Train Smashes Speed Record!

No wonder. It was invented prior to basic aerodynamics laws being defined.

:confused:
When would that have been…1890?

And so stylish….:rolleyes:

No wonder. It was invented prior to basic aerodynamics laws being defined.

Sad to say having been involved at the sharp end with the former APT project that the UK had a train in the mid seventies well capable of topping 200 mph on standard tracks, did so on a number of unpublished occasions but political manouvering and a fatalistic view of the future put paid to that idea, sadly sold off to the japanese for pennies in the end with the husk left out for people to gawk at.

As for the TGV, little to be said there really other than this is what can be acheived when your government backs your railways with money and planning, all that prevents regular running at those sorts of speeds is the economic costs involved in power consumption and maintainance, having driven them on regular service schedules they are easy to handle and have installed power well beyond that required so fast services are easy to achieve.

Here what do we get, units with a bag of half dead gerbils to power them, why oh why does this country always do things on the cheap then moan about lack of performance and service limitations afterwards I will never know, anyway Virgin got the message and bought Italian all the way, not much of a choice really as no one builds trains here anymore.

Pete,
I suspect the 1000 new coaches will part of the new generation of DMU/EMU units. That does seem to be the way they are going these days with few trains being hauled stock.
Gary

The good old HST is now over 30 years old and currently being refurbished and re-engined, but where is it’s replacement. If you think about it, when HST came out, there was nothing in passenger or loco stock surviving from 30 years before, except perhaps the lovely old teak LNER buffet car that I used to travel in to Ely on the Harwich boat train in the 70’s.
At one time the HST was being considered by Amtrak for high speed use between LA and San Francisco but nothing came of it.
I read that 1000 new carriages are to be provided for the rail network to help with overcrowding, but what will be used to pull them, 50 year old diesels?
I’m sure that the European/North American/Japanese rail industries will sell us a solution as usual.

I had the chance to take a ride on the TGV from CDG to Avignon and from Avignon to Paris Gare de Lyon twice last year and I have to say that I was impressed by the ride quality and the comfort. NOthing compares to it in my opinion, but I am being a little biased as I am French.

i know… you would of thought they would of tried to push it that bit harder on the opening run!

i know if i was in charge it had to be worth it..

its crazy tho… 357.2mph on a long route would soon as them miles behind you.. it puts us in the UK to shame with our Virgin 125mph train!! – however.. i thought the GNER got upto around that speed? if not a little faster?? ie King Cross to Leeds…

RicKT

Try NI Railways trains. They go about 90mph tops. And theyre only new. But the rail network here is pretty bad.
I will be taking a TGV from Tours to Paris in July as part of my holiday!

By coincidence, there’s a letter in this months Railway Magazine reffering to the old GCR route being ressurected for high speed running, it would appear that on closure of the line, BR sold off it’s rights of way along the route, so it would be a financial nightmare to get them all back again and reopen the line, good planning ahead as usual.

On a sad note, it would appear that the Mk1 maroon carriage set used as The Hogwarts Express and kept at Carnforth, has been vandalised to the extend of 200 windows being smashed by youths, nice one, sort out the Muggles, Harry, or should we send them to the tender care of Voldemort, or maybe he did it.

Not any more, the Russian TEP-80 holds the record now with a speed of 271Km/h

And so stylish….:rolleyes:

Sod the Mallard, just Stephenson’s Rocket instead…..

I believe that Mallards current boiler certificate has run out, until she is overhauled and the boiler reinspected shes going nowhere.

Perhaps we should pull Mallard out of it’s inactive retirement at York and give it a go.

