24 replies to this topic

[Sealink]

Is this the best section to post links to UK/Europe rail pictures? I've taken many pictures on my travels, which I'd like to share.

If anyone is interested!

[MrFSS]

Is this the best section to post links to UK/Europe rail pictures? I've taken many pictures on my travels, which I'd like to share.

If anyone is interested!

This would be the place. Try a few and see if you have responses or comments.

[Sealink]

I hope you like some of these, just some snapshots of railways across the UK.

Strawberry Hill Station
Located in SouthWest London - this is prime commuter territory, although you'd hardly realise it from this.


First Class seating
Provided by train operater First Great Western. They are a much maligned company, but have made improvements recently. The all leather seating in First Class receives mixed reports. The lighting in their refurbished trains is so bright that often you just get glare from the windows, even during the day.


Roding Valley Station
This is on the North east corner of London Underground's Central Line. You sometimes forget the rural nature of this corner of their network, and this station sees little patronage. As the line goes towards Epping it's a strange sight to see - Central Line trains in open countryside.


This is Wick Station
Located in the far north of Scotland - it's the last town before John O' Groats, the most northerly village on the UK mainland. (Not the most northerly point however, that is a Dunnet Head, a few miles to the west).
Services from Inverness to Wick take around four hours, and the distance by road? 108 miles. However, the Inverness service recently increased to 4 trains southbound and 3 trains northbound, with a fourth being added this winter. On a recent trip there was standing room only for the first few stops from Inverness.


Llanwyrtd Wells
This is Britains 'smallest town', and the line is called The Heart of Wales line. Note that single carriage train operating the service. The people on the train spoke Welsh. My favourite station on this line is a tiny one called Sugar Loaf Halt, unfortunately it is a request stop only and the train didn't call there.

Edited by Sealink, 08 August 2008 - 08:58 AM.

[MrFSS]

Neat - Thanks!!!

[George Harris]

Look at the first picture, and you will see the third rail has no coverboard. Are there problems with trains running in ice and snow conditions?

Look at the third picture of the London Underground station and you see a rail down the center. No this is not a full size Lionel. The center rail is a negative return rail for the traction power. The "hot" rail is off to the side, same as in picture 1. For most systems, the negative return is in the running rail, but London Underground is different.

(If you think an "Underground" station on the surface is strange, New York City does the same thing. Surface stations are still called "Subway" stations.)

[Sealink]

Look at the first picture, and you will see the third rail has no coverboard. Are there problems with trains running in ice and snow conditions?

Look at the third picture of the London Underground station and you see a rail down the center. No this is not a full size Lionel. The center rail is a negative return rail for the traction power. The "hot" rail is off to the side, same as in picture 1. For most systems, the negative return is in the running rail, but London Underground is different.

(If you think an "Underground" station on the surface is strange, New York City does the same thing. Surface stations are still called "Subway" stations.)

Winter problems are usually frozen points, but not usually from the power pick up. I remember telling some South African friends that the third rail was electrified, and they wouldn't believe me, until a shower of sparks from a passing train caused them to reconsider!

I believe London Underground introduced the 4th rail to reduce wear and tear on the rails.

Edited by Sealink, 08 August 2008 - 03:29 PM.

[Sealink]

Here's a few more...

New and Old at Stamford
Stamford Station, Lincolnshire. A very well maintained station building, showing a train operated by the defunct Central Trains.
This franchise was split between "Cross Country Trains" and "East Midlands Trains".



London City Airport Station
London City Airport is still a 'secret', despite being served by British Airways, Air France etc.
The closest airport to London, by miles, public transport consists of buses and the Docklands Light Railway.


Mitcham Eastfields Station
London's newest station isn't St. Pancras International, but this suburban stop in South East London.
Note how staggered the platforms are.


Battersea Power Station
Dwarves the Southern railways trains to/from London's Victoria Station


Queen's Park Station
This is an interesting one - the tracks are shared between Queens Park and Harrow and Wealdstone with 'heavy' rail services (locally known as the DC lines), so the heavy trains use 3rd rail electrification and the London Underground use the same third rail plus the forth rail for current return.

Edited by Sealink, 15 August 2008 - 07:17 AM.

[Sealink]

Just a few more before I depart for my New York & Boston holiday.

This is my favourite bit of St. Pancras International - a statue of Sir John Betjeman, who was instrumental in saving the station from demolition (a fate which befell the grand old London Euston Station). I love this statue - it sums up so well the sense of awe about this station, and it makes me a bit emotional, it's so... fresh and lovely.



And what is he looking at?

Edited by Sealink, 25 August 2008 - 09:36 AM.

