AI-generated (not entirely realistic) railway images

[Sun Chariot]

First day. The nervous young cleaner gets some reassuring help. His confidence will come.

Sure enough - the third evening, at the other end of the shed, the new lad is really getting stuck in. He'll soon gain Passed Cleaner grade.
The new fireman still needs to uncouple that Mk1 Restaurant Unclassified carriage, though...

In the interests of fairness, having Blobby in your face is much more preferable to someone with sharp elbows and an unhealthy attachment to their mobile device.

My commutes yielded fellow passengers whose looks and scents varied:
Some Baywatch, a few Springwatch but mostly Crimewatch.

 

[Ashley Hill]

It is often said that the crows that are seen poking around on the ballast are the ghosts of deceased P-Way men. Health & Safety has caught up with them.

 

[Sun Chariot]

All the fun of the fair. Send the kids home and let the adults have a good ride.

It is often said that the crows that are seen poking around on the ballast are the ghosts of deceased P-Way men. Health & Safety has caught up with them.
View attachment 210951

And at shift's end, you'd find them supping a few pints at the Crow Bar (And are those actually jackdaws?)

 

[JohnElliott]

Is that Marylebone as a through station?

 

[Topological]

Is that Marylebone as a through station?

I did wonder why there were people holding illuminated scrolls on Marylebone Road earlier today. Obviously a gimmick to promote through services from Solihull to the Strand.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Sep 2026 ==

All the fun of the fair. Send the kids home and let the adults have a good ride.



And at shift's end, you'd find them supping a few pints at the Crow Bar (And are those actually jackdaws?)

You may find me supping at the Kro Bar, but that is because we cannot spell in Manchester. The image demonstrates a similar disconnect between oral, aural and what flows from our hands.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Inspired by Black Five 45186's recorded Summer Saturdays workings through to Bournemouth and Poole in 1966.
The young fireman takes in his very unfamiliar surroundings, awaiting an Up service to pass and clear the section.

 

[D6130]

Inspired by Black Five 45186's recorded Summer Saturdays workings through to Bournemouth and Poole in 1966.
The young fireman takes in his very unfamiliar surroundings, awaiting an Up service to pass and clear the section.

Lovely image....but both locos are looking incredibly clean for 1966. Perhaps, coincidentally, they were both ex-works at the same time?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Lovely image....but both locos are looking incredibly clean for 1966. Perhaps, coincidentally, they were both ex-works at the same time?

Maybe the Master Neverer's Association was in the area?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Maybe the Master Neverer's Association was in the area?

Oh wonderful idea! I've read of the MNA's nocturnal cleaning exploits on the last of the Waverley Route's A2s and A3s (and a superb photo of Prince Palatine blasting past them at dawn, with a fitted freight).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Sep 2026 ==

Lovely image....but both locos are looking incredibly clean for 1966. Perhaps, coincidentally, they were both ex-works at the same time?

They both have the sooty boiler-tops and sooty cab roofs I'd described. In Rule 1, I like to keep some of my locos cleaner!

 

[Topological]

I can see what has happened. It is the Royal Statistical Society Conference 2026 in Bournemouth from tomorrow until Thursday. Clearly the travellers on @Sun Chariot train were VIPs who were getting there early to set up. It is logical they were provided with fresh engines on the approaches.

Meanwhile, the ManCon attendees also have a taste for conferences and are on their way. Normal delegates do not get a clean train.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Good to see that the "Victorious" festival campsite has had use since post 1,609

 

[D6130]

I can see what has happened. It is the Royal Statistical Society Conference 2026 in Bournemouth from tomorrow until Thursday. Clearly the travellers on @Sun Chariot train were VIPs who were getting there early to set up. It is logical they were provided with fresh engines on the approaches.

Meanwhile, the ManCon attendees also have a taste for conferences and are on their way. Normal delegates do not get a clean train.

View attachment 211115

Hmm....there doesn't appear to be any fencing to keep those New Forest Ponies - or the MANCON delegates - off the (electrified) track!

 

[Topological]

Hmm....there doesn't appear to be any fencing to keep those New Forest Ponies - or the MANCON delegates - off the (electrified) track!

This was the original photo but it felt a bit health and safety gone mad. Plus like any good fence, it is only as good as the people who open and close the gates. Those horses have still made it trackside. I decided to ask Gemini to remove the fence so we could see the train a bit better and credit South Western Railway for their train cleaning policies.

 

[Mr. SW]

Diesel Desiro!

 

[Topological]

Diesel Desiro!

Useful if they have to switch the electricity off because of horses near the line

 

[Sun Chariot]

Is that Marylebone as a through station?

I love this, the location is one I worked at, for a few years.

