Hitchcocks Forum

I took a short test run this morning. Here it is: ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX8vSLA4Wpc

Obviously not a purists mount but it did seem to get along ok. What were your impressions of its top speed and general usability? I do remeber a contributor to this forum in the past who was a great fan but I have to admitt that Id personally struggle with the sound it makes.

What a horrible racket, I hope you had ear plugs. That sounded like and ancient 1900`s motorcycle on its last legs, or a bucket of ball bearings rolling down an iron roof. As far as I`m concerned, mileage is not worth the noise one has to suffer, the petrol engines are bad enough. It`s a shame the Romans didn`t stay longer to sort out those narrow single-lane goat tracks where two cars can`t pass without one having to dive into the hedges. I only stayed with it to look at the scenery. My ears are still ringing.

My impressions were ... it was SLOW. Imagine a 350 Bullet in need of a rebore and also with burnt valves and a blowing head gasket and you'd be about on a par performance wise. I don't know if they are all like this, but this one was going flat out from 5 mins, 40 sec in the video and again doing a more or less standing start from 12 mins, 18 sec. It was a harsh ride, but to be fair, the suspension was not great [very stiff] on this machine.
Regards, Paul.

Leon, welcome to english country lanes. A "lane" is quite literally a cow-path, a road designed by cattle, long droves or simply getting the beasts to and from pasture. Roman roads although straight were built for single ox-cart width of 4-ft 8.1/2-in (which we used for rail tracks). Lanes are fun but you do have to mind that you don't end up as a bonnet mascot on a Range Rover.

The roman road going north from London was 66 feet wide and designed for 4 lanes of traffic!

(pipe and smoke it)

The Ox cart was the origin of 4'81/2" rail gauge only because that width was used on the early, pre locomotive, rail systems which used horse drawn carts on rails.
Whether there was a standard for Ox carts before there was a need for one is open to arguement. Personally I think not. I think every maker would have his own measurement. There were no national designs for horse drawn vehicles but each area's design was based on the local requirements.

Until recently; Australia had three rail gauges, 3ft 6in, 4ft 8 1/2in and 5ft 2in; passengers had to change trains at the borders. The Romans don`t know what they started. I think we are wandering a bit off the topic here, now, about electric trains---------------------.

So not a ringing endorsement then .