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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Railways
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) ....
![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
Interesting Railways News: The Union Pacific Railroad in the US has (re-)acquired a Union Pacific Class 1 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy", #4014 which as been on static display in Los Angeles since the 1960's.
The locomotive WILL BE RESTORED TO WORKING ORDER!!!!
"Uncle Pete" runs an extensive steam excursion programme and currently has a 4-6-6-4 4664-3 Challenger #3985 and her sister, 4-8-4 Northern FEF-1 #844 operational.
Here's a video of the preliminary inspection: Gorgeous.
She is to be converted to an oil burner as coal locomotives have issues with cinders in current running conditions.
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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.
Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
As you take the Railjet from Wien Meidling to Budapest Keleti, be sure to glance out of the window at Hegyeshalom. A little sad.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sober Preacher's Kid:
[...] "Uncle Pete" runs an extensive steam excursion programme [...]
No wonder he's got less time for hostly duties and pleasures. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Thanks SPK, those links had me in mind of the amazing race across the continent at the end of Kipling's Captains Courageous.
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What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
There's a story in today's Metro about a house for sale in South Perthshire complete with working scale railway ~ big enough to ride on . I 'll try to find the link later. (When not on phone )
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
In other cheery news, the West Highland Line seems to be flourishing. We spent a pleasant day coinciding with it at points en route a couple of weeks ago. I have a shot of the up and down trains passing at Glenfinnan - but the best photo spot is Arasaig, where the locomotive stops briefly alongside the platform, as opposed to beyond it.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Have you ever been to the railroad museum in Sacramento California? It is fascinating. We went there on my nephew's birthday a few years ago.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
We had a holiday near York when I was in my teens, and it didn't surprise my mum or myself a single jot that the first excursion we made was to the National Railway Museum. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Though we didn't want to admit it to my dad, we quite enjoyed it ... ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Current visits to rail lines around here and when we were in Ironbridge this summer are to look at points and track. Lots of checking to look out for bullhead track to see what points it's using. The recent ride on the DLR around Poplar was again looking at how the track worked ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif) (Well, I wasn't, but ...)
I really didn't want this bit of knowledge I'm acquiring.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Yam-pk
Shipmate
# 12791
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Posted
The "Lal Ratty"in Cumbria is a glorious way to spend the afternoon as well. Little trains, much steam, great countryside, lots of fun!
Posts: 472 | From: The Grim North | Registered: Jul 2007
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Niminypiminy
Shipmate
# 15489
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Posted
I discovered this summer that you can get a direct train (well, as direct as you can get on a roundabout route) from Great Malvern to Brighton. Now Nimlet2, who lives to make long complicated rail journeys in which he can survey points, see lots of different operators' rolling stock, and reprise Great British Railway Journeys, is conducting a quiet but persistent campaign for his Christmas present to be a round trip Cambridge-Birmingham-Great Malveryn-Brighton-London-Cambridge.
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Lives of the Saints: songs by The Unequal Struggle
http://www.theunequalstruggle.com/
Posts: 776 | From: Edge of the Fens | Registered: Feb 2010
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hanginginthere
Shipmate
# 17541
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Posted
Mr hanginginthere maintains that Isaiah prophesied the building of the railways:
'Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.'
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'Safe?' said Mr Beaver. 'Who said anything about safe? But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'
Posts: 72 | From: Eboracum | Registered: Jan 2013
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Indeed, Terry Coleman in his book on Navvies writes of a clergyman (or possibly the navvy missionary Elizabeth Garnett) making the very similar point of suggesting that the navvies were "preparing the way" and doing the Lord's work, as per John the Baptist.
Unfortunately I cannot check this precisely as I lent my copy to someone and never got it back!
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Indeed, Terry Coleman in his book on Navvies writes of a clergyman (or possibly the navvy missionary Elizabeth Garnett) making the very similar point of suggesting that the navvies were "preparing the way" and doing the Lord's work, as per John the Baptist.
Unfortunately I cannot check this precisely as I lent my copy to someone and never got it back!
