Tunnels

No no no, it's alright.

I wouldn't mind doing the Newcastle Metro, I've never done it before (nor been up that far on the ECML) - so Newcastle sounds fine with me.

But this is yours and Q8's meet - Whatever you wish to do or want to go, I'll gladly go along with it as long as my wallet can financially keep me on my feet. ;D ;D ;D
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Well have a look at the GNER website for trains, tickets etc. You can get some very reasonable prices at the quiet times. The journey takes around 3 hours depending on train. If you do decide to make it then welcome.

EDIT: ANYONE age under the age of 16 PLEASE get parents say-so to travel if coming alone. It's NOT essential but would put my mind at rest to know that your elders know where you are. A mobile phone in the pocket would be a boon to contact them in emergency.

Right so if Bob sorts the itinary, I sort the date (to be confirmed by all persons going) and Chris you can organize your way here

Since that's going against the flow of commuters on trains which would otherwise be virtually empty, some of the cheapest tickets of all on GNER are to be found on journeys departing from London early in the morning, and arriving back late in the evening, maybe as low as £20 return if you book well in advance (from typing random dates into the website). It's worth talking to the ticket office staff as they are far better than the website for finding small tweaks to journeys which result in big savings, and the website seems to report some types of tickets to be sold out before they actually are.

My Dad worked on the Metro for over twenty years, and I'm originally from Newcastle, so I should be able to answer any questions you have about it, or I can ask Dad.

(From memory)

The Metro was originally a network of suburban rail lines, vaguely similar to those in south London, but on a much smaller scale. These all operated out of Central Station (the size of the platform with the ticket office being due to it being formed from filling in several bays).

By the mid seventies, this network was starting to get into a bit of a bad state of repair, and it was decided to replace it with a light rail network, as part of the general regeneration strategy for the whole of the Newcastle area. The first sections of Metro opened in 1980, with the rest of the system gradually being converted over a period of about five years or so.

The vast majority of the system makes use of the alignments of the railways it replaced, with the main deviations being the twin tubes under the centre of Newcastle, Gateshead and the bridge linking these, and also a viaduct on the line to the east to be separate from the one used by the ECML.

There are two lines, yellow and green, with the green line forming a sort of Z shape with a vertical middle section, from the Airport in the north west (newest extension), to South Shields in the South East, via central Newcastle. The yellow line goes from St James (Newcastle United's ground), through the centre of Newcastle to the east, then round a loop around the coast, coming right round to join the green line for it's route south back through the centre of Newcastle. It then continues with the green line for a while before turning onto the Network Rail line to Sunderland, and then following new rails to South Hylton to the west of Sunderland.

See www.nexus.org.uk/pdf/Metro_map_2002.pdf

The system is controlled from a signal box at South Gosforth (where green and yellow converge to the north, apart from the extension to Sunderland which is controlled by Network Rail). The rolling stock depot is nearby, just towards the Airport in Gosforth.

hello compsci, welcome to this ere forum.
I've always wanted to visit Newcastle and have a go on the Tyne & Wear metro.

One simple question about the system follows...

Are the trains driven manually or is the system automatic, with an operator opening/closing doors and then pressing a 'start' button. I've never come across a book or even good photographs of the system, apart from basic drawings of the cars themselves, the ones I have seen, dont describe the 'workings' of the system. The only photo I do have is of Byker Viaduct under construction!

Hallo Gent's I have some videos (Commercial) of the Newcastle metro of which I will do copies that anyone who comes to the meet will get gratis (SSSSHHHHH!!!) The copies will be on DVD disk. If I know how many will be there I'll do them before the gathering.

I think Ausgust would probably best time for the meet to take place. The best place for the start of the thing would be Newcastle Central Station. There is a car park there but I don't know how well it is used or how full it gets but there is cctv so the vehicle should be reasonbly safe. Now one other thing. Would those who propose to come please confirm to me by PM not less than a week for the visit.

This will enables me to get the runaround day tickets called "Explorers" for the whole Tyne/Wear area in advance. These tickets enable rides for the whole day on ALL buses/metro and some NR lines within the region. Looking forward to seeing any participants.

What date are you thinking of, or when abouts roughly?

I'm intrested but will be away in early August from 5th - 19th, but since i'm on me summer holiday now I don't mind.

It's probably worth mentioning that Northern Rail (or whatever they're called these days) run fast services between Newcastle and Sunderland, stopping at Heworth only. They used to call at every station before the Metro was extended.

Explorer tickets are valid on these if you want to move a bit quicker, or just do things differently. Quite why these trains are shown as taking a completely different route on some maps is anyone's guess.

Nice to see that there's been activity despite my enforced absence in the last xx days!

I wish I could say I could join you for this exploration of the Newcastle Metro System (and the other events Q8's got planned for the itinerary) but I think there's more chance of hell freezing over at the momet!

Can I just undeline though a very important point, and that it that you youngsters please make sure you've got full permission of your parents, that you let them know as accurately as possible where you'll be and (as far as possible) when, and that they know how to contact you - at least mobile phones make this more possible these days.

Putting my 'dad' head on - I know I'd want to know what my lad (who's a similar age to several of you here) was up to if he were to be on a jaunt similar to this, and I know his mum (you know what mum's are like.....) would most definitely want to know.

And for the 'older' one's please ensure that you keep your own arrangements well known too - these days it's all to easy to fall foul of the 'authorities'.

I know this next bit is going to sound like an rear covering exercise but......

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