Japan has just celebrated 50yrs of bullet trains.

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/th-anniversary-of-japans-bullet-train/story-e6frfkui-1227077135186

Several ceremonies were held around the country while at the central station in Tokyo operators unveiled their new generation N700A train.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/passenger/single-view/view/jr-central-unveils-n700a-high-speed-train.html

Now if we could get a few of these to run along the east coast here.

Cheers.

Japan has just celebrated 50yrs of bullet trains.

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/th-anniversary-of-japans-bullet-train/story-e6frfkui-1227077135186

Several ceremonies were held around the country while at the central station in Tokyo operators unveiled their new generation N700A train.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/passenger/single-view/view/jr-central-unveils-n700a-high-speed-train.html

Now if we could get a few of these to run along the east coast here.

Cheers.

After reading that line about the east coast, I had to check what country you're from.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Sorry Chris, but I'm not a trainspotter so I was only going by the news report. ;-)

Though I must say that 50yrs has certainly gone by quickly (I must be getting old). :-O

Cheers.

Sadly there hasn't been a train to spot at our railway station here in 30yrs. :-(

Cheers.

I am a "Friend" of the Settle & Carlisle Railway.

I went to a presentation once about the Settle & Carlisle. They had to resort to using my computer to show the Powerpoint. I still have the file.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Just finishing up our annual trip to see the fall colours, this year it included a one day rail trip. The Agawa Canyon excursion is run by the CN, on the old Algoma Central line north of Sault St. Marie, Ontario. The CN bought a new (to them) set of Electromotive F40s and rail cars a few years ago just for this seasonal run.

The train leaves the Soo very early. Our hotel was just across the road from the station, so it wasn't too much of a hardship.


The cars were in pretty good shape. I'm used to riding historical trains, and a lot of times "historical" means "in rough shape". Not these.




Typical scenery on the 4 hour ride to the Agawa Canyon.


Heading north the train had two locos at the front, and one at the rear. No facilities to turn trains or engines at the Canyon, so the two front ones were run around and added to the third on the south end for the trip home.


All set for the run back to the Soo.


I'll add some scenery shots to the Scenery thread in a bit.

Nice pics, always liked the F40PH, don't know why, just do.

Your three were AMTK 242,283,and 289.

AMTK 242: Algoma Central (division of Canadian National) Agawa Canyon Tour Train CN 104 (formerly Denver Ski Train, SKTX 242)
AMTK 283: Algoma Central (division of Canadian National) Agawa Canyon Tour Train CN 105 (formerly Denver Ski Train SKTX 283)
AMTK 289: Algoma Central (division of Canadian National) Agawa Canyon Tour Train CN 106 (formerly Denver Ski Train SKTX 289)

Always nice to see the more usual older locos still in use.

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I rode the Algoma Central all the way to Hearst and back in 1982, I think. At the time, it was an independent railroad using freight engines to pull the passenger trains.

Unfortunately, CN wants out of running them.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Surprising number of people showed up at the museum in the cold, wind, rain, and flurries. Among them were three guys from Denmark. For the first time, I did the whole shebang of taking the streetcar out, running it ten times around the loop, sitting for an hour freezing to death at Electric Park while they did some switching around Barn 9, and putting it away again, all by myself.

Today, I stayed home, even though there were heritage units to chase in the sunshine, resting my feet (which were still aching from last weekend at the museum) and catching up on a bit of sleep. Not enough, though.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

CN owns the Algoma Central now, and runs the Canyon tour train, but the other passenger services on the line are still run by Algoma. The train that goes all the way to Herst and back still does whistle stops, and there are many resorts and cabins along the line only accessible by rail. If you give them 24 hours notice, they will drop or pick up you and your gear (boat, snowmobile or whatever) just about anywhere on the line.

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I had the opportunity to ride on an interesting narrow-gauge railway last week, while on a visit to Budapest, Hungary.

First a trip out to the starting point by public transport - Metro line in the city centre, change to a tram (streetcar) through the suburbs, and ended up at this neat terminus/bus interchange in the hills.



From there, it was a short walk to the main attraction - the Budapest Children's Railway. It was originally the Pioneer Railway - the Pioneer movement being a Soviet-era cross between boy scouts, girl guides, and a cadet force. The name was changed to remove the soviet overtones, but the railway is still run the same way, with every operational role carried out by children except actually driving the engines - and there is an adult stationmaster on hand to supervise the younger children in the ticket office etc. It might sound twee, but it's a difficult, hilly, and heavily engineered line through wooded terrain - it was built and operated to be a realistic apprenticeship for students considering a career on Hungary's main-line railways, and apparently regarded as a very prestigious opportunity for the few who made the grade.

This was my crew reporting for duty:



and this was the train they were to take charge of:



You get an idea of the terrain at a passing loop further up the line:



I de-trained at another intermediate stop further up the line, inadvertently causing them to practice their 'emergency stop' procedure - I was late getting from my seat in the observation car to the door, and the conductor signalled the train away before I'd quite got there. One rapid stop, expertly carried out (the train had moved barely a foot), I got off and they were on their way.



By now, I'd probably climbed 1,000 feet above the Danube in the city centre (400 feet by tram, and 600 feet on the train). So it was a short (but still uphill) walk to the highest point within the city limits - the Erzsebet lookout tower.



Sadly, the day was too hazy for it to be worth posting the pictures I took from the top of the tower, but you get some idea of the altitude and surroundings from my ride back down...

Very interesting, Richard.

