European Railroad Discussion > Going to Europe in a few weeks.

Its not a train watching trip, but i am taking the train a lot. 3 days in London, then the Eurostar to Paris for 3 nights. Tgv train to Zurich then Chur in same day. Bermina Express following day. Same day train from Tirano to Venice for 2 nights. Then finally italio to Rome for 3 nights. Are there any train museums in London, Paris or Rome? Anything i can't miss in those towns railwise? Thanks!

Posted from Android

The UK's main railway museum is in York. The science museum in London is interesting though and has a few train exhibits.

The London Transport museum is in Covent Garden.   They have a store in the suburbs at Acton Town which opens occasionally on weekends.

It sounds like you won't have time but Didcot Parkway station is in a triangle of lines and sees a reasonablle mix of trains.   The triangle also houses the GWR society musuem.

goduckies Wrote:
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> Its not a train watching trip, but i am taking the
> train a lot. 
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Anything i can't miss in those towns railwise?
> Thanks!
>
> Posted from Android

Short answer is yes, too much stuff to see. I have not been to Rome or those but if you could alter your trip the ride across Gottard Pass, in particular right now whilst most traffic is going over the mountain instead of through it would be my vote for biggest miss. It can be done later but it will be a secondary line by then. Museums though I would second the London transport Museum. The collection of stuff, especially old stuff is amazing plus you get to learn about London and how fast it grew in the last two hundred years thanks to good public transportation. Riding on the London Underground is always enjoyable. You can see the Eiffel Tower from Paris Metro line 6. 

The UK and Europe is a great experience. The main problem I find is that I want to go back again while I'm still over there. Have Fun!

Jim

Rome has got interesting streetcars and a fun-to-ride interurban line that leaves from right outside Termini Station and goes to Giardinetti.  See my TO post link below from March
 for photos of it.   Porta Maggiore is a very busy junction/crossing of several streetcar lines with the interurban line, and a Roman aqueduct, to boot!

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?17,3997312

Besides museums, in the UK there are a lot of steam excursions on the mainline.  You can ride or photograph these.  Check this website for the listing:

http://uksteam.info/tours/trs16.htm

If you have time to "kill" in London, Clapham Junction is probably the busiest location but the museum suggestions would be well worth seeing. Clapham would be for an evening time.

Unfortunately York is a full day to/from London.

DaleR

dwatry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rome has got interesting streetcars and a
> fun-to-ride interurban line that leaves from right
> outside Termini Station and goes to Giardinetti. 
> See my TO post link below from March
>  for photos of it.   Porta Maggiore is a very
> busy junction/crossing of several streetcar lines
> with the interurban line, and a Roman aqueduct, to
> boot!
>
>
I'm not aware of a museum in Rome, but there is some equipment on display near the Roma-Lido station by the pyramid. This is close to the Roma Ostiense station, built by Mussolini to welcome Hitler on his visit to Rome. I lived about 15 minutes walk from there, but never really looked into the equipment on display. The area seemed to be closed whenever I went by, so I lost interest.

I would second dwatry's suggestion of the narrow gauge interurban line. I rode on it a decade ago and it was quite interesting. The line has been extended since then. At that time some of the equipment dated from the Mussolini era, or so I was told. I think that equipment is no longer in service. There is also an interurban line that meanders up to Viterbo that might be worth checking out. There is a streetcar line that runs from Trastevere around the city to the Parco Borghese. I just rode that last October. It's a pleasant trip and ends up at the famous park. 

The local transit authority, ATAC, has some good online resources -- maps and trip calculators, for example -- that would be worth checking out. 

Thanks for the ideas so far. I just added a trip to Liverpool too.

Posted from Android

There's a heritage railway museum at Crewe, which you'll pass through on the way to Liverpool! Again though, the national railway museum at York is amazing...a train from Liverpool to York only takes two hours, then you could get an express down to London...