Trains

[Reg Smeeton]

They are live in Swindon tomorrow Reg, get yourself down there Reg?

They're doing 125's that's Talk Talk land.

The fella who photographs little used stations an absolute star....he's been to all stations in GB, but only publishes the obscurities.

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/transport/video-britain-s-most-dedicated-trainspotter-finishes-marathon-effort-to-visit-every-uk-station-in-cambridgeshire-village-1-7374393

[horlock07]

Another part of Swindon's heritage being saved, and about time... c.17 mins in.....

Points West, Evening News: 22/08/2016: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07nr6jt via @bbciplayer

[Talk Talk]

Took a trip down to Devon yesterday. Got a Two Together Railcard so the cost to Exeter St Davids was peanuts. GWR and Devon County Council are running summer Sunday services to Okehampton (the former LSWR station on the old mainline to Plymouth) which is now the terminus of the heritage Dartmoor Railway. They have a short working to the mothballed Meldon Quarry and just my luck - if you like BR Class 4s - that the recently purchased by a private buyer from Direct Rail Services Class 47 47828 was doing the biz. Straight off of mainline services and Sandite workings apparently.



I love Class 47s, my favourites after the Westerns and ahead of HSTs. A brief conversation with the driver and I got to sit in the cab too!

Next Sunday (11th) is the last weekend of trains to Okehampton this year. Book it now if you fancy it. I have pored over the railway atlas maps of Devon and Cornwall for years but never ever thought that I would travel to Okehampton on a train, much less a Sprinter.

As we bought a rover ticket we went back to the beautifully preserved and maintained Crediton station and then on to Barnstaple on the Tarka Line, once a major LSWR junction for Ilfracombe, Torrington and the long defunct Lynton and Barnstaple narrow gauge railway. We even found the old Town station in a housing estate on the quayside.

Just to keep Reg happy, it was HSTs from Swindon to Exeter and back and I loved that too 

[Reg Smeeton]

 Very nice.

To me getting on a train at Swindon and going west, feels right, getting on a train and going north, south or east is OK, but doesn't have the same feel of emotion or excitement. No idea why.

Devon got badly hit by Beeching, Cornwall perhaps less so, as there are still a couple of curious little branches left.

I have been on the Barnstaple - Exeter. Lovely.

[Talk Talk]

Seen at Swindon station last night. "They are trains Jim, but not as we know them!"

Hitachi Inter City Express number 002 running on diesel







The new and the old. Forty years between them

[donkey]

I'm on a train now. True story.

[Reg Smeeton]

 Is that the stock for when the line is electrified?

[Talk Talk]

Yes and there's two flavours Reg. A purely overhead electric version and a dual power diesel/overhead electric one - which can run on beyond the GW Electrification project area. What pissed me off was that they uprated the engines from the original spec so that the ICEs could manage the Devon banks. GRRRRR. Was hoping that the 125s would hang around on the GW main lines into Cornwall for a lot longer :-(

[Wobbly Bob]

Can't wait to open the door via the push of a button, instead of leaning out of an open window when there are normally any number of people waiting on the platform who are much better placed to do the the job.

Hope the seats are comfy as well.

[Reg Smeeton]

Yes and there's two flavours Reg. A purely overhead electric version and a dual power diesel/overhead electric one - which can run on beyond the GW Electrification project area. What pissed me off was that they uprated the engines from the original spec so that the ICEs could manage the Devon banks. GRRRRR. Was hoping that the 125s would hang around on the GW main lines into Cornwall for a lot longer :-(

Ooh, shame about the 125's, but the diesel/overhead sounds well sexy and probably prone to breakdown. In the words of the great Mick Jones, Godzilla ate the bullet train.

[Talk Talk]

Ha, the Clash indeed!

The new ICEs are quite clever really, the same electric traction motors are used from either the overhead wires or from alternators on the diesel engines (unlike the 125s they are underfloor in the coaches so will be as noisy as the horrid Voyager Cross Country units). When the day comes - which will definitely not be in my lifetime - and the whole of the network has been electrified then the engines are removable too. I think the plan is to leave one in for emergency power for the scenario you describe.

Hope the seats are comfy as well.

The interior looked really nice, standard class seating is mainly in sets of four sharing a table and a whole window with a few airline type seat rows interspersed.

[horlock07]

Hope the seats are comfy as well.

They are a modern train and thus the seating will be nowhere near as comfy as that found on older stock!

Northern are so short of stock that we have this little ensemble running past the bottom of the garden a few times each day until 2017 at least, its very nice to not have an engine under the floor and is so much quieter, however they are often very busy as I understand people have been travelling from all over the country to sample the old days.

[Reg Smeeton]

 Class 37 if I'm not mistaken. Lovely engine, all built between 60 and 65. In my 1985 Ian Allan there were 308, of which I'd spotted 56.

[Talk Talk]

There are still an amazing amount around Reg. One of the most versatile diesels BR ever owned. I saw a pair double ending the Network Rail Ultrasonic Test Train at Didcot last week.

Still operated by NR, DRS and Colas. Much more info at www.class37info.co.uk/

If you made the effort and plied the network I think that you could still probably spot 56 

[Wilf Shergold]

Didn't spot as many as I should have (37s, that is - steam man, me), but did ride on the ones up in Caithness. Georgemas Jnc, a 37 trundles down from Thurso, picks up one coach from the Wick train, travels 5 miles and err, does the reverse half an hour later. 3 times a day. Bonkers from any viewpoint, esp financial.

But the 'grunt'... yep, can see the attraction.