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Post by Quinsam on Nov 26, 2007 23:15:32 GMT -8
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Post by Quinsam on Feb 27, 2009 20:33:44 GMT -8
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Post by Mike C on Oct 4, 2010 13:53:07 GMT -8
TGV, Gare de Lyon  |
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 22, 2011 6:41:47 GMT -8
Great train photos from Germany! I love European trains. Not to derail  your great post, I just thought of a train photo I have never posted here: the York Railway station in 2006 - York, UK  The trains you see are part of the GNER (Great Northeastern Railway) system |
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Post by CN2972South on Sept 22, 2011 19:16:40 GMT -8
Great train photos from Germany! I love European trains. Not to derail your great post, I just thought of a train photo I have never posted here: the York Railway station in 2006 - York, UK The trains you see are part of the GNER (Great Northeastern Railway) system I love those grand terminals you see in Europe. |
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FNS
Voyager 
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,948
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Post by FNS on Sept 22, 2011 21:56:34 GMT -8
Great train photos from Germany! I love European trains. Not to derail your great post, I just thought of a train photo I have never posted here: the York Railway station in 2006 - York, UK The trains you see are part of the GNER (Great Northeastern Railway) system I love those grand terminals you see in Europe. Very classic, indeed! York has seen the famous locomotive used in the filming of HP at various times. The Great Western Railway Hall Class 5972 OLTON HALL occasionally pulls trains through this station. Sometimes nameboarded HOGWARTS CASTLE, sometimes nameboarded OLTON HALL. It all depends on the operations of that 4-6-0 locomotive, built at Swindon in 1937. A mixed-used locomotive, she could be pulling a freight train part of the day and a passenger train at another. Furthermore, like most locomotives of her day, she was fitted with two whistles. A large one for the road and a smaller one that signaled to the Guard (Britain's equivalent to Conductor) to apply or release the brakes on the coaching stock (the ones not equipped with trainline braking systems from the locomotives). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_4900_Class_5972_Olton_HallThe famous "boy wizard" movies showed a bit of King's Cross Station with the blue and red GNER trains in view. A neat video, sold by VIDEO 125, shows a driver's eye view of a trip from King's Cross Station to Edinburgh. Great video! Includes York. www.video125.co.uk/acatalog/Flying_Scotsman_The_Complete_Journey.htmlGNER is no more. The line is now run by the East Coast Main Line Company. www.eastcoast.co.uk/ |
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Post by Kahloke on Sept 23, 2011 4:43:23 GMT -8
Very classic, indeed! York has seen the famous locomotive used in the filming of HP at various times. The Great Western Railway Hall Class 5972 OLTON HALL occasionally pulls trains through this station. Sometimes nameboarded HOGWARTS CASTLE, sometimes nameboarded OLTON HALL. It all depends on the operations of that 4-6-0 locomotive, built at Swindon in 1937. A mixed-used locomotive, she could be pulling a freight train part of the day and a passenger train at another. Furthermore, like most locomotives of her day, she was fitted with two whistles. A large one for the road and a smaller one that signaled to the Guard (Britain's equivalent to Conductor) to apply or release the brakes on the coaching stock (the ones not equipped with trainline braking systems from the locomotives). The famous "boy wizard" movies showed a bit of King's Cross Station with the blue and red GNER trains in view. GNER is no more. The line is now run by the East Coast Main Line Company. Yep, when we took the train from London to York, we left London via King's Cross. I still get spam mail from the East Coast Main Line Company because I had booked our train tickets online - of course, it was still GNER back then. York has a wonderful railway museum. If you're ever in England, I highly recommend seeing York and the railway museum. |
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 22, 2012 22:37:25 GMT -8
Fluge, nice to see that you have done a lot of railway related stuff in BC over the last couple of weeks. I have been sampling some French, Spanish & English trains, mostly of the passenger variety. They go fast, way fast, compared to what we see in western Canada. On the other hand, freight trains here look like toy trains when compared to the ones back home.
