Ah thanks, Charing Cross is one of my favourite stations, such a a great view of the River Thames. Those are some nice pics of Sheffield by the way. The noise had to be worth it, I think the meridians are such a great looking train.
Ostrava Airport station with CityElefant (Ostrava is third largest city in CZ close to 300 000 inhabitants)
Here's one a strike of Train Drivers in Germany. It's the GDL Union affecting Freight and long distance services.
You mean your company SNCF labor union strikes get televised in Europe and North America. This one would make us service members around Stuttgart Wiesbaden Ramstein Kaiserlautern unhappy. By the way SNCF Depots in Strasbourg and Metz possibly get reduced Border Services to Karlsruhe Offenburg and Saarbrucken Forbach
And maybe a strike in the whole country to protest about the sanitary pass as you need it for long distance train such as TGVs, Intercités, International trains ( not suburban trains in Paris and TERs )
Had another opportunity to sample Spain´s wonderfully eclectic rail system this week on a journey from Madrid to the Basque Country. Starting at Madrid Chamartin station (a pretty ugly remnant of the 1970s that is not worth any pictures). Here´s a Renfe Series 120 (left) and Series 130 (right). These are Spain´s gauge changing trains, enabling journeys that use both Spain´s conventional Iberian gauge rails (1668mm), and it´s high speed rails which are built to the conventional European-US gauge (1435mm). The series 120 is a CAF electric multiple unit, and the 130 is a Talgo/Bombardier dual-loco set. Both have a top speed of 250kmph, though they only reach those speeds on the high speed rails. My train was the 120 on the left, which left about 10 minutes after this and headed north! From here we travelled on the Madrid-Vallodolid high speed line, which includes the Guadarrama tunnel, which at 28km in length is the longest in Spain as well as one of the longest in Europe. Then we neared Valladolid and switched from the high speed line to the conventional line before entering Vallodolid station. Which really is as easy as anything, as a passenger you scarcely notice anything other than a clunk. Video of the process from inside the passenger cabin below. Whilst at Vallodolid I spotted a few staples of Renfe´s regional services. The above are series 470s, which have a had a long life, they actually started out as class 440s back in the 70s, and for 25 years were regular commuter trains, before being overhauled into regional/medium distance trains, these are the workhorse of the regions, if you´re torn between an expensive AVE service that is 2 hours long, and a 7 hours slow service, chances are the slow service will be run by one of these, or one of the below! This cute thing is a series 594, it´s a diesel regional/long distance train. These are actually based on the Danish ABB IC3, and were manufactured under licence by CAF. They started out life with the same distinctive rubber frontend as their Danish cousins, but most have since been reformed with a new front end, which makes them look adorable for some reason. Having arrived in San Sebastian/Donosti five and a half hours after setting out (not bad considering the route the train takes is massively indirect), I wanted to lie down so no pics of the station when I arrived, although it is nothing to write home about, it looks as if works are underway to move or provide more platforms, presumably in preparation for the arrival of the high speed line. The next day we went to San Sebastian´s other big station, Amara, which serves as one of the main termini of the Basque Country´s meter-gauge Euskotren network, the station has 7 terminating platforms, which host various local and long distance services. These days Euskotren only operates these CAF series 950s, which considering the restrictive loading gauge don´t feel too bad to ride, though I wouldn´t want to be on one for the two and a half hour journey between San Sebastian and Bilbao! Some of these trains actually cross the French border to drop you off at the Gare du Hendaye for connections with the rest of France, so it´s a connection to an entirely different country, as well as an intercity and local metro network! Our destination was the coastal town of Zarautz, where our rail journey hit its mid-point, and from then on it was the same in reverse! Here is the station building of Zarautz, like many it´s a very inconspicuous stone building, employing a lot of the regional architectural styles. I can highly recommend this or any other journey along the north coast of Spain by Euskotren! This is what I love most about Spain´s rail network, in one short trip, travelling on modern rail services you can encounter 3 different rail gauges, and not feel like you´re going back in time or exploring a forgotten world, everything is moreorless up to date with modern rolling stock and facilities, and you do not have to go far out of your way to come upon all of these wonderfully eclectic railways (Which is useful for convincing your unsuspecting partner to come along on a lengthy railfanning weekend xD). Next year I want to explore the Feve side of the meter-gauge network that runs through Asturias and Cantabria, that´ll be a sight to behold, there´s more variation in rolling stock and traction over there, but it´s a bit more out of the way.
