The New Year holiday usually sees a James Bond film film on UK terrestial television. Last night was no exception, with ITV showing Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig. This is one of several Bond films that feature railways. The film opens with a chase after a stolen hard drive through Istanbul, ending up with Bond and… Read More Bond on Rails
I recently picked up a copy of “100 Places You Will Never Visit”, which included one railway entry, for the Moscow Metro-2. This is, it claims, a secret metro system created during the Soviet era to move government officials and the military around under Moscow. After searching various web pages, blogs and Urban explorer pages… Read More Moscow’s Secret Metro
This scooter popped up on Pinterest the other day. A person powered scooter that fits on the rails. Primarily designed for maintenance and inspection work, it can be carried by one person and will carry 50kg of equipment. Available from Safetrack in Sweden. So it’s time for a quick look at what other forms of… Read More Human Powered Rail Transport
No, I’ve not been there – yet. Though for a great view from the cab check out this Youtube cab view from a train on the Nordland Line from Trondheim to Bodø Thanks for reading. Check out my other posts on travel, heritage railways and more.Please like and subscribe for more random railways content. Follow… Read More By Rail through Norway
There’s a good article in Marie Claire about how President-elect Joe Biden has become known as “Amtrak Joe” Will he be using a Presidential train to get around instead of a 10 ton armoured limo? Maybe. He’s been a regular Amtrak user for years and took a train journey in September on the campaign trail.… Read More Will “Amtrak Joe” Biden be taking the Presidential train?
I have several copies of “The Railway Engineer” from the 1920’s. It was a monthly railway technical paper, I have the annual bound volume versions. Here’s a few samples. Yes that big U shaped thing is a pneumatic boiler riveter, suspended off the overhead crane. The other item of interest is the article on the… Read More The Railway Engineer, 1920
Here’s a few samples of pages from the 1961/62 “World Railways” published by Sampson Low. The directory was published from the early 1950’s until the late 1060’s when it was taken over by Jane’s publishing, and still continues as Jane’s World Railways. This copy is from the British Rail Technical Library in London. The directory… Read More World Railways 1961
If you’ve ever watched “The Fugitive” with Harrison Ford you will, no doubt, remember the train crash. No models involved, all full size, some of it is still on location. It was filmed on a private/heritage railroad, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. Though their website barely mentions ithttps://www.gsmr.com You can see it on Google Maps:… Read More The Fugitive train crash
Marseille is the largest city in south-eastern France with a population of 800,000. It’s metro system is one of Europe’s smallest, with 2 lines and 29 stations, the newest of which, Geze, opened in December 2019. The system was first opened in 1977, on line one between La Rose and Saint-Charles. The rest of line one opened in… Read More The Marseille Metro
The Hamburg U-Bahn (metro) is part of a comprehensive public transport network serving Hamburg, Norderstedt and Ahrensburg. Although U-bahn means underground, most of the stations are overground. Opened in 1912, it is run by The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) (“Hamburg Transport Association”), with a total of 91 stations on 4 lines, covering 66 route miles. The network is… Read More Art of the Hamburg U-Bahn
