This bit of snow

[The Natural Philosopher]

they also cope better with (mild) standing water

[Bob Eager]

Doesn't the DLR do that? Vague memory...

[Bob Eager]

I agree about the billyuns. But perhaps the trains could be converted to dual standard first (I was thinking about this last night). We already have such trains round here.

[Bob Eager]

Not quite. My understanding is that it works more like a limited slip diff -if one side starts spinning, it brakes it a bit to feed some power to the other side. You snake a bit, but keep moving.

[Bob Eager]

Yes, but your qualification wasn't attached to the right part of the sentence....!

[Tim Streater]

Which regs you thinking of? Tractors doing ploughing round here the last couple of days.

[Tim Streater]

Ah, those regs :-)

[Adrian]

The one that I followed down the lanes on Tuesday wasn't. It was towing a large trailer full of livestock.

The farm loader that was broken down coming the other way wasn't laid up, either. More's the pity.

[Adrian]

So lift off a bit - you keep moving.

[Tim Streater]

Sure, no problem with dual standard trains as such (weren't the Eurostars triple initially?) But all the trains used on a given line would have to be converted first - you'd have to re-engineer a set of trains not designed for it. Would there then be mechanical interference between the two systems?

[Tim Streater]

DLR does, yes. But the whole system is like that and the trains don't go on other tracks.

[Andy Dingley]

It's not steam, as steam is invisible.

What it's far more likely to be is a condensation plume. The warmer road evaporates moisture which then condenses in the air above it. We've had a couple of (large!) local potholes filled in today with hot tarmac and there are still sizable plumes over both of them. even a couple of hours later.

[Andy Dingley]

Landrover (in the 1960s at least) had an official plans book for how to make snowploughs etc. for mounting on a Landie. Remember that it was designed originally for "light ploughing" too.

[Huge]

AFAIK, all the points in the UK already have heaters. BICBW.

[Huge]

Yes.

[Huge]

Or in the case of the London-Brighton Thameslink line, triple standard, since they already have both overhead wire and sliding shoe pickups.

(What retard allowed that to happen, BTW?)

[Huge]

Awww, bless. TNP extending his utter ignorance into yet another field.

Malcolm was spreading something (fertiliser?) on the winter wheat a few days ago. Since the ground's frozen they can get a tractor on it, which they couldn't if the temperature was above freezing, because it would be too soggy.

[Tim Streater]

Allowed what to happen?

[Tim Streater]

Lawks a mercy!

[Tim Watts]

Of course, you'll have the NIMBYs out: "overhead lines look ugly...".

I must admit, a pair of tracks look quite pleasant on the landscape, but overhead wires and the supporting gantries look hideous... But I'd rather have a working train...