Garfield

I was in Lisbon last weekend and managed to get some photos of some trams and trains while I was there... First, some photos of trams on the city's streets. The track gauge is 900m or 2ft 11 7⁄16in. A quick snap of a metro train. And some shots taken at Gare de Lisbonne-Santa Apolónia. The mainline gauge in Portugal is the same as in Spain - 1,668 mm or 5ft 5 21⁄32in (Iberian Gauge). (That logo looks oddly familiar...) (These coaches look very like the old Inox coaches formerly operated by SNCF) (Two EMUs waiting to depart. The one on the right is a double-decker unit).) (The station pilot. Pretty sure this is an English Electric loco, judging by the bogies and the whistle from the engine.) A couple of shots taken around the area of Belém, where the railway runs between two parallel roads... And finally, a shot of Gare do Oriente taken from the outside at night.

Eye-watering!

Surprised you don't have one of those already, Dave!

So it was. The way the date is presented on TheJournal's story, it looked like the story had been published earlier this month... thought it was another incident.

CIÉ also planned a further development of the Bulleid-bodied AECs in the shape of a single unit bubble car, although it never got beyond design stage. It was the subject of an article by Dónal Murray in the May 2006 edition of New Irish Lines, which is available to download from http://newirishlines.org/archive-2/ The article also features a nice photo of the first Bulleid unit. The issue also features articles by some current contributors to this forum...

If a train fails or otherwise causes an obstruction to running lines (or if a permanent way crew is in possession of the line), a number of detonators are placed at a safe distance away to warn the driver of any oncoming train of the obstruction. On hearing the detonation, the driver should initiate an emergency stop.

Right there in the article... You'll have to wait for the Railway Safety Commission to publish its report into the incident before the reason is known.

Yep, Strike Eagles out of Lakenheath. Doubt the artillery would be that effective, given the nature of the terrain. Most AA systems are now missile-based, though, which would be more of a threat.

Blimey... outstanding! The only thing it's missing is an operational Maybach engine!

Keep getting drawn back to that picture to admire the man's craft. Tell you what, I'd be careful around him as he seems to have other-worldly powers. It looks like he's channeling the spirit of Cyril Fry...

Good man!

Ah here... pics, please!

That looks fab! Does the builder have any plans to make any diesels, or is he a committed steam man?

The horse box is looking great, John... think I'll have to get one.

Ah, the Mach Loop. Well-known spot for plane-spotters... the crews love to show-off for them, too!

Great video, John... nice find! We discussed these railcars not so long ago... http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/4272-Victoria-Railways-(Australia)-Walker-railcar

Sure, not everyone is a tech wizard... if it gets on your goat so much you could always post a tutorial in the 'Letting off Steam' section.

There were a few losses alright. If something happened at low level, the rear crew couldn't bail out, and the pilots were left with the agonising decision of whether to abandon their colleagues or go down with them. Some did, some didn't...

Doddy Hay's autobiography, 'The Man in the Hot Seat' (a great read in general), touches on the issue of ejection seats for V bomber crews, and describes his test ejection from the rear crew position on a Valiant.

What you heard? The yard is still used by permanent way vehicles and for accessing the RPSI's depot there, so the track is staying put. The path will be adjacent to the railway line (not built on it) wherever it joins up with it. You were trespassing.

The cycleway isn't public property, it's publicly-accessible. And it doesn't run through the middle of the yard in Mullingar, where your photo was taken. Trespassing very much counts as being 'up to something'.

And rightly so, I have to say. It's private property and still considered part of the working railway. Definitely not a place for an unauthorised/untrained/uninsured person to be wandering around.

It wasn't just the fuel supply that did for steam power, whether coal or turf was used. The cost of maintaining a steam locomotive is many multiples of the cost of keeping a diesel loco maintained. Plus, a diesel can be crewed by a single driver, whereas a steam locomotive required two men, so wage bills were much lower, too. Not to mention, you can start a diesel locomotive and have it in service quickly, while a steam engine would take hours to get ready after the fire was lit. Edit: From a track maintenance perspective, diesel is preferable, too, because steam locomotives produce hammer blow which would damage track over time.

For that answer, look to the UK. Coal was plentiful but steam was nonetheless gone by 1968, because diesel was still more economical.

I was in Athlone Station to catch a train to Galway on Friday evening when I spotted this over the ticket office window... The lighting wasn't great, but it was a nicely detailed brass model, probably around 1:32 scale. Wasn't Tommie Tighe the same man who constructed the Fry Model Railway layout?