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TRAIN DERAILED BY LACK OF FUEL
The amazing £197,000 landtrain has temporarily hit the buffers - because it has not got a fuel supply.The Taxifast vehicle may have CCTV and DVD, but it hasn't got any LPG.
That's liquid petroleum gas for those of you not au fait with the mechanics of using pressurised butane and propane to power the internal combustion engine.
Taxifast needs to find a site for an LPG tank near Plymouth city centre, possibly in Millbay or Cattedown.
It wants anyone who can help to get in touch. The firm will supply the tank but it must be seven metres from the nearest buildings.
"We need a site," said Taxifast boss John Preece. "If anyone can come up with a site it would be great."
Taxifast had hoped to have the 58-seater vehicle, which has wheels and doesn't need a track, running on an anti-clockwise route around Plymouth's shopping district before Christmas.
It received the backing of the city council and police last month.
But it cannot apply to the Department for Transport for a 'vehicle special order' licence until it sorts out its fuel supply.
Taxifast explained that when it applied to the council it was using a depot in Cattedown to refuel the landtrain.
But that has since closed - and the next nearest is in Eggbuckland.
That would mean putting the 4.5-tonne engine onto a low loader once every two days and taking it away, for about an hour. And that would be hugely expensive.
Taxifast said it could cost up to £200 to hire a low loader, or up to £30,000 to buy one.
Mr Preece added: "And we can't take a gas tank on a lorry to the land train."
The 20-metre-long automatic vehicle has been given a £30,000 revamp to equip it with 18 CCTV cameras, and 14, 12-inch, DVD screens, which will show news and entertainment.
The council said it would only be allowed to drive around the city centre at 3mph, but has a top speed of 14mph.
The Italian-made vehicle, total weight 11 tonnes, is also equipped with self-levelling pneumatic suspension, and one of the carriages has wheelchair access.
The landtrain has already completed 2,000 hours in action, mostly at its previous home at London's Millennium Dome.
Taxifast wants the vehicle to run from 10am until 4pm each day, with Sundays yet to be decided, on a route covering New George Street, St Andrew's Cross, around the Drake Circus mall, Cornwall Street and Market Avenue.
It is intended that passengers will pay a £1 fare.
Stops will be marked in the city centre, and it is hoped the landtrain will attract up to 1,000 passengers a day.
If it is successful Taxifast wants to bring in up to four more on other routes including through clubland.
If you have a site for a LPG tank ring Taxifast on: 01752 600644.
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