EddieB

Talking of Angola, there's a good article in the current (February 2024) issue of the German magazine "Lok Report". For the intrepid, the LCGB are planning to run a tour to Angola later in the year, visiting all three lines (I believe places are still available). The first train along the Lobito Corridor was reported on the Lok Report website earlier this month (Google translate is your friend): https://www.lok-report.de/news/uebersee/item/46636-angola-demokratische-republik-kongo-erste-lieferung-von-kupferkonzentrat-ueber-den-lobito-corridor.html

To return to the class (Thai GE 4001 series) that started this thread, I would recommend a post on the World-Rail-Gen IO Group (from 9th September) that gave a then current status update for all the extant members of the class. (Good to see the thread revived).

Nice photos, Kevin. Can I ask when they were taken? Davenports 518 and 537 were among the museum exhibits at Hua Lamphong Station, Bangkok when I visited last August. A further six members of the class were in a line of demics alongside Bang Sue depot. Bang Sue was the only place I saw a working example - back in 1991 and even then surprised at the longevity of the type.

Yes, the shunter 702 951-5 at Poprad is metre gauge, built as such and formerly TU29.1001 (as snapped at Stary Smokovec on my Instamatic in 1973). Under the renumbering scheme narrow gauge locomotives (which previously had 'U' [úzký] prefix) were given numbers in the 9xx series. However classmate 702 950-7 has been converted from an equivalent T212 standard gauge locomotive - I think after your visit (or mine in 2004, come to that). The shunters in your earlier photo are similarly in the 706.9 series, formerly TU46 class (old numbers still in evidence). They are of similar provenance to a diesel (TU6) that elicited comments earlier, these being of the Soviet-era Kambarka TU7 design, supplied widely to industry across the USSR and "friendly countries".

Hitting "like" doesn't mean I enjoy this news - as seen reported on other sites. I guess it begs the question as to whether "real steam" includes the operation of fireless steam locomotives in Germany, Austria and Slovenia.

There were nearly two hundred British-built steam locomotives that went to Turkey. Most were from orders sent directly, but aside from the 8Fs built for the War Department, six ex-GWR "Dean Goods" were taken into stock of the Ottoman Railway Company (ORC) from the Railway Operating Division post WW1. It is debatable what is meant by "British outline", as there were various side-tank, saddle-tank and pannier-tanks supplied to industry which may have resemblance to some working in Britain (but not direct equivalence). These apart from "British style" locomotives supplied to pre-nationalisation Turkish main-line companies. Would the solitary ORC Beyer Garratt be classed as "British outline"? As Gordon mentions, Beyer Peacock and Vulcan Foundry supplied locomotives of "German outline" to the state railways after WW2. That is to say nothing of British-built "Turkish outline" locomotives in Britain. From ORC cancelled orders the London, Chatham & Dover Railway had four Robert Stephenson 4-4-0s and the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway two Sharp Stewart 0-6-0s.

Turkiye Seker Fabrikalari/Turhal Sugar Factory using an 0-6-0ST built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns (RSH 7310/1947)?

Apologies for having just revived last year's thread. I'm not yet ready to face 2024 if it turns into a repeat of last year's "competition".

Puts him in good company? (Who is more toxic - Horner or Vennells?)

Great shots and memories - keep 'em coming! Latvia was the first of the independent Baltic States I visited, soon after British Airways had added Riga as a destination and were offering discounts. A long weekend, two nights sleeping in the hire car (Lubeck plates) and one at a Best Western. Whereas there were "strategic reserves" around the country, Jelgava had collected what appears to have formed the basis of the museum collection in a secure compound. I was offered to purchase a spare L class 2-10-0 at the depot. Chancing my luck at Riga Skirotava Depot, it had one of those guard dogs that feign sleep on the way in, but wake up as you try to go out. Thankfully the staff were friendly - or at least didn't want to break of from playing cards.

Thank you for that information. I can't be sure of the date as I only noted the set number and therefore cannot distinguish from empty moves to and from North Pole - but it would have been in the Summer of 2001. (18th July seems most likely). At least there was a back up plan available - the inconvenience of a missed connection against a full service cancellation...

At risk of departing from the main topic of discussion, was such a move made frequently and why? I recall being puzzled at seeing a fully loaded Eurostar come into the middle road at Kensington Olympia, to reverse back out again - I have a record of the date somewhere, but certainly it was when services ran from Waterloo.

...while our Western democracies pretend there's nothing to see.

So that’s the reward for Azerbaijan ethnically cleansing the Armenian enclave of Nagarno-Karabakh?