In a week or so I will do my first TGV ride.
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 5, 2012 22:48:36 GMT -8
Jim reporting in from Switzerland... Swiss narrow gauge 'cog' train rolling steeply down grade below the north wall of the Eiger near Alpiglen, Switzerland - 5 August 2012  photo © WCK-JST by Wett Coast, on Flickr[/size] |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 17:41:08 GMT -8
Jim reporting in from Switzerland... Swiss narrow gauge 'cog' train rolling steeply down grade below the north wall of the Eiger near Alpiglen, Switzerland - 5 August 2012 photo © WCK-JST by Wett Coast, on Flickr [/size][/quote] Excellent photo, Jim. I really enjoyed Switzerland myself last year. They have one of the best train systems, IMO. Trains come every half hour in the middle of nowhere! (for example, in the suburbs of Bern). Mount Eiger sure is a really picturesque place. I enjoyed it myself going up to the top of Mount Eiger last year (that area known as as "Junfrojauch") |
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 8, 2012 23:44:53 GMT -8
Another cog railway photo from Switzerland... Gornergrat Bahn & the Matterhorn, near Zermatt, Switzerland - 7 August 2012. This gains about 1500 metres elevation in 10 km of distance.  photo © WCK-JST by Wett Coast, on Flickr[/size] |
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 26, 2012 20:57:04 GMT -8
Since August is coming to a close, I thought I would post this image during my train ride from Trapani to Marsala in July. It is of the engineer (sitting on the left side) engrossed in chatting to the conductor while we are travelling at 100kph!  Onr ogf these days I will finally sort all of my photos and post some of the ferries I saw in my travels. |
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SolDuc
Voyager
West Coast Cyclist
SolDuc and SOBC - Photo by Scott
Posts: 2,055
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Post by SolDuc on Jul 19, 2013 14:42:59 GMT -8
As I'm interested in all types of transportation a bit of my time in France was spend studying railway operations. In France and most European countries electrification is the norm for all kind of traffic and not just mass transit as is here in the US. Most lines are also Grade-Separated, except for some lines in the countryside. A electrified freight train:  SNCF Fret #427090 by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr A TGV at Valenciennes:  TGV #90 by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr TERs are more local trains which are operated by the SNCF along with the regions. I had several opportunities to view some, from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Centre regions:  TER Nord-Pas-de-Calais #80N by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr  TER Centre #404 by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr  TER Nord-Pas-de-Calais #577B by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr Finally, here are two pictures of stations.  Courville Sur Eure Station, SNCF by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr  Valenciennes Station, SNCF by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr |
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 23, 2013 11:38:44 GMT -8
Some Italian trains from my European vaction:  Main train station in Firenze with two regional passenger trains.  Italo high-speed train in Firenze.  Small inter-city train at Roma Termini. In my travels I only saw one freight train - in Belgium. I prefer the Thalys to the Frecciarossa or Freccargento. |
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 9, 2013 13:20:47 GMT -8
A new thread for rail across the pond in Europe.
