April Quiz - Day 11

aetearlscourt has it in one. The stairs to the w/b District are out of view, to the left of the picture.

Yeah, Victoria, top of the escalators from the Vic platforms. Left hand passageway leads to W/B Circle and District line platform.

Well, on escalators everyone is travelling in the same direction (hopefully!), so stand one side, walk the other... along passageways is a different kettle of fish.

Plus.. why are you looking for logic in LU workings! ;D

Well when you think about it, there is a simple logic here. Keep left on walkways just emulates what we do on the road (as we are one of the few civilised nations left on earth, that actually drive on the correct side of the road ;D ), and oncoming people will pass you on your right.

Now on an escalator you should stand on the right to keep clear of the moving (human) traffic passing on the left...

Simple really


Frimm


And just to add to Oracle, as you posted at the same time as me....
On the subject of the Romans, what effect have they had on the space shuttle and why?

Except at Cannon Street (which has no escalators) where you are supposed to keep right in the walkways.

Why are the Solid Rocket Boosters on the Space Shuttle the size they are?


In the beginning, the Romans conquered most of Europe. They did this using guile, cunning, legions and chariots.

The chariots were designed to be the width of two horse’s backsides, and the chariots needed roads. The Romans built the roads to take the width of the standard chariot.

Long after the Romans disappeared from the scene, generations of wheelwrights and wagon makers, wrestled with the problem of wagon width. Make them too wide, and the axles broke. Too narrow, and the ride was uncomfortable, and they could topple over. Make them the same width as the Roman chariot, and they worked just fine, and also rode well in the ruts on the old Roman roads caused by chariots and wagons over hundreds of years.

With the dawn of the railways, with the exception of I.K. Brunel (a man ahead of his time), most engineers felt that the correct gauge should be that used for the horse drawn wagon, namely 4' 8 1/2 " , and so that was how the railways were built.

Now the young United States needed a vast network of railways as well, and borrowed from the pioneering work done in Britain. Hence they too adopted a gauge of 4' 8 1/2".

Step into the late 20th century, and the builders of the solid rocket boosters of the shuttle had a fundamental problem to resolve. They needed to build the boosters, that sit along side the main tank of the shuttle (one either side), that would push the Shuttle to the limits of space, but at the same time they had to deliver them from their factory in Utah to the assembly and launch site. They chose the railway as the best means of transport, but the problem was the route went through a tunnel. The tunnel was just wider than the rolling stock, so the boosters had to fit.

So there is the answer. What is arguably the world’s most advanced transport system was both constrained and determined by the width of a Roman horse’s backside.


Dunno how true it is but it’s a lovely story none the less


right then I'll go and lurk for another few months and stop hijacking threads ;D

How did Australia end up with driving on the left and some railways standard, others broad. They imported the same system of driving as Great Britain, and some railways adopted the British standard gauge through using British engineers, and at least one Broad Gauge as they used an Irish engineer!