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Post by chris on Jul 29, 2005 9:59:45 GMT
I've oftened wondered what it is that makes mainline railways and underground railways of such intrest. Is it the histroy which goes back over 100 years, and todays fastest bullet trains are really an improved design of Stevensons first locomotive? The thought that our Victorian ancestors built huge viaducts, bridges and tunnels with only primative, but they're still around today.
Maybe it's the massive feat of engineering which is apparant when you look at the whole underground network and other such awe inspiring creations like Ribblehead Viaduct. Both biult by hand. The Channel Tunnel goes without saying
Maybe it's the romance of being able to travel continents quickly and comfortably, admiring the views which air travel deprives us of. Going to sleep in London, but waking up in Brussels. A certain freedom is aquired when standing at a station as a Voyager pull up alongside reminds you that friends and family in other parts of the country are still reachable.
Or is it something much more simpler? The reward of standing by a trackside for an amount of time and then having a brief moment of thrill as tonnes of metal comes rushing past, forcing the observer to step back.
The simple trains and designs themselves are the attraction. The different operators different colours distinguish one train from the next. To the untrained eye different classes of trains may look the same, but it is the subtle differnces that count. Collecting numbers or photography are pleasent past times which anyone can participate in.
The way the whole national network is operated could be of intrest. The way, using a complex signal system, that hundreds of trains carrying thousands of passengers can safely go without fear of a crash. The way the trains themselves are managed to be where they are most needed, and where it is most economical to keep them.
Or maybe its a combination of all. I don't know.
I'd be intrested to know why people are intrested in the railways.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2005 10:06:14 GMT
For me it's the danger, the rush and the aspect of when you overhear someone chatting 'Yeah I'm off to Spain tomorrow, just off to Manchester to get some clothes' you think, wow. I'll never see them again.
I just love the sounds the smells and the feelings of trains.
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Post by q8 on Jul 29, 2005 13:09:09 GMT
I love trains because it's in the blood. Dad and Grandad were both on the mainline as was/are my brothers. I have lots of friends still on the track. Funnily enough I'm not great fan of Steam (Although a "Duchess" "Brittania" or "King" in full chat does stir my innards) My great loves are electric trains. But my adored passion is for trams. Not these modern "trains-in-the-street" contraptions but proper double deck roll-all-over-the-shop type of years gone by.
Show me a picture or film of a "Cunarder" or "HR2" or "Feltham" and I'm in raptures.
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Post by ejitrafik on Jul 29, 2005 16:47:13 GMT
35k+ a year being a train driver is enough reason for anyone to like trains. ;D
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Post by zman on Jul 29, 2005 18:02:24 GMT
For me, it's the "clickety-clak" that the trains make over the rails, the shaking back and forth over switches, the whirrrrrrrrr of the bull & pinion gears as well as all the different noises made by the train's motors, and all of the different types of trains that are available.
That's why I love to drive them. I will never be rich driving trains ($60K a year...mere pittance), but the days where I loathe going in to work are few and far between.
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Post by Admin Team on Jul 29, 2005 19:18:45 GMT
Nice thread!
For me, it's pretty much all that's been mentioned, though I admit to a long held fondness for steam - I *think* I mention on the web site my early memories of Western Region Great Western steam and old family connections with Swindon, Reading etc. Castles, Kings, 28xx freights etc. - I could go on! Oh, and not to mention sitting at Hanwell watching such haulage going over the Warnecliffe viaduct at Hanwell (another feat of Victorian engineering).
But also too when I was a lad (stop yawning at the back!) fewer people had cars, so the 'normal' transport was buses, but trains meant a LONG journey - holidays and stuff, so it was all a great adventure.
But I agree with zman - there are very few days when I don't want to go to work!
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Post by Christopher J on Jul 29, 2005 19:42:18 GMT
My Interest in Railways comes technical side of things, how things work and what makes the Trains, Signals and other equipment function interests me. From such a simple Train as 38TS to the High-Tech 92/95/96 stocks, it all interests me.  I also like to have knowledge on how things came to be, such as the History of the Underground, people who changed the system (such as Harry Beck and his Underground Map in 1931) and the future of the system. I also have an interest in National Rail, give me an 87/90+MK2/3+DVT rake or HST anyday and I'll be happy. ;D |
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Post by chris on Jul 29, 2005 19:50:35 GMT
I agree with DS about the smells and sounds. Whether you are at a steam station and you smell the train before you see or hear it, that oily mainline smell and the sweaty stuffy tube carriage has it's attractions. The sounds are also great. When a 442 stands in a station it sounds EXACTLY like the fridges in the veggie department of Tesco's! And when a tube train brakes and accelerates is a noise worth listening to. But nothing beats the starting of an engine on a DMU. You get a woomph which is fantastic. The other senses are also tingled by railways. Well, maybe not taste. Unless you count tea, but i'd best not go into that! Sight is good and so is touch. Especially if you count standing at a lineside when something rushes past you.
