Photos Photo of the Day

FGW 43 163 (Plymouth) by samkiller42, on Flickr

Sam

 

Went for a mid afternoon stroll along Dawlish sea wall.

Dawlish XC Voyager by samkiller42, on Flickr


Dawlish by samkiller42, on Flickr

Sam

 

Sam, you guys have pretty short rakes in the UK! What're your longest pax trains?

There's a bit of a controversy in India today, the railways have announced a new highspeed train but the public is calling it a sham because it's the same old train, just ten coaches instead of 14! So when I see a four-car train, it gives me a bit of a giggle.

 

Not sure what a pax train is? So apologies if this doesnt answer your question! but the general train I commute to London on is a 12 carriage, which is then split in to 8 during the journey.

 

10 Coaches is common in London, but it can be more. I don't know what the max number is.

 

Sorry, work shorthand creeping into non-work life. pax=passenger(s)

12 sounds more like it. That 4-coacher above got me confused for a bit.

 

FYI, if you ever find yourself in Britain, the HST (class 43) is the lovely train. Air conditioned fairly wide coaches with plenty of space for bums to make full contact with seats.

The class 221 Super Voyager on the other hand is like suffering rectal trauma then discovering that you're sitting on an anthill made of salt. Only you're not sitting because the train is too damn small and there's not enough seats.

To accommodate the tilting mechanism, the 221 is narrow. Like, face-in-other-commuter's-armpit narrow. But wait, there's more! Do you like poop? Yes? Good, because the boggy crapper in-between carriages don't work and there's poop 'errywhere! Also, the bog doors don't lock so if you do decide to brave the mountain of poop and toilet roll, then you'd better be a damn voyeur because the other passengers standing outside the cubicle will get a full, unobstructed view of your danglies.

/rant

 

I sense this has occurred, probably on more than one occasion.

 

Yes, every time I've traveled with someone who can't drive where it's impractical to get them on the motorbike. One's heart sinks when a 220, 221 or other variant pulls up to the platform, passengers inside pressed against the windows like unhappy sardines.

Incidentally, the best train I ever took was a virtually empty class 150. A bunch of girls hopped on at Bristol, tried closing the windows but they kept popping open. The girls couldn't work out if it was the train or themselves, but announced loudly that this was the 'retard train'. I think I laughed all the way to Gloucester.

 

Longest passenger trains we have are 12, formed from 3* 4 Car units.

So, some maths (and wikipedia)
Class 450 (4 Coach) 240 Standard Class seats + 24 1st Class (Plus standing room) That's 264 seats, times 3 gives 792 total seating plus standing room.

Virgin Trains are lengthening their Class 390's from 9 to 11 to reduce over crowding on the already over crowded West Coast Main Line.

First Great Western are converting old, out of use Buffet coaches into standard coaches to be introduced into a HST set to form 8/9 coach HST's. FGW operate the most over crowded network in the UK.

The picture above of the Voyager (Class 220) was a service from Manchester to Plymouth, and XC (Cross Country) mainly operate Seat Reservations so long trains aren't really necessary and only stopping at major stations.

I generally agree with what Silver is saying too, the 43's (HST's) are super smooth and comfortable, but are ageing and is over 30 years old, No Wheel chair access, or disabled loo's, or auto announcements or displays, They are due to be replaced by some new stock, but not for a few more years, and only on selected routes.

I'm not even going into the Voyager/Meridian argument..

Still, be glad you don't travel on these:

FGW 143 619 by samkiller42, on Flickr

And then there's this:

XC 43 304 by samkiller42, on Flickr
Sam

 

Instagrammed to buggery, but I thought some of you might enjoy this:

 

Jonny Rea #65 Pata Honda by Polarity Photo, on Flickr

 

Went to Penzance again yesterday, so 2 more from me:

I.K. Brunel by samkiller42, on Flickr


XC HST Starcross by samkiller42, on Flickr

Sam

 

Not a train:

Dawlish by samkiller42, on Flickr

Sam

 

Great shot, almost sublime, if only the gaps/angles were slightly more equal

 

Beautifully timed shot.

 

I found a fly sitting about long enough for me to grab some shots and stack them - only handheld mind you as I suspected by the time I'd unbacked tripod, etc it would have buggered off!

 

Something from a few weeks ago. A close friend of mine, she's been working out extremely hard recently and wanted to show off the results with her very first nude photo shoot.
Babezilla Colour by JazzXP, on Flickr

 

An old shot, but I re-did it with LR4, quite happy with how it turned out.