I have a copy, but it's, umm, somewhere, so it might take time to find it.
Meanwhile, my model railway is taking shape. About 2 feet of track in a shoebox! I'll try to provide a couple of pics one day.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
Talking of round trips, try Llandudno Junction - Blaenau Ffestiniog (Conwy Valley line); Blaenau - Porthmadog (Ffestiniog Railway); Porthmadog - Caernarfon (Welsh Highland Railway), then bus to Bangor and back on the main line to Llandudno Junc. It is a splendid journey and takes most of a day; timetables vary by the day of the week and the season, and sometimes it is only possible to do it the other way round, which in fact might be preferable especially on the Ffestiniog leg.
I did it at the beginning of July, the first real day of summer, and it was wonderful! Fish, chips and mushy peas in the station café at Porthmadog too!
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Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
According to the volunteer manning the tin tabernacle at Blists Hill this summer, those tin tabernacles were provided as temporary religious places for the small itinerant communities, like those of navvies.
Angloid, I managed bits of that route a few years back, with said currently rail mad offspring.
We also managed to change at Dovey Junction - against all advice
[ 14. September 2013, 16:14: Message edited by: Curiosity killed ... ]
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Meanwhile, my model railway is taking shape. About 2 feet of track in a shoebox! I'll try to provide a couple of pics one day.
We'll look forward to seeing that. Presumably it's Z gauge or else you have very large feet.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Here is an interesting set of webpages about Navvy Missions, especially in relation to the Great Central London Extension.
And here is a page about the Tin Tab. in Bury St. Edmunds.
[ 14. September 2013, 16:28: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Being in Whitby in the early summer meant the compulsory ride on the North York Moors railway. Steam is good as a living museum, but I wouldn't like to see it return.
There is a short tunnel, more like a long bridge - only a couple of carriages long, on the NYM railway, just past Grosmont going out, but even here there was soot inside the carriages. I remember steam and I remember dirt. Not only in the trains either, it was a schoolboy dare to stand on a footbridge when a steam train went underneath. But living between Moreley and Standedge tunnels meant there were no train journeys that didn't involve choking.
Can someone tell me why the real steam enthusiasts insist on being in the worst place to see the locomotive — in the train.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
According to the volunteer manning the tin tabernacle at Blists Hill this summer, those tin tabernacles were provided as temporary religious places for the small itinerant communities, like those of navvies.
There is one of those churches that has been re-erected at Swanwick Junction on the preserved Midland Railway line. John Betjeman would have loved it.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Can someone tell me why the real steam enthusiasts insist on being in the worst place to see the locomotive — in the train.
I've always wondered that - especially as the first coach in a mainline excursion is always the "support coach", not open to the public.
There were some very nasty accidents due to asphyxiation: e.g. one at Bath Junction caused by a runaway after the crew passing out in Devonshire Tunnel on the SDJR (recently opened as a walkway); one at Alpine Tunnel on the narrow-gauge South Park line up in the Colorado Mountains; and a truly appalling one in Italy during WW2 which I think killed hundreds of people.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
There is one of those churches that has been re-erected at Swanwick Junction on the preserved Midland Railway line. John Betjeman would have loved it.
Holly Lodge Baptist Church in Ipswich (not a Railway Mission) was demolished and a new church built a couple of years ago. Well, it was only supposed to be "temporary"! The Swanwick Tin Tab. is great, there is another one at the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Meanwhile, my model railway is taking shape. About 2 feet of track in a shoebox! I'll try to provide a couple of pics one day.
We'll look forward to seeing that. Presumably it's Z gauge or else you have very large feet.
I do have large feet, but it's narrow gauge rather than Z. There is a passenger 'service' and a goods shed, which scales as only slightly bigger than a garden shed.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sighthound
Shipmate
# 15185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Can someone tell me why the real steam enthusiasts insist on being in the worst place to see the locomotive — in the train.
That's simple - because they're not allowed to ride on the engine. And if they were, it's a crowded and uncomfortable place, designed for the use of two reasonably fit men and maybe an Inspector in a bowler hat.