The museum Electric Car Dept. sent out an email notice that the time of year had come when they open all the air tank drain cocks. This means anyone taking out a car has to make sure to close all its cocks, and open them at the end of the day. Fortunately, the car I'm qualified to run only has one air tank and drain cock, and it's much easier to reach than the compressor oil cap. Still dirty, though.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

As a child we lived out side of Halifax in a vary tiny town.
The train brought out the papers in the morning, then at
around noon people could go to the station house and wait
for their groceries from the market in Halifax. It also was
a bus services for every one.

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...

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<I wrote all this yesterday, then wisely copied it to Notepad before trying to post. I say wisely because by then the outrage had started and I would have lost it. Then the outrage ran past the end of work and I didn't have the file with me at home. So here it is.>

A very frustrating start to my day on the streetcar last Saturday.

Actually, the very beginning was good. I figured out a way to deal with the second air tank drain valve without killing my knee too badly. And losing the pole coming out of the yard is to be expected.

But then I come to a red signal. ??? Call the dispatcher and ask if he knows why it's red. He doesn't and advises me that it's permissive, I can just stop and proceed at Restricted Speed. I do and come around the curve, where I find not one but two switches set wrong. I see a track machine working on the new cutoff, so I try to call the Track Dept. No answer. I call the dispatcher again to verify that I can throw the switches for my route. I can. I get off the car (in a knee-killing spot) and throw the first one, no problem. The second one doesn't want to throw all the way. I have to put all of my considerable weight on it and bounce a bit (considered dangerous and frown upon) to get the throwbar to latch. I put the padlocks on both of them and get back on the car (that's where the knee-killing comes in). Then I notice that the position indicator for the second switch still says it's wrong. I look at the point and it's a good inch or more from the stock rail; if I try to run through it, I will split the switch and be in lots of trouble.

I get back down and try shoving the point with my foot. It won't budge. Now I have to get the throwbar to unlatch, but I can't put all my weight on it and also reach down to pull the latch. Fortunately, I manage to do it without using all my weight. Throw it all the way back, then try again. This time, I just let it go as far as it wants, then go to give the point a kick. With surprisingly little pressure, it seems to drop under something and slide right over. Now I have no problem latching the throwbar. The indicator is now correct. Back on the car (killing my knee again) and on my way.

Since I have no passengers, I blow past the stop at Springfield Ave... and lose the pole. I come to a stop on the crossing. The Museum General Manager pulls up in his car and has to wait for me to get the pole back on and move out of his way. He will get his revenge later.

I make the stop at Barn 9 North just in case anyone comes along and wants a ride, but no one does. I proceed to the safety stop at Central Ave. (mandatory safety stop in case a little kid comes running around the end of the brick wall) and the car won't go again. As I'm climbing down to fix the pole again, the head of the Electric Dept. comes along and says "Who moved my cones??!!" Wasn't me. "This section is out of service. You just found out why." I look up at the wire; there's some kind of insulation or something on it which knocked the pole off. "I had cones out and someone moved them." He points to orange traffic cones off to the left side of the track approaching each end of the OOS section. I didn't do it. (I might also add that no bulletin was issued about the OOS track. Plus, orange cones on the right denote the beginning of a work zone, and on the left is the end, but on the left when there wasn't one on the right doesn't mean anything.) I inform the dispatcher about the OOS track and he says I will have to ping-pong again. Oh joy.

On the first reverse trip, I lose the pole back by those switches and once again kill my knee climbing on after fixing it. Then I nearly run through the switch at Car Line Junction, putting the car in emergency to avoid it. (It's technically a spring switch, but they don't want us to spring through it anymore.) Surprisingly, it throws by radio command despite me sitting almost on top of it. I decide I'd better calm down and take it easy. Fortunately, business is slow enough the rest of the day that I can do that. The only thing that went wrong after that was when I was putting the car away and forgot to lower the now-front pole when changing ends. Someone yelled at me to stop before I did any damage. He's running the car on Sunday, so I give him some tips about the drain valves and running slow in that spot where I lost the pole.

Back to the General Manager. At various times, he was switching cars and engines in the south yards and had to come through my route at those switches that were wrong. He also gets permission through the out of service track (with a diesel, the wire isn't a problem). A couple of times, I have to wait for him to move, but other times he waits for me to go by.

My flash of inspiration about dealing with the drain valves works fairly well putting the car away too and I only kill my knee a little bit more. I also remember to turn off the heaters, which I forgot last week.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Steel on steel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8skXT5NQzCg

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Whilst walking around London yesterday I happened to venture along the Thames Path halfway between Battersea Bridge and Wandsworth Bridge where there is an unnamed railway bridge that amongst other things carries freight.

Caught a quick picture of 66016 with Basil Spence's tower at Hyde Park barracks in the background.



On the way back caught 66085 hauling a long line of new DB Schenker hoppers, and in the background one of the chimneys and roof of the now derelict Lots Road power station.



Interesting fact, Lots Road power station played a part in the birth of commercial radio in the UK. When the first two radio stations, LBC and Capital Radio, opened in October 1973, the site for their medium wave transmitters was not complete. As a result, a temporary 'Tee' antenna was strung up between the two chimneys (transmitting LBC on 417 m (719 kHz), and Capital Radio on 539 m (557 kHz)), until the permanent site at Saffron Green was ready in 1975.

See you learn something every day!!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAvrknr8uBI
Me and my sister have travelled with it. In the early 60's.

By the way, here's a picture I took a year ago (when I was just another foamer) of the streetcar I now run. You can scroll through to see other pics I took that day, too.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Here is my families doings long time ago.
http://www.hsj.se/hsj/index.htm
http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/100429
My grandmother gave me her fathers Clock he used at work.