A Park Railway?

[tayspru]

So I never visited the park with the railway intact, and feel like a full circuit train wold really add to the family appeal of the park....

This is just my thoughts of how and where a full circuit could work, as an alternative route to the hotels once the lodges / resort link opens, and as a scenic ride through the gardens.

So, do you think there is a place in a modern Alton Towers for a park railway?

 

[DiogoJ42]

Interesting idea. My first thought is that English Heritage would never allow anything to be built through the gardens.
However, ignoring that, I wonder if it would be possible to work our a route that could go down to the old gate house to collect people arriving at the "real" station when that opens? It's on the far side of the park though, so Wardley only knows how you could get a track over there without passing in front of the Towers.

 

[TurboJ]

A full circuit train would be nice, but I imagine you'd need a BIG bridge...
The gatehouse idea is pretty good, although one has to wonder how steep the hill is. Would a fully loaded train manage to get up there from a standstill? The only way I imagine they could is if it had a rack and pinion, like a mountain railway.
Where would it go? Alongside the road, past X Sector?

Actually... Looking at Google Maps, the old railway line runs along past the hotels. They could build a new station there, and then build a funicular railway to carry people to the resort.

 

[BarryZola]

Actually... Looking at Google Maps, the old railway line runs along past the hotels. They could build a new station there, and then build a funicular railway to carry people to the resort.

That does sound 'technically' possible actually, having walked from the station to the hotels via that route myself a few times. The problems would be planning concerns obviously, and the fact that it wouldn't actually enter the theme park itself at all. Just as a transport system to the vicinity of the hotels it could work 'in theory' though. You'd probably need another form of transport to get you nearer to the monorail station or what not after the funicular railway bit though. This means 3 separate bits of transport.

None of this is likely ever to happen obviously, but as been as it's being discussed I thought I'd just chip in.