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-   -   Post office railway reuse (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/10857-post-office-railway-reuse.html)

lonelytraveller May 25th 10 11:51 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
The post office railway goes from Paddington to Whitechapel with stops
at Oxford Circus, Rathbone Place, Mount Pleasant, and Liverpool
Street. It also passes along Oxford Street from the vicinity of Bond
Street.

The stop on Rathbone Place is very near the proposed Dean Street
"Western Ticket Hall" for the Tottenham Court Road station on
Crossrail.

Mount Pleasant is about 5 minutes walk from Farringdon, in the heart
of Clerkenwell, adjacent to the Thameslink and Circle/Met lines, in a
busy area which could do with a tube station.

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?

Paul Terry[_2_] May 26th 10 06:18 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


It's not deep enough - the Post Office Railway is on average 21m below
the surface, although the stations are virtually at basement level (and
so the tunnels also have steep 20% gradients either side of stations).
Crossrail in the central area is up to 36m below the surface. Also, the
Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs
north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming
back south before the big loop up to Mount Pleasant.

It is a shame, though, that it hasn't been put to some good use since
its closure.
--
Paul Terry

Recliner[_2_] May 26th 10 08:42 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
"Paul Terry" wrote in message

In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


It's not deep enough - the Post Office Railway is on average 21m below
the surface, although the stations are virtually at basement level
(and so the tunnels also have steep 20% gradients either side of
stations). Crossrail in the central area is up to 36m below the
surface. Also, the Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough
alignment - it runs north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole
Street and then coming back south before the big loop up to Mount
Pleasant.


Also, the big cost with Crossrail will be the huge stations more than
the tunnels. Re-using the PO railway would not help reduce this cost,
but would probably make it worse.



David Cantrell May 26th 10 11:12 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 04:51:32PM -0700, lonelytraveller wrote:

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


The PO railway is such a small gauge (9' diameter tubes) that to widen
them would require almost as much work as boring new tunnels.

Also the stations are a lot shallower than the bulk of the tunnels, with
1:20 inclines either side which would be ... inconvenient.

--
David Cantrell | Godless Liberal Elitist

Hail Caesar! Those about to vi ^[ you!

[email protected] May 26th 10 11:28 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Wed, 26 May 2010 12:12:20 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 04:51:32PM -0700, lonelytraveller wrote:

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


The PO railway is such a small gauge (9' diameter tubes) that to widen
them would require almost as much work as boring new tunnels.

Also the stations are a lot shallower than the bulk of the tunnels, with
1:20 inclines either side which would be ... inconvenient.


Sham about the PO railway. You'd think with the traffic problems in london
that any organisation would be falling over themselves to have their own
private tube system to transport their goods instead of relying on trucks
but I guess with the PO cost cutting comes before customer service.

B2003


lonelytraveller May 26th 10 11:45 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 26 May, 12:12, David Cantrell wrote:
On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 04:51:32PM -0700, lonelytraveller wrote:
The post office railway is disused.


Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


The PO railway is such a small gauge (9' diameter tubes) that to widen
them would require almost as much work as boring new tunnels.


Why? The main difficulty with tunnel boring is the lack of a line of
weakness to follow, and the lack of anywhere for spoil to spill into.
The PO railway is a line of weakness already made - a 9' diameter line
of weakness in fact - and a 9' diameter tube for the spoil to ease
itself into. There are even tracks to help remove the released spoil
by means of rail. Tunnel widening is a lot easier than tunnel boring.

Also the stations are a lot shallower than the bulk of the tunnels, with
1:20 inclines either side which would be ... inconvenient.


Only if you expand the bore from the same point all the way through.
If you expand it downwards at the stations, and upwards away from
them, the incline is significantly reduced.


lonelytraveller May 26th 10 11:56 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 26 May, 07:18, Paul Terry wrote:
It's not deep enough

Deep enough for what?

the Post Office Railway is on average 21m below

The circle line is only on average around 9m below the surface, so the
PO railway is more than twice as deep.

the stations are virtually at basement level

That's hardly a bad thing. Less distance from the surface is greater
convenience for passengers trying to access it.

the Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs
north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming
back south before the big loop up to Mount Pleasant.


