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Prompted by the discussion in the 'LSWR Lower Quadrants' thread - were there many two-position upper-quadrant semaphores around before the 1923 grouping? Background - AFAIK, an IRSE (Institution of Railway Signal Engineers) committee recommended in 1922 against installing any more (US-style)...

Moderator note: split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/creation-of-class-230-demus-from-ex-lu-d78s-by-vivarail.103488/ There seems to be an assumption recently on this thread that it's the Ford diesel *engines* that are the root cause of the unreliability problems - does anyone...

As we're 11 days away from the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing of a manned spacecraft... If you are old enough to remember it first hand, what was your reaction to it at the time and your memories of it now? If you're too young for that (especially if it's 'ancient' history to you)...

Amtrak has just announced it's looking to rebuild or replace (at least part of) the fleet of P40/P42 diesel locos: New or rebuilt locomotives will provide more reliable service, a smoother ride and improved safety features A bit more detail here -...

As it's that time of year (and it was snowing yesterday), here is some video from back in 2001 when we were on a trip through Boston, New York and New England. First up is an Amtrak 'Vermonter' calling at Waterbury, Vermont, top-and-tailed by F40PH #414 and #226. After a Hi-Rail interlude, we...

Just a bit of end-of-the year fun - I shot the video below a few months ago from a hotel room, facing south towards downtown. This small city has the historic trans-continental mainlines of two major railway companies running through it, one on each side of the river, and also has passenger...

Great American Railroad Journeys - Series 2, starts on BBC2 on Monday 23rd January at 18:30. Full episode list here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08cb8gn/episodes/guide - Michael Portillo is starting in St Louis, Missouri and then slowly heading west to Colorado.

With both the BBC TV 'Operation Gold Rush' series and a recent episode of Chris Tarrant's 'Extreme Railway Journeys' set in Alaska, I thought it was time to pull my finger out and finish editing the video I shot during a ride on the 'White Pass & Yukon Route' railway, back in June 2012. The 3...

Just been reading the latest Roger Ford 'Informed Sources' preview email. One item in there is: As an engineer, it does seem a slightly odd situation to have ended up in, after 50+ years of 25kV overhead electrification in the UK - any comments from people who understand the technical...

Those of you following my 'Wanderings around California' thread will know I posted some photos taken after dinner one evening in Truckee, California. As someone asked about the sounds from that evening, I thought I'd put together the video highlights of it (you also get the noise for free...

My first ever trip report, so here goes... Day 1 - The lights of Los Angeles are twinkling below... After a good trip on GN and LU to Heathrow, then 5000 miles on a Virgin A340 (good flight) it's time for US immigration...one 'mug shot' and full set of fingerprints later, I head for the...

My third video from a recent visit to California. It's a warm Sunday in October 2015, close to the village of Caliente at the foot of the west slope of Tehachapi Pass, as a long BNSF intermodal train arrives... The railway from Bakersfield arrives along the creek on the left, then does a...

My second video from a recent visit to California. It's early Sunday morning in October 2015, east of Tehachapi (near Monolith), with the sun just having risen above the hills to the east. A couple of long freight trains pass by and catch the morning glow... ?v=yT-BNqJ1tVI (or...

My first 'highlights' video from a recent visit to California. The content is all from the same day on Tehachapi Pass, chosen as much for the soundtrack as the pictures, so if you like your diesel locomotives big and noisy - enjoy :D When I was filming the 'Bealville Siding' train (starts...

After I'd written the "Steam on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad" post here and commented on the sound of a steam whistle echoing across the valley, it got me thinking about other railway sounds that evoke memories with me, like: The 'ting' of signalbox block bells, the 'swish' of the...

I thought I'd start off with some modern motive power from a trip in 2013: ?v=lyBWoOZg0cI (or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyBWoOZg0cI ) I picked this one because the first train has a matched set of EMD SD70ACe's on the front and a matched set of GE ES44AC's pushing on the rear, so it's a...

For those of you with any interest in the history of diesel traction, the 'Streamliners at Spencer' event is currently running in the US. Amongst the 26 (!) classic 'cab unit' style locomotives gathered there is probably the most historic diesel in the world - FT103, one quarter of the original...