Of course a train already crashed into it in the 1960's.
This time they are going to write off a tram just for a bit of stupid drama. Surely they could have thought of something better to do? A light aircraft crash or something might be more realistic but a train derailing for the second time?
I am very surprised GMPTE have agreed to this too as it won't do much good for the reputation of the Metrolink.
|
Are they having a cull (is that how you spell it?) of characters, as more often it seems to be Coronation Street that has the mass "eviction" of characters.
a few choices avaialble
Airplane crash
Tram Crash
Gas Explosion
|
There is going to be a mini-cull of characters. A good friend of ours is a continuity director on the series and gives some things away when she's had a few !
The Peacock family are out of the door !
I hope they don't use one of the new yellow trams....Rats and I need them to be running soon. Recently, they've had a tamping machine on the tracks at the end of the garden. Bit of a racket but end results will be a bonus.
A better, and more believable, scenario would be to have a crash involving a petrol tanker at the end of the street. The houses are all set on fire and, as the tanker explodes, part of the tank is shot into the sky, bring down a super-jumbo jet onto The Theatre of Dreams, not far away, during a sell-out international match.
But I suppose they won't take my advice....again !
Ted
|
>> a few choices avaialble
>>
>> Airplane crash
>> Tram Crash
>> Gas Explosion
>>
Move asylum seekers in.
|
|
I am surprised that anybody watches "Coronation Street" or programmes like it.
|
Still watched by millions of people. In Manchester I think we all know somebody who works for it. I know a few people that work on it, one of my customers used to be one of the most famous stript writers before he moved away.
I am guessing it will be one of the accident damaged T68s which is still at the North Manchester depot.
Incidently Ted have you seen all the new trams parked up at the Old Trafford depot just waiitng to arrive in Chorlton?
As for a tamping machine I cannot believe Metrolink don't own one, I am sure it has contributed to some of the rough rides of recent times. They constantly have to hire them in and they are very expensive to hire.
|
>>As for a tamping machine I cannot believe Metrolink don't own one.
>>They constantly have to hire them in and they are very expensive to hire.
They are expensive to hire because they are very very expensive to buy.
Tamping isn't something you do every week so it wouldn't get enough use to justify the cost.
(A bit like buying a new car and only driving it 50 miles a week.)
:-)
|
|
Blimey! is that soap still on the box then, how's Florrie Lindley doing, did she marry Frank after all?
|
You stick with Wycliffe, old son !
Leave the mean terraces to us as knows them well !
Ted
|
>>You stick with Wycliffe, old son ! Leave the mean terraces to us as knows them well<<
- - - - - - - - - - -> :D
|
>> Tamping isn't something you do every week so it wouldn't get enough use to justify
>> the cost.
This one doesn't seem as complex as the old yellow Plasser.
It's smaller, grey in colour. and seems to have a cab at each end.
I can only see the top half as the line is in a cutting about 6ft deep where it passes our spot.
Going to get me pushbike out tomorrow and have a look at what's going on from closer.
Ted
|
|
Is it a tamper or a stoneblower?
|
>> Is it a tamper or a stoneblower?
I've no answer to that, I'm afraid.
However, there was a yellow machine behind the house this morning that looked more like the familiar Plasser.
Ted
>>
|
>> They constantly have
>> to hire them in and they are very expensive to hire.
>>
How much do they cost (a) to buy and (b) to hire?
|
coronation street has been rubbish since hilda and stan were no longer in it
it should be shown the door like the bill was
they have all had their days
cash cows for luvvies
|
|
Corrie is still ITVs biggest earner, without it ITV may as well not exist.
|
Emmerdale is far better:)
Bring back Seth Armstrong, I say.
Pat
|
|
Oi watch it, never say that to a manc! :).
|
|
I agree with Pat. Now they've done the plane crash in Emmderdale to wipe out characters and then restyle it as Emmerdale instead of the old Emmerdale Farm. Who wants to watch farming ;-)
|
"Who wants to watch farming?"
The same people who listen to it maybe, in The Archers?
|
>> then restyle it as Emmerdale instead of the old Emmerdale Farm.