Straight enough for what? The curves are fairly gentle, even though
the tube itself copes with curves like those at Shepherd's Bush, and
the PO railway is close enough to oxford street at all the stations.
It doesn't need to hug oxford street when its not at a station, not
that the current Crossrail's Hanover Square and Dean Street Stations
are on Oxford Street either.

As for the loop at mount pleasant, its a comparatively small thing to
dig a new bypass around the loop than it is to dig an entirely new
route across the whole of london. Besides, mount pleasant /
clerkenwell / essex market could do with a tube station, the met and
thameslink lines run through it but don't stop.



J. Chisholm May 26th 10 12:47 PM

Post office railway reuse
 

Only if you expand the bore from the same point all the way through.
If you expand it downwards at the stations, and upwards away from
them, the incline is significantly reduced.

And if you did that with steep enough gradients, you'd need EXTRA
powerful motors on lots of wheels for each and every train to escape
from the holes you've dug.
WHEREAS
If you make the line go up into the stations and down out of them, you
don't need to use the brakes and a quick push from the guard, sets the
train off and up to running speed as it accelerates away down the slope.

Jim

[email protected] May 26th 10 01:01 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Wed, 26 May 2010 04:56:23 -0700 (PDT)
lonelytraveller wrote:
As for the loop at mount pleasant, its a comparatively small thing to
dig a new bypass around the loop than it is to dig an entirely new
route across the whole of london. Besides, mount pleasant /
clerkenwell / essex market could do with a tube station, the met and
thameslink lines run through it but don't stop.


I would imagine that by the time you've stripped out all the tracks, cables
and tunnel lining so you can enlarge it you've probably spent more time and
money than you would if you just bored a new tunnel. Tunnels arn't dug with
picks and shovels any more - a TBM won't care if it has to dig the whole
tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already there , it will take more or
less the same time. The only difference will be in the amount of spoil
needing to be carried away. Plus why inflict a windy route on a new
rail line when for high speed it needs to be as straight as possible.

B2003



Paul Terry[_2_] May 26th 10 01:02 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

On 26 May, 07:18, Paul Terry wrote:
It's not deep enough


Deep enough for what?


Deep enough to avoid all of the sub-surface structures (foundations,
tube tunnels, etc) that are in the way of Crossrail. The tiny Post
Office railway was able to skirt round these, but that's not possible
for Crossrail (see below) - and, of course, there are many more tall
buildings now than there were when the P.O. railway was built.

the Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs
north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming
back south before the big loop up to Mount Pleasant.


Straight enough for what?


Ten-carriage trains of mainline proportions travelling at up to 100kph
through the tunnels.

The curves are fairly gentle, even though
the tube itself copes with curves like those at Shepherd's Bush, and
the PO railway is close enough to oxford street at all the stations.


Yes, but Crossrail is nothing like a tube line - it is for mainline
services travelling at nearly three times the speed of tube trains in
the tunnels (and up to 160kph on the surface sections).

It doesn't need to hug oxford street when its not at a station, not
that the current Crossrail's Hanover Square and Dean Street Stations
are on Oxford Street either.


No, it doesn't need to hug Oxford Street (in fact, it runs slightly
south of the Central line), but it does have to be relatively straight
to achieve the anticipated speeds. Incidentally, there's no station at
Hanover Square - it is simply the eastern ticket hall for Bond Street
station, which gives some idea of the scale of the project. Similarly,
the works at Dean Street are for the western ticket hall of Tottenham
Court Road station (the eastern end being just in front of Centre
Point).

As for the loop at mount pleasant, its a comparatively small thing to
dig a new bypass around the loop than it is to dig an entirely new
route across the whole of london. Besides, mount pleasant /
clerkenwell / essex market could do with a tube station, the met and
thameslink lines run through it but don't stop.


