I remember during Covid watching videos of Stratford and I was fascinated by the variety. Slightly off-topic but the South Western lines near me are also soon to see the end of variety with the 701s coming in, though the transitional period has been quite interesting with 450s, 455s, 458s (both refurbished and unrefurbished), and the 701s all on metro services.
Enjoy while you have it. I wish I'd got out and recorded some videos of local places with the old trains trundling along even just in the background adding to the atmosphere of the place. I took them for granted, just as I took the old slamdoors for granted. Though admittedly some of our classic traction disappeared during lockdown, there was no way I could have envisaged my Dec 2019 trip behind a Class 90 followed by the Class 360 connecting train would have been the last time I'd have either for traction.
Yes it’s strange how perception changes. I remember during my cranking days in the early to mid eighties, the dismay and disappointment when a Highland Line express rolled in with a 47/4 on it, or getting restless doing Norwich to Peterborough with a 31 gurgling away on the front of the train. But, hey, I’d readily trade the modern rubbish we have now to get those back. I’d even take a MTU HST over a Hitachi GWR Cucumber or a nice Class 310 out of Euston instead of a 350!
I'll never forget one of my last trips on a non-Renatus Class 321. For whatever reason, we had a rather spirited driver, and arrived into Shenfield a good two or three minutes ahead of schedule, the thing was bouncing around and lurching about all over the place the whole journey, and we can't have hit a single yellow from Stratford. Windows all open on the coach, and the doors shaking and rattling the whole way. In practical terms, it was a truly awful passenger experience, that journey, but I had a grin on my face the entire time
Still, I hope to see the Philadelphia-Washington section (well, at least Baltimore-Washington) with the new Avelia Liberty P. S. It would also be nice to have a route from Alaska, from Anchorage, if you know what I mean)))
Not a prediction, but I hope that the US route is Miami - West Palm Beach (BL36PH as the loco) and P42DC as a separate DLC loco.
Pretty sure there's been rumors of a Tri-Rail licence, so you might not be far off. Personally for the US route I'm hoping for the Hudson Line.
Sorry, but, if it's anything like the same run in TSC, it's really dull and sleep inducing. Same for Baltimore - Washingtion, by the way. The locos though - spot on. But someplace else.
The BL36PH is unique to Tri-Rail though, so it wouldn't appear anywhere else, like the F125 to Metrolink or the HSP46 to the MBTA weirdly enough....
I mean, looks cool from the outside and I know 82 mph or so is enough for most commuter routes in the US, but still, the performance figures / speed etc for a loco built in 2010s are rather underwhelming would rather have Chargers in the game as they are the future backbone of Amtrak commuter and long distance fleets and many others are also taking orders
The 455s seem to be vanishing out of thin air!!! It was only 2-3 months ago the majority of them were still in service, and all of a sudden they are being sent off to scrap on a weekly basis!! Although it's nice to finally see the back of them from a commuter standpoint, the train lover in me will miss them a lot. I especially love how each subclass was different in a way, with the /7 having a coach from a PEP(?), the /8 having the different front end and the /9 just looking great. Hopefully DTG will cover them one day.
It just has to be done, and you never know, I feel there's a smallish chance of it appearing for TSW6. Last time I was in Waterloo there was 3 701s lined up in the Eastern platforms. It was such a strange sight. That being said there were still quite a few 455s knocking about, I think the Woking service hasn't seen a 701 yet.
