best train.......
- Thread starter tangerinedream
- Start date
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Best train? Aw come on that's easy.
Shinkansen!
High tension
Shinkansen!
High tension
Having been to see it departing Victoria with the VSOE special last Saturday, I'm going to add Clan Line:
(Above photos taken by my own fair hand, an' all
)
It's a 'Merchant Navy' class pacific, in its rebuilt form. Forty years ago this summer, these hauled the last steam-hauled expresses in Britain on the Waterloo-Weymouth route. They went out in style, with trains packed with photographers and enthusiasts, and many an engine crew presented with a collection from the passengers after hitting the 100mph mark ... despite the 90mph speed limit.
A bloke from the preservation group I got chatting to on the platform tells me that Clan Line is reckoned to be the smartest steam locomotive on the main line. How true that is I've no idea, but it really was beautifully turned out. You could see your face in the paint, and all the brasswork was polished to perfection.
A few minutes before departure, I asked the driver how much of a bribe he'd take for a footplate ride. For a moment, I think he thought I was serious, 'cos he looked horrified. Then he grinned and said sadly, 'more than my job's worth mate.'
The only downside of seeing it at Victoria was that they had a diesel pushing on the back so we didn't get to see the steam engine really doing its stuff.
(Above photos taken by my own fair hand, an' all
)
It's a 'Merchant Navy' class pacific, in its rebuilt form. Forty years ago this summer, these hauled the last steam-hauled expresses in Britain on the Waterloo-Weymouth route. They went out in style, with trains packed with photographers and enthusiasts, and many an engine crew presented with a collection from the passengers after hitting the 100mph mark ... despite the 90mph speed limit.
A bloke from the preservation group I got chatting to on the platform tells me that Clan Line is reckoned to be the smartest steam locomotive on the main line. How true that is I've no idea, but it really was beautifully turned out. You could see your face in the paint, and all the brasswork was polished to perfection.
A few minutes before departure, I asked the driver how much of a bribe he'd take for a footplate ride. For a moment, I think he thought I was serious, 'cos he looked horrified. Then he grinned and said sadly, 'more than my job's worth mate.'
The only downside of seeing it at Victoria was that they had a diesel pushing on the back so we didn't get to see the steam engine really doing its stuff.
Cape Town to Victoria Falls on Rovos Rail.
The only steam hauled train with double beds in the suites, 5 star cuisine and hot and cold running room service all day long - there's even a couple of pairs of goggles supplied in case you want to stick your head out to admire the loco.
Everything else is just getting from A to B.
The only steam hauled train with double beds in the suites, 5 star cuisine and hot and cold running room service all day long - there's even a couple of pairs of goggles supplied in case you want to stick your head out to admire the loco.
Everything else is just getting from A to B.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
I shall fly the flag for Spanish train maker Talgo. Unique in its axle-less design, Talgo trains offer very smooth and comfortable rides.
Some of these mk. III classics are still in operation:
the speed is by no means high but it's a very smooth ride, and considering the coaches are several decades old it's quite impressive they come with reclining seats, TVs for the showing of movies and ample space. I had a very pleasant ride from Madrid to Granada a few years ago.
But I really looking forward to travelling in the new Talgo 350 trainset
nicknamed 'the duck' due to its extremely elongated nose (which is designed to cut on noise pollution) and which will serve the Madrid-Barcelona route at 350kph/217mph from next year.
Some of these mk. III classics are still in operation:
the speed is by no means high but it's a very smooth ride, and considering the coaches are several decades old it's quite impressive they come with reclining seats, TVs for the showing of movies and ample space. I had a very pleasant ride from Madrid to Granada a few years ago.
But I really looking forward to travelling in the new Talgo 350 trainset
nicknamed 'the duck' due to its extremely elongated nose (which is designed to cut on noise pollution) and which will serve the Madrid-Barcelona route at 350kph/217mph from next year.
@T & P
Perhaps more to the point, when the Spanish or the French decide on a new high-speed line they are able just to get on and build it. Here in car-obsessed, high-project-costs Britain we can barely get our arses in gear to build a line from Dover to London, never mind London to Scotland!
Perhaps more to the point, when the Spanish or the French decide on a new high-speed line they are able just to get on and build it. Here in car-obsessed, high-project-costs Britain we can barely get our arses in gear to build a line from Dover to London, never mind London to Scotland!
HackneyE9 said:
Dunno. It might be the material they're constructed out of. Old the 125s might be, but they still a superb piece of design - one of British Rail's best ideas.
Plus, they're much nicer to travel on than their supposed successors, the Virgin Voyagers or FGW 'Adelantes.' They're quieter, they ride more smoothly and there's more space.
