After watching this 60 fly past I now have a free sample of aggregate that I'm going to keep in my hair!
Today I went to an exhibition mock-up of the brand new "Blues" bi-mode trainset made by Hitachi for the italian state railway An actually good photo taken by a professional Hopefully starting revenue service this summer mainly on non-electrified lines and as a "reinforcement" on electrified major corridors.
Union Pacific suspends the West Coast Tour of 4014 due to the ongoing supply chain issues. https://www.up.com/media/releases/s...tm?agfc=NewsRelease&agfm=Facebook&agfs=social
UP donates a chunk of its heritage fleet, including 3985, 5511, and 6936 to the RRHMA https://www.up.com/media/releases/c...tm?agfc=NewsRelease&agfm=Facebook&agfs=social
An absolutely lovely day in London yesterday which felt like summer almost. I had a trip to London Bridge and Cannon Street, with 376s, 377s, 455s, 465s, 466s and 700s all present. The views from Cannon Street are stunning - with the Shard and Tower Bridge seen here - and along with neighbouring Charing Cross, are some of my favourite stations in London. Additionally, at the end, and separate from my trip yesterday was a Class 66 at Peterborough from a few months ago.
Many happy memories of the Nottingham trams. My father lived in Nottingham for 30 years and I used to love seeing the trams whenever he'd take me there as a kid. I have an unusual fondness for the Manchester Metrolink. Not because of any personal attachment, I just really like it. I'd love to see that in TSW2.
Well, guess you can't say passengers getting left behind in cars is unrealistic in TSW2 now... https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...senger-sues-after-being-left-behind-on-train/
Some photos I took from Tehachapi Pass this afternoon. Just West of Sandcut, yes thats a boat on the side of the road.... Just west of Ilmon. BNSF manifest approaching the private crossing at the west end of Woodford. UP manifest train descending the loop... Messed up the exposure on this photo a bit.... BNSF Z-train approaching Tunnel #2 from the west end Same UP manifest from earlier approaching the east end of Tunnel #2, and shortly after exiting. Caliente Rounding the Curve at Caliente, with a BNSF Z-train meet with a UP manifest. And the last shot, UP Manifest at Caliente crossing over Bealville Road with a nice moon in the background.
So there are nowhere near enough photos of steam locomotives on this thread, which is something I intend to rectify immediately. I've been seeing quite a few railtours lately so it's only right I share some pics. First up is a leg of the "Great Britain XIV", which toured the country back in April, with each leg being hauled by different locos. On the 27th of April it travelled from Grange-over-Sands down the WCML through Preston and Warrington before diverging to Chester, where it went on the Welsh Marches line down to Cardiff, where I saw it arrive in the evening. Appropriately for this forum it was double headed by two Jubilee 4-6-0s, 45596 Bahamas and 45690 Leander. Note the double chimney on Bahamas. Only a handful of the class were fitted with them and from what I can tell most of them only carried theirs for a few years.
Following on from my previous post, the following day the Great Britain XIV left Cardiff on the next stage of it's journey, all the way down to Penzance. I was able to catch it leaving Cardiff in the morning before meeting it again at Exeter St Davids. This time the tour was hauled by the magnificent Princess Coronation Pacific 6233 Duchess of Sutherland. After a rest day in Penzance Duchess of Sutherland hauled the last leg of the tour back to London. A fitting end to the tour as the previous week the loco had kicked off the first leg of the tour from King's Cross to York.
My most recent outing was to Bath and Bristol last Wednesday, when I had the pleasure of seeing the Merchant Navy Pacific 35028 Clan Line working the Belmond British Pullman from London Victoria to Bristol Temple Meads and return. Below are a few of the shots I took of the loco at Bath Spa. Excuse the corner of my finger in that last one. I then backtracked to Bristol Temple Meads to see it leave on the return working, the pictures of which are posted below.
After seeing it leave I wandered around Bath for a little bit (a beautiful city that I recommend visiting if you can) before backtracking to Bristol Temple Meads to see it leave on the return working. At Bristol I was very grateful (and excited!) to be allowed onto the footplate and even sit in the driver's seat. This makes two steam engines I've "cabbed", the other being 45690 Leander way back in 2008 at Scarborough, when I was only 8 years old (the memory is still very vivid). I've also been on the footplate of the world famous A4 Pacific Mallard, but I don't really count that, as it's only static at the NRM in York. It's a very different experience being on the footplate of a loco that's in steam, as you can imagine. I'm extremely grateful to the support crew for allowing me to experience this. They were a pleasure to chat to and I will be forever envious of their jobs!
Transport for Wales have begun testing at least one of their new Class 231 units. I've seen 231004 on test at Cardiff twice now, the second time pictured below on the 28th April 2022.
On a somewhat foggy day (21/1/2020), 159102 is seen at Westbury. SWR has since gotten rid of their through service from Bristol Temple Meads To London Waterloo via Westbury and Salisbury, as passenger levels were relatively low even pre pandemic, with very few travelling through Salisbury. It's quite a shame that South Western Railway (and South West Trains before them) have cut back their services to the West Country so drastically. A couple decades ago it used to be possible to get a through train from Waterloo all the way to Penzance, and there were quite a few services to Plymouth and Paignton. Nowadays the furthest you can get on a 159 is Exeter, with only Cross Country and GWR providing services beyond there.
