Broken Viking
On Moderation
Ay up folks! 
Something that's long been at the forefront of my mind - And my heart even more so - Is a certain era of railway technology that seems to be being forgotten about as we move on toward different and more efficient ways of doing things. If you go to any heritage centre you'll always see the usual artefacts; The steam locos of post-war Britain, the groundbreaking experimentals of the early 1800s, the electric and diesel locos of the 60s and 70s, and those are the things everybody seems to think about whenever railway history comes into the frame. But despite being 35 years on, there is something that's almost always missing...
The absolutely perfect hardware of the 80s and 90s, much of which bought us to speeds and journey times that would have seemed absolutely impossible just a short decade before.
I know there's the odd '90s artefact here and there - The NRM (Kindly) keep a TMST power car in the main hall (Loaned to them by Eurostar, and to my awareness she's employed as a parts rack) - But a lot of hardware from the time seems to be being sent to the shredder before anybody has half a chance to save it. Eurostar started scrapping the TMST fleet from 2016 onwards (I'm not going to say just how much that hurt, other than being surprised my heart is still operable when 90% of it has been torn away) and though one or two might've escaped the hangman's noose (One set went to Thaly's/ES Red's budget operation, ES Blue have kept three complete sets plus an extra power car, and one went to the now-closed NCHSR and I've not a clue what's become of her) the vast majority of examples - Of a class of TGV that was absolutely unique in its nature, and laid down the foundations for the EuroMed, the K2, and even the 1st gen Acelas - Have become lost to us.
Something that's been burning in my heart for years has been the dream of setting up a high-speed heritage centre with direct access to LGV infrastructure. Somewhere that could preserve the absolute perfection that is the TGV in its various forms and other HS trains of the ages for future generations, as well as letting people experience first hand just what it is like to travel on them. Many of us have fond memories of travelling on 50-hauled ICs, CIGS and suchlike - And greatly appreciate being able to see these at the SVR and other places which have them in preservation - And for those of my generation the TMST and other trains of that vintage will be just as important to us as many locos are for the generations before us, and the Desiros will be for the generation after.
You'd be surprised just how life-changing a journey on a 90s TGV - Where absolute power and performance stand head and shoulders above program code and modern ways of working - Can be for some people. That first journey to MLV-Chessy from Waterloo Intl. certainly was for me!
The absolute block for me, sadly, is that my ability to start businesses and similar things is totally non-existent - The formation process and formalities completely burn my mind every time I look at them (The joys of being neurodiverse!) which is why I've never been able to kick-off self employment despite hundreds of seemingly workable business ideas over the years. And a preservation society isn't the sort of undertaking that can be started with just a few quid and a web domain - It's almost no different to forming a complete TOC from the ground up, which I fear lies well beyond my capabilities especially if trying to do it alone.
Now I can't be the only person who feels this way - That the heritage of the TGV and similar trains of the era is equally as important as the ages of steam and diesel - So I want to know how many more there are on this forum and perhaps further afield. There must be a lot of similar minded people in France and Japan (I mean; How would both countries develop things like the TGV and the Shinkansen otherwise?) and surely this number will increase as time goes on, especially as the technology becomes of more historical importance over time and more start to find nostalgia for the trains they took business trips and holidays on in the past. And if such a thing could be created - Connected directly to HS2 - The possibility of high-speed heritage workings and exchanges with museums in other countries begins to show itself, too.
Just imagine a day in the future where you're going to visit the British High Speed Rail museum, and your journey there starts with boarding a ReNFE EuroMed at Euston. I know that's a dream that brings a tear to my eye, and I'm convinced that I can't be the only one out there...
Something that's long been at the forefront of my mind - And my heart even more so - Is a certain era of railway technology that seems to be being forgotten about as we move on toward different and more efficient ways of doing things. If you go to any heritage centre you'll always see the usual artefacts; The steam locos of post-war Britain, the groundbreaking experimentals of the early 1800s, the electric and diesel locos of the 60s and 70s, and those are the things everybody seems to think about whenever railway history comes into the frame. But despite being 35 years on, there is something that's almost always missing...
The absolutely perfect hardware of the 80s and 90s, much of which bought us to speeds and journey times that would have seemed absolutely impossible just a short decade before.
I know there's the odd '90s artefact here and there - The NRM (Kindly) keep a TMST power car in the main hall (Loaned to them by Eurostar, and to my awareness she's employed as a parts rack) - But a lot of hardware from the time seems to be being sent to the shredder before anybody has half a chance to save it. Eurostar started scrapping the TMST fleet from 2016 onwards (I'm not going to say just how much that hurt, other than being surprised my heart is still operable when 90% of it has been torn away) and though one or two might've escaped the hangman's noose (One set went to Thaly's/ES Red's budget operation, ES Blue have kept three complete sets plus an extra power car, and one went to the now-closed NCHSR and I've not a clue what's become of her) the vast majority of examples - Of a class of TGV that was absolutely unique in its nature, and laid down the foundations for the EuroMed, the K2, and even the 1st gen Acelas - Have become lost to us.
Something that's been burning in my heart for years has been the dream of setting up a high-speed heritage centre with direct access to LGV infrastructure. Somewhere that could preserve the absolute perfection that is the TGV in its various forms and other HS trains of the ages for future generations, as well as letting people experience first hand just what it is like to travel on them. Many of us have fond memories of travelling on 50-hauled ICs, CIGS and suchlike - And greatly appreciate being able to see these at the SVR and other places which have them in preservation - And for those of my generation the TMST and other trains of that vintage will be just as important to us as many locos are for the generations before us, and the Desiros will be for the generation after.
You'd be surprised just how life-changing a journey on a 90s TGV - Where absolute power and performance stand head and shoulders above program code and modern ways of working - Can be for some people. That first journey to MLV-Chessy from Waterloo Intl. certainly was for me!
The absolute block for me, sadly, is that my ability to start businesses and similar things is totally non-existent - The formation process and formalities completely burn my mind every time I look at them (The joys of being neurodiverse!) which is why I've never been able to kick-off self employment despite hundreds of seemingly workable business ideas over the years. And a preservation society isn't the sort of undertaking that can be started with just a few quid and a web domain - It's almost no different to forming a complete TOC from the ground up, which I fear lies well beyond my capabilities especially if trying to do it alone.
Now I can't be the only person who feels this way - That the heritage of the TGV and similar trains of the era is equally as important as the ages of steam and diesel - So I want to know how many more there are on this forum and perhaps further afield. There must be a lot of similar minded people in France and Japan (I mean; How would both countries develop things like the TGV and the Shinkansen otherwise?) and surely this number will increase as time goes on, especially as the technology becomes of more historical importance over time and more start to find nostalgia for the trains they took business trips and holidays on in the past. And if such a thing could be created - Connected directly to HS2 - The possibility of high-speed heritage workings and exchanges with museums in other countries begins to show itself, too.
Just imagine a day in the future where you're going to visit the British High Speed Rail museum, and your journey there starts with boarding a ReNFE EuroMed at Euston. I know that's a dream that brings a tear to my eye, and I'm convinced that I can't be the only one out there...
