European Railroad Discussion > Old Linslade this afternoon

Although it was bitingly cold this afternoon, thanks to a stiff northerly wind, I spent a few hours shooting pictures at Old Linslade on the West Coast Mainline 40 miles north of London. Saturday afternoon usually produces about seven freight trains between 13:00 and 17:00 on top of which are countless Virgin, London Midland and Southern MU long and medium distance passenger services.

A couple of pictures; firstly GBRf's 4M23 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal train behind 66719 Metroland and, secondly, a class 221 Super Voyager on Virgin's 14:10 London Euston to Holyhead.

The remaining pictures from the afternon are here http://smu.gs/XxPRYl

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Concvincing camera work again on the 2/3 scale rolling stock, thanks Nick!

McKey Wrote:
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> on the 2/3 scale rolling stock

Me no understand.

I think you do... :)

For others, the British traditional rail lines use much smaller loading gauge than the continental Europe. As Nick has been discussing, some of these loading gauges are finally being modernized to meet the needs of the freight railroading companies, and of course the new high speed lines are of "normal" European loading gauge.

Or should I say the traditional loading gauge is 1/2 of the loading gauge generally used in U.S., Russia, Baltic states (not everywhere), Finland, much of the other Nordic area, ...

Our loading gauge compared to most of continental Europe is restricted, but not by as much as has been suggested. Here an ex BR class 58 has an NS Baldwin/Werkspoor class 1200 electric in tow on an ACT intermodal train to Rotterdam. The size difference is obvious but not enormous.

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No double stacks anywhere I know. Not yet at least.

I only wish I would have a shed and Euro 4000 pictured right next to each other, so I could show what I mean. Or a 2Te116 and s shed... I don't think this Dutch electric uses the advantage of the wider loading gauge fully. Interesting to see it trailing in this consist!

I doubt that Western Europe will ever see double stacks on the North American model without spending a fortune on raising catenary, and given the relatively short distances involved and the impact said investment would have on other developments I really can't see it happening. The NS 1200 is not noticeably smaller than other Dutch locomotives in my experience. It is slightly wider and taller than the 58, which is what I would expect. More importantly look at the boxes, they are the same you would see on standard flats on many British routes today.

Great head-on shot mate!

Well, obviously the 1951 -1953 locomotive type might not be the best measurements, as loading gauges tend to get larger, but I see your point. But would I be right saying something like Vossloh Euro 4000 could not run here?

Your picture with Dutch class 1200 is a treasure, I thought all units (except the ones for museum runs) were retired by now.

The British Loading gauge works great for the international N Scale modeler. I have British N stuff which is gauged at 1:148th scale. Being in the US everybody builds their layout to the US (and most of the World's) standard of 1:160th scale for N. This means that I can take my British N stuff and run it on just about any layout because the smaller loading gauge offsets the larger British N scale size.

Great pictures Nick. I enjoy looking at them.

Jim

McKey Wrote:
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> I thought all units (except the ones for museum
> runs) were retired by now.

I'm sure they are, that was taken in 2007 when ACTS was using elderly ex SNCB EMDs, Baldwin-Werkspoor 1200 and three ex-BR class 58s. I think ACTS have now entered the modern age and dumped the historic fleet :-)

doesyourdogbite Wrote:
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> Great head-on shot mate!

Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/13 13:56 by 86235.

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> I enjoy looking at them.
>
> Jim

Thanks Jim.

Here's a reminder of the old days on the WCML, 87002 Royal Sovereign at speed on a northbound express back in March 2000



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/13 13:59 by 86235.

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