I can't speak for everyone, but steam trains in my country did go backwards. It was discouraged and only happened when there was no other choice, but it did happen.
@@jerribee1 Actually, he was just the report writer who produced varying levels of recommendations...... .......but, as usual for Tory governments, they just took the most extreme and published it with someone else's name on to make sure they didn't get the blame....
The invention and popularisation of the motor car effectively killed off many branch lines but it’s easier to blame a bogey man than the man in the street who wanted his/her own wheels!
Dr Beeching's brother was deputy head at my school. So, with my *ahem* spotless scholastic record, I spent a lot of time in his office. As name-drops go it's a bit of an odd one - this is one of the few plces I can actually use it! It's actually the first time, in forty years, that I have. I can die happy now. There is darnkess all around me and I'm starting to feel the cold. That'll be midnight in November then!
@@pd4165 Ah! But did Dr Beaching's brother make you turn out to be just as good as British Rail in the 1970's. Or did you systematically emotionally close down.
For example: th-cam.com/video/h3YmJkHGieg/w-d-xo.html There are a lot of (very) short videos on that channel. Most of them have a long description text but only in german.
Auto trains are a fascinating example of steam technology, and I personally love them. Many British heritage railways, like the ones presented in this video, do still run them on special occasions.
The traction section of the APT was in the middle, inconvenient for passengers and two catering crew were needed, but the rail cleaning effect of the coaches ahead of the traction unit was said to give significant improvement in traction.
Watching this video actually got me thinking about a story I once read from the 1950s on the narrow gauge network in the Swedish county of Uppland: On weekends a service was ran between Uppsala and Faringe (a stretch of line which coincidentaly is still preserved) but since Faringe was unsupervised during weekends the engine couldn't run around the train there. So what they had to do was to run the engine around at the last supervised station before Faringe and then push the train with the guard stood on the plattform of the first carriage with an air-horn for communication with the crew of the engine and signaling at level-crossings. I suppose one could call it a very crude auto-coach.
We had a couple of the autotrains on my Dad's old layout in the 1970s. We used to love watching them run up the 1.5% incline to the girder bridge over the Main lines, which led to the branch station. I almost cut my thumb off with a scalpel while making that bridge - quite a shock to a 16 year old, and I was quite sad to see the bridge scrapped when it was moved out of the attic to the spare room. I did end up building the viaduct across the window are. No fingers or thumbs were injured during the construction. Really enjoy your videos, Jago. keep making them.
In the US we tend to refer to the non-loco ends of push-pull trains as "cab cars", and instead of just having a loco on each end like you guys do with some passenger trains, we have DPUs "distributed power units" on freight trains, often with locos distributed on the ends and middle of long trains, which pretty much are controlled by radio control. Trains really do come in every concievable arrangement.
Good point. Distributing the power sources in this was reduces the strain on intermediate couplings. On the Rimutaka incline in New Zealand (1 in 13), trains were split into up to 5 portions which were then all recoupled together - there are some iconic photos of this. But you can see why they built a tunnel to avoid this!
I remember now, my local branch line; Watford Jct. to St.Albans Abbey. At that time there were LMS Fowler tanks and then the BR Brighton-built 2-6-4s. Like any branch line, there was no turning at the end. Very early in the 1950s this line became the subject of an early four-wheel AC Cars diesel railcar, often coupled in a pair, that had side valances over the underframe. They were rough-riding and were transferred away, but the tank engines did not return.
I worked that yellow stock when I was a guard at Glasgow Queen Street. Of course, it was in Scotrail colours then. That DBSO was the type of car that hit the cow at Polmont in 85. All the dead, 14, were in it. The driver, guard and a ticket inspector in the van all survived. Having the dead weight of a loco propelling was what hastened the change to DMU's.
Yet the same DBSOs went on to run at one end of even longer trains on the Great Eastern Main Line for just over 15 years without incident. They were modified though with large object deflectors ahead of the wheels.
I liked the careful timing of the "or a locomotive at each end" comment with the photograph of the GLV, nicely pre-empting the inevitable comment that the GLVs were not unpowered trailers, but had their own motors in addition to the 73 at the other end.
Surely the glaring omission at that point in the video was a shot of an HST? Double ended long distance and still going strong almost 50 years on! Definitely nit-picking there, another cracking video Jago!
@@highpath4776 The HSTs were originally numbered in sets as classes 253 and 254, as BR thought they were DEMUs. After a while, as the power cars were swapped around during maintenance or for other reasons, it was more convenient to treat the HSTs as more or less fixed sets of coaches with a loco at each end, so the power cars were reclassified as class 43 diesel electric locos. The German company RailAdventure has bought some class 43s to use in pairs hauling new trains from the factory to the customer.
In mainland Europe push pull is pretty much the norm for any kind of locomotive pulled service, with electronics you can basically connect an infinite number of carriages and if instead of an instrument board you have a flat screen you can even display whatever information you need to.
As they say, TRAMS, with the capability of going in reverse, is SMART. Actually, nobody says that. But it's true (sometimes, especially if you ignore proper grammar).
Ouch. For that I award you two forks and a tram cushion. I suspect there is probably some US commuter rail system that has made use of that observation.
@@lwilton Well... SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit) north of San Francisco actually uses DMUs. And as each car has a full width cab at one end, when they run three car trains (the longest that will fit the stations) there is no access from one car to the other two. But it is a nice trip and meets ferries to The City.
My favorite backyard railroad,the Long Island had a variant type of push-pull,and like Rudolph if you ever saw it,you would know it! It involved a converted FA,or F,(diesel freight engine),made into a dummy A,[model railroad parlance],that provided head end power for a batch of former MU coaches,and a pusher locomotive,of three separate classes,i.e,C420(Alco),GP-38-2,and MP15,and those engines were in several paint schemes! So for a great while,the railroad was a see of color! The units put in about 20 years of service,so literally they had a second childhood 😳! TH-cam might have some videos on that era,but I can't say for sure! Thank you for your attention and time!
There was something On a TV program awhile back showing an autotrain on a preserved line. They said that the drive could apply the brake but was unable to release it. So the fireman had to do it from the loco.
Harold Gasson (ex GWR fireman at Didcot) told a similar story from when he was working the Cholsey-Wallingford line and the regulator linkage came adrift when the driver was at the other end, so he had to shut it. The engine had to be uncoupled to do any shunting and presented a trap for main-line firemen; you had an extra task to disconnect the whistle chain, otherwise it parted with a "cheep" and a bang as the engine moved away. He broke 3 on his first day! Drivers carried a pocketful of S links for temporary repairs. One fireman famously forgot to recouple the coach and they went off light engine - this story was adapted for one of Rev Awdry's books, I think "Thomas the Tank Engine" itself.