[jackal]

Wow--awesome, awesome pictures! You've got quite an eye!

Someday, I'd love to explore the entirety of the Underground network. (I'd like to do the same for the NYC Subway...heck, I like to do the same for every city I can, but London and New York are probably my top two, followed maybe by Paris.) I especially love the above-ground suburban stretches of urban rail.

I haven't seen that station at Wick, but I do recall some tracks somewhere in the vicinity of John O'Groats, which I visited with my grandfather in 2000 (just a few weeks after hitting Land's End, naturally). Great memories!

[Sealink]

Here are some more updates from my travels. Including Northern Ireland! (Northern Ireland Railways, although in the UK, was not privitised so is still in public hands).

Carrickfergus Station, Northern Ireland


Northern Ireland Railways "Castle Class" train at Carrickfergus




Back to London...
Heavy snowfall in February brought the rail network in the Southeast to a standstill. This is my local station.

West Norwood




Downeaster staff would be appalled!

And after the snow melts...


Finally, old "slam door" trains still operate on the UK Network. On a branch line, from Brockenhurst to Lymington in the South of England. This is the only line where they are allowed to be used.

Edited by Sealink, 28 February 2009 - 01:45 PM.

[GG-1]

Aloha and Mahalo

for those pictures, It is nice to see snow at a distance. I can't wait for our winter to end It's getting tireing to be awakened at night to close the window because I am getting rained on.

Edited by GG-1, 28 February 2009 - 03:21 PM.

[Sealink]

I forgot to add, that the gauge in Ireland is wider than the rest of the UK, not sure if it is apparent in the pictures.

[PetalumaLoco]

I forgot to add, that the gauge in Ireland is wider than the rest of the UK, not sure if it is apparent in the pictures.

Interesting. I had to look that up on Wikipedia.
5'-3". Even more interesting is that the Irish gauge was "given legal status by the Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act of 1846[4] which specified 4 feet 8 ½ inches for Great Britain, and 5 feet 3 inches for Ireland." I wonder what was behind that logic.

BTW, enjoying your great pics.

[Sealink]

I went back to the Isle of Wight, this time the train from Brockenhurst to Lymington was the sister unit of previous time, and is painted in traditional British Rail colours. These trains days are numbered, as SouthWest Trains say that getting spares for them is becoming difficult, so will be testing newer trains soon.



Now, on to the Isle of Wight. There are various ways of getting there, the picture below was taken on my previous visit, where a fast ferry takes you to a town called Ryde. At one time, this was the UK's smallest franchise, called Island Line, which was owned by Stagecoach. It has one line. It's now a subsidiary of SouthWest Trains, also owned by Stagecoach. And because the tunnels at Ryde are too low for normal trains, they use old London Underground stock.

And here's one...





Finally, to my neck of the woods, near Crystal Palace in South London. The history of the area is amazing and sad, and today there are reminders of it's grand past, not least in it's overly grand railway station.
The park itself it dotted with reminders of it's grand past... it must have been amazing.




And the station?

[DET63]

Finally, old "slam door" trains still operate on the UK Network. On a branch line, from Brockenhurst to Lymington in the South of England. This is the only line where they are allowed to be used.

Video of "slam-door" trains:

[Sealink]

Danish Railways!

 

Helsingor Station

 

 

Copenhagen Central

 

 

 

 

[Sealink]

And the station?

 

Since this was posted back in 2009, Crystal Palace Station has had something of a revival, due to the extension of the former London Underground "East London Line" to the station. The East London Line now uses 'full size' trains rather than Underground stock, and the stations are well kept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jmx53]

Thanks for posting your photos Sealink!  Nice trains, and I like the architecture of the stations and trainsheds.  I'm also impressed how clean and litter (rubbish) free the platforms and tracks are!

[Sealink]

There are some exceptions. One of the railway magazines here does an occasional series of pictures where you have severely overgrown platforms or a clear line where you can see the responsibility of the railway ends. Will try and find them.

[Sealink]

If you are interested in railway stations, architecture and access, National Rail here a a photographic database of every station in the UK. Even the most remote ones.

 

Just type in the station name under "Enter Station name or 3-character code"

 

http://www.nationalr...ns/default.aspx

 

Some examples below, just click on the image and a preview picture appears which you can maximise.

 

Berney Arms, 120 miles from London, has no public road access.
http://www.nationalr...E_BYA/plan.html

 

Altnabreac, 629 miles north of London, is accessed by dirt tracks.

http://www.nationalr...E_ABC/plan.html

 

Corrour, is the UK's highest station and again has no public road access.

http://www.nationalr...E_CRR/plan.html

Edited by Sealink, 29 March 2013 - 07:35 AM.