UPS at Lyneham

[crashtest]

Anyone else heard this one? Local landowners already been contacted & offered megabucks to enable slip-road to M4...

[Blighter Pilot]

And everyone in Bassett is to be given a pair of golden slippers......

[minigundiplomat]

After what the people of Wootton Bassett have done over the last few years, I'm sure many in the military would measure them up for their golden slippers if they asked.

[StopStart]

Not heard this particular rumour :hmm: That said, the airport that serves the area is Bristol which, as any local knows, is easily accessible lying, as it does, at the end of a rutted bridleway, on the wrong side of the city. Lyneham on the other hand sits on both the M4 and the main London railway line. It also has a longer runway than Bristol. It would make an ideally situated regional airport. Which is why the army will probably move in and immediately build a something on the runway. Mega.
:rolleyes:

[vernon99]

I have to agree, Lyneham would make a very good regional airport, afterall if Stanstead/Luton can call themselves London.... then surely an airport a mere hour from central London could be called London Swindon?

All joking aside, a new motorway junction, running to a large car park at the bottom of the hill(getting rid of the car boot at Dauntsey) add a station on the mainline right next door, and you have a very easy to get to airport in a central location.

Nah too easy, they will obviously go for option 1, give it to the army......:ugh:

[sumps]

mmm..crashtest 4 posts and you are digging? :\

I think I heard this rumour being made-up, on evening, whilst on gate-guard shortly after it was anounced we were all of to Oxfordshire!

Oh well if you say it long and loud enough it will come true - eh! :ugh:

[crashtest]

Hi Sumps

Nah Mate - just a heartbroken ex-Lyneham lad, who is sad to see the old place dyin', & sadder till to see the good K folk strugglin' on... :{

Rumour came from a fellow ex-Lyneham dude who still lives local, & is pally with a farmer in the area who was approached with a proposal regarding his laaand.

PM me if you're interested

Rgds

ct

[Mr C Hinecap]

a very easy to get to airport in a central location

All well and good, but all that new infrastructure to and from the airport isn't much use if the infrastructure at the airport is in absolute tatters. No hydrant system, BFIs a bit tired etc etc.

[StopStart]

An imaginary company theoretically taking over Lyneham to develop it as a never-going-to-happen regional airport wouldn't give a monkeys about infrastructure per se. It's all about land and existing usage of said land. Bristol doesn't have a hydrant system and gets by quite happily with bowsers. BFIs would ultimately be renewed anyway if and when a fuel hydrant system became necessary.
Bristol airport has the worst road/rail links of pretty much any regional hub in the UK (along with the smallest runway) and yet it is still able to exist as a viable economic entity. In this fictional construct of ours, I reckon that the Fat Albert Memorial International Aeropark & Burgerama (Lyneham Intl) would actually, given the right financial conditions, be a very viable proposition.

[BEagle]

Well, you're certainly right about Brizzle International....

I remember when the local TV news announced the move from Whitchurch to Lulsgate. Everyone asked "Why? Surely Filton is the obvious place!".

Then they extended the runway 'for the Viscount' (yes, really!). The 'new' terminal was a nice place to have tea (one did such things back then) as for a small boy, peering out at the comings and goings of Cambrian Airways, Jersey Airlines and Aer Lingus from the large spectator gallery was fascinating. Great excitement one day when the posh new Fokker Friendship flew in!

Since then Lulsg....sorry, Bristol International has had more new terminals and traffic levels have increased. But even after the M5 was built, the facts remain that:

Road access is very poor indeed except from the south-west or the western outskirts of Bristol - and even then the A38 is pretty dire.
The sole 6600 ft runway cannot be extended further. There's a granite hill at one end and a cliff at the other and to bury the A38 in a tunnel would cost a fortune.
Rail access is virtually non-existent - unless you count the 5 mile journey from the nearest station at 'Nailsea and Backwell'....:uhoh:
The weather factor is poor.


Albert Memorial probably has potentially better airport road and rail access than Lulsgate has. Certainly from a new M4 junction, but as for that cart track known as the A350....:ugh: However, the main runway is shorter than the runway at Birmingham International, which is already earmarked for extension. But at least there are 2 major runways at Lyneham, a very rare commodity for many UK airports these days.

[Rigga]

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?) the same story went around Laarbruch like wildfire during its closure in 1999

...all it needed was a short link road to the A64(?) just a few K's away - A freight Airport for Northern Germany, allows more Pax traffic to Dusseldorf, etc, etc.

Not even UPS (or Fedex) was aware of it...

I'll say no more.

[Poltergeist]

was the same not said of Alconbury as well?