Category Archives: Trains

Delivering a crane by train

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Marcus Wong

I’ve seen many interesting pieces of Russian heavy machinery, but this is a new one – a crawler crane that can be moved by rail. The crane arrives at the Tyosovo Railway Museum in Novgorod Oblast on the back of […]

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‘Do Re Mi’ music as the train powers out of the station

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Marcus Wong

It’s normal for electric locomotives to make some kind of ‘buzzing’ noise as their accelerate, due to the way that power is applied to their traction motors. But the Siemens EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives make an unexpected sound – […]

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Transporting railway track by train

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Marcus Wong

You can transport many things by train – but what about the railway tracks themselves? Photo by Falk2, via Wikimedia Commons Used to deliver pre-assembled pointwork or crossovers directly to the work site, the tilt mechanism ensures that the bulky […]

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Why did the train stop to close the bridge?

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Marcus Wong

On Facebook I recently came across a video of a train coming to a halt, so that a man could swing a piece of track into place before it could then proceed. So what is the story behind it? The […]

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How do trains change to daylight savings time?

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Marcus Wong

Timekeeping is something that railways take seriously – but what happens to trains when the clocks changes from ‘normal’ time to daylight savings, and an hour is either lost or gained? Germany Deutsche Bahn cancel trains due to run in […]

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Moscow’s deepest metro station at Park Pobedy

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Marcus Wong

The Moscow Metro is known for deep stations, but Парк Победы (Park Pobedy) is the winner – at 73 metres underground it is the deepest station in the city, and third deepest in the world by mean depth. Underground there […]

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Russian level crossings bite back!

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Marcus Wong

As I travelled across Russia by train there was an interesting feature at every level crossing we passed through – massive steel plates that lifted out of the roadway, preventing cars from driving around the boom gates. Some level crossings […]

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How the TGV has shrunk France

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Marcus Wong

Here is an interesting find – graphs comparing the reductions in travel time to cities across France, thanks to the introduction of the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) high-speed rail network. Photo by Didier Duforest, via Wikimedia Commons Travel times […]

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ОПЭ1 electro-diesel locomotives of the former USSR

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Marcus Wong

An electro-diesel locomotive is a unit that can operate from either an external electric power source, or standalone with an onboard diesel engine, and on the railways of the former USSR is an interesting example – the ОПЭ1 and subsequent […]

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A whistle stop tour of Sinaia railway station, Romania

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Marcus Wong

As I travelled across Romania by train, the railway station at the mountain resort of Sinaia in Prahova County caught my eye. Photo by Andrei Stroe, via Wikimedia Commons Căile Ferate Române 4-6-0 steam locomotive 230-039 was plinthed outside the […]

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