Recent content by PomWombat

6ft2", so more the high side of normal, I tend to think.

Once you are tall enough, there becomes just one single measure as to whether a train is ok ... which is whether your knees fit in. Ride, comfort, windows - all mean nothing if you feel like a knife is stuck into your knee for an hour, or your contortions give you a bad back for the rest of the...

That's the best argument in favour of longer units - that shortforms cannot happen. I've experienced that myself over the last (near) 2 years, as 170s have taken over from 14X+150 combinations. The 170s have made the journey times much more reliable.

It has always struck me that there are 3 conflicting points about the length of a train (as opposed to the length of one unit in the train): The train must be long enough to carry the number of passengers wanting to use it The train must be short enough to fit in all the platforms on the...

802 218 carried me on 9S13 today from Leeds to Edinburgh, in plain grey. It was a lively journey, and boy could it accelerate ... on either diesel or electric. Pretty empty, but far more room than the XC that followed a couple of minutes later.

Interesting to see seat covers on some of the end seats, with instructions to use then for luggage rather than sitting. Not sure whether I saw that in a 5 or 9, but definitely a bi-mode.

I made my first Leeds - Harrogate commute on the Azuma last night, sitting in the middle of coach C of a 5 car (not sure if there was a second 5 car leading it). There was some engine noise and vibration, but very little compared to the usual 170. Reservations were off.

If TPE isn't considered InterCity, then there's a passive pennine-shaped hole in the services that are considered inter-city. That TPE services stop in more minor locations is perhaps down to fact that no-one has bothered to 4-track a serious TPML yet, and segregate local and inter-city...

Yeah - seems a daft idea to get everyone to stand watching the displays, crowding the route to and from the gateline. Anyone entering from the northern concourse, or from city square, has to cut diagonally over to the departure side of the gateline, straight through the heart of the crowd.

I love having the 170s on the Harrogate line - they're one of the few (commuter) trains I can get a comfortable seat on - just enough legroom, and the window positioned nicely that my shoulder gets space there too. I laugh at all the threads on here which try to discuss the view out of the...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/tpe-mark-5a-coaching-stock-progress-includes-images.143579/ Do drivers get trained in both types (or all three) or is it very much separate?

Yes, the first two certainly kept the compartment & door, the seat layout, and the same reclining seats - just changing the material and, possibly, the foam. They have kept the tables but lost the table lights and, thinking about it, I don't remember seeing the extra reading lights in the...

As a software engineer too, I'd imagine that some of the reasons for more software control comes down to something seriously physical like the wiring loom. Is there something similar to a CAN bus used in the rail world? That would be the kind of thing to help simplify wiring, while keeping...

It strikes me that, with leaf fall season starting, Pacers have one last duty before being withdrawn ... to be around for duty while wheel flats get sorted. In fact, they can do better than that by taking on /more/ duties with flats, and leave in December with those flats unattended. That way...

Going uphill is conversion of battery energy into potential energy, instead of kinetic energy. Once you're at the top, you get to convert it all back to kinetic energy or (when braking) chemical energy back in the battery. The key thing, though, is to have enough in the tank to get to the top...