When on a steam train I like to travel next to an open window, as I enjoy the sound and the smell. So does my wife, strangely enough. This is what marks out a steam enthusiast.
Frankly I would much prefer to travel from Manchester to London by a steam train taking four hours and with a dining car, than in half the time riding in one of Mr Branson's mobile torture chambers. But it would be a sad world if we were all alike.
[ 14. September 2013, 18:11: Message edited by: Sighthound ]
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Posts: 168 | From: England | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Can someone tell me why the real steam enthusiasts insist on being in the worst place to see the locomotive — in the train.
Railways don't begin and end with locomotives. I'd like to see more older rolling stock but old wooden things don't last the way that old metal things do, so there are plenty of locomotives but too few historic carriages (IMHO). Maybe we should build replicas of these instead of replica locomotives?
If you are lucky enough to be on a train drawn by a decent-sized locomotive in really good condition you get a nice back-and-forth motion. That doesn't happen often on preserved railways, many of which are limited to 25mph, but there's also the sound and the smell as you are carried along.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
In July, I was excited to ride three trains. One was a cog railway (Pike's Peak), which I rode last fifteen years ago.
The Royal Gorge train was nice, but my favorite was in Leadville, Colorado. The first two pictures show the old engine on display. I thought you train folks might like that. The other car was the one I rode to the top of a mountain so I could zip line back down.
I have more pictures if you like!
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
I'd like to see more older rolling stock but old wooden things don't last the way that old metal things do, so there are plenty of locomotives but too few historic carriages (IMHO).
Which is why the Bluebell Railway or the Isle of Wight are nicer than many other railways, however excellent. Of course those that got in early (back in the 60s) had the advantage - hence some nice stock on the Severn Valley, the North Norfolk Quadarts, etc. But no point in doing all that work on wooden stock unless you've good a nice shed to keep it in.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Can someone tell me why the real steam enthusiasts insist on being in the worst place to see the locomotive — in the train.
Railways don't begin and end with locomotives. I'd like to see more older rolling stock but old wooden things don't last the way that old metal things do, so there are plenty of locomotives but too few historic carriages (IMHO). Maybe we should build replicas of these instead of replica locomotives?
Perhaps another reason locomotives are preserved/replicated more often is they are viewed as more exciting/interesting?
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
I'd like to see more older rolling stock but old wooden things don't last the way that old metal things do, so there are plenty of locomotives but too few historic carriages (IMHO).
Which is why the Bluebell Railway or the Isle of Wight are nicer than many other railways, however excellent. Of course those that got in early (back in the 60s) had the advantage - hence some nice stock on the Severn Valley, the North Norfolk Quadarts, etc. But no point in doing all that work on wooden stock unless you've good a nice shed to keep it in.
Which of course we at the SVR have...
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
No boasting, now ...
But it must be heart-rending for some preservationists to painstakingly restore a wooden carriage only to see it slowly rot away under a tarpaulin.
Mind you Mk.1 suburbans are hardly durable ...
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Somewhere in Transylvania, in a deep and narrow valley, the train I was on was stationary for a while next to a nicely maintained steam locomotive on a short stretch of track. I should have a photo somewhere.
When I was young, in Folkestone, the Lord of the Manor, Lord Radnor, had a miniature train which ran through a cutting along part of the Undercliffe, which he drove himself, with child passengers (who paid, of course). It only went forward and backwards.
And there was a train on a sort of Stonehenge trackway in the grounds of Tonbridge Castle, where passengers sat astride. I sort of expect these things to still be around, but they aren't.
And I learned about garden railway models when I visited Diana Gould (of the Belgrano) to tell her of my Dad's death (they were friends at church), and saw her husband Clifford's layout. He was, by then, confined to a bed in the living room, and could only look at it from the window. Now she's dead, I wonder what happened there.
[ 15. September 2013, 10:28: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Perhaps another reason locomotives are preserved/replicated more often is they are viewed as more exciting/interesting?
