Best railway line in the world?
Feb 6th, 2009, 06:49 AM
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Best railway line in the world?
The West Highland line has been voted the best train journey in the world:
http://tinyurl.com/bn6zpy
What do you think?
http://tinyurl.com/bn6zpy
What do you think?
Feb 6th, 2009, 07:25 AM
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It's very different than other scenic rail lines i've been on - most all involve mountains, such as my top scenic line - the Bernina Pass Line.
But the West Highlands Line i enjoyed as much as any - it goes by miles of fjord-like coasts and inland lochs but the most awesome part to me is when the rails slice thru the Ranloch Moor (sp?) - a desolate tree-less plac with only the train line and little else.
In short i think the West Highlands line is as scenic and as interesting as any and would be in my top 10 though not number one.
But the West Highlands Line i enjoyed as much as any - it goes by miles of fjord-like coasts and inland lochs but the most awesome part to me is when the rails slice thru the Ranloch Moor (sp?) - a desolate tree-less plac with only the train line and little else.
In short i think the West Highlands line is as scenic and as interesting as any and would be in my top 10 though not number one.
Feb 6th, 2009, 07:35 AM
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So the British readers of a British magazine voted a British railway journey - of, frankly, modest scenic interest - top?
Couldn't have anything to do with the perpetual obsession these people have that someons might decide one day decide to stop forcing the rest of us to pay for a line no-one ever uses, could it?
Couldn't have anything to do with the perpetual obsession these people have that someons might decide one day decide to stop forcing the rest of us to pay for a line no-one ever uses, could it?
Feb 6th, 2009, 08:12 AM
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these people have that someone might decide one day decide to stop forcing the rest of us to pay for a line no-one ever uses, could it?>
Ain't it exactly the same with that train line in the Cotswolds that goes from Worchester to Oxford - i heard it would be cheaper to provide everyone a taxi ride then pay to upkeep that losing railway line? Or because you use this line other's should still prop it up with their tax moneys?
Ain't it exactly the same with that train line in the Cotswolds that goes from Worchester to Oxford - i heard it would be cheaper to provide everyone a taxi ride then pay to upkeep that losing railway line? Or because you use this line other's should still prop it up with their tax moneys?
Feb 6th, 2009, 09:55 AM
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The Cotswold Line gets no public subsidy. FGW, the operator, actually pays the government cash for the opportunity of making an honest profit out of us.
And far from running perpetual scare stories about imminent closure, we're having our line close for six weeks this summer while they double its carrying capacity.
As a matter of interest, how many rural lines can that be said of in those neosocialist neighbours of ours that squander their taxpayers' money on extravagant train sets no-one ever travels on?
Because, thanks to the enlightened politics of the last Tory government, traffic on our line - marked for closure under the dead hand of State control - has more than doubled under private enterprise.
Not so surprising, of course, when you realise that yet again in 2008, Britain's near-unique system of commercially operated trains carried more people, further, than in any previous year of our history.
Except, presumably in the subsidised backwaters of the West of Scotland
And far from running perpetual scare stories about imminent closure, we're having our line close for six weeks this summer while they double its carrying capacity.
As a matter of interest, how many rural lines can that be said of in those neosocialist neighbours of ours that squander their taxpayers' money on extravagant train sets no-one ever travels on?
Because, thanks to the enlightened politics of the last Tory government, traffic on our line - marked for closure under the dead hand of State control - has more than doubled under private enterprise.
Not so surprising, of course, when you realise that yet again in 2008, Britain's near-unique system of commercially operated trains carried more people, further, than in any previous year of our history.
Except, presumably in the subsidised backwaters of the West of Scotland
Feb 6th, 2009, 10:28 AM
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traffic on our line - marked for closure under the dead hand of State control - has more than doubled under private enterprise.>
so the traffic increase is not at all due to the escalating cost of petrol? Or the fact in Europe's basket case economy folks can't even afford to drive anymore? and what about that free ride for carriage of dogs? Whose tax monies are being wasted on that which could be a revenue producing source?
so the traffic increase is not at all due to the escalating cost of petrol? Or the fact in Europe's basket case economy folks can't even afford to drive anymore? and what about that free ride for carriage of dogs? Whose tax monies are being wasted on that which could be a revenue producing source?
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