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SolDuc
Voyager
West Coast Cyclist
SolDuc and SOBC - Photo by Scott
Posts: 2,055
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Post by SolDuc on Dec 8, 2013 12:46:51 GMT -8
France is getting new trains for TER (intercity) service. Those trains, the Bombardier 2N, will be able to carry up to 750 people (seated) at 160km/h (100mph) all across France. Now that just makes American Intercity rail rediculas. More here. |
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Post by Kahloke on Apr 29, 2019 5:35:19 GMT -8
On my most recent trip to the UK and Belgium, I enjoyed the oppourtunity to take several trains, mostly in and around London, but also the Eurostar to Brussels, and then a local Belgian train from there to Brugge. The Eurostar, in particular, was fun. I tried taking a few photos out the window of the train, but it was going too fast to get good shots. Eurostar crosses the English Channel (well, goes under) in 25 minutes. That's fast. There's one place in Belgium where Eurostar runs alongside the motorway. It was kind of cool to be on a train going much faster than the vehicles on the road. Here are some photos of my European train travels: First up is Paddington Station in London. This is where we took the Heathrow Express train to and from the airport (Heathrow to London in 20 min.), and also where we took the GWR (Great Western Railway) train out to Windsor.   Heathrow Express train at Paddington  This is Slough, near Windsor, and where you transfer to the local train to take you into Windsor Central. GWR trains take you from London Paddington to Slough. Here you can see a GWR train.  This is the street entrance to the Windsor Central train station. As with all of the larger train stations we saw, this one has a lot of shops and eateries.  Eurostar Trains at St. Pancras International Station in London   St. Pancras Station  St. Pancras's signature feature is the grand hotel in front of the terminal   View of the Eurostar platform through the grand building that is St. Pancras Hotel  This is King's Cross Station. It is literally next door to St. Pancras. It is at this station you can catch trains up UK's east coast to places like Cambridge, York, Newcastle, and Edinburgh, Scotland. It's also quite famously the station filmed in the Harry Potter movies, and home to Platform 9-3/4.  |
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Post by Starsteward on Apr 29, 2019 8:44:20 GMT -8
The British and Continental rail systems are truly things of beauty and functionality making our local systems seem puny, almost 'toy-like'. As for the architecture of those magnificent stations, it is a blessing that they are located where they are and not in Vancouver (although we are much younger),as those structures would no doubt have met the wrecking ball to make way for over-priced condo towers. Euro tunnel crossing in 25 minutes eh? Granville Station to New Westminster Station is a longer ride, but at least we are moving forward. Terrific photos 'Kahloke', now if I can just remember where I've stored my wheely-bags?  |
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 20, 2019 11:50:41 GMT -8
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Post by Starsteward on Aug 20, 2019 12:22:34 GMT -8
Lovely shots! I think 'paulvanb' was on a secret, but fully paid mission for Translink to source out some new hi-tech equipment. With all those hills, maybe an engine or two for the 'Evergreen Line'? Lovely countryside! |
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Post by Kahloke on Aug 17, 2023 19:17:11 GMT -8
This is going to be a bit of a photo dump, but I'm back from three weeks in Europe and finally processed all of my photos. We took trains everywhere we went which was primarily in Germany and Switzerland, so I got pretty accustomed to riding trains, and it was fun getting on the various types. We did everything from the German high-speed ICE long distance trains to steep mountain funiculars in the Swiss Alps. I will say this about the Swiss trains vs. the German Deutsche Bahn trains: Swiss trains were ALWAYS on time. The German trains...not so much. We missed a number of connections when traveling through Germany primarily on their regional trains. The ICE trains were better about staying on time. I had both the Deutsche Bahn App and Swiss Rail App on my phone which came in very handy for figuring out train times and connections. First up is the ICE train we caught at Frankfurt Airport when we first arrived in Europe. This train took us to Wurzburg where we transferred to regional trains that got us to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, our final destination for that day. We had reserved seats on the ICE, which was nice, and the seats themselves are roomy and comfortable, and there is plenty of overhead room for small luggage. If you have big bags, they have luggage racks in each carriage. These trains can get up to some fairly high speeds, though I noticed their top speeds were only for short sections at a time. The fastest we ever got was 297 km/h (+/-184 mph).  Next up is the little shuttle train that runs the 13km between Steinach to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg is a spur line, so you have to catch this little shuttle that runs between Rothenburg and Steinach which is along the main rail lines.  