There are enthusiasts for just about everything, which is why the North York Moors Railway regularly holds vintage diesel events. Anyone for Deltics?
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Lord Radnor, had a miniature train which ran through a cutting along part of the Undercliffe, which he drove himself, with child passengers (who paid, of course). It only went forward and backwards.
Unlike the proverbial "train now arriving at platforms 5,6 & 7" which was coming in sideways.
I had an experience like your Transylvanian one, about 10 years ago in Hungary. We drew in to Godollo, en route from Eger to Budapest, to find a steam special simmering on the adjacent line. Unfortunately we left before it started up, so we never got the steam train sounds.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Anyone for Deltics?
Yay! Had a ride right along the old Platform 10 at Kings Cross in the cab of "Alycidon" when I was about 13. Happily it still exists, on the Nene Valley.
The "Deltics" seemed much more glamorous than the "Peaks" on our Midland line. And - just once - we saw the late lamented DP2 at the "Cross" (but didn't manage to get aboard).
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sighthound
Shipmate
# 15185
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Posted
On the question of wooden rolling stock, it is a neat question. Arguably wooden parts are easier to repair than metal, which can rust away to dust.
In an ideal world all the stock would kept kept under cover, and painted at least every three years. Sadly, this is not an ideal world, and the money rarely runs to such luxuries.
Where steel stock scores is that it usually is safer in a high-speed collision, something that doesn't really happen on preserved lines, given they are generally limited to 25 mph.
What saddens me is that the old stock is so much more comfortable than the modern stuff, which seems to be designed around people of restricted growth. The main line 3rd class carriages of 1910 were much better designed from the point of view of comfort. They also had adequate windows, whereas we seem to be headed in the direction of airliner style portholes.
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Posts: 168 | From: England | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Anyone for Deltics?
Yay! Had a ride right along the old Platform 10 at Kings Cross in the cab of "Alycidon" when I was about 13. Happily it still exists, on the Nene Valley.
The "Deltics" seemed much more glamorous than the "Peaks" on our Midland line. And - just once - we saw the late lamented DP2 at the "Cross" (but didn't manage to get aboard).
The Deltics made a noise like no other locomotive, thanks to their marvellous engines! For a long time they were the only locomotives cleared for 100mph running in Britain and I travelled behind them quite a bit in the 1970's. Better still was waiting at Newark Northgate station when one roared past at something close to full speed. All locomotives look big, but even with Britain's limited loading gauge these looked huge!
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sighthound:
What saddens me is that the old stock is so much more comfortable than the modern stuff, which seems to be designed around people of restricted growth. The main line 3rd class carriages of 1910 were much better designed from the point of view of comfort. They also had adequate windows, whereas we seem to be headed in the direction of airliner style portholes.
Obviously the triumph of profit over people. People in the 19th and early 20th centuries were on average considerable smaller than we are too.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Modern seats only allow you to sit upright and not move around much, don't they. Only just realised that, reading this.
And they are more like bus seats where if you find yourself sitting next to the sort of man who absolutely must sit with his legs at 90 degrees, you are pushed off the edge. (If female.) And there's no room between opposite seats to stretch your legs out comfortably.
Torture.
[ 15. September 2013, 18:49: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Sighthound
Shipmate
# 15185
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Posted
The appalling seats are one of the reasons I now only travel by train if I really have to. Even road coaches are generally more comfortable.
(For me to say this is quite something - at one time I would scratch my head at why people didn't travel by train, given that it was quicker and more comfortable.)
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Posts: 168 | From: England | Registered: Sep 2009
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I wish we still had railways. Mostly the small branch lines are all ripped up, and the main lines out west (Canada) transport things like oil, various grains, containers that will be picked up by trucks later. Passenger rail service - really does not exist anymore. I envy any country with any passenger service at all. As it stands, we travel by passenger car. When we go to our cabin for example, it is 350 km. By car we plan on 3½ hours. These are 2 lane highways, one lane each way, and there are no shoulders, just carriage ways. Thus, 105 to 110 km/hr on a 100 km/hr limit highway is all you get. I have gone there by bus, but it stops in every little town, so that's a 6 hour journey.