"... and the idea could be used over longer distances". What, like London to Edinburgh? Oh, I see. Sorry. But despite my failed attempt at drollery, this was a cracking vid right up there with your best, Mr H. As with all your material, it informed and amused at the same time. Not too dissimilar to a 'push pull' arrangement. Thanks as always. Toodle-pip. Simon T PS: Should I mention that I have in recent weeks been the Guard on an Auto-Coach on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway? You'd rather I didn't? I won't then. Bye.
This is very popular, basically the standard, on American commuter railroads that use locomotive-hauled trains. Interesting how the British see it as sort of a novelty.
Although on the other hand, MU's are the novelty in North American commuter services (outside the NE US) while they are used for everything in the UK. DMU's in particular are very rare.
I agree with you Jes A, I’m an American whose traveled to Europe a few times, the only times ive seen the locomotive hauled trains as you talk about is the Front Runner close to my home in Salt Lake City, Utah
Its funny sometimes how people who aren't familiar with this operating practice think the trains are running backwards, when there is actually a cab in the last car.
I rwemember as a young lad in school, late 60's, being given a task to design a machine to do (I dont remember what). Rather old teacher commended out ingenuity but derided the designs wholesale for " obviously not having any notion of the mechanical linkages required to perform the functions". We knew damned well that Electronics were coming - we had the first few toys - and knew "a button to do this" could be put anywhere, if not now, then very soon.
Interesting video. I am reminded of push pull trains on 5' 3" metals. Prior to the advent of DART in Dublin the trains were de-engined AEC railcars powered by C class MetroVicks. When the C class were rebuilt with GM-EMD engines they were fitted with a push pull facility. Though the ex AEC carriages were spartan these locos gave good service until the advent of DART in 1984. Some years later and CIÉ needed new outer suburban trains. Approval was granted to modify some InterCity mark 3 carriages into push pull carriages powered by a B121 class loco. Latterly the 201 Abhann locos took over workings from the B121s.
I've ridden on the GWR steam railmotor at Didcot a few years ago- It's beautifully restored right down to the seat upholstery. It occurs to me that I have at least ten model trains that could be considered railmotors on my layout, mostly electric but some diesel and one steam.
Nitpick to be informative: there's whatever rather than computers. It's all down to good, old-fashioned air and electrickery. Anyone who thinks those LNER DVTs are modern just because they've a pointy front and they're (nearly) freshly painted with a snazzy bit of branding really doesn't want to look in the electrical cupboards! Oh, and both the bubble-car and the 153s are multiple units even though they're only single car, basically because they can work in multiple with no special requirements to make it happen. I suspect the GWR railcars aren't classed as multiple units simply because the concept didn't exist at the time they were built.
The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened with 2-car electric multiple units on 6th March 1893. Whether they called them "multiple units" back then I am not sure.
I love watching your well researched videos. Always interesting! We have similar " push-pull" locomotives in Australia, not surprising. But what is surprising is how looong the goods trains are! A diesel loco at each end and a kilometer (it seems) of goods carriages in the middle; filled with coal, wheat or whatever cargo is being carried at the time. I often wondered how it was possible for the train to move at all! Now I know!
I’m very glad you teached me a bunch of new technical terms I did not know, i am used to the german tongue and living in France, so , a big “ thank you “🙏 for THIS lesson I learned today…!!!
Where I live, in Southern California, nearly all trains are push-pull. Train novices often give regular passengers a laugh, when they remark that the train is going "the wrong way," or they ask "How can the engineer see the track if the engine is on the rear end of the train?" Hilarity ensues.
The DBSO at 3:58 or so might have been used on the Edinburgh -Glasgow route in the '80s. If interested, look up the Polmont rail disaster. There is the advantage of having the heft of a loco at the front of a train versus a DBSO. From memory signals were sent to the loco, typically a 47, from the DBSO through the lighting circuits in the cartridges.
Class 47/7 and Mk2 DBSOs. I was thinking of the Polmont disaster as soon as I saw the DBSO on the thumbnail. It was only a week or so ago that I was re-reading the report into the incident. Horrific stuff.
After the Edinburgh-Glasgow services went over to 158s the same DBSOs were converted to work with class 86 electric locomotives and used on Liverpool St to Norwich until the Pendolinos displaced the Mk3 coaches and DVTs from the WCML, which were cascaded to the Norwich line. Some of those DBSOs were then converted to work with the network measurement trains as illustrated here.
Yes. The system used by the Glasgow - Edinburgh services was TDM (Time Division Multiplex) a coded system sent by packet data from DBSO to a decoder fitted locomotive via the RCH lighting jumpers.......a more advanced system was subsequently used with Mk3 and Mk4 DVTs controlling classes 86/87/90/91 electrics......the NR DBSOs along with Chiltern, TransPennine and Traind For Wales now use similar but independently wired system.
After the Polmont crash, the DBSO "cab end" bogie was beefed-up (not sorry for the pun) to stop a repeat incident. The design change was such that the bogie could withstand a high speed collision with a ton of cow, and deflect the remains away from the wheels.
As always, another excellent video from you Jago. And I remember riding on Railbuses out of Paddington station back in the mid-1960s when I first started work.
On model train sets the engine pushing the carriages were more likely to derail the carriages than being pulled and the full scale ones were too I believe
Its going to be Newton resolution of forces that would predict where the force in the 'tow-bar' is going in relation to the friction forces on the wheels from the curves in the rails etc
I understand that intrain forces go weird when the motive power is pushing rather than pulling which is why even now locomotives are placed at the front of the train. But I think carriage weight and length of train are major factors to it so short passenger trains, like the ones this video is concerned with, could get away with it while freight and long passenger trains could not, and would need some motive power forwards. I believe that's also a big reason for the development of tank engines because the tenders become unstable when reversing at high-speed but tank engines can go full speed no matter their orientation.
Nice to see Grosmont Station, Whitby, right at the end of the vid. Just up the road from where I live in Scarborough. The Pickering to Whitby North York Railway is a real treat!
Getting off the train at Shoeburyness and waiting for the Service 4A bus to Great Wakering one could stand at the end of the line and, through the fence, watch the loco that had just brought you to Shoeburyness run round the train ready for its next trip to Fenchurch Street. Kids' loco spotting delight.
That’s the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at the end - Grosmont - where it joins with the Esk Valley Line - if you travelled on the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to Whitby or vice versa, they used to run these little blue (and I think I have seen white ones) trains with no engines with a driving cab at both the front and rear - when it gets to Battersby, it appears to change direction - either the driver gets out and goes to the other end or they have a driver at each end! As to Grosmont, the Esk Valley Line track is on a bend, so, if you are sitting on the correct side of the train, you can see both ends of the train, if you’re sat in the middle of the train!
In some remote parts of NSW, there were no real roads or level crossings and some freight trains did some shunting and then proceeded to the next siding with the loco in the middle. I think that’s due to laziness rather than any efficiency. The line I was thinking of was the Naradhan line which I think is still open to this day.
Just to nitpick, the Mk7 Tri-Direction Flange Groodle, was only actually used between 1912AD-91BC on alternate Wednesdays when the the parliament of the Isle of Sodor was in session and I demand a video about it. Why, yes, I am often booed off on open mic night. Why do you ask?
