To begin with the new line was affectionately named Yume no Chōtokkyū – or the ‘Super Dream Express.’ The earlier and more popular name ‘Bullet train’ didn’t gain world wide fame until the line had opened. This third part of the series looks at the new trains and the test […]
Transport
338 posts
A few weeks back I had written most of a post – not yet quite finished called Britain’s Tinpot Railways – about the huge disbenefits of Britain’s railways and the backwards culture – it was one of two articles that critically examined the role of our railways in new and […]
This is the second part of the planning/construction of the Shinaksen. Its straight in to the history! The construction of the Shinkansen would require enormous investment, some thought it would be as much as 200 billion yen. A significant proportion of the funds would have to be raised from banking […]
During previous research on the Shinkansen, I found few construction pictures and it appeared there was little in the way of comprehensive information. Since then further new sources have since been subsequently discovered – both official and personal accounts. Although these are written entirely in Japanese which made research rather […]
Green Park tube station is unusual that it has had two lots of Royal openings! The first was for the Victoria Line in 1969 and the second almost exactly ten years later for the Jubilee Line. No surprise when some of the station’s most important neighbours (well just across the […]
No this is not some weird 1972 film review. I am aware of a film that goes by a similar name but this is not that either! On the other hand this post could easily be called Ludgate: Requiem for a City King – by decree of the area’s alleged […]
Its 20 years since Croydon’s new trams began service. These, known as Tramlink, began in May 2000. The anniversary is rather muted it seems, its possibly due to the covid pandemic situation – only one or two tweets reminding people of the pending anniversary! Thus I thought a post with […]
This is an overview of the stations and route forming the third part of the Victoria Line in 1969. The stations were Oxford Circus, Green Park and Victoria. The problems of building a station underneath the Peter Robinson store was told in the first part published last December. The famous […]
The tube was the first passenger railway in the UK to adopt any form of automated train control or rather as it was known in those days, Centralised Train Control (CTC.) This was indeed the first in Europe and was installed on the Metropolitan Railway’s new branch to Stanmore. It […]
With everyone having so much time on their hands due to the current enforced lockdown, I thought a guide to those long rail videos which can be found on You Tube would be useful. Remember You Tube is constantly being updated thus no sooner than this has been published there […]
The 10th anniversary of the East London Line is with us! Thirteen years ago the original East London Line line shut. In 2010 it re-emerged a new route as part of London Overground. Its official opening took place on 27 April 2010 at Dalston Junction by the then Mayor, Boris […]
The bizarre track layout at Princes Risborough! When you thought British Railways planning couldn’t get any worse, here’s a particular example of its backwards philosophy. Its not like Seaton Junction where an entire station was left in situ with just one plain track through it which didn’t matter because the […]