Trains, Planes & Automobiles

[shaun mc]

1 hour ago, Futtocks said:

Still running, although the carriages look somewhat more modern.

 

Didn't Michael Portillo have it on one of his programmes?

[Futtocks]

So long, farewell, don't hurry back.

[High Peak Rhino]

1 hour ago, Futtocks said:

So long, farewell, don't hurry back.

Exceedingly basic but the low cost kept many a line open in the 80s when they were built. Plenty of other trains only a year or two younger still running round up here, which in my opinion are noisier and no more comfortable.  

[Futtocks]

11 minutes ago, High Peak Rhino said:

Exceedingly basic but the low cost kept many a line open in the 80s when they were built. Plenty of other trains only a year or two younger still running round up here, which in my opinion are noisier and no more comfortable.  

Low cost when they were launched, but very high maintenance in more recent years, when they were decades past obsolescence and needed constant work to keep going, even at the sub-cattle-truck standard they operated at.

Edited November 28, 2020 by Futtocks

[Mumby Magic]

Are the Sprinters still going.

[Bleep1673]

I read somewhere that the diesel engines on trains, are reconditioned lorry engines.

Really rubbish unsubtationable mention.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Bleep1673

[The Hallucinating Goose]

13 hours ago, Mumby Magic said:

Are the Sprinters still going.

Yep, still going strong, quite a few companies still running those. Northern still run every single varient of them I believe though they are starting to phase in the turbostars more now which is progress at least.

They got a load of turbostars off scotrail to replace a lot of the sprinters. I remember the Hull to Scarborough train a couple of times having scotrail livery on the side of it when they first arrived on that line not too long back, I guess they hadn't got round to changing it before putting them into service. 

Little fact about the express sprinter as well, they were exported to another country in the 90s when Thai Railways purchased a few and as far as I know they still run there. Shows the quality of Thai railways I think when they saw the express sprinter and thought, yes please, we need some of them! 

Edited December 1, 2020 by The Hallucinating Goose

[Bleep1673]

Page 432 on BBC;s Teletext service is a joke, some of the Items they have in the Rail Travel page have been there for months.

e.g., TfL have a fire alert at Heathrow terminal 5, Greater Anglia have had an electrical problem at Silver Street since July.

[Bleep1673]

On 04/10/2019 at 09:07, Shadow said:

I remembered another means of transport I've taken and I suspect @Padgehas done the same.

Not sure what you'd call it...basket sledge maybe?

Yup, done that in 1997 I think.

[gazza77]

Anyone made the move to an electric car yet? I have one arriving tomorrow, looking forward to the experience. 

[Futtocks]

2 hours ago, gazza77 said:

Anyone made the move to an electric car yet? I have one arriving tomorrow, looking forward to the experience. 

My sister's gone for a hybrid, but she lives out in the countryside, so it's good to have an internal combustion backup.

[gazza77]

On 02/12/2020 at 19:47, Futtocks said:

My sister's gone for a hybrid, but she lives out in the countryside, so it's good to have an internal combustion backup.

We're kind of semi rural, being on a farm in the pennines. Charge point installed a couple of weeks ago, car arrived this morning. Unlike being an ice vehicle generally nowadays it was fully charged however, so yet to actually plug it in given its only been for a test run to the chippy and back.

[M j M]

I don't care if it's not in the thread title I'm going to carry on appropriating this place to document stuff that floats.

I drove over to Hull KR territory this afternoon to witness the final sailing from the UK of the Pride of York. Delivered in 1987 this was the very last British-built passenger ship of any note. The last of the line in every sense, covid has finally done for the ship, its Japanese-built sister and the Hull-Zeebrugge route.

 

[M j M]

Anti-fog windscreen system on a Russian train.

 

[M j M]

51 years since the first 747 arrived at LHR.

Those early 747 flights seem like a blast. According to the book 'Skygods', "Pan Am was, in effect, providing the test beds for the troubled Pratt & Whitney IT9 engine... It had become a daily occurrence: one of the big jets would start out on its overseas journey and then - kabloom! - an engine would stall. The exhaust gas temperature would soar into the red. An orange sheet of flame would erupt like hellfire from the tailpipe, panicking passengers and loosening the bowels of astonished flight engineers".

 

[Bleep1673]

5 hours ago, M j M said:

51 years since the first 747 arrived at LHR.

Those early 747 flights seem like a blast. According to the book 'Skygods', "Pan Am was, in effect, providing the test beds for the troubled Pratt & Whitney IT9 engine... It had become a daily occurrence: one of the big jets would start out on its overseas journey and then - kabloom! - an engine would stall. The exhaust gas temperature would soar into the red. An orange sheet of flame would erupt like hellfire from the tailpipe, panicking passengers and loosening the bowels of astonished flight engineers".

 

The only time I have been on a 747 was to NZ & back, via Japan... LHR to Osaka, to Brisbane to Sydney, to Brisbane, to Auckland to Sydney, to Tokyo, to London

[The Hallucinating Goose]

10 hours ago, M j M said:

51 years since the first 747 arrived at LHR.