Crossrail is not really comparable with a tube service, though.
--
Paul Terry

Mizter T May 26th 10 01:36 PM

Post office railway reuse
 

On May 26, 12:51*am, lonelytraveller
wrote:
The post office railway goes from Paddington to Whitechapel with stops
at Oxford Circus, Rathbone Place, Mount Pleasant, and Liverpool
Street. It also passes along Oxford Street from the vicinity of Bond
Street.

The stop on Rathbone Place is very near the proposed Dean Street
"Western Ticket Hall" for the Tottenham Court Road station on
Crossrail.

Mount Pleasant is about 5 minutes walk from Farringdon, in the heart
of Clerkenwell, adjacent to the Thameslink and Circle/Met lines, in a
busy area which could do with a tube station.

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


Because cash strapped Royal Mail are hiring them out to a Turkish
drugs gang.

Paul Terry[_2_] May 26th 10 02:04 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
In message , d
writes

Tunnels arn't dug with
picks and shovels any more - a TBM won't care if it has to dig the whole
tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already there , it will take more or
less the same time. The only difference will be in the amount of spoil
needing to be carried away.


Which reminds me that there were several proposals to use the Post
Office Railway to remove spoil from the central area. I haven't heard
anything more of the suggestion, though.
--
Paul Terry

tim.... May 26th 10 06:16 PM

Post office railway reuse
 

"Paul Terry" wrote in message
...
In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


It's not deep enough - the Post Office Railway is on average 21m below the
surface, although the stations are virtually at basement level (and so the
tunnels also have steep 20% gradients either side of stations). Crossrail
in the central area is up to 36m below the surface. Also, the Post Office
Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs north of Oxford
Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming back south before the
big loop up to Mount Pleasant.

It is a shame, though, that it hasn't been put to some good use since its
closure.


Like turning it into a museum perhaps

tim



Tom Anderson May 26th 10 07:41 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Wed, 26 May 2010, d wrote:

Tunnels arn't dug with picks and shovels any more - a TBM won't care if
it has to dig the whole tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already
there


Yes it will - TBMs are built for digging through clay, gravel, and the
like. Sticking a bloody great cast-iron pipe like the PO railway end-on in
its way will completely bugger it.

tom

--
uk.local groups TO BE RENAMED uk.lunatic.fringe groups

[email protected] May 26th 10 09:31 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 26/05/2010 07:18, Paul Terry wrote:
In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

The post office railway is disused.

Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


It's not deep enough - the Post Office Railway is on average 21m below
the surface, although the stations are virtually at basement level (and
so the tunnels also have steep 20% gradients either side of stations).
Crossrail in the central area is up to 36m below the surface. Also, the
Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs
north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming
back south before the big loop up to Mount Pleasant.

It is a shame, though, that it hasn't been put to some good use since
its closure.


Any potential excursions for the public?

IIRC, the railway was never used by postal employees for transport
purposes.

Bruce[_2_] May 26th 10 11:38 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Wed, 26 May 2010 20:41:10 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Wed, 26 May 2010, d wrote:

Tunnels arn't dug with picks and shovels any more - a TBM won't care if
it has to dig the whole tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already
there


Yes it will - TBMs are built for digging through clay, gravel, and the
like. Sticking a bloody great cast-iron pipe like the PO railway end-on in
its way will completely bugger it.



But you wouldn't do that. Tunnel miners would dismantle the segmental
lining of the smaller diameter tunnel, ring by ring, a short distance
in front of the main tunneling shield. The shield would then move
forward, excavating as it went, and the new, larger diameter lining
would be installed at the rear of the shield.

This is all routine tunnelling work. The only complication is the
need to stop any excavation of the larger diameter tunnel while miners
dismantle the lining of the smaller diameter tunnel. But that would
happen simultaneously with the building of a ring of new lining, so it
wouldn't actually need to stop progress.

However, what would kill the idea stone dead is that the PO railway
tunnel is on the wrong alignment and is far too shallow for Crossrail.
Also, it is only one tunnel and Crossrail needs two. You cannot build
one alongside because the ground at that depth is almost certainly now
peppered with bearing piles for buildings that have been built since
the PO railway.

So, a complete non-starter.


