CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

"Snow" - or - 7m47s of how they kept the trains running in t' olden days

(11 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by kaputnik
  • Latest reply from kaputnik

  1. kaputnik
    Moderator

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    Largely OT British Transport Films railway nostalgia porn.

    However, it is beautifully filmed - none of that silly stiff-upper lift "how we'll beat Jerry" sort of production, it's got quite a swinging-sixties feel to it and a rather awesome Dick-Dale-esque soundtrack.

    Anyway, my point is that it shows what they could achieve with the limited technology of steam trains backed up by an army of men in bunnets with shovels in the 1960s. No fluorescent vests required. Note also that the odd-few diesel trains are also running and the passengers are enjoying a traditional novelty activity called sitting.

    And if that's not enough, there's always Snowdrift at Bleath Gill from 1955 -

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    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    kaputnik, that first video has made my day. I don't normally watch things for that long but that was properly enthralling!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Excellent - I was having a rather amusing daydream this morning about what a modern version made for Scotrail might look like :)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    "what a modern version made for Scotrail might look like"

    This??

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Leader_class

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. Morningsider
    Member

    Kaputnik - "Snow", what an amazing film. Makes you want to weep though as to how poor our rail service, particularly the rolling stock, has obviously become.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Particularly the bit with the gents sitting down to a proper breakfast, off proper plates, with proper cutlery, drinking proper tea and coffee out of proper cups (and smoking a proper pipe, if that sort of thing floats your boat)!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    It was nominated for an oscar

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. LaidBack
    Member

    I have been told by a 'source' that there is now one electric train from Kirknewton and back a day. Electric units to Glasgow via Bathgate have been working ok.
    The turbostar units have been a disaster. First Group thought they could get away with it - even though last year was a warning.

    Same source also pointed out that First's out of town bus services cut out villages in West Lothian and told people to walk from not the most convenient place. ie - they insisted on stopping at distant stops that were under a foot of snow!
    I sometimes wonder if 'private' public transport has some sort of deal with Arnold Clark? 4x4 sales will be on the up and up.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Electric units to Glasgow via Bathgate have been working ok.
    I got one of those as far as EP today. Was on time. I have to say one of the most sensible features of the ex-SPT units is that the floors are linoleum, rather than the stupid hard carpetting of the ScotRail units. The "utility" specification of the interior is far more practical in this weather.

    The turbostar units have been a disaster.
    I was meant to get two different ones today at Haymarket. Both delayed then cancelled. They've resorted to tieing sacks over the exposed couplers on them - got a good look at one at Haymarket, looks like the sort you buy logs from the petrol station in.

    Undercarriage of the Turbostar was cased in ice, and in comparison to the Electric units, there's a lot more (basically "everything") under the floor to go wrong. The electric units have less need for kit and also have a lot of it roof mounted so are probably less vulnerable to underfloor icing.

    Read a comment on a rail site praising the old 156 / Sprinters for being overweight (= traction), tough and simple and keeping going where 158s and Turbostars were failing. They also have little snow / object deflectors fitted.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. Smudge
    Member

    As was pointed out by swmbo with some exasperation, pretty though steam in the snow was, with the rose tinted specs off there were plenty delays and cancellations back in the good old,,,erm bad old days. If we wanted to now it would be easy to put together lots of film of electric and diesel trains whizzing along apparently efficiently in the snow...

    Also the men with flat caps and shovels took time, and lots and lots of it to dig out track. The heroic recovery of the stuck goods train at Bleath Gill for instance, stuck four days before they even got to it iirc?
    Oh and in the pre "elfandsafetygonemad" days their flat capped and hi-vi less injury and death was sadly relatively common. Now a death of a worker is unusual enough to make news.

    Certainly there is room for improvement, and some change is for the worse (a lot worse in some areas), but not all, and the past was often a lot worse than imagined!

    Just an observation....

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. kaputnik
    Moderator

    And you wouldn't want to crash in a pre BR Mark 3 carriage...

    <rose-tinted cycling spectacles back on>

    Posted 13 years ago #

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