heat from inside the trains to outside.

In a tunnel what would be lacking is a means of moving the heat from
the tunnel to outside. That isn't difficult, just expensive.

I posted a comment to the Mayors air-con competition on the LU website
the other week asking why, as their website says they pump thirty
million litres of water a day out of the system due to the rising
water table, that water can't be used to transfer excess heat from
aircon out too.

There was an item on BBC1 London News earlier this week which showed some
academic demonstrating a model of just such a system, using ground water to
cool the trains. Thanks to the usual journalistic standard of BBC London
News (or indeed any BBC TV news these days), it wasn't possible to find out
much more about it. Does anyone know if this is a viable system for
existing lines?
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Roy Stilling" wrote in message
...

I posted a comment to the Mayors air-con competition on the LU website
the other week asking why, as their website says they pump thirty
million litres of water a day out of the system due to the rising
water table, that water can't be used to transfer excess heat from
aircon out too.

If that water is below ambient, then they could use it to spray the incoming
air to reduce its temperature, or to reduce the temperature of the outgoing
air. One or two little problems in the tunnels due to conductor rails, of
course. That could be solved by a system of inlet and exhaust ducts and
fans, whereas at present they use the trains as pistons in the close-fitting
tube tunnels to provide ventilation.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

In article , Terry Harper
writes
"Roy Stilling" wrote in message
...

I posted a comment to the Mayors air-con competition on the LU website
the other week asking why, as their website says they pump thirty
million litres of water a day out of the system due to the rising
water table, that water can't be used to transfer excess heat from
aircon out too.

If that water is below ambient, then they could use it to spray the incoming
air to reduce its temperature, or to reduce the temperature of the outgoing
air. One or two little problems in the tunnels due to conductor rails, of
course. That could be solved by a system of inlet and exhaust ducts and
fans, whereas at present they use the trains as pistons in the close-fitting
tube tunnels to provide ventilation.
I still think the best solution is to cool the stations using
conventional A/C technology. Units exist for shops/factories, etc. which
have adequate cooling ability and these could be mounted in the top half
of the station tube - space up there. The gas/liquid coolant could
either be routed up stairwells/escalator shafts (doesn't take up too
much room) or through purpose drilled boreholes to the surface. The heat
exchanger could be mounted on top of the station.

Getting the station temperature down a few degrees would also cool the
tunnels (due to the piston effect) and probably then the existing
ventilation systems on the trains would be adequate - until the tunnels
are substantially cooler I can see no possibility of A/C on the trains
actually being practical.

--
John Alexander,

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