Hi.. here you have a video covering Dresden Hbf to Riesa Hbf! So you can check it and compare with TSW2 route. Please notice at the right side, - after going to the north -, you can see the same narrow track, green wagons of the Tharandter Rampe Dresden - Chemnitz route. There are the tracks on this route, but not those wagons. Time: 11:53 The video also continues to Wursen and Leipzig - Halle. Hopes you liked it
Time to show off another steam loco, albeit not on a railtour. On the 2nd May 2016 I attended an open day at Bristol's St Phillips Marsh depot. It was a rail enthusiast's dream, with lots to see. In addition to plenty of modern traction, there was classic diesel traction, and an iconic line up of HST power cars from operators across the country. The highlight for me though was the appearance of the iconic 46100 "Royal Scot"- the flagship of the truly underrated Royal Scot class. I say underrated because they often seem to live in the shadow of the flashier LMS Pacifics, and when it comes to express 4-6-0s we tend to think more of the Great Western Railway's Castle and King Classes, which are also brilliant engines that I love (as evidenced my pfp). Fun fact about this specific loco- despite what the name and number might suggest, this isn't actually the pioneer engine of the class. This loco was originally built as LMS no. 6152 "The King's Dragoon Guardsman", but in 1933 it swapped identities with the real 6100 "Royal Scot" so it could go on a special tour across Canada and the USA. When it got back to Britain the two engines never swapped names and numbers back again. I was very disappointed that this class wasn't chosen for Spirit of Steam, to my knowledge Jubilees never ran regularly on Euston- Liverpool expresses, maybe in LMS days but I doubt it in the late 1950s. These engines would've made more sense in my opinion, not to mention being a more memorable and iconic design. The Royal Scots were truly outstanding engines, especially in their rebuilt forms with Stanier taper boilers (as seen here). In the 1948 locomotive exchanges they actually proved capable of power outputs on a par with or sometimes even exceeding those of the LMS Duchess Pacifics, not to mention LNER A4s and unrebuilt Merchant Navy's. While my heart still lies with the GWR Castles and Kings, I think you could make a strong argument for saying the Royal Scots were the greatest 4-6-0s ever produced in Britain.
Couple of steam photos from Japan. A JNR Class C11 No.171 pulling the Winter Marshland Express service in February 2020. Seen here crossing Kushiro River shortly after departure. After arrival to its destination at Shibecha, the train was moved to another platform which granted a nice photo opportunity.
Some pictures from yesterday including the Docklands Light Railway, Elizabeth Line, London Victoria, Thameslink and Southern.
The Chiltern Mainline is in my opinion super underrated. It's true there isn't much in the way of variety but the scenery is great and it passes through some really wonderful places. It's also quite peaceful when compared to the other mainlines out of London, so I find it's a refreshing change of pace when I visit it. Needless to say I hope it gets into TSW2 one day. The Class 168s are also probably the most comfortable regional express DMUs in Britain for my money. Here's a shot I took of 168324 at Princes Risborough on the 21/8/2021 (the rear unit is unidentified).
I've still got plenty of steam pics to post, this time a bit of a change from the express power I like to show off. On the 1/8/2019 the Cathedrals Express came to Cardiff, being double headed examples of two of the greatest mixed traffic designs produced in the UK- the LNER B1 no. 61306 "Mayflower" and Black Five no. 44871. Apologies for the photos A. facing the sun and B. having the corner of my finger in them. I was a bit less attentive back then! I must confess I was a bit nonplussed about going to see this one until I learned Mayflower would be piloting the tour. I'd never seen a B1 before, much less one in steam. The Black Fives are fantastic but there's so many of them in preservation it somehow didn't feel as special seeing them (a foolish attitude I know). To be fair 44871 is perhaps one of the more famous members of the class, being one of the engines to haul the "Fifteen Guinea Special" in 1968- the last main line passenger train to be hauled by steam on British Railways.
The last two pictures might be the BML with Southern Class 377 and Thameslink Class 700. If you look at forums there are threads for Class 700 BML DLC.
MBTA Beverly Derailment and if you look at the coach behind the CTC-1B it's the in-game MBB BTC coach.
It still feels strange that Virgin Trains are now a thing of the past. I always felt they were one of the better train operators in the UK, and I liked that they had a bit of personality. I know it was grating for some, but I always loved the funny message that played when you were in the toilets! I think the last time I saw Pendolinos in the classic Virgin livery (albeit without the original stripy doors) was in September 2019 when I had a week long stay in Manchester, visiting various location in North West England. Here's a picture I took of 390157 at Warrington Bank Quay on the 16/09/2019.
Yes it's the Brighton Mainline, specifically Three Bridges. The Thameslink Class 700/1 is seen just departing on the service to Horsham from Peterborough while the Southern is a 10-car 377/6.
By far my favourite of the London termini. I miss the Class 332s, and that period of transition from HST to IET.
Apologies if this was already shared but I thought it was quite interesting as it's somewhat around the same areas as SoS is set but towards the end of the steam era
The Class 08 is getting a replacement: https://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/class-08-locomotive-replacement-concept-unveiled
