Where are you on the transport network?
- Thread starter danny la rouge
- Start date
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Hook of Holland, once a very major entry/exit point for passengers between Europe & the UK. Not so much now, although the ferries to Harwich are claimed to be the largest in the world. From Hook of Holland ferry terminal you used to be able to board night trains to Moscow and other places ... now it's a tram stop that takes you into Rotterdam.
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
The very musically named...
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
Hanging around in Strasbourg.
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
Like sitting in an enormous greenhouse in this weather 
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Lounge fans, when flying from Mexico City, Aero Mexico, who are excellent btw, have awful lounges at their main home base, so bad that in three visits to the airport I have not sullied the thread with any of them. However, a top tip that will surely jam my pm box with thanks is that there is an answer to your suffering…
Amex has just opened a Centurion lounge, so come and park yer arse here…
The wine is excellent!
Amex has just opened a Centurion lounge, so come and park yer arse here…
The wine is excellent!
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
Pluckley, quite a sleepy station which probably doesn’t see a lot of action outside of the commuter times.
Trains to Charing Cross, and at peak times Cannon Street, usually but today they’re to Victoria because of engineering work.
Annoying for me as I have to work back to Waterloo on the tube for my next train. Considered taking a train back out from Victoria to Clapham Junction instead but I prefer to join the train at Waterloo as I get first choice of seats.
Trains to Charing Cross, and at peak times Cannon Street, usually but today they’re to Victoria because of engineering work.
Annoying for me as I have to work back to Waterloo on the tube for my next train. Considered taking a train back out from Victoria to Clapham Junction instead but I prefer to join the train at Waterloo as I get first choice of seats.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
alternative is bus 11 or 211 from victoria to waterloo (yes, 11, they buggered about with it earlier this year)
from stop E at victoria, which is out the front of the station then basically behind the bus station thing.
both will take you to the taxi road at waterloo.
be aware you can't pay cash fares on london buses - needs to be oyster card or contactless.
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
Thanks - my tube travel was apparently covered under the engineering work, so all sorted and now waiting for the long train journey home
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
they don't always do that
(and sometimes they do, but forget that the tube network packs up about 11pm on a sunday)
i didn't know if the 'official' route would have been via clapham junction, and didn't want to get in to an argument about maltese crosses...
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
It didn’t say that it was permitted
they don't always do that
(and sometimes they do, but forget that the tube network packs up about 11pm on a sunday)
i didn't know if the 'official' route would have been via clapham junction, and didn't want to get in to an argument about maltese crosses...
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
I book separate tickets as no London tube connection needed as (when no engineering work) I simply walk from Waterloo to Waterloo East
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
You should be ashamed of your dastardly loophole-exploiting shenanigans that deprive train operating companies of the full revenue as per their suggested route and fare for your journey
davesgcr
Reading books
Haunted apparently (but you were probably fine in daylight) ....
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
One week ago, Mosteirô:
For train nerds, this is basically a Portuguese Class 20, same power unit, the first ten built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry before the remainder of the class (including this one) built under licence in Portugal. Noisy going up the hill, especially with the windows down (if you look closely you can see how far the drop lights go) or (as is often the case) with the doors open in the 1940s-built coaching stock.
For train nerds, this is basically a Portuguese Class 20, same power unit, the first ten built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry before the remainder of the class (including this one) built under licence in Portugal. Noisy going up the hill, especially with the windows down (if you look closely you can see how far the drop lights go) or (as is often the case) with the doors open in the 1940s-built coaching stock.
davesgcr
Reading books
We rode this line last year - it is quite superb in all respects - the railway refurbished the coaches from the scrap line (which allowed a cascade of stuff elsewhere) , and the way the drivers handle those trains is an utter joy. Of course the scenery , wine and and the food is superlative. Best value going.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
I did the whole line last summer, about 30 Euros for a return which took about 5hrs. This year I had my son with me and only planned to go part way up the river and swap to another train going back, but unfortunately we only just got to the river before swapping back as it was running half an hour late at that point (someone assaulted the guard at Porto causing the delay), so missed the most scenic bit. Still got the noisiest part of the journey going back up the hill though.
davesgcr
Reading books
We went to Tua (I think) and had an absolute gem of a lunch for not a lot of money - there is a weekend only steam run on there , which I would have loved to have done. Some dumped steam loco's there.
To think you could have gone right through to Salamanca at one time ...........
teuchter
je suis teuchter
They are still in action?
I went on a few of these maybe 10-15 years ago on some of the Douro lines, including one that I believe is now closed and underwater due to a dam having been built somewhere.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Yes, they’ve refurbished about eight of these to work the Douro line for a few years until newer stock is delivered. A couple of years ago there was maybe one train a day loco hauled but that was often swapped for a unit, but now about three trains in each direction are booked for class 1400s. Plenty of others still doing freight and infrastructure work for other companies. Worth a trip IMO.
The flooded line will be the Tua line which was one of the metre gauge lines running north of the Douro, that was worked by small Alsthom diesels which have mostly been exported when all the Douro narrow gauge was closed around 2008. They built a hydroelectric station and flooded the valley at the bottom, reportedly some corrupt deal led to it being constructed. This bit of the line is now lost.
There was a small section further up supposedly opening as a tourist line but that seems to be never happening, stuff was going on before the pandemic when the proposed operator had some fake Wild West style locomotive built, looks like a cartoon steam train but actually diesel powered. Absurd in a country where most of the narrow gauge steam locomotives still exist, rusting away in various locations.
Some of these narrow gauge lines would make very good tourist railways, but the country in the past hasn’t had a system to allow anyone other that the state to operate railways - presumably something has changed with the Tua proposal, and there were a few tourist beach railways a while ago so it must be possible. Lots of small museums dotted about in old stations so there is some interest, and the tourist steam trains operated by the government (Douro and Vouga lines) are well patronised, mostly by native tourists.
