The Ranting Room

^^^ except that Dr Beeching cut the lines out here in 1963, and our nearest station is now 15 miles away...

Jim Garten wrote: Why can't tractors & other assorted farm/agricultural machinery be banned from public roads during rush hour, eh? Bloody farmers, grumble, mutter, gripe, rant, whinge...

Jim Garten wrote: NutterAlert wrote: We need to start using the canals again. Oh great! I can just imagine the scene, trying to get up the 30+ locks at Tardebigge & Stoke Prior, stuck behind three car transporters, an oil tanker and two Tesco boats... And another thing! Why can't tractors & other assorted farm/agricultural machinery be banned from public roads during rush hour, eh? Bloody farmers, grumble, mutter, gripe, rant, whinge...

I've been up Tardebigge's 30 locks.  Very impressive, but I can admit it would get tedious after a while.  Devizes has 29, but they're double-gate locks, rather than Tardebigge's single-gate locks.  Much easier and you can fit more boats in.

I bet you didn't know I was a closet Canal fan?

In the past, when I was a teenager, my parents used to go on boating holidays.  We've been on the Grand Union in Birmingham (Farmer's Bridge, Gas Street, Edgbaston, The Black Country and the rest), the Grand Union in Northampton (Blisworth, Braunston, Weedon and the rest) and even down the River Severn one time.  Then there the was the time we went to Aylesbury (via the Aylesbury Arm).  We've pretty much always stuck to The Grand Union.

Good fun is boating, but it's only really good fun for a week at a time.


Edited by Geck0 - November 26 2006 at 03:09

    Why can't everyone except me be banned from the roads

    I don't disagree. There are far too many lorries going from one end of the country to the other and that freight could be on the railways or the canals. It's interesting to note that Eddie Stobart is actually a campaigner for getting freight off the roads and has recently started a railfreight business.

I was just defending the lorry drivers who have to work with what exists in the way of traffic and roads.
    

Edited by Heavyfreight - November 21 2006 at 06:42

As a holder of a class one HGV licence I feel that I should say something in the defence of lorry drivers; although there are some idiots out there. One of the biggest problem with this side by side stuff is that all modern lorries are now restricted to 56mph. This means that I lightly loaded lorry cannot pass a full one on the flat but as the loaded one climbs a hill it slows down, causing the empty one to pull out to overtake. Then when you get a downhill bit the empty one is slower thatn the full one because of the gravity assistance. Therefore they keep having to pass each other which causes delays. It's ok saying that they should stay in line and travel at the speed of the slowest one but try explaining that to the transport manager or to a driver who has a schedule to meet. In all honesty an awful lot of this should be on the railways.

Screaming kids on trains

Lazy, ignorant b*st*rds who leave their shpping carts in parking spaces at grocery stores and malls need to be DRAGGED OUT AND SHOT!

I want to go Home

Vicky Garten wrote: Oh do behave just because I have to fix our pc when you break it

     
    

Edited by Heavyfreight - November 17 2006 at 13:36