I remember as a child we could catch the 7:30 train, walk to a lake, swim, picnic, etc, and catch the 6:15 home to the city. That does not exist and it makes me pine for olden days.
May God bless everyone who has the option of rail travel, and may they be truly thankful, and stop me from being truly envious.
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Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
In July, I was excited to ride three trains. One was a cog railway (Pike's Peak), which I rode last fifteen years ago.
The Royal Gorge train was nice, but my favorite was in Leadville, Colorado. The first two pictures show the old engine on display. I thought you train folks might like that. The other car was the one I rode to the top of a mountain so I could zip line back down.
I have more pictures if you like!
I did a tour of Colorado with the Electric Railway Association about 25 years ago. Apart from the cheap thrill of waiting for a train to tour the new Denver transit system and informing the other people at the stop that this was a private car, the most memorable ride was on the small open carriage Fort Collins trolley as it whipped through the median trees in mid summer.
I compared notes with my mother who had been taken on a tour of Colorado by her father on his railroad pass in 1925. We had ridden on some of the same trains.. Royal Gorge and the Pikes Peak cog railway, but they had disappeared and then reincarnated in the intervening decades.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
The Royal Gorge train was nice, but my favorite was in Leadville, Colorado.
Where I have stayed! (many years ago). But the train I took was the Georgetown Loop.
Did you take the mine tour? I was a mine tour guide at the mine between Georgetown and Silver Plume for six summers. I bet the conductors' jokes haven't changed since you took the train- I heard them 5 times a day (so about 25 times a week) and I swear they never changed.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I do recall a tour guide assembling our little group - maybe we were about to go into a mine - and asking 'Where are you folks from?' - 'Scotland' - 'Great! Enjoy your visit' - 'And you're from?' - 'Denver'. - 'Welcome to Colorado'.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
The Royal Gorge train was nice, but my favorite was in Leadville, Colorado.
Where I have stayed! (many years ago). But the train I took was the Georgetown Loop.
Did you take the mine tour? I was a mine tour guide at the mine between Georgetown and Silver Plume for six summers. I bet the conductors' jokes haven't changed since you took the train- I heard them 5 times a day (so about 25 times a week) and I swear they never changed.
We didn't take the mine tour. I don't remember the jokes but they were probably period. Even the RR was an irresistible tangent off the main focus of the group which is trolleys and electric transit.
It wasn't till I was on the San Francisco Tour and we were stuck waiting for traffic on some rarely used route and the guy in front of me started comparing pension vesting with the trolley driver in a rich Bronx accent that I realized I had indeed been in the habit of going on a motorman's holiday. ;-)
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I do recall a tour guide assembling our little group - maybe we were about to go into a mine - and asking 'Where are you folks from?' - 'Scotland' - 'Great! Enjoy your visit' - 'And you're from?' - 'Denver'. - 'Welcome to Colorado'.
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif) Thank goodness it wasn't a life or death question!
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sighthound:
What saddens me is that the old stock is so much more comfortable than the modern stuff
Not always: see this ; also the LNER Quadarts which were a real squash! But they weren't "main line" stock.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
AIUI (and helpfully for the modern operators) it's all to do with fire risk. The carriages I used to travel home from school in in the early 90s had great bouncy seats and plenty of legroom. But apparently the upholstery was very flammable.
I do recall travelling to London from Birmngham in the eighties as a youngster in corridor stock, which would be nice to have back....
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
...May God bless everyone who has the option of rail travel, and may they be truly thankful, and stop me from being truly envious.
Thank you.
We have Indian Railways one of the biggest systems in the world - it is brilliant and the booking staff are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. The longest journey we have done was 38 hours but the longest possible on a through train is about 5 days from Jammu Tawi [Jammu and Kashmir State] and Kanyakumari [in Tamil Nadu], at the southern tip of the subcontinent.
There are nine classes, though not all available on all trains. A long distance rail journey is a bit like being in a moving Indian village - all human life is here!
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
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Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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