Hovertrains and visions of the future

April 28, 2009 at 1:36 pm · Filed under Do You Remember?, Stories and tagged: Future, train, transport

Tuesday 21st was a gorgeous sunny day for a visit to Sutton to speak to members of the Triangle Club, meeting some of the Tea Dancers and others at the Glebe. I am always inspired at the depth of the history and knowledge people have about Sutton and its history. I cycled there and back today and have a plan to do some Kayaking around the area this summer so that has set me to thinking a lot about the ways people have travelled and might travel in the future to the village.
One of the great images of the future we had in the past was of monorails and raised trains. I’d love to hear from people who remember the Hovertrain Project, according to wikkipedia:

“A test track for a tracked hovercraft system was built at Earith near Cambridge, England. It ran SW from Sutton Gault, sandwiched between the Old Bedford River and the smaller Counter Drain to the West. Careful examination of the site will still reveal traces of the concrete piers used to support the structure.”

It was apparently abandoned due to finances, I wonder what what the landscape would have looked like if it had been finished, would more people have moved here? Would it be a curse or a blessing? So next time I’m near Peterborough I am going to go see the RTV31 itself at Railworld. I was wondering why this mass transit system was planed for that route – does anyone know more?

Please post if you know anything about this lost part of our imagined transport future.

The RTV31

Comments (5)