The Great Central Railway was built in the 1890’s and not only designed for high speed running, but built to a continental loading gauge with a view to connecting to France via a Channel Tunnel.
It ran from Manchester to Sheffield, then Nottingham, Leicester, Rugby and London, in other words, down the spine of the country.
What happened to it, inter regional rivalry caused it to be closed in 1966, some bits are still going, but not many. It had the countries first main line electric system between Manchester and Sheffield, but this was never extended or improved and was pulled up in the 70’s/80’s.
I’ve heard rumours that it could be reopened, well, if you want to knock down the buildings on the trackbed, evict the steam railway at Loughborough and destroy the centre of Nottingham including the tram system, then fine.
A classic case of lack of foresight, but isn’t that typical of our railway system.
The next time you travel up the M1 between Lutterworth and Leicester, the GCR used to run on the left hand side, it’s marked by a line of trees, in the old days we used to race Class 5’s on the Marylebone Semi fasts in an old van and generally win, though I have a timing log of a journey up there in 66 behind a sad, filthy Class 5 and we were getting up to nearly 100mph.
My enduring memory of this line was on a canal holiday a few years ago, following the line of the railway towards Daventry, we spotted an original GCR double arm signal post sitting alone and forlorne in the middle of a ploughed field, that sums it all up really.
Incidentally, the main engine sheds, main trackbed and repair works at Annesley in Notts have been suitably covered in colliery spoil, preventing any reinstatement of this facility, the colliery is now closed of course, thank you Mrs T for destroying our industrial heritage and future industrial growth, including the railways.

Does anybody know if the British ‘InterCity’ 125 is still the fastest diesel train in the world?

Not any more, the Russian TEP-80 holds the record now with a speed of 271Km/h

its crazy tho… 357.2mph on a long route would soon as them miles behind you.. it puts us in the UK to shame with our Virgin 125mph train!! – however.. i thought the GNER got upto around that speed? if not a little faster?? ie King Cross to Leeds…

Lol, you folks in the UK got a lot more than us Yanks here in the States.

Our use of trains for travel is much more limited than in Europe it seems.

I remember riding on the EuroStar from London to Paris one time, and I was really impressed with the ride. It was so smooth! Very fast too…..at least in my limited train experience it seemed fast.

Does anybody know if the British ‘InterCity’ 125 is still the fastest diesel train in the world?

Every day I pray a train network with trains like this are intergrated in to the UK. The UK rail network is a joke, I frequently travel around that country and journeys that take 3 hours by car take 5 by train.

I gather that trains cannot actually run at these speeds because the signalling would mean that extra gaps had to be left hence slashing the line capacity, is this correct?
Cheers
Phil

That train had in-cab signalling, as it’s too fast for external signals to be read by the driver. Not sure if other TGVs have it, but that model will have it as standard when it enters service. Needs trackside infrastructure, of course, but I think that’s in place on TGV lines already.

I was in France last week. All over the news, of course. The record-breaking train had some modifications, e.g. non-standard wheels (standard ones aren’t cleared for that speed).

We came home the day after, & the station signs were reading VITESSSSSSNCF! in between normal displays.

It’s incredible to think the TGV has yet to have a serious accident where dozens of lives are lost such as the ICE crash a few years back or even a derailment such the one in Cumbria. Is it sheer luck or absolute virtual perfect engineering?

From what I know, the french TGV has a design advantage over other trains: you don’t have one set of wheels at the end of each carriage, but one set between two carriages. That means that, if the train derails, it won’t flip together like the ICE did. I’ve see on the news a TGV that derailed, and bravely stayed aligned with the track, with the wheels off the rails.

That said, the infrastructure is also helping the avoidance of accidents: sensors on all bridges that cross the track, to detect if something gets dropped on, … All this has a cost, of course.

I gather that trains cannot actually run at these speeds because the signalling would mean that extra gaps had to be left hence slashing the line capacity, is this correct?
Cheers
Phil

Phil,

East Coast mainline has areas north of Peterborough cleared for 140mph running, if I can find my old manuals I will let you know the exact spots. Also although our signalling system uses 4 aspect colourlight signals, for areas in the UK that have a higher speed than 100mph, the 4 aspect signals have a 2 yellow flashing sequence when a train approaches a junction. Also in the 100mph plus areas the signals are spread alot further apart. General basic rule of thumb for UK signalling is the closer the signals the slower the speed. Example, signals approaching London Victoria are very close hence speed is 20mph from Battersea Bridge into Victoria.

Bex

Finally, the East Coast Main Line (GNER to non railway peeps) is cleared in places further north for 140MPH running, though the Class 91 locomotive was tested upto 162 MPH.

I gather that trains cannot actually run at these speeds because the signalling would mean that extra gaps had to be left hence slashing the line capacity, is this correct?
Cheers
Phil