On 29/07/2015 09:25, Recliner wrote:
Graeme Wall wrote:
On 29/07/2015 07:23, Clive D. W. Feather wrote:
In message
-septemb
er.org, Recliner wrote:
A good question. Did it re-use any track on the former BR route it
took over
going up to Stratford? Or maybe it was cheaper to buy standard gauge
kit.

I don't think the original DLR took over any existing track,

I thought Poplar to Bow took over the original track. But it might well
have been ripped out and re-laid; that's not a major expense in the
scale of things. Against that, the original DLR was done on the cheap,
so perhaps not.

In fact, it could have even re-used the LTSR tracks from Christian
Street Junction to wherever the 4-track used to end, apart from the
swerve on the Up line at Shadwell.


According to the original DLR handbook the railway did take over some
lengths of BR track, mainly that on the viaduct from just east of
Fenchurch Street to Shadwell.

Perhaps that's the reason: the original DLR was built as cheaply as
possible, and being able to reuse existing track may have saved more money
than using an inherently cheaper narrow gauge.

Slightly off topic but if anyone is interested in metre gauge I can
thoroughly recommend the railways of Corsica - I think you could do the
entire network in a weekend by flying in Bastia on the Friday, doing
the Bastia to Calvi line on the Saturday and then Calvi to Ajaccio on
the Sunday before flying home. Lots of great curves, tunnels,
viaducts, changes of elevation and so on.