Push pull trains are extremely common in the us, as essentially every single commuter train in the US (which is like 90% of all passenger trains here) operate as push pull
Brilliant video as always, thank you! As an aside; my model railway only has tank engines, as I do not have a turntable to turn the locomotives with tenders.
[Pitch meeting meme] Oh! Let me get off of that thing then. [physics meme] it's not that the train is going backwards, it's the station that is going forwards.
My old village/town (prestatyn) had this motor coach service. Have to admit I don't know how far the service ran, but being North Wales I guess the valley floor.
No nitpicks here! I just saw a railmotor on somebody's garden railway and had been wondering what it was. Fascinating stuff, and useful info for modeling branch line operations!
In the US on non-electrified commuter lines, push-pull is very common. A diesel-electric locomotive is at one end of the train, with a control cab in a passenger car at the other end. Since most commuter lines are tidal (i.e.-most passengers into the city in the morning and out of the city at night), the locomotive is usually kept in the lead, pulling the heavier train with passengers, and at the end, pushing the lighter train with fewer passengers. NJ Transit is well-known for this type of operation.
Blimey the train you show at 4:45 I’m so sure I used to travel on from Aylesbury along the single track line via Little Kimble!! I remember it because it looked like a bubble!! The southern ones you show after are old hack!!
Back in my trainspotting days it was always disappointing to think you'd spotted a (then new) Class 91, only for it to turn out on closer inspection to be a DVT. In retrospect, I don't know why - after all it's still part of a train, and we'd still spotted it. But for some reason we weren't interested in spotting them, only the locos...
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When the Class 47/7s with a Driving Brake Second Open (DBSO) coach at the other end of the train were introduced on the Edinburgh-Glasgow service, the locomotive was always at the Edinburgh facing end. This was essential for the climb up Cowlairs Incline, out of Glasgow Queen Street. My mates and I were haulage bashers at the time, and we referred to any trip with the DBSO leading as "pushage".
I wish more model companies would produce push-pull sets in 00. I know we have the GWR railmotors on their way, the bachmann and airfix/dapol/hornby autocoaches, the hornby Maunsell push-pull coaches, the kernow/djm/EFE LSWR gate stock, plus the bachmann mk2f DBSOs (not in Anglia, DRS, or Network Rail liveries though), hornby mk3 DVTs, and hornby mk4 DVTs (new versions due soon) plus the accurascale mk5as almost here as well. But we don't have LMS push-pull stock suitable for a bachmann Ivatt 2MT tank, or NER/LNER stock suitable for the bachmann G5s (which are due out next year), or whatever else used push-pull stock.
I'm not here to nitpick, as I don't know that much about trains (other than I love the Intercity 225! That train is so cool looking!) Anyway, after I stop fangirling over one of my favourite trains, I'm just here to appreciate your work and learn something new. 😊
@@gymnasiast90 Greetings! Mine are The Flying Scotsman/Scotswoman, and The Battle of Britain, as I've seen those in person. I like the one remembering WWI, but I haven't seen it yet, What are yours?
The Amtrak Downeaster, the only regular Amtrak service that goes through my town, does this by means of a "cabbage" (cab + baggage) car converted from an old locomotive at the end opposite the actual locomotive.
Technically the GO train in Toronto Ontario Canada uses auto coaches. On most of their major commuter lines they have one Diesel-electric unit on one end and a Bilevel passenger car with a cab on the other end.
I once on a GWR Autocoach back at the 2018 Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala. You get a good view of the line ahead if you get a seat near the cab of the Trailer.
Myst be a one off Auto Trailer then as the ones I've been on at the South Devon, Severn Valley and Llangollen all had solid wooden saloon walls behind the Drivers Compartment with a solid door in it.....
@@ianhudson2193 I've looked through my photos of the event and I can confirm that the coach I travelled on (178) had a windowed door. Sorry, its been a while since then.
@@carribob1992 Posdibly an odd ball then ......I was always disappointed from the first one I rode on that it was a solid wall and door rather than like a DMU.....
I Wonder if you could do a video on steam trains on the underground after it was electrified . As a young child in the late 50s I used to live near Debden underground station and I kept insisting to my parents , as I slept in the bedroom nearest to the railway line , I could hear steam trains every night and I was told no no no no you were just dreaming . It wasn’t until later that I discovered that there were steam trains going along this line at night delivering coal to the yards at Epping . I’m presuming this was a common practice at the extreme ends of the underground perhaps you could do something on this ?
Not just the extreme ends! I think Jago has covered it already, but there were steam-hauled goods trains between Paddington and Smithfield meat market over the Metropolitan until the early 1960s.
@@bingbong7316 yeah I realise they were SteamTrains about elsewhere . For instance the Ongar to Epping branch wasn’t electrified until 1957 and I remember as a young kid standing on the footbridge at Epping station waiting for the steam train to come in from Ongar.
Following an eye injury in about 1947, my Mum had to take me to Moorfield's Eye Hospital and, on one visit, I was amazed to see a steam train chuff and clank through Old Street tube station pulling a goods train.
The South Western mainline from Waterloo to Weymouth had an arrangement from the end of steam in '67 to the extension of the 3rd rail from Bournemouth to Weymouth ('87/'88) where a powerful (4REP) 4 car EMU would push one or two unpowered (4TC) 4 car sets from Waterloo to Bournemouth. At Bournemouth a Class 33/1 (push-pull fitted) would connect to the front of the unpowered sets and haul those down to Weymouth leaving the 2000hp 4REP EMU behind to cross over to the up side and work the next set of unpowered units back to Waterloo. From Weymouth, the 33/1 would push the unpowered units back to Bournemouth with the driver controlling from the front cab of the unpowered sets. The units would be driven right up to the waiting 4REP, the 33/1 would uncouple from the back and the whole 4REP+trailer set would set off to Waterloo, this time with the powered EMU at the front. Everyday operations for 20 years.
You're right about the operational history, but the 4REPs were a bit more powerful - 3200 hp, in fact, so it was a decent power/weight sum for a 12 car train. They had 2 power cars, with a total of 8 x 300 kW traction motors. They were the only 2 brand new cars in the set, with the other 2 being refurbished Mk1s. All made in York, in a factory that's no longer there.
I very much like the GWR auto-tank classes, the 517s & 4800s in particular. Ever so handsome machines & surprisingly versatile. Then they made the 5800, which was like a 48 without auto-gear. They were basically stuck shunting as almost all branch traffic was auto-worked by the time they came along!
Here in the US, multiple units and single railcars are very rare. Our long-distance services usually have the whole train turned at the end of each run, regionals operate much as the traditional steam operation described here with the engine running round, and commuter trains are usually push-pull. But here, they're cab cars, not autocoaches.
