Who Knows what this is?????

[deltic03]

Was sent this picture by a friend, but what is it?????

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Railbus ?

No idea, never seen one before, ask your friend

 

[MichaelWhiteley]

Oh it's a new light Rail Tram service in the UK. You'll have to search on google to find out more. I saw it in a Railway modeler Mag.

It's been around for a while...

Cheers,
Mike

 

[class143]

It is a Parry People Mover ( http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/ )

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]PPM 50/60 or PPM 80 (Can't find out which) which was used for trials on the very short Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town line until 2007. It will be used full time from the timetable changes by London Midland on the same line in December. It also frees up the Class 153 used on this service currently.[/FONT]​

HTH​

EDIT: MORE LINKS​

http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/PR2007-12-05.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parry_People_Movers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stourbridge_Town_Branch_Line

EDIT: EVEN MORE LINKS

http://thecrunchynutter.fotopic.net/p51672792.html
http://photos-by-geoff.fotopic.net/p49516745.html
http://photos-by-geoff.fotopic.net/p49516744.html
http://photos-by-geoff.fotopic.net/p49348395.html​

 

[nexusdj]

It's an experimental Parry's People mover.

Centro (now Network West Midlands) used it on the town car at Stourbridge (junction to town branch) experimentally on a Sunday to see if it would work out cheaper than using the current class 153 .
It did and they've purchased two slightly longer ones for full time use on the branch shuttle .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stourbridge_Town_Branch_Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parry_People_Movers

http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/

 

[class143]

Put some more photos in my post now.

 

[Wessex_Electric_Nutter]

Was sent this picture by a friend, but what is it?????

And don't tell me, you want me to model it, it will be a Class 139 (nos 001/2) and carry, 60 passengers, effectively, a PPM60 instead of a PPM50, which is what that is.
Theres the PPM80 if anyone wants a longer vehicle

 

[freightcar2]

(looks at pic) :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe:

 

[teddytoot]

Freightcar2, I suggest you have a look at the link to the makers site. Maybe then you will give a less facetious response to what is a serious attempt to produce a light railway transportation system using the energy stored in a flywheel ( like a push and go toy which you probably won't remember). Having seen one of these in the flesh at Bristol (unfortunately it wasn't running at the time) I can assure you it is a viable vehicle. They are now running a service at Stourbridge here in the UK. There were plans to run one here at Weymouth a few years ago, along the harbour tramway but they fell through owing to problems of finance from the council and difficulties with Railtrack (as it was then).

 

[class143]

Like what teddytoot said, even though it looks really silly for some people, it is a very serious attempt at reducing CO2, running costs etc. I think that these vechiles now that the Stourbridge branch was sucsseful could end up on another few lines aswell.

 

[bl4882]

Check out the links. Anyone who wants to sit a couple of feet above a flywheel weighing over half a long ton rotating at 2500 rpm in a collision or other mishap, raise his hand.

BL

 

[class143]

The stourbridge line is only 0.8 miles long anyway with single track.

 

[teddytoot]

The stourbridge line is only 0.8 miles long anyway with single track.

The whole point of the Parry People Mover is for light railway use over short distances. The original concept was for the flywheel to be boosted at stops but the latest versions have a car (auto) engine driving a generator to extend the range.

I don't see any more danger in sitting over a well sealed flywheel compared with sitting over a high speed electric motor or next to a much more lethal jet engine separated from you by a thin sheet of aluminium.

 

[freightcar2]

Hey, hey, hey, I was only laughing at the looks of it!

Anyway, the bottom looks like the bottom of the MKVI WDW Monorail.

 

[deltic03]

Many thanks Guys, I am now enlightend.....

 

[nbrettoner]

Freightcar2, ...................... a serious attempt to produce a light railway transportation system using the energy stored in a flywheel ( like a push and go toy which you probably won't remember). Having seen one of these in the flesh at Bristol (unfortunately it wasn't running at the time) I can assure you it is a viable vehicle. ..........................

Hi John,

I once worked with an English engineer who emigrated to Darwin NT Australia in the mid 1980's. He told me a little of his past in UK.

He recalled one day they were testing a very large flywheel in a test cage.
Unfortunately while spinning at top revs, one of the bearing supports decided to develop a fracture, which rapidly became a very serious problem.
Within a matter of a few short seconds, the whole thing broke loose through the safety cage, & took off at a rapidly-accelerating very high speed down the 150-200 metre shop floor, bouncing over a large lathe, pushing a couple of smaller machines nonchalantly out of the way, as it sped towards the end wall. Upon reaching the end wall it continued on, eventually coming to rest (I believe) embedded in an embankment another several metres further on.

Never argue with a flywheel!.

 

[deltic03]

Reminds me of the time an Oxygen bottle shot through the Factory I was working in, out through the wall into the Tipton and Dudley Cannal, all of us were deaf for 2 days.....and the smell!!!!!
Mods could this thread now be locked?