Scottish Infrastructure

[LongTimeLurker]

Interesting to see what is being campaigned for on rail in the NE:

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/how-to-cut-half-a-million-car-journeys-and-32k-tonnes-of-carbon-in-a-year-a-new-regional-railway-is-the-answer/

[ICTChris]

This isn’t Scotland and isn’t specifically infrastructure but this is indicative of something you see a lot of

 

A lot of new infrastructure looks fucking horrible. I was driving through South Queensferry the other day, they’ve made more spaces for pedestrians, made the Main Street one way and done some repairs, which is great. However, the extra space has been marked out with horrible looking temporary bollards, the repairs are splodges of tarmac on an old fashioned paved road. It looks awful and cheap. Same with the Spces of People work in Edinburgh. It looks like shit.

 

[Ginaro]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

A lot of new infrastructure looks fucking horrible. I was driving through South Queensferry the other day, they’ve made more spaces for pedestrians, made the Main Street one way and done some repairs, which is great. However, the extra space has been marked out with horrible looking temporary bollards, the repairs are splodges of tarmac on an old fashioned paved road. It looks awful and cheap. Same with the Spces of People work in Edinburgh. It looks like shit.

Those repairs have been there for at least 5 years if have a look on Google Street View - so nothing to do with SFP. Best way to prevent the road surface getting like that is to restrict vehicles even further so the setts don't get damaged as much, should really be pedestrianised for most of the day.

But tbh who cares what SFP measures look like, given it's temporary. Their purpose is to stop drivers from entering painted cycle lanes or to create wider pavements so people have space and can queue out of shops - because as we all know, drivers will drive and park anyway they physically can. If you want something better looking and more permanent you can't do that without a TRO and extra costs.

[Sergeant Wilson]

6 hours ago, ICTChris said:

This isn’t Scotland and isn’t specifically infrastructure but this is indicative of something you see a lot of

 

A lot of new infrastructure looks fucking horrible. I was driving through South Queensferry the other day, they’ve made more spaces for pedestrians, made the Main Street one way and done some repairs, which is great. However, the extra space has been marked out with horrible looking temporary bollards, the repairs are splodges of tarmac on an old fashioned paved road. It looks awful and cheap. Same with the Spces of People work in Edinburgh. It looks like shit.

 

I don't really get the point. The Centurian has been the station pub for years. Is he implying the new first class lounge should've been built to Victorian spec?

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Modern vehicles and setts are a complete disaster and whatever architect/planner thought they were a good idea should be shot with shit. There’s a good reason cobblestone roads were ditched hundreds of years ago.

[ICTChris]

24 minutes ago, Ginaro said:

Those repairs have been there for at least 5 years if have a look on Google Street View - so nothing to do with SFP. Best way to prevent the road surface getting like that is to restrict vehicles even further so the setts don't get damaged as much, should really be pedestrianised for most of the day.

But tbh who cares what SFP measures look like, given it's temporary. Their purpose is to stop drivers from entering painted cycle lanes or to create wider pavements so people have space and can queue out of shops - because as we all know, drivers will drive and park anyway they physically can. If you want something better looking and more permanent you can't do that without a TRO and extra costs.

 

Yeah, I didn't mean that they were specifically to do with SFP, it's just they look shite and SFP also look shite.  There are definitely new repairs that have been done, it looks awful.  I'd agree with pedestrianising the street but that would doubtless cause protests as would make it more difficult to get to the main parking area from the main routes to QUeensferry.  Clearly I don't have the details, it just looks like a load of cheap, cobbled together shit on a lovely street with great cafes, restuarants and shops.

[GordonS]

11 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Modern vehicles and setts are a complete disaster and whatever architect/planner thought they were a good idea should be shot with shit. There’s a good reason cobblestone roads were ditched hundreds of years ago.

On Tuesday a friend and I sat at Linlithgow Cross watching the world go by on a lovely summer's evening. The rumble from traffic on the High Street was pretty annoying. A Tesla drove through making the same noise, and that's when I realised almost all the noise was from tyres on the setts - with a 20mph speed limit the engines are pretty quiet.

Setts are a stupid fashion and shouldn't be used on real roads.

[Lurkst]

Radio Ulster programme on the fabled fixed link to Ireland...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000z1mj

 

[jamamafegan]

East Linton to get a new train station.

https://scotlandsrailway.com/projects/east-linton-station

[Wile E Coyote]

On 20/08/2021 at 15:47, TxRover said:

Better than Atlanta where MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is referred to as Moving African-Americans Rapidly Through Atlanta, and Cobb County actually declined a rail link because they didn’t want “those people” to get easy access to Cobb County.

There are plenty of examples all over the US with similar japes directed at the names of transit systems as mass transit in the US is viewed as the province of the poor and/or violent.