Excellent story and I'm wondering if all the stations that have 25kv 50hz ETCS 1.435m Track Gauge then 3kv DC ASFA 1.668m Track Spanish Gauge each other have a gauge-changer facility like the one in Valladolid. The only one I know where this installed is Track 3 Figures Villafant on the Barcelona Girona Perpignan Railway
The Rocky Mountaineer's 1st trip in the Rockys left yesterday. https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/rocky-mountaineer-debuts-excursions-out-of-denver/ Part of me wondered where the train was gonna lay over in Moab on the Cane Creek branch, and it seems like a platform was built at 7 mile siding for those riding it to catch a bus to their hotel in Moab.
In the 1st week of August from Monday to Thursday, I stayed in Liverpool with family and managed to explore part of the Merseyrail network, albeit on my own as no one in my family has a die hard passion for railways! I started here at Liverpool Central and made my way to Port Sunlight. I then made my way to New Brighton, not without pausing to look at the stunning ticket hall at Port Sunlight (on next post)
Next is the leg to New Brighton At New Brighton I encounter this fellow in the sidings! After the trip to the sea I made my way inland toward Kirkby and Ormskirk. (See next post)
Here we have Kirkby, a unique station to say the least. Next up, Kirkdale where I had to make a connection for the last leg to Ormskirk (note the new Class 777 in the distance at the Stadler Depot) Ormskirk, which is similar to Kirkby albeit nicer in my opinion. Ironically ,the two lines have to 'stay apart'!! The last picture of Ormskirk and the journey back is on the next post
After Ormskirk I made my way back to Liverpool, not without taking pictures of some of the stations I pass through And that is it!!!
Train Crash in Cambridgeshire today. https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk...t-a-few-days-after-train-hits-tractor-3352861
I’ve just seen this today on Instagram, I’ve left as is with all the credits there What a shot TrainSim-Matt - You asked recently about scenario ideas This could be a nice short one.
HSTs are now retired from the Midland Mainline, But this is a photo I took in 2019 at Leicester before the VP185s were withdrawn and replaced with the MTU sets
The dawlish seafront on the riviera line with a class 43 HST castle class passing along, one of the best lines in the Uk in my opinion.
61306 Mayflower on the Steam Dreams Excursion to Lincoln this morning. Taken a couple of minutes down the line from Chelmsford Station on the Great Eastern Mainline.
I went out and got a short clip of the 390 attempting the WCML speed record recently as it was passing near to me just north of Preston
For all you Pacer fans I took this in November 2019 at Lancaster station. I’d traveled on it from Carnforth and it then became the Lancaster-Morecambe service
Went to Hastings today, here is 377/208 that I had just travelled on. Plus, had a short trip on the Hastings Miniature Railway which was fun.
Hows this for an accident. Train smashes through truck and windmill blade. https://fb.watch/7JX-JX_7E6/
CSX is back to YN3, also units that get repainted will get this plus the website under the side logos.
Every Norfolk Tides game I go to the balcony and watch trains when the roll by this station, and when I am waiting for the next train I am watching the ball game.
this is class 68010 ‘Oxford Flyer’ and DVT 82302 leaving Bicester north on train 1K48, the 17:00 Chiltern railways services From London Marylebone to Kidderminster on the 28th of august 2021.
Future Scenario Planner in real life. GWR have six Gatwick Express Class 387/2s on loan covering for unavailable IET's. This is 387203 arriving at Slough this morning heading for Paddington.
387/2 Is coming for BML and if you want to run the Pantograph mode Cathcart Circle live 25kv 50hz OHLE or Off the Rails Mode GWML Reading to Paddington.
Another picture I took in 1982 at Manchester Victoria. The class 40 will have been sat there all day waiting to assist heavy goods trains up to Miles Platting. They just pushed from behind without being coupled and once the train reached the top they would return to Victoria. The class 45 is on an eastbound train and the steam leaking from the locomotive is from the carriage heating system. Many coaches at this time we're still heated by steam and the early diesel locomotives had a boiler fitted so that they could provide steam to heat the train.
If you like Swedish trains, this is from the 100 years of electric engines at the railway museum in Gävle 2015.
Tragic news: The westbound Amtrak Empire Builder that left Chicago on Friday derailed Saturday afternoon in remote Montana. Three casualties and over 50 injured so far. I was supposed to be on Saturday's eastbound Empire Builder from Portland before the recent COVID delta surge ended my vacation plans. That train will stop in Shelby, MT, and for now the Empire Builder will only run between Chicago and Minneapolis both ways.