Trams for Wales.

Cardiff Proposed.

The return of trams to the capital Cardiff is under consideration, wither it will happen or not who knows? But trams for Swansea and many other large towns with hills would be a viable transport need worth looking into.

Since it was Swansea where the concept of the first tram and tramway were born! Today the re-introduction of light rail across the United Kingdom and the British isles has been very profitable as has world wide. 

Simple to run and attractive to the eye, they fill the gap between buses and mainline trains or metro/tube systems.

Volkswagen VW Camper vans. Part-One.

An Iconic Vehicle.

Everywhere that I have been in the world, one has come across this iconic vehicle, which became a symbol of the 1960's 'Hippie movement' and remains a favourite fun camper.

Last year VW ended its production line for this camper, but it will continue now to be more of a classic collectors item. What made it great was perhaps it offered a unlimited choice of combination colour schemes and it was also compact and comfortable.

The secondhand market for this version flourished making like the original VW Beetle a cheap easy to maintain sought after van.

Cranes. Part-One.

Ancient to Present.

The crane has been around as long as man has been on the Earth, Stone Henge in the United Kingdom, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great wall of China could not have been constructed without some form of crane or pulling device.

Slaves and animals too played an essential part, because the people who designed and built these monuments where part of high society and part of powerful empires. Today we take the crane and various lifters for granted, not high rise can be built without them being built into the structure of the towers in New York, Dubai and London.

Today there are a variety of types available to do different types of lifting, some of this being the recovery of heavy loads or the moving over structures into confined spaces. This is were the telescopic cranes have come into their own right.

Warships. Part-One.

The need For!

Every nation that has a coast, even a lake border needs some kind of Navy. Armed vessels from little patrol boats to the ocean plying aircraft carriers or deep water submarines. 

The British Royal navy has been shrinking over the last seventy years from being a world power, 'Britannia Rules the Waves.'

Today the United States of America, the Russian Federation and the Republic of China, with France are the biggest navies of the world. Britain is part of N.A.T.O. (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and is also a member of the European Union which is building its own joint forces programme.

EU Warships now patrol the Suez Canal in northern-Egypt, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, between war struck Yemen and Somalia. they are involved in protection oil and gas tankers travelling from the Persian Gulf to Europe. 

Meanwhile apart from local waters, some ships may be assigned from time to time to the Mediterranean to counter illegal seafaring immigration to southern-Europe.

Rail Engineering. Part-Two.

Easter Weekend Nightmares.

This is the time of the year where the opportunity arises to get those yellow engineering trains out of their various depots or holding areas to repair the rails. Many train enthusiasts don't really bother with them, its more the freight that takes their interest.

But like a few out there, they fascinate me because of their technical innovation and the ability now to lift and replace rail tracks in whole sections with very little human activity. There are so many different kinds of machines employed in railway building and demolishing that it can leave one wondering.

Many of the manufacturers of these new complex machines, just specialise in these types and their locomotives. These trains come in various sizes and gauges and are deployed all over the world under and above ground.