HST's are the only ones,with a powered locomotive at both ends but for some reason they called the class 43 a power car which I assume means powered carriage which it wasn't as it didn't have seats in it and unlike the powered parts of the original Eurostar or TGV the class 43's is capable of independent movement separate from the train although as there's no back cab reversal is a problem so two locos are usually joined back to back.
About that note at the end "there are exceptions to every rule on railways", that is a large part of why they are so interesting (to me). Thank you mister Hazzard for exploring another exception to a railway rule
Was that red rail motor at Didcot? I think I remember going on it with my dad a few years ago, unless I'm thinking of something else! Keep up the great vids, don't be disheartened by nitpickers!
Well presented Mr.H. You could use a Garratt also. Solves any traction problems,cab in centre, spreads load for branch lines with lighter rail. Now all you need is internet troll protection.
That was an enjoyable "quickie". Thank you. I seem to remember a crash in 84 when a push pull train hit a cow, carriage first, and the train derailed and 3 passengers died. The press were all over the new fangled "push-pull" thingy saying "it wasn't safe" and "if the loco had been at the front it wouldn't have happened" etc !! Well, we still use push pull to this day at even higher speeds !!!
Stopped in Scarborough this week and after watching this film deliberately missed a multiple unit set to York so I could travel on the push-pull Class 68 loco and coach stock. The driving end cab is shaped a lot like the loco cab, but it's still not a loco.
Nice to see one of the Class 455 units with a class 507 trailer in it on here. I believe they shortened the 50-7's for Merseyrail use and reused the spare trailers in new-built class 455 units.
I have constant debates with my misses when we arrange to meet on a train at liv st. I'll say 'see you at the front' and she will be at the back, because 'the front' is nearest the buffer end of the platform for her.
Some trains that go to Sheffield/Leeds on the Midland Line out of St Pancras, go via Nottingham, very confusing as the exit in the same direction as they arrived, so my booking of a seat facing direction of travel all worked very badlly !
I wonder if you could do a proper video on the Tay Bridge disaster. 2022 is the going to be the last year that the current Tay Railway Bridge is going to be in use as a Railway Bridge due to excessive corrosion, the need to replace more timbers and the fact that strenghing works can not be undertaken due to it being a listed structure. It currently is single tracked with a 30mph speed limit in place. Would make an interesting new year story , especially Sir Thomas Bouch.
The modern MU operations were pioneered by an American, Frank Sprague. He developed the system originally working with multiple lifts working from a common controller. This was implemented for railway use in Chicago on one of the L lines ( South Side) I believe.
I believe that one of those pics was of a gatwick express. The coach at the front was a GLV (gatwick luggage van). That happens to be another oddity of the past. Both the GLV and the loco at the back both had motors for speed.
5:10 Obviously an American tourist who believes it's always raining here and one umbrella just isn't enough. Probably got three of those transparent plastic poncho thingies in his pocket just in case.
What are you talking about? That's clearly a baby umbrella. You know, when a momma umbrella and papa umbrella really love each other, they make new umbrella's.
I can't hear autotrain without thinking of autorail, the dream of driving my car on to a trailer in Melton Mowbray and arriving the next morning avec voiture on the Côte d'Azure. The closest I've come is the Motorail in Slovenia which takes you on a partly relaxing journey from one side of a mountain to the other.
Yes, the "Auto-Train" in the US is a service that does exactly this (formerly a private company, now run by Amtrak) running from Lorton, Virginia south to somewhere in Florida. They'd take your car and put it in a ginormous garage car, and you'd ride the coaches down to Florida and have your car there. When I was a kid growing up in northern Virginia it was a popular way to go to Disney World, though we never did it.
Good one. In Sydney Australia we have harbour ferries that do not turn around specifically The Manly Ferries. A bridge at each end and the Skipper just walks to the other end. Speeds up docking at congested wharves. No doubt similar arond the world now but first used in Sydney. Cheers
Thanks for the explanation. Personally, I don't mind if a train goes forwards or backwards, it's the ones that go sideways that I try to avoid...
This is the internet, where people flog the damp spot where the dead horse used to be.
I literally guffawed!
This deserves to be framed.
LOUD LOLs!!!
I'm going to steal that line, and in true internet style, not give you credit.
@@jtsholtod.79 Be my guest! It’s not mine anyway: I first heard it in in 1980s...
My Hornby steam trains didn't seem to mind going backwards, it never occurred to me real ones might.
The locomotives don't mind, but the drivers do as they have to twist their heads around and they can't really see what is going on at the leading end.
You're lucky, mine derail when they go backwards.
I can't speak for everyone, but steam trains in my country did go backwards. It was discouraged and only happened when there was no other choice, but it did happen.
How to make the British rail network go backwards
A story by Dr Richard Beeching
Well, Ernest Marples really. Beeching was just the hatchet man.
@@jerribee1 Actually, he was just the report writer who produced varying levels of recommendations......
.......but, as usual for Tory governments, they just took the most extreme and published it with someone else's name on to make sure they didn't get the blame....
The invention and popularisation of the motor car effectively killed off many branch lines but it’s easier to blame a bogey man than the man in the street who wanted his/her own wheels!
Dr Beeching's brother was deputy head at my school. So, with my *ahem* spotless scholastic record, I spent a lot of time in his office.
As name-drops go it's a bit of an odd one - this is one of the few plces I can actually use it!
It's actually the first time, in forty years, that I have.
I can die happy now. There is darnkess all around me and I'm starting to feel the cold.
That'll be midnight in November then!
@@pd4165 Ah! But did Dr Beaching's brother make you turn out to be just as good as British Rail in the 1970's. Or did you systematically emotionally close down.
That one with the engine in the middle looks crazy, I've never seen such a thing! Amazing. Oh, and this video is perfect.
For example: th-cam.com/video/h3YmJkHGieg/w-d-xo.html
There are a lot of (very) short videos on that channel. Most of them have a long description text but only in german.
Auto trains are a fascinating example of steam technology, and I personally love them. Many British heritage railways, like the ones presented in this video, do still run them on special occasions.
The traction section of the APT was in the middle, inconvenient for passengers and two catering crew were needed, but the rail cleaning effect of the coaches ahead of the traction unit was said to give significant improvement in traction.
Watching this video actually got me thinking about a story I once read from the 1950s on the narrow gauge network in the Swedish county of Uppland: On weekends a service was ran between Uppsala and Faringe (a stretch of line which coincidentaly is still preserved) but since Faringe was unsupervised during weekends the engine couldn't run around the train there.
So what they had to do was to run the engine around at the last supervised station before Faringe and then push the train with the guard stood on the plattform of the first carriage with an air-horn for communication with the crew of the engine and signaling at level-crossings.
I suppose one could call it a very crude auto-coach.
We had a couple of the autotrains on my Dad's old layout in the 1970s. We used to love watching them run up the 1.5% incline to the girder bridge over the Main lines, which led to the branch station. I almost cut my thumb off with a scalpel while making that bridge - quite a shock to a 16 year old, and I was quite sad to see the bridge scrapped when it was moved out of the attic to the spare room. I did end up building the viaduct across the window are. No fingers or thumbs were injured during the construction. Really enjoy your videos, Jago. keep making them.
