Prague to Humenne (Part 2)
I actually got round to finishing off part 2 of the “Night Train” video…
Crossings
One of the biggest “shocks” I have had since arriving in the US is the state and design of railways lines.
Firtsly they still use wooden rail sleepers that are, for the most part, falling to pieces so badly that the line would be shut down if it was in most parts of the world; the older ones (if they haven’t already disintigtrated) are holding the rails onto the posts using metal spikes that are hammered onto the sleeper, assuming they haven’t been shaken out by the passing trains. Worst still, if the sleepers are being replaces then they are being replaced using yet more wooden sleepers and not concrete ones. I am sure there is a good reason for this (at least I am hoping there is), but it is not something you expect to see in the 21st Century.
Secondly, crossings. The way that railways look to have developed is that they will be crossed, frequently, by roads. At one time the practical way of crossing them was to simply build the road across and add in a barrier. There are going to be many problems with this, but two I would observe as being important are holding up the traffic and reducing the speed of the trains.
Some of the freight trains that run are, most often, at least a mile long, some longer; this in itself is very impressive (in fact one of the highlights of the rail system here is that so much freight is moved by rail, quite right too!). However, these trains also take a long time to pass through and so hold up traffic waiting at the crossings, this would also include emergency vehicles. Would it not seem logical for there to be at least one crossing in a town to go under or over the rail line to maintain the flow of traffic.
Having so many crossings also reduces the maximum speed that a train can travel simply because of the hazard they pose; you do not get very many higher speed lines in the world with roads crossing them, it is simply dangerous. So this reduces the maximum speed a passenger train can travel and so inhibits any attempt at introducing rapid speed transport (I would say there needs to be rapid speed trains before you get to high-speed). Given the state of the sleepers this is probably a good thing, I would not like to be travelling along a line at 100mph knowing that half the sleeps holding the rails are falling to pieces.
The problems with crossings can be best illustrated by the following video…
Night Train: Prague to Humenne
I have created part one of the video I took of the night train from Prague to Humenne R 225 ŠÍRAVA (it’s part one because I didn’t have any more time to complete the whole jounrey). At about 776 KM, the journey takes 11 hours, 55 mins; comfort is optional. However, it is an adventurous journey and if you take the journey during the summer, and get up early, you do get to see some of the best part of Slovakia. I have taken this train so many times I’ve lost count. So this video is dedicated to this journey
Double-headers
For reasons I haven’t quite figured out, there seems to be a considerable number of double-header freights trains passing by all the time - we live close enough to see plenty of freight trains passing. Other than the obvious under-powered reasons, most of these double-headers and ‘bankers‘ - you have one at the back pushing. Sometimes the formation is a coupled bank engine, othertimes they are uncoupled; The tracks have little or no gradient to bother the hauling loco, even in the surrounding area. So the only plausible explanation is simply too many underpowered locos
Praha - Bechovice
Shameless self-promotion of a misspent hour on Saturday
I must admit that this if my first, somewhat wobbly, attempt at YouTubing. Normally I would prefer to take photos, however, this time I thought I’d give this youtube thing a go. It is not an outstanding piece of video capture but then not much is on YouTube; but this is what it is all about, sharing the moment, and enjoying yourself; probably.
Its a bus/train
Interesting concept using the best of both worlds. It would be interesting to see the overhead powered version.
Railway Market, Bangkok
There are several clips on YouTube around this market. Essentially it is a market on a railway track, and there are 8 trains a day
Paris to Strasbourg
SNCF have published a cab view journey for the complete journey from Paris to Strasbourg.