Those early 747 flights seem like a blast. According to the book 'Skygods', "Pan Am was, in effect, providing the test beds for the troubled Pratt & Whitney IT9 engine... It had become a daily occurrence: one of the big jets would start out on its overseas journey and then - kabloom! - an engine would stall. The exhaust gas temperature would soar into the red. An orange sheet of flame would erupt like hellfire from the tailpipe, panicking passengers and loosening the bowels of astonished flight engineers".

 

I true icon, very sad to see it finally retired from passenger service but much more efficient planes have been developed since and it was costing too much to fly the 747s. Its a real disappointment of mine that I never got to fly on one.

[M j M]

3 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I true icon, very sad to see it finally retired from passenger service but much more efficient planes have been developed since and it was costing too much to fly the 747s. Its a real disappointment of mine that I never got to fly on one.

I flew on a couple, -400 types: BA LHR to Narita and back in 1999 and Virgin Gatwick to Orlando and back in 2001.

But perhaps my greatest airliner claim, we flew on a United Airlines 747-SP in the early '90s - this, I think, would have been 1993. Not just an -SP but an ex-Pan Am machine as well.

They only built 45 of these short-fuselaged beauties but... phwoar, look at this baby

[The Hallucinating Goose]

8 minutes ago, M j M said:

I flew on a couple, -400 types: BA LHR to Narita and back in 1999 and Virgin Gatwick to Orlando and back in 2001.

But perhaps my greatest airliner claim, we flew on a United Airlines 747-SP in the early '90s - this, I think, would have been 1993. Not just an -SP but an ex-Pan Am machine as well.

They only built 45 of these short-fuselaged beauties but... phwoar, look at this baby

That picture is getting me hard.

[M j M]

As for future travel, well Lufthansa are the obvious choice as they have their new 747-8s which should be around for some time, assuming the aviation market returns to something like normal. Although finding them deployed on a route I actually want to use has been difficult so far (I'm willing to pay a bit more for airplanes I like, e.g. 787 over an a330, but going to entirely different countries I'll only do for ships I'm interested in, not planes).

Korean Air are the other major 747-8 passenger operator so and they use them to Heathrow so that might be a fruitful adventure at some point in the future. Certainly the 747 is a much more appealing beast than the ugly a380.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

3 minutes ago, M j M said:

As for future travel, well Lufthansa are the obvious choice as they have their new 747-8s which should be around for some time, assuming the aviation market returns to something like normal. Although finding them deployed on a route I actually want to use has been difficult so far (I'm willing to pay a bit more for airplanes I like, e.g. 787 over an a330, but going to entirely different countries I'll only do for ships I'm interested in, not planes).

Korean Air are the other major 747-8 passenger operator so and they use them to Heathrow so that might be a fruitful adventure at some point in the future. Certainly the 747 is a much more appealing beast than the ugly a380.

I have to agree about the a380, not an aircraft I particularly like, as you say, very ugly with its massive forehead. It is an amazing piece of engineering but was always gonna be cumbersome, expensive to operate, apparently quite tricky to fly because of the weight and from a passenger perspective I don't want to be on a plane where I have to walk a marathon before I find my seat and walk miles to the toilets, plus be surrounded by 500 other people. I'm not a massive wide body fan as such, especially not something like the a380 when you're 10-12 seats wide. I do love the 747 though, a bit of an exception to my passions. 

In terms of the era I love the most it's the age of the pioneers, really early airliners, the earliest fokkers, de Havillands and Douglas for example from 1920s through to the 50s with things like the early jets such as the comet and my all time favourite plane, the truly gorgeous Lockheed Super Constellation. 

[Shadow]

17 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I have to agree about the a380, not an aircraft I particularly like, as you say, very ugly with its massive forehead. It is an amazing piece of engineering but was always gonna be cumbersome, expensive to operate, apparently quite tricky to fly because of the weight and from a passenger perspective I don't want to be on a plane where I have to walk a marathon before I find my seat and walk miles to the toilets, plus be surrounded by 500 other people. I'm not a massive wide body fan as such, especially not something like the a380 when you're 10-12 seats wide. I do love the 747 though, a bit of an exception to my passions. 

They’re much nicer upstairs

[shaun mc]

Flew on 747's a couple of times for one of the legs on the way to/from New Zealand (no idea what variant)

Both times managed to bag one of the 2 or 3 back row seats where it was 2-4-2 instead of 3-4-3. Some passengers didn't like them as the tv monitor was a little offset to the seat in front, but they had more elbow room and a bit more legroom as well. Also, if you're a couple there's no 3rd person to be thinking of getting in and out of seats on long haul. More noise and movement from the galley area, but also the chance of bagging some extra nosh or drinks 

 

[M j M]

44 minutes ago, Shadow said:

They’re much nicer upstairs

Virgin bunged some Premium Economy up there which is where I assume you enjoyed it

[Shadow]

7 hours ago, M j M said:

Virgin bunged some Premium Economy up there which is where I assume you enjoyed it

Emirates don’t