I had to rewind the start of this video multiple times (and even do the trick with the "
"I do not make videos that are responses to other response videos, that would be very boring"
The entire youtube commentary community: *sweats*
Jago in mildly miffed mode.
In the US we tend to refer to the non-loco ends of push-pull trains as "cab cars", and instead of just having a loco on each end like you guys do with some passenger trains, we have DPUs "distributed power units" on freight trains, often with locos distributed on the ends and middle of long trains, which pretty much are controlled by radio control. Trains really do come in every concievable arrangement.
Good point. Distributing the power sources in this was reduces the strain on intermediate couplings. On the Rimutaka incline in New Zealand (1 in 13), trains were split into up to 5 portions which were then all recoupled together - there are some iconic photos of this. But you can see why they built a tunnel to avoid this!
I remember now, my local branch line; Watford Jct. to St.Albans Abbey. At that time there were LMS Fowler tanks and then the BR Brighton-built 2-6-4s. Like any branch line, there was no turning at the end. Very early in the 1950s this line became the subject of an early four-wheel AC Cars diesel railcar, often coupled in a pair, that had side valances over the underframe. They were rough-riding and were transferred away, but the tank engines did not return.
Yet another Well-researched and presented work, Jago.
Great video as always
Thanks!
Perfect even...
How is Sunny South London? 😀
I love both your channel!
Any nuclear train incidents you can tell us about?
@@N330AA Well... there's always the time that a train was crashed into a nuclear waste containment vessel for funsies!
I worked that yellow stock when I was a guard at Glasgow Queen Street.
Of course, it was in Scotrail colours then.
That DBSO was the type of car that hit the cow at Polmont in 85.
All the dead, 14, were in it. The driver, guard and a ticket inspector in the van all survived. Having the dead weight of a loco propelling was what hastened the change to DMU's.
Yet the same DBSOs went on to run at one end of even longer trains on the Great Eastern Main Line for just over 15 years without incident. They were modified though with large object deflectors ahead of the wheels.
They were modified while still in Scotrail service following the Polmont derailment.
I liked the careful timing of the "or a locomotive at each end" comment with the photograph of the GLV, nicely pre-empting the inevitable comment that the GLVs were not unpowered trailers, but had their own motors in addition to the 73 at the other end.
Surely the glaring omission at that point in the video was a shot of an HST? Double ended long distance and still going strong almost 50 years on! Definitely nit-picking there, another cracking video Jago!
Are you not confusing a GLV with an MLV since, by Southern Region convention, if they were motored their designation would start M......🤔
@@harviemilligan1887 Are they classed/ regarded as DMUs?
@@highpath4776 The HSTs were originally numbered in sets as classes 253 and 254, as BR thought they were DEMUs. After a while, as the power cars were swapped around during maintenance or for other reasons, it was more convenient to treat the HSTs as more or less fixed sets of coaches with a loco at each end, so the power cars were reclassified as class 43 diesel electric locos. The German company RailAdventure has bought some class 43s to use in pairs hauling new trains from the factory to the customer.
Thanks for pointing that out, I've seen photos of those before but always assumed they were just driving trailers.
In mainland Europe push pull is pretty much the norm for any kind of locomotive pulled service, with electronics you can basically connect an infinite number of carriages and if instead of an instrument board you have a flat screen you can even display whatever information you need to.
You pushed the subject well, without pulling any punches!
And without giving us the runaround.
As they say, TRAMS, with the capability of going in reverse, is SMART. Actually, nobody says that. But it's true (sometimes, especially if you ignore proper grammar).
Ouch. For that I award you two forks and a tram cushion.
I suspect there is probably some US commuter rail system that has made use of that observation.
Some trams look like they have controls at both ends, but in fact are single need & rely on a loop at the end of the route.
Cities skylines noises intensify
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
@@hesterclapp9717 Oh, don't get me started on Cities:Skylines trams! Can't believe they have no way to go backwards!
@@lwilton Well... SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit) north of San Francisco actually uses DMUs. And as each car has a full width cab at one end, when they run three car trains (the longest that will fit the stations) there is no access from one car to the other two. But it is a nice trip and meets ferries to The City.
My favorite backyard railroad,the Long Island had a variant type of push-pull,and like Rudolph if you ever saw it,you would know it! It involved a converted FA,or F,(diesel freight engine),made into a dummy A,[model railroad parlance],that provided head end power for a batch of former MU coaches,and a pusher locomotive,of three separate classes,i.e,C420(Alco),GP-38-2,and MP15,and those engines were in several paint schemes! So for a great while,the railroad was a see of color! The units put in about 20 years of service,so literally they had a second childhood 😳! TH-cam might have some videos on that era,but I can't say for sure! Thank you for your attention and time!
There was something On a TV program awhile back showing an autotrain on a preserved line. They said that the drive could apply the brake but was unable to release it. So the fireman had to do it from the loco.
Harold Gasson (ex GWR fireman at Didcot) told a similar story from when he was working the Cholsey-Wallingford line and the regulator linkage came adrift when the driver was at the other end, so he had to shut it. The engine had to be uncoupled to do any shunting and presented a trap for main-line firemen; you had an extra task to disconnect the whistle chain, otherwise it parted with a "cheep" and a bang as the engine moved away. He broke 3 on his first day! Drivers carried a pocketful of S links for temporary repairs. One fireman famously forgot to recouple the coach and they went off light engine - this story was adapted for one of Rev Awdry's books, I think "Thomas the Tank Engine" itself.
"... and the idea could be used over longer distances". What, like London to Edinburgh? Oh, I see. Sorry. But despite my failed attempt at drollery, this was a cracking vid right up there with your best, Mr H. As with all your material, it informed and amused at the same time. Not too dissimilar to a 'push pull' arrangement. Thanks as always. Toodle-pip. Simon T
PS: Should I mention that I have in recent weeks been the Guard on an Auto-Coach on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway? You'd rather I didn't? I won't then. Bye.
This is very popular, basically the standard, on American commuter railroads that use locomotive-hauled trains. Interesting how the British see it as sort of a novelty.
Although on the other hand, MU's are the novelty in North American commuter services (outside the NE US) while they are used for everything in the UK. DMU's in particular are very rare.
I agree with you Jes A, I’m an American whose traveled to Europe a few times, the only times ive seen the locomotive hauled trains as you talk about is the Front Runner close to my home in Salt Lake City, Utah
Its funny sometimes how people who aren't familiar with this operating practice think the trains are running backwards, when there is actually a cab in the last car.
"... using, I don't know, computers or whatever.'
That's how I like to explain things too!
I rwemember as a young lad in school, late 60's, being given a task to design a machine to do (I dont remember what). Rather old teacher commended out ingenuity but derided the designs wholesale for " obviously not having any notion of the mechanical linkages required to perform the functions".