Basil Jet[_2_] May 27th 10 01:09 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 26/05/2010 15:04, Paul Terry wrote:
In message , d writes

Tunnels arn't dug with
picks and shovels any more - a TBM won't care if it has to dig the whole
tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already there , it will take
more or
less the same time. The only difference will be in the amount of spoil
needing to be carried away.


Which reminds me that there were several proposals to use the Post
Office Railway to remove spoil from the central area. I haven't heard
anything more of the suggestion, though.


Wouldn't it be easier to remove the spoil by the Crossrail tunnels they
had just dug?

Paul Terry[_2_] May 27th 10 06:08 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
In message , Basil Jet
writes

On 26/05/2010 15:04, Paul Terry wrote:


Which reminds me that there were several proposals to use the Post
Office Railway to remove spoil from the central area. I haven't heard
anything more of the suggestion, though.


Wouldn't it be easier to remove the spoil by the Crossrail tunnels they
had just dug?


The idea was to use the PO Railway to remove the huge amounts of spoil
from the shafts and station boxes that are currently being dug. The
actual tunnel boring is not due to start until late 2011 but when it
does, the spoil from that will indeed be removed by rail through the
tunnel itself.

Apparently the idea of adapting the PO Railway for spoil transportation
was considered by the Crossrail board, but rejected for a number of
fairly obvious reasons, so lorries are being used instead at the moment.
--
Paul Terry

Paul Terry[_2_] May 27th 10 06:25 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
In message , "
writes

On 26/05/2010 07:18, Paul Terry wrote:
In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

The post office railway is disused.


It is a shame, though, that it hasn't been put to some good use since
its closure.


Any potential excursions for the public?


A miniature underground heritage line in the middle of central London
could be a marvellous tourist attraction, even if passengers don't get
to see much out of the window. :)

IIRC, the railway was never used by postal employees for transport
purposes.


No, but it did have a carriage with seats for VIPs, hauled by a battery
loco. I have a feeling George V got a ride, and certainly John Noakes
did for Blue Peter some time in the 1970s.

I don't know if any really serious track bashers ever posted themselves
in large cardboard containers to try to do the line. :)
--
Paul Terry

Old Central May 27th 10 08:36 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
Why didn't they just widen the tunnels and reuse them for Crossrail,
instead of digging hugely expensive new ones?


I will ignore the geometric aspects of the design of a low speed
passenger less railway vs a modern faster mainline railway.

But from having worked on some early options for tunnelled schemes
through London in the vicinity of the PO railway just how many sewers,
tunnels, etc. are down there. To enlarge the tunnel would bring you
even closer to some of these and require techniques such as grouting
and ground freezing to be used assuming that these are possible as
sufficient clearance may not exist. A 2.75m internal diameter would
need to be extended to around 6m.

OC

John Salmon[_4_] May 27th 10 10:21 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
"Paul Terry" wrote

I don't know if any really serious track bashers ever posted themselves in
large cardboard containers to try to do the line. :)


Several 'really serious track bashers' (including me) have ridden over (part
of) the line. We had permission, so we didn't have to disguise ourselves as
parcels!


David Cantrell May 27th 10 11:11 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 04:56:23AM -0700, lonelytraveller wrote:
On 26 May, 07:18, Paul Terry wrote:
the Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs
north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming
back south before the big loop up to Mount Pleasant.

Straight enough for what? The curves are fairly gentle, even though
the tube itself copes with curves like those at Shepherd's Bush


The tube copes with lots of banging and rattling, and running very
slowly.

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

Fashion label: n: a liferaft for personalities
which lack intrinsic buoyancy

Bruce[_2_] May 27th 10 11:44 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Thu, 27 May 2010 02:09:07 +0100, Basil Jet
wrote:

On 26/05/2010 15:04, Paul Terry wrote:
In message , d writes

Tunnels arn't dug with
picks and shovels any more - a TBM won't care if it has to dig the whole
tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already there , it will take
more or
less the same time. The only difference will be in the amount of spoil
needing to be carried away.


