rapidotrains Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Hi all, We had so much fun with our big APT-E and Stirling Single launch parties in the UK that we decided to do something similar in Canada. These sorts of launches are pretty much unheard of in North America. To add to the excitement of the weekend, we chartered two cars from VIA Rail Canada - an LRC coach and a Skyline dome-lounge-coffee shop. We took 70 of our fellow railfans on a wonderful, exclusive ride through the autumn colours between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. We even included overnight accommodation in Montreal. In the UK world of rail charters, this is all very blasé. There are charters all the time. In Canada, they are almost unheard of. We haven't had a mainline steam charter in several years, and we haven't had regular railfan charters since about 1980. Very few railfan organizations have done what we did - charter a part of a VIA train for railfan use. We're hoping that we can do more of these in future, but to be honest it was not easy to pull off. At the very least we plan to have some excursions in our sleeping car, CN/VIA Edmundston. A full photographic report can be found here: http://www.rapidotrains.com/blog/2015/11/06/riding-the-rapido/ Thanks for reading, Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Hi all, We had so much fun with our big APT-E and Stirling Single launch parties in the UK that we decided to do something similar in Canada. These sorts of launches are pretty much unheard of in North America. To add to the excitement of the weekend, we chartered two cars from VIA Rail Canada - an LRC coach and a Skyline dome-lounge-coffee shop. We took 70 of our fellow railfans on a wonderful, exclusive ride through the autumn colours between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. We even included overnight accommodation in Montreal. In the UK world of rail charters, this is all very blasé. There are charters all the time. In Canada, they are almost unheard of. We haven't had a mainline steam charter in several years, and we haven't had regular railfan charters since about 1980. Very few railfan organizations have done what we did - charter a part of a VIA train for railfan use. We're hoping that we can do more of these in future, but to be honest it was not easy to pull off. At the very least we plan to have some excursions in our sleeping car, CN/VIA Edmundston. A full photographic report can be found here: http://www.rapidotrains.com/blog/2015/11/06/riding-the-rapido/ Thanks for reading, Jason They were pretty much unheard of in the UK until you came along - you should patent the idea! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Tilt Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 It looks like you had a real blast on the Rapido Charter Train, I just read through the whole report on the site. Of course, me being me, I want to know if the LRC cars on the train actually TILTED on the trip ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerald Henriksen Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Of course, me being me, I want to know if the LRC cars on the train actually TILTED on the trip ? My understanding is that the tilt mechanism was removed from the LRC cars during their latest refurbishment as the tilting had been disabled anyway. Part of the issue would be that VIA doesn't have anything that goes fast enough to justify tilt, with the P42DC being rated at 100mph according to VIA's website. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Tilt Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 My understanding is that the tilt mechanism was removed from the LRC cars during their latest refurbishment as the tilting had been disabled anyway. Part of the issue would be that VIA doesn't have anything that goes fast enough to justify tilt, with the P42DC being rated at 100mph according to VIA's website. The ultimate speed of any particular train has nothing to do with the need for a tilt system. What is important is how fast you want to go around any particular curve compared to conventional trains on the same curve. If a conventional train can round a particular with zero cant deficiency, ie. with no lateral force exerted on the passengers, at 40 mph, a tilting train could traverse the same curve at 60 mph without the passengers feeling any increase in lateral force. There are many railways that operate tilt body trains over their metals without exceeding 80 mph, so the fact that the P42DC is rated at 'only' 100 mph is irrelevant. There's no doubt that designing and building tilt body trains costs more in the first place, and they cost more to operate, and some operators are operating their tilt body trains with the tilt systems switched off for just that reason, Cross Country in the UK being one of them. They are operating their Class 221 Super Voyagers with the tilt systems de-energised because they can't afford to maintain them. Either that or they don't have the skilled staff that are required to maintain them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Decorum Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Not long ago I had my first trip on a Pendolino. (I'll wash my mouth out with soap in a minute.) What I never expected was that on an inside curve crossing another Pendo, I found myself looking at the roof of the other. Gone in a flash but etched on memory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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