I lived and worked in Atlanta for a spell and used the MARTA to get to work. Quite often I was the only white person in the carriage. Most of the time it was absolutely fine but sometines it was quite intimidating and on a few occassions I was the victim of racism

[TxRover]

57 minutes ago, Wile E Coyote said:

I lived and worked in Atlanta for a spell and used the MARTA to get to work. Quite often I was the only white person in the carriage. Most of the time it was absolutely fine but sometines it was quite intimidating and on a few occassions I was the victim of racism

It, unfortunately, happens. I was perfectly fine as the only pale person traveling to Emory University, and some of the riders actively looked out for me when a  couple of young lads got on.

[Jacksgranda]

On 20/08/2021 at 15:21, Dunning1874 said:

I see one of the proposals in the SNP-Green cooperation document is a feasibility study into extending the railway from Dyce to Ellon, and possibly further to Peterhead or Fraserburgh.

Come back in 25 years and let us know how that's gone.

[Jacksgranda]

On 21/08/2021 at 13:42, LongTimeLurker said:

Interesting to see what is being campaigned for on rail in the NE:

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/how-to-cut-half-a-million-car-journeys-and-32k-tonnes-of-carbon-in-a-year-a-new-regional-railway-is-the-answer/

Maybe they shouldn't have closed down all those lines in the first place.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

On 21/08/2021 at 13:42, LongTimeLurker said:

Interesting to see what is being campaigned for on rail in the NE:

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/how-to-cut-half-a-million-car-journeys-and-32k-tonnes-of-carbon-in-a-year-a-new-regional-railway-is-the-answer/

Handy for the narcos I suppose. 

[LongTimeLurker]

53 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

Maybe they shouldn't have closed down all those lines in the first place.

That's for sure. If North Sea oil had been discovered a decade earlier different decisions might have been made but hindsight is 20/20. Beyond that there's the issue of whether the old alignments were sufficiently protected in planning terms. Suspect the more distant portions of Aberdeen to Banchory past Milltimber and especially the Ellon to Peterhead portions of that graphic were not to the extent that would have been necessary to make their reinstatement financially realistic at this point.

It's difficult to make a case for doing Peterhead via Maud so it's probably only ever likely to reach Ellon, which may not be enough to make much of a difference on congestion and potentially competes with Inverurie as a terminating point for crossrail type services unless you can add a Deeside suburban angle to the mix. If there was a good business case for Dyce to Ellon, odds on it would have already happened when Alex Salmond was first minister and Gordon was a key SNP target. Probably just a case of being seen to do a feasibility study to keep the Greens happy in other words.

 

[Jacksgranda]

32 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

That's for sure. If North Sea oil had been discovered a decade earlier different decisions might have been made but hindsight is 20/20. Beyond that there's the issue of whether the old alignments were sufficiently protected in planning terms. Suspect the more distant portions of Aberdeen to Banchory past Milltimber and especially the Ellon to Peterhead portions of that graphic were not to the extent that would have been necessary to make their reinstatement financially realistic at this point.

It's difficult to make a case for doing Peterhead via Maud so it's probably only ever likely to reach Ellon, which may not be enough to make much of a difference on congestion and potentially competes with Inverurie as a terminating point for crossrail type services unless you can add a Deeside suburban angle to the mix. If there was a good business case for Dyce to Ellon, odds on it would have already happened when Alex Salmond was first minister and Gordon was a key SNP target. Probably just a case of being seen to do a feasibility study to keep the Greens happy in other words.

 

I think the Deeside line was closed to passengers when I was living there, (1960 onwards), don't ever remember passenger trains stopping at Cults, Bieldside, Culter etc.

ETA: Just checked Wikipedia - apparently passenger services ended in 1966. Still don't recall trains stopping at the aforementioned stations!

I have a book somewhere about The Deeside Line, I should have known that.

Edited September 9, 2021 by Jacksgranda

[GNU_Linux]

I think the Deeside line was closed to passengers when I was living there, (1960 onwards), don't ever remember passenger trains stopping at Cults, Bieldside, Culter etc.

Closed to passengers in early '66. Goods line closed to Ballater the same year with a full closure of the entire line the following year.

[RiG]

The Deeside line is a pretty popular running, walking and cycling route. not sure how you could accommodate a new line along that route and retain the footpath. I'm assuming that they would want to run any line along the old route as that would be a lot easier to construct.

[Detournement]

On 25/08/2021 at 16:24, Sergeant Wilson said:

I don't really get the point. The Centurian has been the station pub for years. Is he implying the new first class lounge should've been built to Victorian spec?

He's just saying it looks and is representative of contemporary design/architecture which is generally absolutely shite. 

By the logic of modern business it's far better to spend a fortune designing and planning something cheap looking than spending the same money on materials and skilled labour. 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Detournement

[Jacksgranda]

11 minutes ago, RiG said:

The Deeside line is a pretty popular running, walking and cycling route. not sure how you could accommodate a new line along that route and retain the footpath. I'm assuming that they would want to run any line along the old route as that would be a lot easier to construct.

It won't happen