Which reminds me that there were several proposals to use the Post
Office Railway to remove spoil from the central area. I haven't heard
anything more of the suggestion, though.


Wouldn't it be easier to remove the spoil by the Crossrail tunnels they
had just dug?



Not necessarily. In most tunnelling projects you have conflicting
movements of excavated spoil coming out and lining segments going in,
with workers going in and out. If the spoil comes out via a separate
route, it reduces conflicts and might improve progress.


[email protected] May 27th 10 10:45 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 27/05/2010 11:21, John Salmon wrote:
"Paul Terry" wrote

I don't know if any really serious track bashers ever posted
themselves in large cardboard containers to try to do the line. :)


Several 'really serious track bashers' (including me) have ridden over
(part of) the line. We had permission, so we didn't have to disguise
ourselves as parcels!

What have they done with the line since its closure?

I must say that I am surprised that they closed it, especially as London
is trying to cut down on carbon emissions.

The Post Office railway skirts through traffic, emits no exhaust fumes
and could possibly carry much more than any lorrie -- or at least make
much more frequent runs.



[email protected] May 27th 10 11:10 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwRBrUwhdio

A very good short film about the Post Office Railway

[email protected] May 28th 10 09:16 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Thu, 27 May 2010 23:45:59 +0100
" wrote:
What have they done with the line since its closure?

I must say that I am surprised that they closed it, especially as London
is trying to cut down on carbon emissions.

The Post Office railway skirts through traffic, emits no exhaust fumes
and could possibly carry much more than any lorrie -- or at least make
much more frequent runs.


Companies like the post office make all the right noises about being green
but when it comes down to spending the money they're not quite so keen.
Presumably lorries are a lot cheaper to run than a mini tube system.

B2003


Bruce[_2_] May 28th 10 10:47 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Thu, 27 May 2010 23:45:59 +0100, "
wrote:

What have they done with the line since its closure?

I must say that I am surprised that they closed it, especially as London
is trying to cut down on carbon emissions.



So the electricity used to power the railway was zero carbon, was it?
Didn't Britain have any coal, oil or gas fired power stations when the
Post Office Railway operated?


The Post Office railway skirts through traffic, emits no exhaust fumes
and could possibly carry much more than any lorrie -- or at least make
much more frequent runs.



The exhaust fumes are at the power stations. Lorries and vans are
needed to collect the mail and bring it to the railway, and then to
distribute it.

You would be deluded if you thought that the mail operation emitted no
exhaust fumes because one small component of it is electric - and
electricity means exhaust fumes from coal and gas fired power
stations.


[email protected] May 28th 10 11:26 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Fri, 28 May 2010 11:47:34 +0100
Bruce wrote:
So the electricity used to power the railway was zero carbon, was it?
Didn't Britain have any coal, oil or gas fired power stations when the
Post Office Railway operated?


Gas produces less CO2 per unit work than petrol or diesel. Also a significant
amount still (despite the best efforts of the Campaign of Nuclear Dunces and
Greenpratts) comes from nuclear power.

The exhaust fumes are at the power stations. Lorries and vans are
needed to collect the mail and bring it to the railway, and then to
distribute it.


The lorries are still being used to take the mail to the sorting offices
the railway joins up. Except now they're needed inbetween those offices too.

B2003



Recliner[_2_] May 28th 10 11:47 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
wrote in message

On Fri, 28 May 2010 11:47:34 +0100
Bruce wrote:
So the electricity used to power the railway was zero carbon, was it?
Didn't Britain have any coal, oil or gas fired power stations when
the Post Office Railway operated?


Gas produces less CO2 per unit work than petrol or diesel. Also a
significant amount still (despite the best efforts of the Campaign of
Nuclear Dunces and Greenpratts) comes from nuclear power.

The exhaust fumes are at the power stations. Lorries and vans are
needed to collect the mail and bring it to the railway, and then to
distribute it.


The lorries are still being used to take the mail to the sorting
offices
the railway joins up. Except now they're needed inbetween those
offices too.


I thought the main reason the PO railway shut was that the Royal Mail
changed the way that it sorted mail, so that the old railway didn't
serve the modern processes efficiently?



