Roundabout with railway in the middle

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kiwislark
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by kiwislark »

Chris5156 wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 12:54
kiwislark wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 08:34Hastings (railway through a fountain) - https://www.google.com/maps/@-39.641660 ... 312!8i6656
Thanks for sharing these! The Hastings one has all sorts of interesting features - it's a railway line that just pushes through a town centre and everything about it looks a bit strange. But clearly it works, presumably because it's not a very busy line.
Indeed - the line is the Palmerston North-Gisborne Line, which has been freight only with just two trains per day since 2001 when passenger services ceased. Incidentally, this line is also the same one that crosses a runway at Gisborne's airport - another NZ (and world) railway oddity! (https://unusualplaces.org/gisborne-airp ... -crossing/)

Here's some videos of the line through the fountain in action if you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdNRruYZdPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J48bB-Jw2Y
growler74 wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 13:30 And looking slightly to the left, it also has two kids sat in a cage! :o
I did not even notice that until you mentioned it! Presumably some local students doing a protest of some sort.
e17simon
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by e17simon »

not in the UK, but here goes.

In Alicante, the tram Line that goes upto Sant Vicent del Raspeig via the University, it cuts through at least 2 Roundabouts.
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by Rambo »

e17simon wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 17:14 not in the UK, but here goes.

In Alicante, the tram Line that goes upto Sant Vicent del Raspeig via the University, it cuts through at least 2 Roundabouts.
Similarly the Trafford Park metrolink extension goes through Village Circle and Parkway Circle https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4674565 ... 384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4682712 ... 384!8i8192
of course the first one had a railway through it originally at a different angle but was disused since the early 90's https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4675614 ... 312!8i6656
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M4Simon
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by M4Simon »

Big Nick wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 22:52
KeithW wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 15:18
Big Nick wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:05 How about this bit of unused and unattached track under the A228 in Kent?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.34247 ... a=!3m1!1e3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/89918055@N05/33872779566
What is baffling is why the line was not lifted as the whole shebang was abandoned decades before the roundabout was built.

Details of site here,
https://webapps.kent.gov.uk/KCC.Explori ... ke17107%27
I understand it was actually brand new track put down as part of the A228 improvement works around 2003. At the time there were plans by Lafarge Cement to reopen the quarry.
https://democracy.kent.gov.uk/Data/Plan ... nd.doc.pdf
This is correct. The roundabout was designed for the cement works and to support housing in the area. The railway was also designed for the cement works. I've kept up with many of the projects I've worked on, but hadn't realised until now that this roundabout had been built. I moved on from that role nearly 20 years ago and had heard that the cement works had been shelved and I'd assumed that the scheme had come to nothing.

Simon
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owen b
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by owen b »

Place Meiser is roundabout-esque, has a tram line running through the middle of the circle, and in my recollection of living nearby in the mid-1990s, is a disconcerting maelstrom of traffic : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.85493 ... a=!3m1!1e3
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FleetlinePhil
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by FleetlinePhil »

e17simon wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 17:14 not in the UK, but here goes.

In Alicante, the tram Line that goes upto Sant Vicent del Raspeig via the University, it cuts through at least 2 Roundabouts.
Oh go on then, if we can include foreign trams Vítězné náměstí in Prague has to be my favourite, with a triangular junction in the middle (although the W-N chord is only used for depot workings). The crossing of the roundabout at the S end normally carries somewhere over 50 trams per hour without so much as a warning sign or "Give Way" line to the road traffic!
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by Big L »

FleetlinePhil wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 13:59 ....The crossing of the roundabout at the S end normally carries somewhere over 50 trams per hour without so much as a warning sign or "Give Way" line to the road traffic!
Dont need to; the rule in Prague is "trams have priority" and every driver needs to know it.
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Big L
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by Big L »

Meanwhile, Oslo tram stop in the middle of a roundabout.
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Octaviadriver
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by Octaviadriver »

In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands there's this one through the middle of a roundabout.
https://goo.gl/maps/o36UsxX7yB6xHUsN6
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FleetlinePhil
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by FleetlinePhil »

Big L wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 14:31
FleetlinePhil wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 13:59 ....The crossing of the roundabout at the S end normally carries somewhere over 50 trams per hour without so much as a warning sign or "Give Way" line to the road traffic!
Dont need to; the rule in Prague is "trams have priority" and every driver needs to know it.
Oh yes, I'm well aware: I've been on enough trams in Prague making emergency stops to avoid those who aren't aware - mostly (foreign and/or drunk?) pedestrians :o .

To be confronted with a crossing at 90 degrees without warning still seems odd to British eyes. Approaching by three of the four roads, you would be aware there are tramlines alongside you, so are pre-warned. Driving in from the E side and approaching the N crossing, this does not apply - the first a stranger would know is when they see the tracks crossing the road in front of them. Presumably the sightlines are judged open enough to see a tram approaching from either direction?

Funnily enough, I'd passed over it by tram numerous times over the years and never really thought about it not being signal controlled. It was only on my last visit when I stayed in a hotel only a block away that I really took notice of how the traffic was behaving.
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by Glenn A »

I was in Catterick Garrison a couple of years ago and there are almost no traces of the railway line now.
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by booshank »

Bfivethousand wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 02:47 No mention, as far as I can see, of the A36 / A367 in Bath
That one has a particularly bad visibility problem, especially entering eastbound on the A36.
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Re: Roundabout with railway in the middle

Post by Big L »

Make poetry history.

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