We knew damned well that Electronics were coming - we had the first few toys - and knew "a button to do this" could be put anywhere, if not now, then very soon.
I'd like to know how the staff in the cab of the autotrain managed to remotely stoke the engine with coal... :-)
An elaborative statement, based on 'Because, reasons'
@@AndyG73 they had a slave in the locomotive 😉
Ahhh, oddities that have oddities all of their own 😃
Interesting video. I am reminded of push pull trains on 5' 3" metals. Prior to the advent of DART in Dublin the trains were de-engined AEC railcars powered by C class MetroVicks. When the C class were rebuilt with GM-EMD engines they were fitted with a push pull facility. Though the ex AEC carriages were spartan these locos gave good service until the advent of DART in 1984. Some years later and CIÉ needed new outer suburban trains. Approval was granted to modify some InterCity mark 3 carriages into push pull carriages powered by a B121 class loco. Latterly the 201 Abhann locos took over workings from the B121s.
I do love the art deco designs of the Flying Banana/GWR Railcars
As it happens, I got some actual footage of one recently, but after I made this video.
@@JagoHazzard My dad travelled on one of the original ones when they were first introduced. He was very rude about their slowness and lack of springs!
@@chrisprobert794 Fortunately they were replaced with Pacers which were very fast and well sprung.
Oh wait, that's not right is it?
@@caw25sha Or as Mrs Pipe-Marshall would probably put it: 'I'm all about that Pace, 'bout that Pace, NO SPRINTERS!'
@@JagoHazzard A friend of mine drives the Flying Banana. Not jealous, well not much...
I've ridden on the GWR steam railmotor at Didcot a few years ago- It's beautifully restored right down to the seat upholstery. It occurs to me that I have at least ten model trains that could be considered railmotors on my layout, mostly electric but some diesel and one steam.
Nitpick to be informative: there's whatever rather than computers. It's all down to good, old-fashioned air and electrickery. Anyone who thinks those LNER DVTs are modern just because they've a pointy front and they're (nearly) freshly painted with a snazzy bit of branding really doesn't want to look in the electrical cupboards!
Oh, and both the bubble-car and the 153s are multiple units even though they're only single car, basically because they can work in multiple with no special requirements to make it happen. I suspect the GWR railcars aren't classed as multiple units simply because the concept didn't exist at the time they were built.
The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened with 2-car electric multiple units on 6th March 1893. Whether they called them "multiple units" back then I am not sure.
Exactly my thoughts as an electrical engineer. Thanks for raising this.
I just enjoy watching Jago's videos and making the occasional comment. I couldn't do videos like this, so thank you Jago. 😊
Now I'm wondering which rules are rules that are the exceptions to the there are exceptions to just about every rule rule.
I love watching your well researched videos. Always interesting! We have similar " push-pull" locomotives in Australia, not surprising. But what is surprising is how looong the goods trains are! A diesel loco at each end and a kilometer (it seems) of goods carriages in the middle; filled with coal, wheat or whatever cargo is being carried at the time. I often wondered how it was possible for the train to move at all! Now I know!
I’m very glad you teached me a bunch of new technical terms I did not know, i am used to the german tongue and living in France, so , a big “ thank you “🙏 for THIS lesson I learned today…!!!
Good one Jago - your patience with us commenters is commendable
Ooh I do love a bit of subliminal messaging with my tea! Keep smiling Jago.....we all loves ya, honest!
Where I live, in Southern California, nearly all trains are push-pull. Train novices often give regular passengers a laugh, when they remark that the train is going "the wrong way," or they ask "How can the engineer see the track if the engine is on the rear end of the train?" Hilarity ensues.
The DBSO at 3:58 or so might have been used on the Edinburgh -Glasgow route in the '80s. If interested, look up the Polmont rail disaster. There is the advantage of having the heft of a loco at the front of a train versus a DBSO. From memory signals were sent to the loco, typically a 47, from the DBSO through the lighting circuits in the cartridges.
Class 47/7 and Mk2 DBSOs. I was thinking of the Polmont disaster as soon as I saw the DBSO on the thumbnail. It was only a week or so ago that I was re-reading the report into the incident. Horrific stuff.
After the Edinburgh-Glasgow services went over to 158s the same DBSOs were converted to work with class 86 electric locomotives and used on Liverpool St to Norwich until the Pendolinos displaced the Mk3 coaches and DVTs from the WCML, which were cascaded to the Norwich line. Some of those DBSOs were then converted to work with the network measurement trains as illustrated here.
Yes. The system used by the Glasgow - Edinburgh services was TDM (Time Division Multiplex) a coded system sent by packet data from DBSO to a decoder fitted locomotive via the RCH lighting jumpers.......a more advanced system was subsequently used with Mk3 and Mk4 DVTs controlling classes 86/87/90/91 electrics......the NR DBSOs along with Chiltern, TransPennine and Traind For Wales now use similar but independently wired system.
After the Polmont crash, the DBSO "cab end" bogie was beefed-up (not sorry for the pun) to stop a repeat incident. The design change was such that the bogie could withstand a high speed collision with a ton of cow, and deflect the remains away from the wheels.
@@hollyruston2444 that pun, mate!! 😂
Guilty as charged.
In my defence, I come from a broken home, and it's society wots to blame guvnor.
Ta Jago.
As always, another excellent video from you Jago. And I remember riding on Railbuses out of Paddington station back in the mid-1960s when I first started work.
Nice job of making us slow the playback down to read your notes. You cheeky sod lol
The intro made me laugh! Your videos are amazing. Never change, Jago!
Must...resist...making...comments. :-)
@@AndyG73 🤣🤣
On model train sets the engine pushing the carriages were more likely to derail the carriages than being pulled and the full scale ones were too I believe
Its going to be Newton resolution of forces that would predict where the force in the 'tow-bar' is going in relation to the friction forces on the wheels from the curves in the rails etc
I understand that intrain forces go weird when the motive power is pushing rather than pulling which is why even now locomotives are placed at the front of the train. But I think carriage weight and length of train are major factors to it so short passenger trains, like the ones this video is concerned with, could get away with it while freight and long passenger trains could not, and would need some motive power forwards.
I believe that's also a big reason for the development of tank engines because the tenders become unstable when reversing at high-speed but tank engines can go full speed no matter their orientation.
Many thanks, be patient not everyone is as thoughtful as you.
Railmotors, railcars, pushme-pullyous-- my favorites.
Pleasing and informative review.
Nice to see Grosmont Station, Whitby, right at the end of the vid. Just up the road from where I live in Scarborough. The Pickering to Whitby North York Railway is a real treat!
Getting off the train at Shoeburyness and waiting for the Service 4A bus to Great Wakering one could stand at the end of the line and, through the fence, watch the loco that had just brought you to Shoeburyness run round the train ready for its next trip to Fenchurch Street. Kids' loco spotting delight.
