hidden europe 25

More than a streetcar

by hidden europe

Summary

Inter-municipal tram routes still survives here and there in Europe. We survey examples from the Ruhr region of Germany, Bohemia, the Isle of Man and England.

This issue of hidden europe features the Belgian coastal tram route, which, as we say in that article, is the longest tram route in the world. Trams are often thought of as being essentially for transport within a city, rather than for longer distances. That marks out the Belgian coastal route as being unusual. Yet elsewhere around Europe, there are other examples of inter-municipal tram routes.

In southern Poland, for example, a complex network of trams links Katowice with twelve nearby towns. And two routes that run between towns survive in the Czech Republic, both in northern Bohemia.

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Turboprops at Britain's busiest airport

Turboprops are back at London's Heathrow airport. An ATR-42 belonging to Scottish airline Loganair is flying a once-daily scheduled service to the Isle of Man on behalf of British Airways. We take a look at previous occasions when airport staff at Britain's busiest airport reckoned they were waving goodbye to the last turboprop.

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Flying can still be fun

Flying has generally ceased to be fun. The only certainty about much modern air travel is that it will be boring. Airports from Omsk to Omaha are nowadays all very much the same and all equally uninspiring. All that said, it is always interesting to browse the summer flight schedules and find that there are a few parts of Europe where scheduled air services still make a very fine contribution to life in remote communities. And there are many examples where a plane bridges a gap between places that are otherwise unlinked by surface transport.

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Airport links

Is not the journey to the airport often one of the great hassles of modern travel? Not all of us can enjoy the relaxed approach taken in the Isle of Man where narrow gauge steam trains pause on request at Ronaldsway Halt, just a short walk from the island's airport.