Promenade - Megathread

[Harry Lamb]

7 minutes ago, emesde said:

It's also possible(I don't know) that the prices were "delivered prices". The cost of shipping heavy loads to IOM could have been included and wouldn't have been cheap.

DOI planned to lash them together in a raft and float them across but they hadn't enough salt to increase the buoyancy of the Irish Sea

[Max Power]

Lots of people on the prom over the TT, at night it looked absolutely dire with its utilitarian lighting, in fact shameful for an aspiring holiday destination. If the fair hadn't been there, there would have been more atmosphere on the moon! 

David Christian needs a gigantic kick up the ass, he was warned and arrogantly dismissed anyone who told him that it was a crap scheme. We should sue the architect who advised on this fiasco!

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, emesde said:

It's also possible(I don't know) that the prices were "delivered prices". The cost of shipping heavy loads to IOM could have been included and wouldn't have been cheap.

Seems unlikely as the FoI gave prices to compare for the other purchasers as well and would have been different for each.  Arranging delivery from Immingham from would have been the responsibility of the purchaser normally.  Gawne announced what a wonderful bargain we had got in July 2015, giving the same total price, but not mentioning delivery.

I suspect that Longworth made a 'deal' with some mate of his at Merseytram to take what he could to fulfil his tram fantasies, the other buyers bargained down later - and then a scrap merchant took the leftovers.  The deal may have been before they had the official permission to sell them, though the project was killed off two years before.

[Roger Mexico]

On 6/8/2024 at 1:08 PM, finlo said:

On 6/8/2024 at 12:57 PM, A fool and his money..... said:

Didn't they spend a fortune cleaning the rust off the ones that they have already laid? Cos the prom took so long.

Yes they brought over some very expensive specialists with specialized equipment ( read nine inch angle grinder) to de rust them.

Almost £70,000 according to this.

[Two-lane]

Maybe someone could create a spreadsheet of "total waste of money" projects that the gov. have embarked on over the last few years. All the "minor" items when added up may put the Liverpool landing stage into the shadows.

And there is the free parking (I felt I just had to mention that). I compute the lost income at about a mere £1.5 million since the end of Covid.

[finlo]

5 minutes ago, Two-lane said:

Maybe someone could create a spreadsheet of "total waste of money" projects that the gov. have embarked on over the last few years. All the "minor" items when added up may put the Liverpool landing stage into the shadows.

And there is the free parking (I felt I just had to mention that). I compute the lost income at about a mere £1.5 million since the end of Covid.

There was one a few years ago if someone knows how to dig it up.

[Non-Believer]

6 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

That will be the case, especially as that would be specific to the particular layout they had planned.  If fact it may be that Ashford's Key's Question only refers to that:

17. The Hon. Member for Douglas North, Mr Ashford, to ask the Minister for Infrastructure –

What has happened to the additional tram track that was purchased for the horse tram to run the full length of Douglas Promenade; where that track is being stored; and what condition it is in.

as it mentions 'additional'.  But of course the real scandal is that this 'bargain' wasn't needed - there was no need to purchase track suitable for running electric trams on, it was all Longworth's fantasy that he had been forbidden to implement but went ahead anyway and did so in a predictably incompetent manner.  And was allowed to by Ministers too lazy or weak to stand up to him and civil servants who didn't want to challenge the principle that they should be allowed to do whatever they want.

Of course, Ashford is asking questions long after the event in best Tynwald style, to include Longworth's departure.

If this question does indeed elicit what has happened to the rails and at what loss to the taxpayer (rather than the usual attempts at deflection and denial from the DOI) there will doubtless be the usual after the event handwringing with the guilty parties departed and saved harmless as always.

This sort of scrutiny should have been present during the project, that includes Ashford who was at Treasury for part of the time and the rest of the nodding, somnambulant dogs.

[Numbnuts]

5 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

Almost £70,000 according to this.

I personally think that the rust story was nonsense . I think it was an attempt to deal with noise and the likes from the rails. They were , as we all know now , the totally wrong rail for our horse trams. And I believe , someone gave a description on here , that the bogeys sat on the rails differently which caused the noise/ vibrations. I really don’t think rust on the rails is really an issue as the Electric tram rails sit unused for 6 months or more and of course over Covid they didn’t run either. A few trips and the rust would be worn off . And they were stored stacked on top of each other too. 

[Dirty Buggane]

The rust cleaning was just clutching at straws by someone who engineering knowledge never passed Duplo bricks, they are noisy because they are set in concrete right up to both sides. The old rails were set on a bed of bitchimum with bitchimum up to the outer sides and  tarmac down the Centre between the rails to be softer on the hooves and provide better grip.

[monasqueen]

For bitchimum, do you mean bitumen? Is that the right product?

From Mr Google, "Bitumen is often misused as a term when describing asphalt and can be confusing for many people." "Bitumen is actually the liquid binder that holds asphalt together." 

[Two-lane]

A bear walks into a bar. The barman says "We don't serve bears". The bear says "If you don't serve me, I'm going to take a bite out of that woman sitting at the bar". The barman says "We don't serve bears". So the bear goes up to the woman, takes a bite out of her arm and comes back. The barman says "We don't serve bears, especially ones on drugs". The bear says "Waddaya mean?"

So the barman says.... "That was a barbiturate".

Well, I suppose not particularly close to bitchimum.

 

[Kopek]

Bitchymen also holds MF together?

[Dirty Buggane]

However it is spelt it is what the prom used to be surfaced with and a smattering of pointy rocks thrown on top and then rolled in, would this be the asphalt you talk about. The walkway was once like this also till cost and inability to be able to find the skill set, the last I seen of this was on walkway reinstatement after the IRIS scheme when a bunch of paddy's came over to do the job. Was good to watch them do the red lozenge and the green squares first then fill in the rest with black.

[Non-Believer]

Grey/black asphalt is boring and doesn't allow the full crayonista expression. We need mauves, pinks and turquoise, not to mention Celtic designs and yellow ovals to fully unleash the potential.

[Gladys]

4 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

Grey/black asphalt is boring and doesn't allow the full crayonista expression. We need mauves, pinks and turquoise, not to mention Celtic designs and yellow ovals to fully unleash the potential.

And galloping horses?