Misc steam railway, traction, station and rail-related news

[editor]

Excellent idea. Shame about the hideous livery though

Three dedicated carriages for bikes are being introduced on one of Scotland's most scenic rail routes in a scheme which ScotRail says is a UK first.
The Highland Explorer carriages will be in operation along the West Highland line from Glasgow to Oban from Monday.
They can accommodate up to 20 bikes and bulky gear including rucksacks and ski bags.
There are spaces for ordinary bikes, a limited number of tandem cycles and an e-bike charging socket.
The route takes passengers through Loch Lomond and the Trossachs to Oban.

Bike carriages rolled out on West Highland rail line

The specialist Highland Explorer train carriages have designated spaces for up to 20 bicycles.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[StoneRoad]

and needs these trolleys

Those look very similar to the "brutes" which were used by Royal Mail a few decades ago.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Those look very similar to the "brutes" which were used by Royal Mail a few decades ago.

yes, used for moving mail-bags, parcels, newspapers

and for train-spotters to sit on

British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[StoneRoad]

Watching the electric towing vehicle trying to cope with a "tail" of brutes on a crowded platform when some of the brutes had their own idea of the direction required was always entertaining ...

I can think of several "incidents" at Bristol Temple Meads (and several other stations) when the tail was very independent-minded !

 

[Leighsw2]

and needs these trolleys

I'm partial to a BRUTE......(that's British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment to you!)

 

[Leighsw2]

and for train-spotters to sit on

Indeed, I spent many happy hours at a variety of stations sitting on those!

 

[cybershot]

Erm, what!

$350M 'palace on rails' luxury train concept unveiled

French designer Thierry Gaugain plans to take the rail travel experience to a completely new level with his latest concept, a private luxury train made to measure for one lucky, and very wealthy, owner.

edition.cnn.com

 

[StoneRoad]

How about this ? [1 of three images ...]


1001 - rajah carriage par StoneRoad2013, on ipernity

 

[T & P]

I think someone's watched Snowpiercer on Netflix one time too many...

$350M 'palace on rails' luxury train concept unveiled

French designer Thierry Gaugain plans to take the rail travel experience to a completely new level with his latest concept, a private luxury train made to measure for one lucky, and very wealthy, owner.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Dogsauce]

Watching the electric towing vehicle trying to cope with a "tail" of brutes on a crowded platform when some of the brutes had their own idea of the direction required was always entertaining ...

I can think of several "incidents" at Bristol Temple Meads (and several other stations) when the tail was very independent-minded !

I’d forgotten about the rattling noise of those being part of the everyday atmosphere of stations. Temple Meads had a mail conveyor at the east end of the station, and these trolleys often accumulated by the end of this by Platform 1 bay (where I’d occasionally catch a train to Shirehampton). Probably sat on a few in my time.

Hopefully a preserved line somewhere has a good collection, it’d be a sad omission otherwise.

 

[editor]

So this was unusual - what looked like a private freight carriage tacked on to the back of a regular train, seen in Brixton today:



Annoyingly my phone failed to focus on the second shot but you can just make out the regular passenger train. Anyone know more about this?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

So this was unusual - what looked like a private freight carriage tacked on to the back of a regular train, seen in Brixton today:

looks similar to this arrangement (not my photo)



a 'barrier coach' being needed as the couplings on most multiple units aren't compatible with locomotives

 

[teuchter]

It's a Networker unit being taken from Slade Green Depot to Doncaster for refurb. It's a rolling programme with one or two units being taken up each week. Usually runs on a Saturday.

Barrier coaches sometimes also provide brake force (if the brakes on whatever vehicles are being transported can't be used) because a train can't rely on the locomotive only for braking.

 

[Dogsauce]

Erm, what!

$350M 'palace on rails' luxury train concept unveiled

French designer Thierry Gaugain plans to take the rail travel experience to a completely new level with his latest concept, a private luxury train made to measure for one lucky, and very wealthy, owner.

edition.cnn.com

Note the key sentence:

"Such a train is very complicated," he explains. "Because there is no train that runs on all the tracks around the world that complies with all the systems."

That‘s before you start considering safety approval in all countries, driver competence and route knowledge. It’s a complete non-starter. Only way you could possibly do something like this is build it inside standard sized shipping containers, but there’d still be huge issues with safety regulation, means of escape and so on.

 

[hash tag]

Who doesn't love a nice signal box Nottinghamshire Victorian signal box reopens as museum

 

[editor]

This loco was stuck in Brixton for over an hour this morning.

 

[editor]

I could be seeing this wrong but these two stationary freight trains appear to only be 20m apart !

 

[Smangus]

Nice green looking "living bridge " there!

 

[editor]

I can see now that it looks like they're doing track replacement work. Mystery solved!

 

[editor]

What a couple!

 

[tim]

A steam train going off the rails in style for the new Mission Impossible film.

 

[editor]

What a picture!



Beaufort railway station, north of Ebbw Vale, during the harsh winter of 1947.

The line is now buried under the earth.

 

[StoneRoad]

Just found out that the Llangollen Railway has been vandalised ...

Two of their heritage DMUs have been spray-painted "yesterday".
I'm not giving these S*****s the oxygen of showing their "work" ...
But take it from me, there's hours of work and thousands of pounds needed to repair the damage.

The Llangollen Railway has had a really difficult couple of years both with Covid and the Bankruptcy / asset sales by the receiver.
It, and the volunteers who run things there really, really don't need this disrespectful, disgusting damage.
On their behalf, I am absolutely "stotting" - to translate - Very Very Annoyed ...

These oiks, if caught, should be made [and their parents if under 18] to a) pay for all the repainting and b) have to clean off, by hand, all that "decoration" and prepare the surface - to the standard the re-painter requires ... and c) cover the costs to replace any glass that can't be cleaned.

I assume that someone at the Llangollen will be co-ordinating fund-raising ...

 

[teuchter]

In the long distant past, I think I helped to paint one of those DMUs.

 

[StoneRoad]

I went to one of their DMU running days with my father a few years ago ...


TiG - dmu par StoneRoad2013, on ipernity

We spent quite a lot of the day "hopping on and off" various varieties of DMU, plus a steam auto-train.
One of the other visitors was an early railbus [cl 14x (?)] prototype ...

 

[editor]

Chimney tops and signals, Loughborough Junction.

 

[hash tag]

Croydon Central did exist but never Croydon North?

 

[T & P]

I didn't know Japanese train drivers did this... must get tiring on long journeys.

 

[StoneRoad]

I didn't know Japanese train drivers did this... must get tiring on long journeys.

It looks like a visual acknowledgement that they have seen & responded to a lineside signal or other warning sign. Largely to the other person present, but also as a habit ...
A bit more than "just" responding to the DVD.

 

[teuchter]

It's very noticeable when you travel by Japanese trains because it's quite common for the driver's cab to be visible from the passenger area. Some platform staff do the pointing thing too.