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Post by q8 on Jul 29, 2005 20:36:46 GMT
Especially if you count standing at a lineside when something rushes past you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah, that would be a chav having just nicked/broke/slung something no doubt.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2005 20:38:59 GMT
I've always liked electric trains, but sounds are what draw me to liking something, whether that something is a tram (proper one), a train or a bus. As far as the Underground goes, I just like the 'feel' of the system. Coming 'out' totally here, I always choose a motor car to sit in. I like the sounds of the compressor, the whine of the MA's and the hum of the motors and gears. As for other trains, what about the thrash of a class 37/9 (Ruston or Mirrlees) or the thump of an English Electric 4SRKT in a class 205? The King of them all though, a Deltic at full chat on the ECML just north of York (used to hear them from my bedroom window at night   I suppose some 'kettles'  don't sound too bad either, but only the ones from Swindon. I'll get my coat! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2005 20:44:08 GMT
Especially if you count standing at a lineside when something rushes past you. Something like a 'Deltic' perhaps, just as the 3rd set of field diverts cut in (about 72mph). That's enough Deltics. Ed |
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solidbond
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Post by solidbond on Jul 29, 2005 23:00:33 GMT
Well, my interest goes back a long time (not as long as Dave's obviously ) when I was interested in London's buses. As time went by, I took an interest in the rest of the service provided by London Transport, and started to get an interest in the Underground. With the changes that happened to the bus network in London, ie privatisation, my interest transferred to the Underground (plus the fact that by that time I was working for them ;D) These days, my main interest lies in the history and the unusual aspect of the Underground, ie things like the layouts at places like Earl's Court in years gone by, which is why I find Harsig's old signalling diagrams so fascinating ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2005 23:25:00 GMT
But I agree with zman - there are very few days when I don't want to go to work! Aye, its great to be paid for doing a hobby! Likewise with me, i dont often think that i dont want to go to work! |
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towerman
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Post by towerman on Jul 30, 2005 1:08:51 GMT
When I was a boy the Barking-St Pancras line as it was then ran along the bottom of my road which was between Queen's Rd coal yard and Boundary Rd goods depot.We got a coal train every week day morning and a goods train every afternoon,so I was watching the trains shunt about from a very early age.When I was at junior school we were right next to the Chingford- Liverpool St line,steam trains in those days,and it was still about every 5 mins in the peak.The times I got told off for watching the trains go by!!
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Post by piccadillypilot on Jul 30, 2005 7:49:23 GMT
Apart from being like most boys born during the time that steam was supreme, in that as a six-year-old I wanted "to be a train driver when I grow up", I had no childhood or youthful interest in railways.
For me it all started in January 1976 When I visited the Model Engineer Exhibition (which was then held at the Seymour Hall) where I got chatting to a chap on one of the society stands. He invited me along to their site in Harlington where I met his daughter's then boyfriend (they later married) who was a Piccadilly Line Motorman.
When I was on the point of leaving my then job (the Army) he uttered that phrase (which many have heard), "If you've got nothing else in mind jobwise, why not come and have a look at the Underground"? I didn't have, so I did and that's where it all started.
Not only did I get interested in the "how" and the "mechanics" but also the "why" and the effects of running a railway. I later spent some time on the West Somerset and on BR.
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Phil
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Post by Phil on Jul 30, 2005 9:20:37 GMT
Especially if you count standing at a lineside when something rushes past you. ...........when you are at track level just 4 ft away (behind a single pole safety fence of course) and the line speed is 90mph  [note to youngsters- you do need a PTS to perform this exercise!] |
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Post by chris on Jul 30, 2005 11:27:22 GMT
PTS?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2005 12:30:40 GMT
Personal Track Safety
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Phil
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Post by Phil on Jul 30, 2005 12:42:35 GMT
2-day Network Rail (sponsored) course. NOBODY is allowed closer than 3m from the tracks under ANY circumstances without one, and that includes when lines are closed for maintenance. |
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Post by chris on Jul 30, 2005 12:52:37 GMT
Never heard of them before.
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Phil
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Post by Phil on Jul 30, 2005 13:04:56 GMT
Never heard of them before. Not them, it. Introduced a few years ago to protect trackworkers originally. Every worker has to have a PTS card and has to present it to the safety officer (COSS) at the start of every shift. The worker can then only move near the tracks under instructions from the COSS. It is reckoned that dozens of trackworkers lives have been saved by this. All National Railway staff now have to be PTS, with different categories for different grades. |
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don't sound too bad either, but only the ones from Swindon.
[note to youngsters- you do need a PTS to perform this exercise!]