That’s the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at the end - Grosmont - where it joins with the Esk Valley Line - if you travelled on the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to Whitby or vice versa, they used to run these little blue (and I think I have seen white ones) trains with no engines with a driving cab at both the front and rear - when it gets to Battersby, it appears to change direction - either the driver gets out and goes to the other end or they have a driver at each end! As to Grosmont, the Esk Valley Line track is on a bend, so, if you are sitting on the correct side of the train, you can see both ends of the train, if you’re sat in the middle of the train!
In some remote parts of NSW, there were no real roads or level crossings and some freight trains did some shunting and then proceeded to the next siding with the loco in the middle. I think that’s due to laziness rather than any efficiency. The line I was thinking of was the Naradhan line which I think is still open to this day.
Just to nitpick, the Mk7 Tri-Direction Flange Groodle, was only actually used between 1912AD-91BC on alternate Wednesdays when the the parliament of the Isle of Sodor was in session and I demand a video about it.
Why, yes, I am often booed off on open mic night. Why do you ask?
Boo! Gerroff!
Thanks Jago I am always happy to sit through another vid of yours.
Push pull trains are extremely common in the us, as essentially every single commuter train in the US (which is like 90% of all passenger trains here) operate as push pull
Brilliant video as always, thank you!
As an aside; my model railway only has tank engines, as I do not have a turntable to turn the locomotives with tenders.
5:17 - Ah the NYMR - I live at one end of the line in Pickering. Repton is a very popular engine on the line.
Dear Jago, keep calm and carry on. Let them eat nits, these nitpicker nitwits. Best wishes, John
[Pitch meeting meme] Oh! Let me get off of that thing then.
[physics meme] it's not that the train is going backwards, it's the station that is going forwards.
My old village/town (prestatyn) had this motor coach service. Have to admit I don't know how far the service ran, but being North Wales I guess the valley floor.
No nitpicks here! I just saw a railmotor on somebody's garden railway and had been wondering what it was. Fascinating stuff, and useful info for modeling branch line operations!
Thanks for clarifying the difference between a rail motor and an auto train!
In the US on non-electrified commuter lines, push-pull is very common. A diesel-electric locomotive is at one end of the train, with a control cab in a passenger car at the other end. Since most commuter lines are tidal (i.e.-most passengers into the city in the morning and out of the city at night), the locomotive is usually kept in the lead, pulling the heavier train with passengers, and at the end, pushing the lighter train with fewer passengers. NJ Transit is well-known for this type of operation.
Blimey the train you show at 4:45 I’m so sure I used to travel on from Aylesbury along the single track line via Little Kimble!! I remember it because it looked like a bubble!! The southern ones you show after are old hack!!
Really appreciated your introduction, top editing there.
Back in my trainspotting days it was always disappointing to think you'd spotted a (then new) Class 91, only for it to turn out on closer inspection to be a DVT. In retrospect, I don't know why - after all it's still part of a train, and we'd still spotted it. But for some reason we weren't interested in spotting them, only the locos...
For the benefit of those who haven't discovered the playback speed controls yet:
This video is perfect.
You cannot find anything wrong with this video.
You do not need to comment.
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It was meant to be subliminal so you've blown it now LoL!
When the Class 47/7s with a Driving Brake Second Open (DBSO) coach at the other end of the train were introduced on the Edinburgh-Glasgow service, the locomotive was always at the Edinburgh facing end. This was essential for the climb up Cowlairs Incline, out of Glasgow Queen Street.
My mates and I were haulage bashers at the time, and we referred to any trip with the DBSO leading as "pushage".
Nice to see the GLV, DBSO and DVT getting a little mention. Great work Jago.
I wish more model companies would produce push-pull sets in 00.
I know we have the GWR railmotors on their way, the bachmann and airfix/dapol/hornby autocoaches, the hornby Maunsell push-pull coaches, the kernow/djm/EFE LSWR gate stock, plus the bachmann mk2f DBSOs (not in Anglia, DRS, or Network Rail liveries though), hornby mk3 DVTs, and hornby mk4 DVTs (new versions due soon) plus the accurascale mk5as almost here as well. But we don't have LMS push-pull stock suitable for a bachmann Ivatt 2MT tank, or NER/LNER stock suitable for the bachmann G5s (which are due out next year), or whatever else used push-pull stock.
I'm not here to nitpick, as I don't know that much about trains (other than I love the Intercity 225! That train is so cool looking!) Anyway, after I stop fangirling over one of my favourite trains, I'm just here to appreciate your work and learn something new. 😊
Hi, fellow InterCity 225 lover! I knew there had to be more ;)
What is your favourite InterCity 225 livery, by the way?
@@gymnasiast90 Greetings! Mine are The Flying Scotsman/Scotswoman, and The Battle of Britain, as I've seen those in person. I like the one remembering WWI, but I haven't seen it yet, What are yours?
The Amtrak Downeaster, the only regular Amtrak service that goes through my town, does this by means of a "cabbage" (cab + baggage) car converted from an old locomotive at the end opposite the actual locomotive.
Technically the GO train in Toronto Ontario Canada uses auto coaches. On most of their major commuter lines they have one Diesel-electric unit on one end and a Bilevel passenger car with a cab on the other end.
I once on a GWR Autocoach back at the 2018 Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala. You get a good view of the line ahead if you get a seat near the cab of the Trailer.
Myst be a one off Auto Trailer then as the ones I've been on at the South Devon, Severn Valley and Llangollen all had solid wooden saloon walls behind the Drivers Compartment with a solid door in it.....
@@ianhudson2193 I've looked through my photos of the event and I can confirm that the coach I travelled on (178) had a windowed door.
Sorry, its been a while since then.
@@carribob1992 Posdibly an odd ball then ......I was always disappointed from the first one I rode on that it was a solid wall and door rather than like a DMU.....
I Wonder if you could do a video on steam trains on the underground after it was electrified .
As a young child in the late 50s I used to live near Debden underground station and I kept insisting to my parents , as I slept in the bedroom nearest to the railway line , I could hear steam trains every night and I was told no no no no you were just dreaming . It wasn’t until later that I discovered that there were steam trains going along this line at night delivering coal to the yards at Epping .
I’m presuming this was a common practice at the extreme ends of the underground perhaps you could do something on this ?
Not just the extreme ends! I think Jago has covered it already, but there were steam-hauled goods trains between Paddington and Smithfield meat market over the Metropolitan until the early 1960s.
@@bingbong7316 yeah I realise they were SteamTrains about elsewhere . For instance the Ongar to Epping branch wasn’t electrified until 1957 and I remember as a young kid standing on the footbridge at Epping station waiting for the steam train to come in from Ongar.
Following an eye injury in about 1947, my Mum had to take me to Moorfield's Eye Hospital and, on one visit, I was amazed to see a steam train chuff and clank through Old Street tube station pulling a goods train.
LT used steam pannier tanks on works trains into the 1970s, particularly for ballast trains and for working to Croxley Tip.
@@steveosborne2297 Also Rickmansworth to Aylesbury as per a recent Jago video.