Paul Scott May 28th 10 11:54 AM

Post office railway reuse
 

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 May 2010 23:45:59 +0100
" wrote:
What have they done with the line since its closure?

I must say that I am surprised that they closed it, especially as London
is trying to cut down on carbon emissions.

The Post Office railway skirts through traffic, emits no exhaust fumes
and could possibly carry much more than any lorrie -- or at least make
much more frequent runs.


Companies like the post office make all the right noises about being green
but when it comes down to spending the money they're not quite so keen.
Presumably lorries are a lot cheaper to run than a mini tube system.


They are generally cheaper than the national main line rail system as well -
I was just looking at all that postal infrastructure cluttering up East
Croydon's platforms yesterday as it happens. I wonder how many main line
stations around the country had such bridges and lifts, and how long they
were used for after they were built. I can think of another eyesore at
Bristol, but there must be many redundant installations...

Paul S



Bruce[_2_] May 28th 10 11:58 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Fri, 28 May 2010 12:47:23 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:

wrote in message

On Fri, 28 May 2010 11:47:34 +0100
Bruce wrote:
So the electricity used to power the railway was zero carbon, was it?
Didn't Britain have any coal, oil or gas fired power stations when
the Post Office Railway operated?


Gas produces less CO2 per unit work than petrol or diesel. Also a
significant amount still (despite the best efforts of the Campaign of
Nuclear Dunces and Greenpratts) comes from nuclear power.

The exhaust fumes are at the power stations. Lorries and vans are
needed to collect the mail and bring it to the railway, and then to
distribute it.


The lorries are still being used to take the mail to the sorting
offices
the railway joins up. Except now they're needed inbetween those
offices too.


I thought the main reason the PO railway shut was that the Royal Mail
changed the way that it sorted mail, so that the old railway didn't
serve the modern processes efficiently?



Exactly.

The logic is undeniable, but Boltar will never understand logic.


[email protected] May 28th 10 01:02 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On Fri, 28 May 2010 12:58:51 +0100
Bruce wrote:
I thought the main reason the PO railway shut was that the Royal Mail
changed the way that it sorted mail, so that the old railway didn't
serve the modern processes efficiently?



Exactly.

The logic is undeniable, but Boltar will never understand logic.


Fill us in then. What makes the PO railway surplus to requirements?

B2003


lonelytraveller May 29th 10 02:06 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
a TBM won't care if it has to dig the whole
tunnel itself or theres a small tunnel already there , it will take more or
less the same time.

It won't you know. If it doesn't have to dig the middle bit, it
doesn't have to do the work. That means less work needs to be done.
And that means it takes less power. And that means that more power is
available to put into the work it does do. And that means its more
efficient, and it finds that work easier

Plus why inflict a windy route on a new
rail line when for high speed it needs to be as straight as possible.

If its going to have to stop every few hundred yards for a station, it
hardly matters whether high speed is possible or not. Its not that
windy anyway.

lonelytraveller May 29th 10 02:13 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 26 May, 14:02, Paul Terry wrote:
Deep enough to avoid all of the sub-surface structures (foundations,
tube tunnels, etc) that are in the way of Crossrail. The tiny Post
Office railway was able to skirt round these, but that's not possible
for Crossrail (see below) - and, of course, there are many more tall
buildings now than there were when the P.O. railway was built.

Looking at the detailed planning briefs for crossrail, it shows the
Post Office railway tunnels as well. They don't appear to skirt round
anything - they take a fairly direct route. And while its true that
there are more tall buildings now than when the P.O. railway was
built, the buildings actually on its route don't get much taller than
Mount Pleasant.

the Post Office Railway doesn't have a straight enough alignment - it runs
north of Oxford Street, curving up to Wimpole Street and then coming
back south before the big loop up to Mount Pleasant.

Straight enough for what?

Ten-carriage trains of mainline proportions travelling at up to 100kph
through the tunnels.

(a) Why do they have to have ten carriages? What's wrong with more but
shorter trains?
(b) 100kph when they have to stop at stations every 500 yards or so is
absurd.

