I'd agree with this too!!!

fjw wrote:
> 
> I know I will probably be in the minority but we have a crying need for a
> list that explores how Complexity Theory or indeed any theory is or can be
> applied to railways with a view to improving their efficiency and
> effectiveness.
> 
> This could also be done with a historical viewpoint. When did the study of
> railways become a science? Have we progressed?
> 
> UTSG does this to a certain extent and is very informative as regards
> conferences and the like. However I would like to see a Transport Science
> List that is more in depth than a Newsgroup but also open to discussion.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Frank Wood
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Colin Divall <[log in to unmask]>
> To: c<[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 17 December 1998 05:25
> Subject: Future direction of the list
> 
> >Dear List Member
> >
> >Could you spare us a few moments to give us your views on the future
> >direction that railway-studies should take? The list is now a mature
> >one; having been set up well over three years ago it now has about 330
> >members world-wide, a figure which is still increasing, if more slowly
> >than it once did. Although the list is open to anyone interested in any
> >aspect of the academic study of railways, the overwhelming volume of
> >traffic has been to do with the history and heritage of railways - much
> >as we expected it would be, and a pretty fair reflection too of the
> >direction in which the Institute of Railway Studies has developed.
> >
> >The question in our minds is - should the list continue to cater mainly
> >for this combination of contemporary and historical, or should it
> >explicitly focus more on the past? If there is a clear majority in
> >favour of the latter then should we broaden the list to include other
> >modes of historical transport (the history of urban transport was added
> >earlier this year)? Intellectually we think the case is unanswerable;
> >the history of railways can only for the most part be understood in the
> >context of other modes of inland transport and coastal shipping. This
> >indeed is the philosophy that increasingly informs our teaching and
> >research in the Institute of Railway Studies.
> >
> >Your views - whether publicly on the list or privately to us - are most
> >welcome.
> >
> >Colin Divall  Ralph Harrington
> >Institute of Railway Studies, York
> >
> >(List owners)
> >

-- 
Roy Killey,
MPhil/PhD student, Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge


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