The intrepid quest-seekers are standing at the rear (north) of The Landmark Hotel (a thoroughly-agreeable cellar bar + bistro at that corner of the hotel).
The GCR London Extension opted to extend 90 degrees and continued the railway route beyond the concourse; now running through the taxi-rank roadway and - at background - through Harewood Avenue and past a helpfully demolished former Woolworths head office building on that road's corner with the main Marylebone Road.

I was last there 18 years ago. How things change!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Sep 2026 ==

Basra-bound. The UK supplied Stanier and Riddles steam locos to Persia and class 126 DMU vehicles to Liberia. So imagine if we traded a few Pacers too.

 

[D6130]

I love this, the location is one I worked at, for a few years.

The intrepid quest-seekers are standing at the rear (north) of The Landmark Hotel (a thoroughly-agreeable cellar bar + bistro at that corner of the hotel).
The GCR London Extension opted to extend 90 degrees and continued the railway route beyond the concourse; now running through the taxi-rank roadway and - at background - through Harewood Avenue and past a helpfully demolished former Woolworths head office building on that road's corner with the main Marylebone Road.

I was last there 18 years ago. How things change!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Sep 2026 ==

Basra-bound. The UK supplied Stsnier and Ridddles steam locomotives to Perisa and former class 126 DMU vehicles to Liberia. Imagine if we traded a few Pacers too.

Not such a way-out suggestion as you might imagine! Several ex-Northern class 141 Pacers were exported to Iran following withdrawal from West Yorkshire.

 

[Sun Chariot]

The Royal Statistical Society Conference 2026 is in far more salubrious setting than this.
Did you know that 28% of extant former railway stations are now pubs or restaurants?
Did you know more than half of "38-24-32" vital statistics are exaggerated?
And did you know that Barrow's first station, The Strand, was only open for use between 1863 and 1882?

Not such a way-out suggestion as you might imagine! Several ex-Northern class 141 Pacers were exported to Iran following withdrawal from West Yorkshire.

BIngo! That was the inspiration for my pic!

 

[Fawkes Cat]

The Royal Statistical Society Conference 2026 is in far more salubrious setting than this.
Did you know that 28% of extant former railway stations are now pubs?
Did you know more than half of "38-24-32" vital statistics are exaggerated?
And did you know that Barrow's first station, The Strand, was only open for use between 1863 and 1882?



BIngo! That was the inspiration for my pic!

Be a little bit careful trying to make bad puns around Barrow in Furness: for example, have a look at the borough's coat of arms at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Barrow-in-Furness.

Yes, 'Barrow' is represented by a picture of a bee and an arrow.

You have been beaten to the bad puns.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Yes, 'Barrow' is represented by a picture of a bee and an arrow.

Every day's a school-day! I had seen the coat of arms but, all these years, the bee-arrow heraldic addition flummoxed me!

The pub sign's play on words, is also in homage to the area's former steelworks sector. As a 1980s teen, I used to marvel at photos of British Steel Workington. Alas, I never got to see the site nor its 37-hauled trains.

 

[Topological]

We do not know what happened to the "bria" from @Sun Chariot post, but what we do know is that the ManCon attendees are indeed at their statistics conference. Who knew all of that about the 390?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Excellent lecture-topic and alcohol allowed!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Sep 2026 ==

A fish shoal waits for no-one; and that net won't mend itself. The trawlers will be out at last light. The Pugs will soon plod back to shed.

Go slow in the flow! A 60 passes two more motor-insurance claims.

 

[Topological]

When I saw the preview of the 60, I thought that was a canal going under the bridge.

I did see a car in a canal around Guide Bridge when boating through Manchester in the late 1990s. Before digital photos so no recreation here.

 

[Pete_uk]

9 carriages of course...

 

[Sun Chariot]

Chamois hell-for-leather. But where is it?

 

[Topological]

It seems that Anika and The Academic encountered a similar car in the canal issue when they took a day out in Manchester. Not sure if anyone wants a poster of this image, but I am sure that there are lovely posters for sale. I assume it is Anika who will later be barging her way into the union toilet with a Kung Fu kick...

 

[Sun Chariot]

Superb @Topological ! the ultimate tourist-board poster

 

[D6130]

It seems that Anika and The Academic encountered a similar car in the canal issue when they took a day out in Manchester. Not sure if anyone wants a poster of this image, but I am sure that there are lovely posters for sale. I assume it is Anika who will later be barging her way into the union toilet with a Kung Fu kick...

View attachment 211251

That's a very expensive-looking car to be dumped in a canal. Presumably some local scallies hot-wired it and pinched it for a high-speed joyride around the M60.

 

[Sun Chariot]

The Italian job. Two impressive busts at a terminus station's platform end. Mea culpa.

 

[D6130]

The Italian job. Two impressive busts at a terminus station's platform end. Mea culpa.

Very realistic in fact! The only slight tweak required is that the left hand loco should be numbered E656 530....rather than E666.