Gratuitous 125 pic, in the BR livery I remember them in as a kid. Back then I used to be frightened of them because of the scream from the turbochargers, but my dad's enthusiasm for them has rubbed off on me somehwere along the line since!
teuchter
je suis teuchter
HackneyE9 said:
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the reason you don't see this on more modern trains like the Pendolino is to do with the way the shell is constructed ... older trains have panels fixed onto a framework whereas some newer ones are made using extruded aluminum panels which have some degree of structural integrity themselves.
Something like that, anyway.
cybertect
It's grim up north (London)
gaijingirl said:
I seem to remember, in the 1980s, every once in a while the departure boards at London Victoria would show Vladivostok as a destination with stops along the way in Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow.
I'm still in love with the idea of getting a train to the other end of Asia from one of my regular London commute points
Roadkill said:
indeed, I've always found it strange that after travelling at 186mph through northern france, you end up crawling along on third rail suburban lines.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Roadkill said:Dunno. It might be the material they're constructed out of. Old the 125s might be, but they still a superb piece of design - one of British Rail's best ideas.
Plus, they're much nicer to travel on than their supposed successors, the Virgin Voyagers or FGW 'Adelantes.' They're quieter, they ride more smoothly and there's more space.
Gratuitous 125 pic, in the BR livery I remember them in as a kid. Back then I used to be frightened of them because of the scream from the turbochargers, but my dad's enthusiasm for them has rubbed off on me somehwere along the line since!
Absolutely, the HSTs are probably the best trains we've had in this country ... certainly the best diesel-powered trains running in general service at the moment, despite their age. Partly to do with the Mk3 coaching stock which is generally acknowledged to have a very smooth ride, is adaptable, spacious, and was designed with the revolutionary notion of seating matching up with window locations.
Perhaps most importantly it's a sensible compromise between traditional loco-hauled trains (where the engine is kept seperate from the passenger vehicles, so isolating its noise etc) and multiple units where the engines are located in the passenger vehicles (which has the advantage that if one engine fails, the others can keep the train going albeit at reduced speed).
As far as I'm aware the HST is going to be around for at least another 10 years or so, and there is currently talk of what "HST 2" should be. I just hope it will be of comparable quality to the original and that it will rapidly displace all those awful Virgin Voyagers.
Regarding favourite trains ... the HST scores well but given the choice I'll go for a Class 37 with some Mk 2 coaches in BR blue and grey, thanks.
Roadkill said:Having been to see it departing Victoria with the VSOE special last Saturday, I'm going to add Clan Line:
(Above photos taken by my own fair hand, an' all
It's a 'Merchant Navy' class pacific, in its rebuilt form. Forty years ago this summer, these hauled the last steam-hauled expresses in Britain on the Waterloo-Weymouth route. They went out in style, with trains packed with photographers and enthusiasts, and many an engine crew presented with a collection from the passengers after hitting the 100mph mark ... despite the 90mph speed limit.
A bloke from the preservation group I got chatting to on the platform tells me that Clan Line is reckoned to be the smartest steam locomotive on the main line. How true that is I've no idea, but it really was beautifully turned out. You could see your face in the paint, and all the brasswork was polished to perfection.
A few minutes before departure, I asked the driver how much of a bribe he'd take for a footplate ride. For a moment, I think he thought I was serious, 'cos he looked horrified. Then he grinned and said sadly, 'more than my job's worth mate.'
The only downside of seeing it at Victoria was that they had a diesel pushing on the back so we didn't get to see the steam engine really doing its stuff.
RK - I know this lot - used to work with one of the main chaps who ran the engine - kept down croydon way I think
teuchter said:
Can't stand the Voyagers personally, but the basic design does pretty good service on Midland Mainline and Hull Trains. Virgin have squeezed too many seats into too small a space: the ones on Hull Trains are more spacious and they're quite pleasant to ride in, although they're not as quiet or comfy as an HST.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Roadkill said:
Haven't been in the Hull trains/MML ones... perhaps they're better with less seats squashed in.
Voyagers may be acceptable for shortish journeys but I do feel they are highly inappropriate for long journeys (which most of the Virgin crosscountry services are).
I hate to think how rattly and noisy they will be five or ten years down the line.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Yeah that's true... it's still unbelievable that despite all the money thrown at the London-Glasgow route for the last decade or two it is still a paltry 125mph line. I don't know how much it actually cost to build the new Madrid Barcelona high speed line but I suspect it's less than the money thrown into the London-Glasgow route.Roadkill said:
T & P said:
I suspect it would be a bit more difficult to build a new line between london and glasgow than madrid and barcelona. england is not exactly empty.
