Incredibly cool photos of trains
Discussion
Yertis said:
P5BNij said:
The romance of steam was and still is wonderful, but there are plenty who would disagree with your last paragraph! The variety of diesel and electric traction was staggering in BR days, I know that they all replaced beloved steam locos but some of the new designs were quite handsome and often very well built. The twenty two production Deltics and the seventy four Westerns being the cream of the crop, although I have to admit a huge bias with the Westerns as I chased them around the WR as a nipper, had numerous cab rides on them and later on I worked with the old hand drivers at Old Oak Common who worked on them day in, day out.
The GW Castle class were beautiful locos, but so were the Westerns in their own way - the designers Sir Misha Black and John Beresford Evans won industrial design awards for their work on them...
I appreciate diesels have their fans, I've no wish to offend The GW Castle class were beautiful locos, but so were the Westerns in their own way - the designers Sir Misha Black and John Beresford Evans won industrial design awards for their work on them...
I'm lucky enough to have seen both a King and Western flat out (well, at ca. 75 MPH :halo
on the Bristol-Plymouth route and as a spectacle the Western is very much an also-ran. A King at speed is a wonderful spectacle, amazing sound.
Having experienced mainline footplate rides on both I'd have to admit you're very nearly right
RichB said:
NDA said:
<clip> Also you never leaned out of the windows as you'd get grit in your eyes from the engine - and that was quite painful! ...
Nah, we'd always go on holiday to somewhere on the south coast which involved a short run up to Clapham Junction in an electric suburban unit and then an exciting journey down to Weymouth, Bournemouth or Hayling Island behind a West Country/Battle of Britain or Merchant Navy. After we'd eaten our sandwiches my brother and I would usually spent most of the journey hanging out the window. The most painful bit was Mum vigorously wiping the smuts off our face with a wetted handkerchief, that she'd spat on, just before we arrived. Presumably to avoid the embarrassment of signing in at the hotel or whatever with two kids with soot and oil on their faces! 
Edited by RichB on Tuesday 22 November 09:20
P5BNij said:
Wow, that takes me right back to being a kid. And... I'm envious of you having had footplate rides on a King and in the cab of a Western at 70 mph. Doesn't get much better than that.
I've driven a Castle but only at slow speeds at Tyseley and a 28xx properly at Minehead.
Edited by RichB on Tuesday 22 November 19:33
Yertis said:
Flying Phil said:
One of my jobs as a little boy was to break up the giant lumps of coal in our coal bunker, using a lump hammer
I love PH for the memories that it rekindles (get it ).My grannie and grampy bought coal of all the same size because it was cheaper, and got their grandsons to make the kindling coal. We loved it because we were with grannie and grandad. I'm not sure our mums and dads loved it as they had to clean our clothes and angelic faces
FourWheelDrift said:
There's no video thread so steam locos on the underground celebrating 150 years of the Metropolitan line.
That was an amazing event. We restored Metropolitan Railway carriage 353 at our workshops in Porthmadog at the request of the London Transport Museum so that it could appear at the event.Here's a video documenting the restoration - the "before" and "after" shots of the carriage show the extent of the work that was needed!
Shar2 said:
WOW! that's what you call a restoration, you should all be very proud of what you've acheived there.
It wasa complex job for sure! - But the lads in the carriage works did a fantastic job. So important that we keep these skills alive.Here's a little trailer of what we've been up to this year, filmed in-house by myself and two others...
WelshChris said:
Shar2 said:
WOW! that's what you call a restoration, you should all be very proud of what you've acheived there.
It wasa complex job for sure! - But the lads in the carriage works did a fantastic job. So important that we keep these skills alive.Here's a little trailer of what we've been up to this year, filmed in-house by myself and two others...
Welsh Highland Railway Santa Train today - Less than optimal conditions for photography!
CJP_4329 by Chris Parry, on Flickr
CJP_4329 by Chris Parry, on Flickr
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