Maybe that chocolate company will sponsor Coronation Street once again and re title it Quality Street.
|
|
why does corrie have so many different directors? - they seem to be coming out of the woodwork! is it a training programme for new directors to cut thier teeth on?
|
I wonder if Snoop Dogg is the tram driver :-)
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/10560305.stm
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 8 Jul 10 at 22:31
|
>> why does corrie have so many different directors? - they seem to be coming out of the woodwork! is it a training programme for new directors to cut thier teeth on?>>
I suspect it's because recording the programmes (several weeks ahead of transmission) is virtually non-stop during the week, so the duties are split up to make the work load easier.
Many programmes are recorded well in advance. Deal or No Deal, for instance, notches up three programmes a day and each takes up to two hours to complete (editing is the key afterwards).
|
>> Corrie is still ITVs biggest earner, without it ITV may as well not exist.
>>
.....says a lot about the british public......
|
|
[nerdmode]There isn't actually a tram line at the end of Coronation Street. The one that you see on the credits is added by computer jiggery-pokery. Think about it - have you ever heard a tram pass by when you've been watching an outdoor scene?[/nerdmode]
|
>>have you ever heard a tram pass by when you've been watching an outdoor scene?<<
Well thats only because the wind has been in the wrong direction!
|
|
Well, correct me if I'm wrong - but wasn't there a tram crossing t'viaduct in the opening credits before they were recently changed ? I enjoy it, it's a soap, there are some silly stories in it - I enjoy it for the humorous bits - the most recent jolly bit was that Pratt fellow handcuffed to a radiator - absolutely brilliant humour and good acting. I don't watch any other soaps BTW.
|
|
Having been to CS set, i can confirm that the majority (inc the tram line) of the surroundings are added in. as otherwise you would just see the Granada studio buildings and other sets
|
The tram line is daft because everybody always gets a bus and there is never really any mention of it. However the tram was featured in the previus credits.
I also think the increasing Manchesterification of Weatherfield is a bit daft. Its supposed to be a borough within Greater Manchester (actually supposed to be next to Salford) but the mini cabs go all the way into south Manchester for pickups etc.
Nigel Havers charector is supposed to be live near me but never seen him, often see Peter Barlow though who in real life looks the same as the charector. Supposed to be a very friendly chap.
They portray my area of being full of vegan hippies which is quite true in a way.
|
>> you ever heard a tram pass by when you've been watching an outdoor scene?
There are no overhead wires, either, Rob.
Ted
|
Ted I am usualy very good at spotting things like that, and I have ofted thought about offering my services to corrie. I can spot sad things like the wrong kind of light switch (e.g a 1960's switch in a new build) and obvious problems like an N reg Minicab (in reality no council will licence such an old car).
However I have never noticed there is no over head cables! I am starting to think this storyline is just a bit of a wind up and won't really happen.
|
Actually, Rats...I don't think it ever had a driver or passengers, either.
Ted
|
Vera lived just across the road from me, It was a fight scene most nights....similar with the Liz McDonald actress....lots of domestics, just up the road.
Lots living round here, on and off. had a nice chat with Tranny Hayley one day ouside Morrisons , having an old car brings the stars flocking around you ! Met Sally regularly at the National Trust house where I volunteered. ( Also Sir James Anderton use to come and walk in the park every week...nice guy )
Name dropping ?.....bring it on.
May apply for a job with Hello mag.
Ted
|
I have a couple of books on the Manchester music scene and they seem to be full of curses about James Anderton he thought everybody should be in bed by 11:00 and had no sympathy for night clubs. That said the places we targeted did have a a reputation for drugs.
I am a more of a rocker than a dancer so if I was around in the 80's (e.g not a kid) I don't think his policies would have caused me any bother.
Isn't the bloke that runs the big furniture shop Bevery Collard's ex? I was told they used to run it together.
I used to see Kevin Kennedy a lot when I was child mainly in the Bowling Green, last time I saw him he was fainted outside a bar in Didsbury, that was during the days when he drank too much.
I used to see Hayley a lot too before she moved out. One of my friends (before I met her) used to work in Morrisons's so got see a lot of corrie starts. Of course Craig Charles used have a flat oppsite for the taxi rank before it got turned over by the drug squad.
I would think that Corrie generates quite a lot of wealth for Manchester, partly due to tourism but I just wish it wasn't always raining in Wetherfield! I am sure they sometimes make the set wet on purpose.
|
The day Kevin ( used to live in East Meade when he was married to Dawn Chorus ) collapsed, SWMBO was working in the jewellers next door. They saw the kerfuffle on the pavement and someone came in the shop and said ' It's Curly Watts '
Panic ensued as they mis-heard it as ' Killer Wasps '
Barking mad !
