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Author Topic: Longest 15x train - what's the limit?  (Read 29146 times)
eightf48544
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« Reply #15 on: December 19, 2014, 10:32:34 »

Winter of 1963 32 COR on Haslemere bank. 3 Trains 2*12 (3*4)  + 8 (2*4). 16 cabs!

But then they were good old fashioned DC (Direct Current) English Electric traction motors and no sophisticeted software.
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grahame
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« Reply #16 on: January 19, 2015, 02:53:27 »

Here's an even longer MerseyRail train ...

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/watch-biggest-merseyrail-train-ever-8468958?

The article doesn't state the number of carriages ... what do YOU make it?
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2015, 03:47:43 »

18 which is 6 units.
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tomL
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« Reply #18 on: January 19, 2015, 21:19:00 »

Seconded.  Grin
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Cynthia
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« Reply #19 on: January 25, 2015, 09:00:27 »

Whilst watching Michael Portillo's 'Great British Railway Journeys' the other day (complete with shades to negate the effect of his gaudy jackets!) I noticed that while he was standing on a platform doing a bit of his narrating, a humungously long train pulled in behind him.  Didn't count the carriages but was fascinated to see an engine half way along the train, as well as the one at the front!  Must have a look again, on iplayer.  Can't remember the line he was travelling at the time, though he was on his way to Lindisfarne.
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trainer
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« Reply #20 on: January 25, 2015, 16:48:28 »

It was a Crosscountry Voyager, Cynthia, with just two units joined so not more than 10 coaches, but long for British trains these days. The lenses of TV cameras distort distances sometimes and it can be difficult to judge spatial relationships on the screen.
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Rhydgaled
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« Reply #21 on: January 26, 2015, 12:50:11 »

It was a Crosscountry Voyager, Cynthia, with just two units joined so not more than 10 coaches, but long for British trains these days. The lenses of TV cameras distort distances sometimes and it can be difficult to judge spatial relationships on the screen.
But an 'engine' (which I assume means 'locomotive') at the front and in the middle? Voyagers don't have locomotives.
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« Reply #22 on: January 26, 2015, 14:43:01 »

The leading vehicle was a 5 car class 221, the rear I'd guess was probably the same (although could have been a 220 or a 4 car 221, not sure how many of these XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) have now).
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trainer
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« Reply #23 on: January 26, 2015, 22:15:17 »

It was a Crosscountry Voyager, Cynthia, with just two units joined so not more than 10 coaches, but long for British trains these days. The lenses of TV cameras distort distances sometimes and it can be difficult to judge spatial relationships on the screen.
But an 'engine' (which I assume means 'locomotive') at the front and in the middle? Voyagers don't have locomotives.

I think the front of the second unit was mistaken for a loco.
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Cynthia
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« Reply #24 on: January 28, 2015, 22:47:33 »

Ok, thanks folks.  By the way, what is the difference between an engine and a locomotive?  They both provide propulsion don't they?  Sorry, a bit of a girlie question, that.
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Rhydgaled
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« Reply #25 on: January 29, 2015, 09:46:38 »

Ok, thanks folks.  By the way, what is the difference between an engine and a locomotive?  They both provide propulsion don't they?  Sorry, a bit of a girlie question, that.
A locomotive is a rail vehicle with just one purpose: to move the train along the tracks. That is, it provides the motive power for a train and has no payload capacity of its own (other than, perhaps, train crew). For example, a class 47 diesel. The term 'engine' can be used to mean 'locomotive' but can also refer to an 'internal combustion engine' installed within a diesel locomotive to provide power or under the floor of a DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) (Diesel Multiple Unit) train. Multiple units (DMU and EMU (Electric Multiple Unit)) form most passenger trains in the UK (United Kingdom) these days and do not have a locomotive: the vehicle(s) which provide motive power in a multiple unit also have passenger carrying capacity (for example, see the class 220 'Voyager', every vehicle in the train has passenger windows.
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stuving
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« Reply #26 on: January 29, 2015, 10:07:08 »

By the way, what is the difference between an engine and a locomotive? 

The length of the word.

No, seriously - one is a long, technical, word with a well-defined meaning; the other is a common, non-technical, word with lots of rather vague meanings and idiomatic uses.
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Cynthia
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« Reply #27 on: January 30, 2015, 08:45:54 »

Thanks for these definitions.  Maybe the word engine is appropriate in a more historic context.   For example, I don't remember steam trains being driven by 'locomotive drivers', rather, 'engine drivers', but then that's me still living in the past.  You all knew what I meant by 'engine', anyway!
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Gordon the Blue Engine
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« Reply #28 on: January 30, 2015, 09:18:46 »

Ah, think about A.S.L.E.F - the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen!
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Cynthia
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« Reply #29 on: February 02, 2015, 07:53:31 »

Ah, think about A.S.L.E.F - the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen!

Ok, Gordon the Blue Locomotive!  Cheesy
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