Vacuum? That has already been done in this country, but not in the way that has been put forward, courtesy of Brunel and his Atmospheric Railway. I'm quite familiar with that, as my sister lives 100 yds from one of Brunel's pumping houses at Starcross, on the (in)famous Exeter to Dawlish line! If he'd had access to better materials, who knows what he might have achieved. He'd have been right up there, along with Eric Laithwaite!!!

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Don't take life too seriously, as you'll never come out of it alive!

The future of trains?

361mph for an experimental Maglev, while HSR with steel wheels holds the World Record at 357.2mph with currently available technology that is proven to work, HSR is expensive, but then Maglev is not only more expensive to build, it's expensive to run and is incompatible with everything else, plus there is no money for either Maglev or HypeLoop...

And so far a model out of Japan for HypeLoop has done 15.5mph(25kph), but then it seems Vac trains have always been slow...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

It's amazing what can be achieved with technology & forward thinking.

Stephenson's Rocket achieves top speed of 29mph

Historical railway structures given "protected" status. Good decision.

BBC - 'World's oldest railway tunnel' awarded protected status

Ah yes that would be Merchant Navy class "Clan Line" 35028, that sped through South Croydon station this afternoon.



And who just happens to be leaning out the cab.



Well done Mr Clarke!!

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Anything interesting coming up, while I am in London?

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

Amtrak 5 and 6 will be busing between Omaha and Denver for a day or two. Here's why: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27763975/coal-train-derails-near-hudson-no-injuries

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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.

Amtrak 5 and 6 will be busing between Omaha and Denver for a day or two. Here's why: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27763975/coal-train-derails-near-hudson-no-injuries

That will be why the "train" icons on the Amtrak "track a train" map are a long way from the rail track currently!!

I assume that they are the only places that the trains can be "turned" as they are over 500 miles apart and 8 hours by road!!

I also assume that the passengers will be compensated for the inconvenience, 8 hours on a bus is hardly comparable with "sleeper accommodation".

Will BNSF have to compensate Amtrak at all?

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Amtrak 5 and 6 will be busing between Omaha and Denver for a day or two. Here's why: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27763975/coal-train-derails-near-hudson-no-injuries

That will be why the "train" icons on the Amtrak "track a train" map are a long way from the rail track currently!!

I assume that they are the only places that the trains can be "turned" as they are over 500 miles apart and 8 hours by road!!

I also assume that the passengers will be compensated for the inconvenience, 8 hours on a bus is hardly comparable with "sleeper accommodation".

Will BNSF have to compensate Amtrak at all?

The trackers follow the conductors' phones, I think (educated guess). Turning the trains is not so much the problem (they can just run the power around to the back end if they have to), but I think the major factor is the availability of suitable buses.

Amtrak will give the passengers partial refunds or credits on future travel; I'm not sure how that works. I'd think BNSF will have to compensate Amtrak for it, but I don't know that either. I'll see if I can find out.

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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.

Amtrak 5 and 6 will be busing between Omaha and Denver for a day or two. Here's why: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27763975/coal-train-derails-near-hudson-no-injuries

That will be why the "train" icons on the Amtrak "track a train" map are a long way from the rail track currently!!

I assume that they are the only places that the trains can be "turned" as they are over 500 miles apart and 8 hours by road!!

I also assume that the passengers will be compensated for the inconvenience, 8 hours on a bus is hardly comparable with "sleeper accommodation".

Will BNSF have to compensate Amtrak at all?

The trackers follow the conductors' phones, I think (educated guess). Turning the trains is not so much the problem (they can just run the power around to the back end if they have to), but I think the major factor is the availability of suitable buses.

Amtrak will give the passengers partial refunds or credits on future travel; I'm not sure how that works. I'd think BNSF will have to compensate Amtrak for it, but I don't know that either. I'll see if I can find out.

I'm sure an insurance company is the one ultimately on the hook.

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The trackers follow the conductors' phones, I think (educated guess)

Which is what I thought, however it appears they bussed all the passangers for stations between Omaha and Denver then the train carried on via the "northern" route as the 6 was spotted by one of the other Railstream devotees passing Grand Island Nebraska

Not the best pic but still interesting given the circumstances!



However the 6 was over 11 hours late at Chicago.

Today they seem to be back on the normal route.

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Modern locomotive parts identifier

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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.

Today I was waiting for the City of New Orleans to come over the airline at Chicago, when this appeared.



Seems like 821 may have suffered some sort of breakdown, however what was stranger was this.



Number 41 on the end and when it reversed into the station I could hear that 41 was running but 821 was not.

So I wonder why 41 was not on the front?

Here is the reversing shot a nice close up of CN 5686, I am trying to remember if I have ever seen a CN loco on the Chicago camera before!!

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Dave - superb to see the correct, polite, American terms for items that in the UK have more vernacular names...

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

The Superliner is a bilevel car used by Amtrak on long-haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid-1990s by Pullman's successor, Bombardier Transportation. As delivered, the cars came in various configurations, including coach, diner, and sleeper.

And for those who wonder what all the "configurations" are: (I am sure David will correct me if I am wrong :-)



Coach class, standard long distance "aircraft type" seating but with more leg room. Having traveled Amtrak "coach" on the North east corridor those seat were very comfortable. Has 64 seats on the upper level and 12 seats on the lower.



Coach baggage, no seating on lower level, some of these cars were converted to "smoking" on the lower level, but have all apparently now been converted back.



The Lounge sightseer car, has a cafe with some seating on the lower level



The all important restaurant/dining car, no windows downstairs, this is where the kitchen is located. You need good food if you are on the train for 51 hours!!



Finally the sleeper, 10 2 person "roomettes" and five larger "bedrooms" upstairs, 4 "roomettes" and a "family bedroom" downstairs, also downstairs are toilets, bathrooms, and showers.

Now if I could just afford a trip!

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Good news! The Virginia Transportation Museum has found that if it can raise $3.5 million by the end of October, N&W 611 can be restored to service once again.

For more details, this article on the Trains Magazine Newswire is viewable without a subscription to the magazine. You can also visit http://fireup611.org to donate.

Woohoo!!

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

... and the "Caledonian Sleeper" from London Euston to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Not to the lowlands, Chris - they only run to the highlands: Fort William, Inverness, and Aberdeen. The first two, at least, would give you a wonderful view over breakfast.

If you download the timetables from this page, it says that they do. There are new services by a new operator from 31st March.

Sleeper

New services

Ah, you got me - I missed that one. But I'd still recommend visitors to take the high(land) (rail)road....

If you download the timetables from this page, it says that they do. There are new services by a new operator from 31st March.

Sleeper

New services

Ah, you got me - I missed that one. But I'd still recommend visitors to take the high(land) (rail)road....

Not like I'll likely get the chance, but got any links this Yank can peruse?

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