European Railroad Discussion > Winterail 2017 - 3 Favorites Slides from Latvia

At the risk of boring people with some repeat photos - I attended Winterail in Corvallis, Oregon this last weekend, and submitted photos for the all-comers "Three Favorite Photos" segment of the event.   My 3 favorites were from a June 2016 visit to Latvia and Lithuania.   European TO members will be amused to learn that the vocalized comment from the crowd on the photos below was "What the heck is that?".  This was spoken as the second photo was projected.  Oh well, I tried!

1)  Latvian Railways DMU eastbound at Salaspils
2)  Latvian Railways EMU eastbound at Salaspils
3)  Latvian Railways with coal export train in Riga harbor yard. 
 

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I find that many North American railfans know nothing about international railways and often could care less. They have no idea what they are missing. 

Great shots. I love seeing the foreign power shots here on TO.

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL

Have to agree with the above. For me, the overseas stuff is saving my interest in railfanning for now, it's just something different and interesting. I mean seriously, how many C44 GE's can one look at before being bored? Lol.

I really like those RVR DR1 DMUs in shot one. I first saw them when we visited the Baltics in 1995, it was love at first sight.

Railfans the world over can be very parochial, certainly the case with some of the individuals you encounter collecting numbers at the ends of platforms here in Britain.

86235 Wrote:
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>
> Railfans the world over can be very parochial,
> certainly the case with some of the individuals
> you encounter collecting numbers at the ends of
> platforms here in Britain.

I agree. It's not a quality confined to a single nationality, but it seems to me that the only real variety these days arises from international comparisons. In much of western Europe even these are slowly disappearing. . When we were young it was possible to feel overwhelmed by the strangeness of "foreign" trains because there was so much variety at home, but now this really doesn't exist.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/17 10:13 by spflow.

It also helps a lot to be there in person and see how intense railways can be in other parts of the World. Mention sixty trains in an hour in certain places in Europe and no one here in the US can conceive that. It is hard to grasp even looking at it in person.

Jim

I spent a week in Latvia last fall, very much enjoyed the rail system.  (Also spent time in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Estonia)

I'm glad you were able to show the Winterrail crowd something a little different.  

Airfare Seattle-Riga has been in the $580 round-trip range all winter long, but it looks like it's now a bit above that.  You can go foaming in Latvia for a very reasonable price, as once you land the cost of food and accomodation is very low in US$.  I recommend it.  

Ted in OR

dwatry Wrote: > ...  comment from the crowd ... "What the heck is that?"...

I have a perfect answer: It's flanged wheels on steel trails, captured by some top notch telephoto composition work!
Yeah. That's the ticket...

Lance/199
(keeping an eye on your work... ;^)

YUP,

They would not know what to do with a quiet overhead wire pantograph wire railroad power system;
OH THE SANITY AND OPPORTUNITY OF ALL ELECTRIC POWER.

I mean think of all the coal mine jobs that would be kept and the unskilled labor jobs that
would be created by electrifying the western lines first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF I remember my reading correctly the Milwaukee Road stopped at the base of thier mountain routes because they
were going to electrify their mountain routes later.

Question please!
What is the meaning of the Exclamation Point Sign in photo-2?? 
A caution or speed check?

Many thanks, from a neophyte to European railroading.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

I would think a warning sign. On roads an exclamation mark is an unspecified warning, there's usually an additional plate providing context.