Yes, but Crossrail is nothing like a tube line - it is for mainline
services travelling at nearly three times the speed of tube trains in
the tunnels (and up to 160kph on the surface sections).

I don't see that as convincing rational. There's nothing saying its
compulsory for any cross-london relief for the central line to be
built for mainline trains. And the speed of tube trains in central
london is around 15mph, so you're talking about a tunnel that can cope
with just 45mph.

It doesn't need to hug oxford street when its not at a station, not
that the current Crossrail's Hanover Square and Dean Street Stations
are on Oxford Street either.


No, it doesn't need to hug Oxford Street (in fact, it runs slightly
south of the Central line), but it does have to be relatively straight
to achieve the anticipated speeds. Incidentally, there's no station at
Hanover Square - it is simply the eastern ticket hall for Bond Street
station

(a) Its a station
(b) Its at Hanover Square

Do you know how to put those two facts together in a meaningful way?

Crossrail is not really comparable with a tube service, though.

That's an absurd, rather circular, claim.



lonelytraveller May 29th 10 02:15 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 27 May, 00:38, Bruce wrote:
However, what would kill the idea stone dead is that .... it is only one tunnel

The maps on Crossrail's planning brief show the Post Office railway
having two tunnels.


[email protected] May 29th 10 10:28 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
In article
,
(lonelytraveller) wrote:

On 27 May, 00:38, Bruce wrote:
However, what would kill the idea stone dead is that .... it is
only one tunnel

The maps on Crossrail's planning brief show the Post Office railway
having two tunnels.


Doesn't some of the running line have two small tunnels while other parts
and the stations have larger single tunnels.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

lonelytraveller May 30th 10 04:41 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 29 May, 23:28, wrote:
In article
,

(lonelytraveller) wrote:
On 27 May, 00:38, Bruce wrote:
However, what would kill the idea stone dead is that .... it is
only one tunnel

The maps on Crossrail's planning brief show the Post Office railway
having two tunnels.


Doesn't some of the running line have two small tunnels while other parts
and the stations have larger single tunnels.

--
Colin Rosenstiel


I'm not sure about the exact layout of the stations, but those bits
I'd assume would need to be rebuilt a bit anyway for non-conflicting
passenger ingress / egress.

Richard J.[_3_] May 30th 10 06:27 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
lonelytraveller wrote on
30 May 2010 17:41:37 ...
On 29 May, 23:28, wrote:
In article
,

(lonelytraveller) wrote:
On 27 May, 00:38, wrote:
However, what would kill the idea stone dead is that .... it is
only one tunnel
The maps on Crossrail's planning brief show the Post Office railway
having two tunnels.


Doesn't some of the running line have two small tunnels while other parts
and the stations have larger single tunnels.


I'm not sure about the exact layout of the stations, but those bits
I'd assume would need to be rebuilt a bit anyway for non-conflicting
passenger ingress / egress.


Rebuilt *a bit*? There is no comparison between the scale and space
needed to cope with 10-car full-size passenger trains and what was
needed to handle a few mailbags. This idea of yours to take this toy
railway and its stations and enlarge it a bit to transform it into
Crossrail is just daft.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

CJB June 1st 10 08:30 AM

Post office railway reuse
 
On May 28, 12:10*am, "
wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwRBrUwhdio

A very good short film about the Post Office Railway


And at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj0-0q6bQOc


[email protected] June 1st 10 09:50 PM

Post office railway reuse
 
On 01/06/2010 09:30, CJB wrote:
On May 28, 12:10 am,
wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwRBrUwhdio

A very good short film about the Post Office Railway


And at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj0-0q6bQOc

Many thanks for that, but the music and the sound of the railway itself
seems to drown out the narrator.

I understand that there are plans to eventually move the sorting centre
at Mt. Pleasant out to Hertfordshire, and convert the current building
into yuppy flats.

When is that due to happen and what will that railroad's fate be? I
would tend to believe/hope that it retains some practical use.

What state is the railroad in these days and is there any chance of an
excursion down that way?


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