On 5 Aug, 14:57, wrote:
On Thu, 5 Aug 2010 05:08:57 -0700 (PDT)

bob wrote:
Perhaps there could be a compromise type platform as used at St P. That
would allow double deck UIC shuttle trains in the centre section but also
allow UK gauge trains to use it too. After all, we're only talking a few
inches width required either side which is hardly going to create a huge =
gap
to step across.

What compromise platforms? *St Pancras has UIC platforms on the
Eurostar platforms and UK platforms on the Kent, East Midlands and
Thameslink paltforms. *HS1 was built as a UIC railway from the channel

I'm pretty sure the platforms at Paris and Lille are a lot lower than the
ones at St. P.

Unlike Britain, UIC platforms come in a wide variety of heights. Even
within the same station (or along the length of the same platform
face) you can get a variation in platform height. Shiny modern
stations tend to be built with higher platforms, but older stations
have much lower platforms, and often the less frequently used
platforms (or platform ends) are much lower than the more oft used
platforms.

The Victorians chose to have platforms, while the European railways
(and those in most other parts of the world) chose not to have
platforms, and board the trains from the trackside, by way of carriage
mounted steps. *Of course when the Victorians decided to have

Well they didn't have to carry on building them like that - new lines could
have been built to a much more generous loading gauge.

And they were. Unfortunately by the time it was realised that a more
generous loading gauge would be a good idea, the only mainlines left
to be built in Britain were the GC London extension and HS1.

They had the right
idea in india where the broad gauge lines have a huge loading gauge and
those were built in the 19th century by more or less the same people who
built the railways in britain.

They didn't just "have the right idea", they had the experience of
filling Britain and Belgium up with railways, and making serious
inroads into other countries, to show them how it should be done,
before they even considered starting on India. Like so many
technologies, the second generation is far superior to the first. The
trouble is, it's far harder to rebuild a national railway network than
it is to replace your betamax video collection with VHS.

Bear in mind, also, that the loading gauge didn't really become an
issue for passenger rolling stock until maybe the 1870s or 80s, when
things like bogie coaches and corridor coaches came onto the scene.

Robin