Ted
|
Perhaps this is why some people watch Coronation Street?
tinyurl.com/2bglx9a
|
I watch it simply because it is made less than three miles from where I live so I have a lot of connections with it. I know quite a few people who have and work on the street. One of them strict writers was a very good customer of mine until he moved to work in the states.
I still think this story line is far too far fetched but then no more so than a plane landing on Emmerdale. I am still amazed that GMPTE have allowed the storyline to go ahead though. I am also surprised they are using Metrolink branding on the tram, with Wetherfield being such a massive city with its own university it would have its own Weatherfield tram system.
|
Bad airbrushing on that pic.
Very pneumatic buffers though - could they absorb the kinetic energy of a tram in full flight - I wonder!
|
|
Well the tram is actually just a poorly made mockup as they are not going to crash one of their brand new £2 million trams.
|
|
where you anywhere near the Salford blast Rats ?
|
It wasn't in Salford as such, Irlam is within the city of Salford but it isn't actually Salford itself it is about 5 miles away and probably about 6 miles from where I live in South Manchester.
Still it is not that far from where I live though. I don't think it is known what caused the blast yet but it is a reminder of just how dangerious the stuff can be.
|
|
I know of Irlam from years ago - looks quite a blast on the Beeb site.
|
Yep, I wonder if there is more to it than a simple leak. E.g maybe a main case supply or maybe a faield valve on the tank. I would guess the house may have been empty at the time or there must have been very poor ventalation in the house causing the sudden build up.
|
>> Yep, I wonder if there is more to it than a simple leak. >>
Just might have been a case of trying to bypass the meter - the two or three house explosions over a long number of years in the town where I live were all attributed to that fact.
|
The explosion wouldn't happen so quickly though would it? I understand that gas needs quiet some time to build up in a house because they are so large. Also it looks like a 1970's build and the metres are often outside of on these.
We had a valve fail on our metre about 15 years ago and was probably minutes away from our house going up like that. Luckily my dad came back from work and discovered the smell and managed to open the doors and turn the gas off in the dark.
British gas turned up the same evening and replaced the meter but played down the dangers because it was their equipment that had failed.
|
>>The explosion wouldn't happen so quickly though would it? I understand that gas needs quiet some time to build up in a house because they are so large>>
There's no smell IIRC with natural gas so less likely for a leak to be noticed.
|
...There's no smell IIRC with natural gas so less likely for a leak to be noticed...
Isn't a smell added the gas to make leak detection easier?
|
|
Reminds me of the time a fellow PhD student was making something in the lab that smelt very similar to the stuff they put in gas to make it detectable. He got the traps wrong so the smell was emanating out of the top of the fume cupboard flues and into the atmossphere. Cue loads and loads of British Gas vans in the area looking for the leak and a number of very red faces in the department. There was a lot of concern about the hospital just down the road having to be evacuated if I remember corrrectly.
|
>>>Isn't a smell added the gas to make leak detection easier?
Ethyl mercaptan is the stuff they add. Had a bottle of it in the office cabinet back in a former career.... just a quick relaese of the cap was enough to bring half of the office to a standstill :-)
|
|
But they add the smell to it don't they?
|
>> There's no smell IIRC with natural gas so less likely for a leak to be
>> noticed.
there is, transco put a smell into to the gas.
That is a big bang tho, the wreckage has gone a long way.
|
I was going by the fact that originally, when natural gas was brought in, there were complaints that no one could smell gas leaks....:-)
As you rightly say, today's Irlam explosion is a pretty big one and it's a miracle that, as far as is known, no one has been killed.
|
|
i wonder what caused the roof-tiles of the kabin to come off? - without damaging the guttering, soffit boards or edge tiles?
|
They would have been knicked by some Salford chav who had just been kicked out of Salford Lads club a few hours earlier for making fun of Stephen Morrissey.
|
|
your right! - you can see them neatly stacked up by the shop wall reafy for a quick getaway! and.....it looks like somebody has already nicked the suspension units off the tram bogies as well!
|
See - its a dangerous place Manchester.
Houses explode, trams fall off viaducts.....
|
|
And it rains too much which makes the cars rust!
|
Tram to crash into Coronation Street - how daft - Redviper