Andy the Don
Wise men say only fools..
Anyone mention the Volks Railway in Brighton yet..
T & P said:
It's inevitable. The West Coast Main Line is one of the most heavily-used rail routes in the world. It's almost a continuous reverse curve, it has loads of junctions, and fast trains have to share it with freight and local passenger movements.
British Rail had a scheme to upgrade it to 125mph running for about £2bn in the early 90s, but this was kicked into touch at privatisation, and when the upgrade started under the new organisation the costs and delays spiralled out of control. It ended up costing nearly £9bn, for a track upgrade perhaps less ambitious than BR had in mind. In contrast, BR managed the East Coast Main Line electrification in the 80s on-time and within a tight budget.
Land values are higher in Britain and urban areas more closely-packed than on much of mainland Europe, so a high-speed north-south route would certainly cost more for us than it does over there. However, there's no doubt that the current structure of the industry pushes up the cost and increases the complexity of major projects, which is one reason why there's so much doubt over whether a new line is viable.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
cybertect said:I seem to remember, in the 1980s, every once in a while the departure boards at London Victoria would show Vladivostok as a destination with stops along the way in Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow.
I'm still in love with the idea of getting a train to the other end of Asia from one of my regular London commute points
I did this very journey about four years ago ... leaving from Victoria on an early morning slam-door service to Dover and rolling into Vladivostok a couple of weeks later. The whole journey (save for the channel crossing) entirely by rail. Highly recommended.
I remember pondering the fact that the train I arrived into Vladivostok on was almost certainly less ancient than the one I left London on.
One of the most entertaining parts railway-wise was having the wheels changed to the broader gauge (with everyone still on board) as we entered Belarus.
Hear, hear, the tables in First Class are way too small and the toilets always stink.Roadkill said:
Anything with "aircraft style" seating is just a cheat - the only rationale for travelling by rail is that it's more comfortable than a plane - on these oversexed DMU's, you have to put away your laptop every time you want to go to the "shop" for another bottle of claret - pointless.
Cobbles said:
Pity those of us who can only afford Cattle Class then! I'm not all that tall or broad, but the seats are pitifully small and there's no leg room, and nowhere to put a bag either. Oh, and the shop is an overpriced gimmick.
Last time I went long-distance on a Voyager, one toilet was blocked and stinking out the entire coach, and on the next one along the door evidently didn't work properly. I went for a piss, pressed the button and then noticed the 'engaged' sign next to it. Never mind: it swung open anyway, to reveal a middle-aged bloke in a suit wiping his arse.
Truly, I'd rather travel behind a loco and a rake of carriages, as we used to back in the 80s. I've happy memories of a few York-West Country runs on old-fashioned trains like that. They were a fair bit slower, but a whole lot more comfy, and because they were loco-hauled it was easy to add a couple of extra carriages at busy times.
Chris Gibb, Virgin Cross-Country boss, claims in an interview in the current issue of RAIL magazine, that the Voyagers are hugely popular and a main reason why there are more people using Cross-Country services. There's only one word for that IMO: Bollocks! Virtually no-one I've spoken to likes them, including a few Virgin train crew.
Tom A
Goat among sheep
Strange that no-one has yet mentioned the definitive British Rail locomotive...
Goes anywhere, does anything, at any time. Outlasted pretty much all the other British loco designs, and kickes the ass out of the EWS 66 and 67 "Skips". A fine piece of machinery indeed, and still going strong today (albeit mostly with new engines and motors inside).
Goes anywhere, does anything, at any time. Outlasted pretty much all the other British loco designs, and kickes the ass out of the EWS 66 and 67 "Skips". A fine piece of machinery indeed, and still going strong today (albeit mostly with new engines and motors inside).
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Tom A said:Strange that no-one has yet mentioned the definitive British Rail locomotive...
Goes anywhere, does anything, at any time. Outlasted pretty much all the other British loco designs, and kickes the ass out of the EWS 66 and 67 "Skips". A fine piece of machinery indeed, and still going strong today (albeit mostly with new engines and motors inside).
Respect to the 47s.
janeb
WW Tyrion do?
Roadkill said:
I have to go to Leeds twice a week or so from Newcastle, it's 90 mins in the Voyager or 2 hrs on the trans pennine - nearly always get the trans pennine as the smell in the Voyagers, let alone the lack of space. make me feel sick and ill for the rest of teh day. Read somewhere it's because they store the toilet waste under the train rather than discharging on the track - can believe it from the smell
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