Who would have thought that train enthusiasts would be picky about details? They will be writing down train numbers next.
“And of course you have the multiple unit, these are basically standard for commuter trains.”
*cries in American*
Great to see the running around at the Bluebell Railway in East Grinstead there!
The South Western mainline from Waterloo to Weymouth had an arrangement from the end of steam in '67 to the extension of the 3rd rail from Bournemouth to Weymouth ('87/'88) where a powerful (4REP) 4 car EMU would push one or two unpowered (4TC) 4 car sets from Waterloo to Bournemouth. At Bournemouth a Class 33/1 (push-pull fitted) would connect to the front of the unpowered sets and haul those down to Weymouth leaving the 2000hp 4REP EMU behind to cross over to the up side and work the next set of unpowered units back to Waterloo.
From Weymouth, the 33/1 would push the unpowered units back to Bournemouth with the driver controlling from the front cab of the unpowered sets. The units would be driven right up to the waiting 4REP, the 33/1 would uncouple from the back and the whole 4REP+trailer set would set off to Waterloo, this time with the powered EMU at the front. Everyday operations for 20 years.
You're right about the operational history, but the 4REPs were a bit more powerful - 3200 hp, in fact, so it was a decent power/weight sum for a 12 car train. They had 2 power cars, with a total of 8 x 300 kW traction motors. They were the only 2 brand new cars in the set, with the other 2 being refurbished Mk1s. All made in York, in a factory that's no longer there.
I very much like the GWR auto-tank classes, the 517s & 4800s in particular. Ever so handsome machines & surprisingly versatile. Then they made the 5800, which was like a 48 without auto-gear. They were basically stuck shunting as almost all branch traffic was auto-worked by the time they came along!
Here in the US, multiple units and single railcars are very rare. Our long-distance services usually have the whole train turned at the end of each run, regionals operate much as the traditional steam operation described here with the engine running round, and commuter trains are usually push-pull. But here, they're cab cars, not autocoaches.
HST's are the only ones,with a powered locomotive at both ends but for some reason they called the class 43 a power car which I assume means powered carriage which it wasn't as it didn't have seats in it and unlike the powered parts of the original Eurostar or TGV the class 43's is capable of independent movement separate from the train although as there's no back cab reversal is a problem so two locos are usually joined back to back.
I found your channel by accident. What a pleasant surprise. Thank you for your wit and wisdom 💜
More triangular junctions needed!
Hmm, having seen Salisbury at the weekend maybe not. (Dinton maybe an exception)
The Edinburgh - Glasgow stock used to be a class 47 and six (MkIIE?) coaches with a second cab built into the end of the guard's coach.
About that note at the end "there are exceptions to every rule on railways", that is a large part of why they are so interesting (to me).
Thank you mister Hazzard for exploring another exception to a railway rule
For some reason, when I read the title, I got the tune of "Hands that do dishes"(the Fairy Liquid ad) into my head. Now I'm stuck with it.😁
Was that red rail motor at Didcot? I think I remember going on it with my dad a few years ago, unless I'm thinking of something else! Keep up the great vids, don't be disheartened by nitpickers!
It was indeed at Didcot.
Thank you again Mr H for a another look into railway oddities . BTW love that station clock at the end.
Well presented Mr.H. You could use a Garratt also. Solves any traction problems,cab in centre, spreads load for branch lines with lighter rail. Now all you need is internet troll protection.
It's Mr. W
the bit of talking over yourself at 5:22 made me laugh
'So minister we need to upgrade our railways - any ideas?'
'I don't know, just use computers or whatever'.
Job done.
That was an enjoyable "quickie". Thank you. I seem to remember a crash in 84 when a push pull train hit a cow, carriage first, and the train derailed and 3 passengers died. The press were all over the new fangled "push-pull" thingy saying "it wasn't safe" and "if the loco had been at the front it wouldn't have happened" etc !! Well, we still use push pull to this day at even higher speeds !!!
There is an element of the crash impact strength (or disapation) of the carriages and underframes now
Stopped in Scarborough this week and after watching this film deliberately missed a multiple unit set to York so I could travel on the push-pull Class 68 loco and coach stock. The driving end cab is shaped a lot like the loco cab, but it's still not a loco.
Nice to see one of the Class 455 units with a class 507 trailer in it on here. I believe they shortened the 50-7's for Merseyrail use and reused the spare trailers in new-built class 455 units.
I have constant debates with my misses when we arrange to meet on a train at liv st. I'll say 'see you at the front' and she will be at the back, because 'the front' is nearest the buffer end of the platform for her.
Some trains that go to Sheffield/Leeds on the Midland Line out of St Pancras, go via Nottingham, very confusing as the exit in the same direction as they arrived, so my booking of a seat facing direction of travel all worked very badlly !
I wonder if you could do a proper video on the Tay Bridge disaster. 2022 is the going to be the last year that the current Tay Railway Bridge is going to be in use as a Railway Bridge due to excessive corrosion, the need to replace more timbers and the fact that strenghing works can not be undertaken due to it being a listed structure. It currently is single tracked with a 30mph speed limit in place.
Would make an interesting new year story , especially Sir Thomas Bouch.
I'm still not a train geek but I do enjoy these videos. It must be the history and engineering.
The modern MU operations were pioneered by an American, Frank Sprague. He developed the system originally working with multiple lifts working from a common controller. This was implemented for railway use in Chicago on one of the L lines
( South Side) I believe.
I believe that one of those pics was of a gatwick express. The coach at the front was a GLV (gatwick luggage van). That happens to be another oddity of the past. Both the GLV and the loco at the back both had motors for speed.
5:10 Obviously an American tourist who believes it's always raining here and one umbrella just isn't enough. Probably got three of those transparent plastic poncho thingies in his pocket just in case.
What are you talking about? That's clearly a baby umbrella. You know, when a momma umbrella and papa umbrella really love each other, they make new umbrella's.
One for the everyday British rain. The other for when it really starts tiddling down.
Excellent video! Chin up and never mind the nits looking down!
I can't hear autotrain without thinking of autorail, the dream of driving my car on to a trailer in Melton Mowbray and arriving the next morning avec voiture on the Côte d'Azure. The closest I've come is the Motorail in Slovenia which takes you on a partly relaxing journey from one side of a mountain to the other.
Yes, the "Auto-Train" in the US is a service that does exactly this (formerly a private company, now run by Amtrak) running from Lorton, Virginia south to somewhere in Florida. They'd take your car and put it in a ginormous garage car, and you'd ride the coaches down to Florida and have your car there. When I was a kid growing up in northern Virginia it was a popular way to go to Disney World, though we never did it.
@@MattMcIrvin I've seen videos on here of people doing this in the USA, very envious!
Good one. In Sydney Australia we have harbour ferries that do not turn around specifically The Manly Ferries. A bridge at each end and the Skipper just walks to the other end. Speeds up docking at congested wharves. No doubt similar arond the world now but first used in Sydney. Cheers