Tag Archives: R&RTHA

Business Histories of UK Tramways, York 5th February

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Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History, York

Research Workshop

13.30-16.45, Wednesday 5th February 2014
BUSINESS HISTORIES OF UK TRAMWAYS

Ian Souter
‘The British electric tram: basket case or barometer?’

Kevin Tennent (York Management School)
‘Management and competitive advantage in the public transport industry: York Corporation tramways, ca 1909-1934’

All welcome. Refreshments served. PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER STARTING TIME. This is to accommodate the NRM’s earlier closing time in the low season.
The workshop is scheduled to take place in the Edmondson Room, Search Engine at the National Railway Museum. However we are expecting an even larger than usual attendance and might have to move to the Flying Scotsman (formerly Gibb) lecture theatre.

The NRM is about three minutes’ walk from the railway station, using the footbridge. Please use either the City or Car Park entrances and tell the staff at the welcome desk that you are attending the workshop.

Please note that NRM car-parking charges apply. Free disabled parking is available near the public entrances.

This workshop is financed by the National Railway Museum.

 

‘Unsung’ London war bus brought back to life

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For the best part of a century the vital role played by the B-type London bus in World War One has been overlooked and largely forgotten. But now the model is to be celebrated with a remarkable restoration project in time to mark the centenary of the conflict.

See the full story on the BBC website.

 

Travels in the Valleys shortlisted

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Our Chairman Bob McCloy’s Travels in the Valleys has been shortlisted for the Railways & Canals Historical Society Book of the Year Award, now in its tenth year – www.rchs.org.uk/trial/gwpf.php?wpage=Books1. The list of past winners makes impressive reading.

The Award is funded by the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust, www.dstjthomascharitabletrust.co.uk.

Buses Avoid Cyclists – Intelligently

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New tech helps drivers avoid bikes by using audio alert

Carolyn Rice Technology reporter, BBC News

Cycle Eye was born out of the Bristol University innovation centre.

The unit is fitted to the outside of a bus on the driver’s left hand side. Using radar and camera sensors it identifies whether an object along side the vehicle is a cyclist and gives the driver an audio alert, typically “cyclist left”.

The team say technology like this is only used in the military. The system is different to others already on the market, they say, because the detection algorithm allows the device to differentiate between a cyclist and other objects on the side of the road such as lampposts, railings and other vehicles.

“We’ve developed a very intelligent system using radar and image processing. We can tell what objects are and the system can still identify cyclists in poor visibility and bad conditions,” says Mr Hutchinson, chief executive of Fusion Processing, the company which created Cycle Eye.

The device was involved in a trial by Transport for London and over 3 days of testing had a 98.5% success rate at identifying cyclists.

The team hope that after another round of intensive trialling they will go in to production next year.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: “With technologies of this type, the key thing is to trial them to make sure they work reliably. It’s also important to make sure that they do not overload the driver with too many things to check and too many alerts to interpret.”

See the full story at www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25316837.