The nickname is << Régilolis >> (see what I did there!), 4- or 6-car EMU sets built by Alstom/CAF from 2014. Apparently similar units operate in Algeria and Senegal.

It depends on what information you're after. Essentially the EE 350HP export "family" includes 20 locomotives to the Malayan Railway, 15 to Egypt, 2 to Sweden, 125 to Netherlands, 15 to Victoria, Australia (five originally to the State Electricity Commission, later to VR) and 5 to Sudan. Similar locomotives went to British industry (ICI), I don't know of a single source that describes these locomotives together and in detail. There will be some inclusion in "Power for the World's Railways: GEC Traction and Its Predecessors, 1823 to the Present Day" (Bradley, which includes works numbers), a bit of background to EE engine development in "The Diesel Impact on British Rail" (Tufnell) but neither are comprehensive. Doubtless there will be coverage in contemporary issues of "Diesel Railway Traction" (which was a supplement to the Railway Gazette). A recent book from BOHRT ("LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILCARS OF THE EGYPTIAN STATE RAILWAYS 1852-2002") has but a short section on service in Egypt. As has been given, web links associated with destination countries should be helpful. (I was thinking more of Bronski Beat).

Forgive me for posting some older pictures of Bordeaux Saint-Jean. That trip was memorable in that my trusty Escort went "round the clock" (100,000 miles) while driving through Bordeaux. It then disgraced itself by the (recently-fitted) dynamo packing up just outside Toulouse, driving through the night (with the Falklands War reports on BBC long wave for company) before the battery dying just outside a Ford garage in Lens.

Not just in France. Being surprised to find a fellow enthusiast at Tatabanya in Hungary, it turned out that his father was retiring that day, on a Railjet service. When the train pulled in, his cab and station platform were full of well-wishing staff members. I think the celebrations in Hungary may include more liquid than France!

Although the spraint gave some exciting action, with more than anticipated overtakes, the format doesn’t allow teams to experiment and find the optimum set up for the main race. No more was this apparent than with Mercedes who were uncompetitive come the main race. You can’t have it both ways - while I accept that it’s equally up to the technicians to use whatever limited feedback is available, it does mean that some teams will be compromised and not being at their best - which is surely what we all want to see. Really great move by Fernando to take back third on the last lap - you could see the delight in his face in the interview and on the podium - but it now looks as though the “race” for second in the championship has defaulted to Sergio.

Indeed, complete and otter crap!

With every hypothesis there must be a control sample - in other words taking at random a group of those who did not fit the "discretionary criteria" for similar testing. As the article states, had there not been a spraint race, most likely there would have been no issues raised.

Apparently four cars were selected at random (there’s an oxymoron there) for inspection, of which two were found to have worn planks, resulting in disqualification. With such a high percentage of failure, surely there should be grounds for a wider scrutiny across all teams?

Never a Manchester United follower, but Bobby Charlton was certainly one of my childhood heroes. Outstanding as a striker in the 1966 World Cup side - which is perhaps around the time I first started to follow football. Too young to remember the Munich air disaster, but old enough to appreciate the fairytale comeback winning of the European Cup in 1968 (against the great Eusebio, no less). Always the gentleman, always giving his all when he played. Sadly taken off by Sir Alf when England lost to West Germany in Mexico, 1970. A belter of a shot to close out the opening sequence of The Big Match (remember the tune?). Tears on This is You Life when he recalled the team mates who died in the air crash. Thank you, Sir Bobby, you brought honour to their memory. I saw him play once - a goalless draw at Upton Park. Years later he was guest speaker in a City Pub (something of a local to where I worked) - couldn’t get near the place!

Without cheating I eventually got to 480 (82.8%) and then my computer froze! I was running short of ideas, though a couple of stations I could picture in my mind’s eye but couldn’t remember the name. You get a nice effect when you clear a line (W&C is the easiest). I note that recent extensions of the Goblin and Northern Line are included. I noticed that some minor spelling errors get corrected, but names should be complete (e.g. I tried various alternative spellings of "Piccadilly" before realising that there was another part of the name). Thanks to an “old git’s pass” I travel around the TFL network quite a lot, but am least familiar with lines extending to NW London (metroland) and stations on the DLR. Edit: Hooray! My progress has been restored after rebooting.

So two cars, from two different teams, were tampered with between the spraint race and the proper race such that their floors were rendered illegal? More like a bumpy track took its toll over race distance and the capricious stewards saw an opportunity to disregard the result on track. Favouritism? Sure. Max should have had 5 seconds for forcing Le Clerc off the track.