Trains

Greatest train journeys:

Waking up on the sleepr from lille to Perpignan flying through the etangs of Languedoc-Rousillon, sun rising over the left hand side of the train glinting off the salty marshes, lagoons, salt pons and on over the mediterenean.

the express from Turin to Rome or vice versa between Genoa and La Spezia, thundering in and out of tunnels through little seaside villages reachable almost exclusively by rail.

Crossing the moors on the west highland line miles from the road, miles from anything, stations in the middle of no where, for who, who knows.

The line between derby and Chesterfield passes through a wonderful green little dale which I love.

the plumb straight line (Tsars thumb excpeted) between Moscow and St Petersburg, sailing through swamps and birch forests decayin kruschev and breshnev era building and tumbledown dachas

the great wetsrem running out along the devon coast, right on the sea through red sandstone.

the settle-Carlisle line, the unbelieveable ribble head viaduct a superlative in victorian stonework, but not in bridges, it is conquered by the forth rail bridge and Brunel's Saltash bridge entering cornwall.

Beautiful trains:

the angular fast french majesty of the TGV, tall imposing, desing to impress, to wow the school child even beyond the days of steam.

The cloud of black smoke emmitted from and Intercity one two five and the roar of the engine as it starts up the smoke curling up to the roof of St Pancras or paddington allowing a glimpse of another age.

the streamlined Coronation scot, Mallard and Sir Nigel Gresley, the pinnacle of steam design both in form and funtion, streamlined as only the early half of this century could.

Compartment coaches, the wonderful intercity carriages in Italy, compartments of 6, recline two opposite seats together and curl up with a loved one.

Sleeping carriages in Russia, all carriages in Russia, with a stern women attendants, russian pop piped through the train, samovars for tea at the carriage ends, frayed soviet 'persian style' carpets cover by something that looks like a long tea towel in the aisles.

Indian carriages with their mix of people hustle bustle, traders, chai sellers, hopping out at a staion to buy fresh samosas and having to leap back onto the train as it pulls away from the station

There's something incredibly soothing about a train, whether it's the sound it makes, or the gentle rocking motion I don't know. Or the reassuring nature of rails, the way they represent certainty in an uncertain world.

There seems to be an irritating spate of people under trains as of late, especially on the district and central lines. It's the height of selfishness and bad manners to hurl oneself under a train. I blame that Anna Karenina myself.

FORTY DAMN MINUTES!!!!!

Earls Court --> Whitehall, involving long walks and buses, another forty minutes.

Grrr spit.

but even if we don't know how to run a rail service on this fair isle we do know how to build trains. a recent visit to the nrm in york sparked off a new passion for deltic engines and locos. these are worth investigating (18 cylinder 2 stroke turbo diesel, the cylinders are arranged in three banks of six along the edges of an equilateral triangle with geared crank shafts at the corners. inlet and exhaust are by openings in the cylinder liners at the extremes of piston travel. the exhaust manifolds are water cooled as far as the whacking great blower on the front end). croos section then of this wonder looks a little bit like...this site shows the work in progress of stripping and rebuilding a deltic engine damaged in a fire, and by following that, and any of the other numerous sites devoted to deltics, you can get a pretty good idea of how these increadible engines work.

thank you anthony for talking about trains, i haven't even got started on diesel hydraulic, steam, electric, station architecture, the aesthetics of tracks, antics on the north downs line, civil engineering for railways, rolling stock.....

question to no one in particular, am i iredeemably sad? can i for that matter even spell iredeemably?

www.motor- software.co.uk/brooklands/enthusiasts/napier2.jpg

and the site documenting the rebuild is at

http://www.deltic9000.freeserve.co.uk/pu_rebuild_2.htm

i watched seveal faces glaze over this weekend when my conversation moved into the realms of large mechanical things and their workings. hurrah for ile, i cannot see your faces glaze over!

hi china congratulations:

A CRH380A high-speed train is seen at the Bengbu South Station of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, Bengbu, East China's Anhui Province, Dec 3, 2010. China's high-speed train CRH380A broke the world record for unmodified commercial use on Friday during trial service with a speed of 486.1 kms per hour

from 1:40:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_IRbRy84hg&feature=player_embedded

The Republican Party has been given space for the following rebuttal:

See the USA in your Chevrolet. Enjoy the freedom of endless tedium while chained to the steering wheel, seeking out the rare and exotic public bathrooms, and eating road food. It's what made this country great, that, and apple pie, and may god bless us one and all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lutNECOZFw
I think this guy might like mid-century trains.

The new longest possible train journey in the world. pic.twitter.com/W9ajgTyY0b

— Epic Maps 🗺️ (@Locati0ns) December 12, 2021

1/4 snowpiercer achieved!

I've been trying (not too hard) to find the model of the Amtrak sleeper train I took probably almost 20 years ago from NYC to Chicago. It was an older one even then, and the 1-person cabin was made of all stainless steel, with the closets and fittings recessed smoothly into them. It still had a reach-through cupboard for leaving your shoes for the porters to shine them overnight. It also had flip-out ashtrays in two places: one at the right height for looking out the window, and one at the right height for smoking in bed.

Unfortunately in the middle of the night our train had a crew time-out and we had to get up and change trains, and the new one wasn't that kind. It was very disappointing.

Idk if they still run this kind of car or not but I wish I knew what it was called.

I don't think there was a smoking car on the first train, but the cabin crew let me smoke with them by an open door while the landscape rushed by. Good memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGqegkUa8cY

Check out the huge HS2 scar from London to Birmingham in google maps satellite view!

a link: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.0392821,-1.1285103,102824m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

still, think of the 20 minutes you'll save

I do, I'm looking forward to it! In another 3-7 years minimum.

Oh yeah. If you zoom in you can see pipes, except that they aren't pipes, they're huge tunnels. It's like gazing at an ant pawing at the cat flap, and then you realise that it's not an ant, it's actually a cat. With paws.

I'm reminded that if you look at an aerial map of Cologne, and then scroll west, you stumble on a couple of weird map glitches. Oddly-coloured polygons that are the same size as Cologne's centre. But they aren't glitches, they're enormous strip mines:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xxzEqGeybFPpr5qa6

The big one is called Hambach. It's named after the Hambach Forest, which was cut down in order to build the mine. The mine produces lignite, which is made out of compressed peat, so essentially the mining company cut down a bunch of trees in order to dig up some older trees.

I learn from the internet that lignite is a lot like coal, but organic. It's organic coal. And that's healthy, because it's organic. Ordinary coal burns at the dangerously high temperature of 800c, whereas lignite burns at the much safer temperature of 500c. And whereas coal contains all kind of toxic heavy metals and pollutants, lignite doesn't! Because the heavy metals and pollutants are harmlessly released into the atmosphere when lignite is burned.

So, lignite! It's awesome. On a more serious note I visited Glasgow a few years ago, and I have a hankering to go again. Flying feels absurd, taking the ordinary train is boring, but there's a sleeper train that leaves from London Euston at about 11:45pm, arriving at 07:30. The Caledonian Sleeper. On the one hand the basic concept is appealing, but on the other hand I would basically be asleep for the entire journey. But on the other hand every time I read The Man in Seat 61 I want to go on a train journey. The last time I went to Glasgow I visited Oban and points north. Scotland has countryside!