Happy 20th birthday (+2 days) to the Channel Tunnel.

I did the chunnel in 2002. At that time it was from Waterloo staiton.
It was rather dull. You see the engine go into a tunnel then its black as hell. You cant see anything. We did see an oncoming train. But they fly past you so quick its a blurr.

My old pass port has a chunnel stamp on it though. By the way we went to Paris.

I don't think you can see oncoming trains. Every description I've read of it says there are three tunnels, one for a track each way and a service tunnel in between.

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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.

Happy 20th birthday (+2 days) to the Channel Tunnel.

I did the chunnel in 2002. At that time it was from Waterloo staiton.
It was rather dull. You see the engine go into a tunnel then its black as hell. You cant see anything. We did see an oncoming train. But they fly past you so quick its a blurr.

My old pass port has a chunnel stamp on it though. By the way we went to Paris.

I don't think you can see oncoming trains. Every description I've read of it says there are three tunnels, one for a track each way and a service tunnel in between.

The main running tunnels are like that, yes, but there are a couple of huge cross-over chambers where the two running tunnels merge and trains can be diverted from one line to the other - in theory, that allows them to run a limited service in both directions (alternately!), even if one of the six tunnel 'lengths' is blocked for maintenance or by a broken train. James must have passed the other train while he was going through one of the crossover points.

The service tunnel usually runs between the train tunnels (so either running tunnel can be evacuated via it), but it's diverted at the crossover points and goes round the side of the chamber. That way, it can keep the integrity of the independent air supply, and keep out the smoke from any fire on a train - there have been at least a couple of fires, I think.

Eurotunnel

Interesting. I'll have to take a closer look later, when I'm awake.

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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.

There are doors that separate the up/down lines in these crossover chambers. Before the first fire these doors were kept open during normal operations so it was possible see a train going in opposite direction and this coincided if trains were passing in the crossover chamber.

Apparantly if there is a fire they increase the air flow done the affected tunnel so that smoke is blown away from the train, but this increased pressure caused problems in closing the chambers doors. So now the doors are kept shut unless a crossover is in use.

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A person who makes no mistakes, creates nothing.

I know it was another train going toward London As we saw the people in the cars. And it was only a few seconds and then darkness again.

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[/quote]

Old James

This is why railroaders think railfans are dumb.

(A wee bit of language, but probably nothing the average 10 year old hasn't heard before.)

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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.

I'd have pushed him under it!!!

A lot of people are saying that.

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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.

That's the most asinine comment you have ever made. Maybe you need to visit your train station more often until one actually occurs, then come back and make remarks like that!

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I'd have pushed him under it!!!

A lot of people are saying that.

I don't think any of them were serious about it.

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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.

In other train news, Saturday was a good day for another chase of NKP 765. I won't bore you with all the details, but I got pictures and video once as it went east, another place going west, and a few of it invading the town of Argos, IN, turning on the wye.

I also want to thank CSX Transportation (or possible the dispatcher at Indiana Harbor Belt), just this once, for screwing a steam train. It was held at State Line (once the site of a tower in Hammond, IN, famous for its complicated track layout, but now remotely controlled (and with fewer railroads going through it)) for a freight train in each direction. This gave me just enough time to get ahead and shoot it once more at 121st St. on the final approach to Calumet Yard. My pictures there aren't the greatest, but the video is good. I set the GoPro on the ground with a "best guess" on the aiming.

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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.

Well exactly David. But even after being bodily shifted out of the way, he carries on filming as if nothing has happened. You do wonder at times.

Exactly. You kind of wonder if even now, days later, he realizes just how close he was to getting seriously injured.

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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.

Made me think... Asperger's. Even after being picked up and moved, still fixated on the train.

Train Spotting 2012
1:17 cool little steamer

Made me think... Asperger's. Even after being picked up and moved, still fixated on the train.

Must say, I thought the same. Each morning, when receiving a good morning hug from my son, I could never be sure I'd get another one. I've learned to live with that but its not easy.

Frisco 1630 will not steam this weekend. Still hoping for Memorial Day weekend, if not actually Memorial Day.

Maybe I'll get on the crew as a trainee trainman.

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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.

Frisco 1630 will not steam this weekend. Still hoping for Memorial Day weekend, if not actually Memorial Day.

Maybe I'll get on the crew as a trainee trainman.

BTW, after reading the blog entry I linked to, click NEXT at the top of the page.

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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.

I hope they do to them what they did to the cars.

It especially frosts me because these are original CB&Q cars, sold by Metra as surplus.

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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.

Thats a shame. So much for safe guarding them. I do wonder how the security setup was like.

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[/quote]

Old James

On Wednesday I, and a group of friends from my club, spent a day on the Bluebell Railway. There were two engines in steam, a Maunsell Class U, which we rode behind.



There other engine in steam was a Wainwright Class H which was running the Cream Tea special.



Its been over thirty years since I last visited the Bluebell line and I found it a bit antiseptic compared with my last visit. I suppose it has to do with so called Health & Safety laws whereas in the old days you could wander amongst the engines in the yard and able to take photos, whereas today you can only see them in the shed where they so bunched up that up can't get a decent look.

Here is link to more photos I took on the day Bluebell

On Saturday I am off to Holland for a week to look a their steam trains.

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A person who makes no mistakes, creates nothing.

Thats a shame. So much for safe guarding them. I do wonder how the security setup was like.

Probably nothing more than a couple of "No trespassing" signs. Maybe a gate that was left open.

You don't really expect this kind of thing in that part of Michigan.

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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.

Did 4014 make it home?

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[/quote]

Old James