Dr Gerbil-Fritters

The ones that even know what a 'British' accent is... in my many trips over there most folk hazarded a guess at australian... they could spot 'posh English' and Guy Ritchie mockney and that was about it. I used to hang out with a girl from Tenessee... now that was an accent! She made everything sound suggestive. That may just have been her though, she was a great girl!

Probably not so great for the folk living in the empire, and not that great for a large number of ordinary folk here either. Great for the small number of rich and powerful. Most of whose descendants are still living pampered lives of wealth and power to this day.

Looking forward to that story! In a similar vein, it reminded me I once found myself in China in the company of the redoubtable Basil Roberts, an absolute diamond gentleman but also rather firm of opinion. We were photting steam, and he was a 'rods down' man and loathed the steam shows that some crews put on for the camera, all drain cocks and shrouded in steam etc. He was of the opinion that it was all the fault of a certain well known British photographer (not obnoxious, indeed he was another gent I was pleased to have known) As his latest shot was ruined by clouds of unnecessary steam and a crew gurning for the cameras he was heard to remark 'That c*&t Garratt's been here again!' As with Allegheny, I too am a fan of the CNW and was amazed and pleased on my first trip to Tehachapi in 2003 to phot a CNW Lightning Bolt Dash 9. I'll forgive the 1970s UP as being a very different beast to the current UP...

Poor old SDP40's getting the blame again. If I may... 'Later FRA investigations concluded that the actual culprit was the light weight of the baggage cars, which caused harmonic vibrations when placed directly behind the much heavier SDP40F.[22] A contributing factor was the sometimes poor quality of track the locomotive operated over.[23]' The boiler set up in the SDP and FP possibly didn't help. Allegedly, a similar problem befell the GP60M as the greater weight of the wide-nose Safety Cab caused worse riding than the previous spartan cab version GP60. I'm not sure how reliable these anecdotes are, although the y seem to get firmly embedded in the railfan canon. Also loving the thread - my favourite era by far. I'll forgive the current UP content and hope we see some proper railroads later!

Same, 2016 did it for me. The still is from his Mexico 2018 series, the final episode of which has the bleakest ending of any train video I've ever watched!... His latest vid is of the Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico, once again featuring The Incredible Whining Brit. I do wish he wouldn't spend quite so much time on the top of cars going through tunnels though... even allowing for the inherent risks, that's taking dumb to new heights.

'If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our club' You can hear the tune, can't you?

Ghetto Guards are a feature in Mexico, even with FRA approved impact resistant glass... and the view from inside... The stack trains in this chap's videos feature automatic rifle toting security personnel riding the wells... In all my years of railfanning I got a visit from the Border Patrol once, down near Shawmut, and plagued by cops on the last trip to Tehachapi. But other than that, never saw a soul... mind you, I avoided yards and built up areas as a rule.

Excellent... The two units at Granite appear to be C&NW SD45s... odd looking things. Also note the uncovered autorack in the last pic.

I don't believe that embargo will last. Capitalism drives business towards monopolies, so I expect the next merger to unite the eastern roads (CSX/NS) with the western roads (BNSF/UP) to initially end up with two coast to coast roads and one north to south road. (CN/KCS) PSR will continue and one man crews will arrive... Mind you, I'm not factoring in developments in ocean shipping... a new Pacific Atlantic canal and the northern trade route becoming ice free among others.

When isn't it a tough time for Amtrak... Lovely travelogue Jamie, for me the classic era - late 70s to late 90s. I was lucky to be able to do a serious amount of railfanning in the early 2000s - to 2015, but the mega-mergers had started the decline in my interests. and the current scene has almost no interest for me anymore. We must be close to the end-game merger wise now.

A decadence.

boom! Big Sandy Tx, a short while ago

Fantastic thread, looking forward to more. And look - here's another surprisingly shabby station. From 2018, can you guess which station it is? Apologies for the the thread hijack...

Yes please! As many as you have! I never get tired of this layout, it thrilled me when I first saw it in 1975 when I borrowed a copy of the Buckingham Great Central book from my local library and it still thrills me now 46 years later... I am so pleased it still exists, still runs, and is still much loved.

Good film, too. The branch scenes were an eye opener - absolutely filthy!

Judging by the trailers, I don't think anyone is watching this for its historical accuracy...

Japan. Rock Music. I'll just leave this here, and see myself out.

arghh... my eyes! I've never seen one of those before!

EMD? How very dare you! You've given it an Alco windscreen and an EE nose! EMD bulldog is much more aesthetically pleasing.

I caught Hitchcock's Young and innocent (1937) on Talking Pictures. The train sequences got a big cheer in my house. We all like a good train set.

I am building a small layout... something like the very tiny end of the Rubelandbahn before it got truncated back to Elbingerode. Konigshutte...

This is a nice intro to the Rubelandbahn... it's fascinated me for years. Die Rubelandbahn and Once again, I've missed out on the great years - straight after the Wall came down it was a fantastic place to visit. I don't think any 15Kv eloks will be appearing, so no worries on that score, John! Mind you, I've enough dampfloks to swap between DR and DB modes...

Yes indeed... Although there was very heavy freight traffic, passengers in the latter years were conveyed in a single Halberstadt or Mintlinge coach. A fascinating system, and if I had the room I would like to model Blankenberg Hbf. I'll have to settle for something smaller, an mash up of Konigshutte and Hirschberg...

Couldn't a gas turbine also be built as a cab-forward? Nothing to shovel in the back end, surely.