Commuter trains at Augsburg. This was the day we went from Rothenburg to Fussen, and also the day we kept missing connections because everything was running late. At least our tickets on the regional trains were good for all day, so it's not like I had to buy us new tickets every time we missed a connection because of a late train.  A typical Swiss regional train at Appenzell. I liked these trains. They remind me a lot of the light rail we have here. The train ride from Appenzell to St. Gallen is pretty scenic. It goes along the road for much of its route, and when I say along the road, I mean it's almost like another lane on the road. There's almost no separation. But it winds its way over the hills and through pretty towns, so like I said, very scenic.  Inside of the Swiss regional train. By and large, most of the trains we rode on were modern and clean  We didn't ride on this one, but it's an older train car at Heiden, Switzerland. There is a cogwheel train that goes down the mountain from Heiden to Rorschach on Lake Constance below. We took it and sat in the open air cars at the back of the train. That was quite fun and the scenery is breathtaking, of course.  This is the cogwheel train we took from Heiden to Rorschach (train on the left)  One of the villages we went by on the way down the mountain. This is a very typical Swiss town  Coming down the mountain. You can see Lake Constance in the distance  Train station at St. Gallen, Switzerland   Inside a Swiss long distance train. This is their equivalent to the German ICE trains  A little further along our trip: one of the excursions we did was a trip up Mt. Pilatus just outside Luzern. Mt. Pilatus has the steepest cogwheel funicular train in the world, and they just replaced their 1937 vintage trains last year with new models, so these are pretty much brand new trains we rode up the mountain on. Spectacular is definitely a word I would use to describe the ascent.    From Luzern, we took the Gotthard Panorama Express to Lugano, which included a ferry ride across Lake Luzern on an old side wheeler boat (I'll post that in another thread), and the Panorama express train across Gotthard Pass.   Another mountain cogwheel train. This is Gornergrat Mountain which is right next to Matterhorn. You take this cogwheel train up from Zermatt, the main town below and where we were staying. Zermatt is kind of like Whistler. It's down in the valley and you take lifts, or in this case, a train, up the mountains. As you can see in these photos, we had some flurries at Gorngergrat when we first arrived. It quickly gave way to sunshine, thankfully.   This is Gornergrat Station. Matterhorn is dead centre in the photo, mostly covered in clouds. Those did lift for us a little later, giving us a grand view of the mountain.  Gorngergrat train heading up the mountain  See, the clouds did lift. There's Matterhorn in her full glory  Switching Swiss regions, we spent 3 days in the Berner Oberland, which is essentially the central part of the Swiss Alps. Interlaken is the closest city. From there, you head up to Lauterbrunnen valley where we were staying, but on the cliffs above Lauterbrunnen, there are two cliffside villages, one on each side. Murren is one village, and Wengen is the other. Both are served by trains. In the case of Murren, you take a gondola up to the ridge top first, then catch a train that runs along the top and into Murren, which is a few kilometers away from the gondola station. This little funicular starts in Murren, the village you see here, and runs up the big hill behind it. We took this and hiked the trails back down into Murren.   The other very cool train in the Berner Oberland is the JungfrauBahn, the train that takes you up Jungfrau (the mountain) to the highest railway station in Europe, which is actually inside the mountain. From there you take elevators to the surface at Jungfraujoch, the saddle between Jungfrau and Monch. It is a neat experience and one I totally recommend for anyone who goes to Switzerland. The following pictures are not of the train that goes inside the mountain, but the trains you take to the high Alpine station where you switch to the train that takes you up to Jungfraujoch.    Kleine Shiedegg, a mid-point station along the JungfrauBahn where you can connect to Lauterbrunnen and Wengen, or go the other way to Grindewald   Last photo of trains: this is in Haarlem, just outside Amsterdam. We ended our Europe trip in Amsterdam. This is a typical Dutch commuter train, the one we took from Amsterdam to Haarlem  I thoroughly enjoyed traveling by train in Europe. Most of our time was in Switzerland, and so I bought a Swiss travel pass, and that was certainly worth it. It got us onto all of their trains, busses, boats, and half off some of their popular mountain lifts like Jungfraujoch and Gornergrat, as well as free admission to most of their museums. If you're going to spend any time in Switzerland, and don't have a car, this is the way to do it. |
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your great post, I just thought of a train photo I have never posted here: the York Railway station in 2006 - York, UK
