Recent content by ac6000cw

There was a BR one on the A38/Bristol Road in the midst of the (Austin/BMC/British Leyland/Rover etc.) Longbridge car factory. It was a leftover from when local passenger trains ran on the line between Halesowen Junction (on the Birmingham - Bristol mainline) and Old Hill via Halesowen. Those...

Northbound between Waterbeach and Ely has been really rough this past week - lots of lurching and wallowing on the Electrostars I've been on. The southbound track looks to have been re-ballasted recently (and is a much smoother ride), and there's been a Stoneblower machine parked in the sidings...

Re. battery trains in the UK - don't forget that TfW have 24 class 756 tri-mode Flirts with significant range on battery power (around 80 km/50 miles according to this - https://www.railvolution.net/news/innotrans-2022-28 ).

The GA trains are also nicer to ride in than the EMR ones. For the best view of the scenery, go for the higher seats (at the ends of the carriages).

Info on FFU (for those like me who've not heard the name before) - https://sekisui-rail.com/ffu.html

Just got back from a trip to the same area - majority of helpers were SD70ACe, but I did see at least three different SD70ACUs on helper duty. Highlight was probably two helper sets literally side by side on two trains climbing the west slope - the noise of 4 x SD70ACe in Run 8 was something...

There's other stuff on the site in addition to the storage sidings e.g. warehousing and an aggregates terminal. The site as a whole is owned and operated by Potter Space - some info and pictures here: https://www.potterspace.co.uk/locations/ely-business-park-cambridgeshire (Angel Trains is...

It already exists - see the Stadler class 756 tri-modes in service with TfW - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_756

When I first started to take an interest in trucks (in the late 1960s probably), they were commonplace marques, and you could add AEC, Albion, Scammell, Commer and Bedford at least to the list. (I'm currently on a trip to the land of Peterbilts, Kenworths and Macks, being serenaded by 7FDLs...

What would be the point of spending significant money on changing the name of a station, to associate it with an additional community, when there are decent multi-modal (train/bus/walk) journey planners e.g. Google Maps, available for free if you actually want to know how to get somewhere by...

I can't think why - the vehicles have been converted to Canadian technical and interior requirements (e.g. AAR couplers and 480V 60Hz 3-phase ETS, just for starters) and they will be at least 30-35 years old by the time they are replaced in the 2031 - 2035 timeframe (dates from the 'What happens...

Thanks for the info. I'm reasonably confident that the derailed train in this thread had an SD70ACU as one of the helpers (see post #41), so they hadn't gone completely at that point. Were they similar types of derailments?

It's the same at Cambridge - a nice, listed facade and high-ceilinged booking hall behind it, but most of the platforms have minimal length, utilitarian canopies. The longest and most stylish ones are actually on the modern P7 & P8 island. Hence the derogatory 'Amshack' term that was applied to...

Not just phones - for 15 years or so, I've recorded all my (amateur) video using various mirrorless hybrid stills/video cameras, which look the same as a digital 'stills' cameras. Personally, if I'd happened to have filmed someone doing something they shouldn't, I certainly wouldn't make it...

In some places where they have to regularly propel stuff a long way, they put a 'shoving platform' on the rear (usually an ex-caboose) for the conductor/brakeman to ride on. I think I saw one in use in Florida once (on a phosphate train). AFAIK, on most railroads climbing onto moving equipment...