"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:21:11 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , writes
On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:33:41 +0100
Paul Corfield wrote:

SNIP
I was in Brussels last year a couple of times. The metro seemed quite
tidy to me though the information was woeful. We ended up going in the
wrong direction on one of the underground tram lines because trying to
decode the rats nest system map for the centre was a nightmare.

SNIP
Brussels' metro system is not very intuitive at all. It seems they have
just completed their circle line so goodness knows how it runs now. I
prefer the old traditional street tramway sections in Brussels but I
understand that a fair slice of them have gone and been replaced by the
tunnel sections that were built but not put into use for many years.
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

Did I hear the word "Kingsway" echoing in the distance??

DW down under

In message , DW downunder
writes

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:21:11 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , writes
On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:33:41 +0100
Paul Corfield wrote:

SNIP
I was in Brussels last year a couple of times. The metro seemed quite
tidy to me though the information was woeful. We ended up going in the
wrong direction on one of the underground tram lines because trying to
decode the rats nest system map for the centre was a nightmare.

SNIP
Brussels' metro system is not very intuitive at all. It seems they have
just completed their circle line so goodness knows how it runs now. I
prefer the old traditional street tramway sections in Brussels but I
understand that a fair slice of them have gone and been replaced by the
tunnel sections that were built but not put into use for many years.
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

Did I hear the word "Kingsway" echoing in the distance??

Brussels is in some respects like Kingsway on acid!

(Never thought I'd type *that* sentence.)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:53:08 +0100
Paul Corfield wrote:
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

Oh they've done better than that - in Charleroi they built an entire
extension to their pre-metro - station and tracks - and never used it!
A monument to the hubris of local government IMO.

Theres loads of interesting photos knocking about of it though these are
the best:

http://diggelfjoer.swalker.nl/index....sub=abandcharl

B2003

In message , writes
On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:53:08 +0100
Paul Corfield wrote:
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

Oh they've done better than that - in Charleroi they built an entire
extension to their pre-metro - station and tracks - and never used it!
A monument to the hubris of local government IMO.

I was about to mention Charleroi. A perfect example of the original
point. It's the equivalent of having something on the scale of the
Tyne & Wear Metro inserted into somewhere like Reading.

It was largely built, as Boltar says, for political reasons. The
Flemish North had a light metro (as the Walloons saw it, anyway) in
Antwerp, so the Walloon South had to have something the same.

It's a long trine since I've been but the **vastly** over engineered and
little used infrastructure was incredible. (Mind you, Gent built an
extension for a proposed housing area that never materialised and which
terminated in a no-mans-land beneath a motorway for years. I
understand that it's been abandoned now.)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

On Apr 29, 10:32*am, wrote:
On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:53:08 +0100

Paul Corfield wrote:
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

Oh they've done better than that - in Charleroi they built an entire
extension to their pre-metro - station and tracks - and never used it!
A monument to the hubris of local government IMO.

Theres loads of interesting photos knocking about of it though these are
the best:

http://diggelfjoer.swalker.nl/index....sub=abandcharl

An interesting set of photos there - amazing that the alignment is not
shown on local maps!

A very fair example of overdoing it. It's years since I was in
Belgium but I did visit Charleroi and managed to ride the Anderlues
line before it was either abandoned or curtailed - it was certainly
under threat at the time I visited. It starts out on ludicrous
tunnels, loops and viaducts and then becomes a traditional Vicinal
line with the tracks beside the road. The depot at Anderlues was down
a side street. A friend and I then managed to find the preserved
line between Lobbes and Thuin which is lovely. We had the preserved
tram to ourselves and they even stopped the tram in the middle of the
countryside so we could leap off into a field to photograph it
climbing a small hill. Being an English tram loony in Belgium had one
or two advantages.

It was a very small glimpse into what the Vicinal network must have
been like when it was fully operational.

checks urbanrail.net

I see the Anderlues bit is still there but more of it is on the modern
alignment. Looks like some of the tunnels are being reopened but other
chunks will remain closed.


--
Paul C
via Google

On 28 Apr, 18:53, Paul Corfield wrote:
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

In Manchester they built a series of substantial tram underpasses as
part of the 2002 Commonwealth Games site, but didn't bother building a
tram line to go with them:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=...d042f&t=h&z=16
http://tinyurl.com/dhuato

The line has only just got funding. Not far away, on a different
unbuilt branch, they've built this huge lavish elevated station:
http://www.gifford.uk.com/ProjectProfiles.asp?id=28

And a unique finback and surely-very-pretty bridge taking the non-
existent trams over the railway - which I can't find a picture of
because it's invisible from the street. Again, the line has only just
got funding.

Birmingham Moor Street station had its terminus platforms restored
several years ago and there's still no prospect of them being
connected to the main line.

And in London - the Thameslink ECML tunnels are going to have sat
empty for at least 10 years, and Stratford International will likely
never live up to its name.

U