A trainspotter, sorry, enthusiast is in an Italian Restaurant. He goes for the pasta dish. The waiter says “How would you like your pasta, sir?” and the enthusiast says “Adelante” The waiter then says “Would you like a large portion sir?” and the enthusiast says “Yes please, drive. Make it double-headed Adelante”

Live coverage of the Cathedrals Express, pulled by 30777, the Sir Lamiel.

Live coverage, only on RailUK.WordPress.com.

My wife and I had a splendid holiday in Cornwall recently which included 3 nights in St. Ives. The opportunity was, of course, too great to miss, so I spent a day sitting in the Car Park at St. Ives station taking as many numbers as possible. My disappointment at writing the same number every half an hour was compounded by the loss of the piece of paper I’d written it down on whilst shooting the video below.

This song thrush was probably looking forward to some Valenta power….

There were some rather misguided comments in the media regarding this morning’s earthquake. Many people suggested it sounded like a train going past, some even suggesting a High Speed Train.

I don’t know much about HSTs but I’m going, for the sake of argument, to assume they meant a First Great Western class 43. With a length of 220m and with the tremors lasting ten seconds, this would mean the train would be travelling past at 79.2 km/h which is a paltry 49.5 mph or less than 40% of their operational top speed.

Plus, and this is the big one for me, an HST set with fully clagging Paxman Valentas would make a bit of noise, but given that the trains use MTUs, I doubt very much that you’d hear a thing.

So. In future, if there’s an earthquake, let’s not make fatuous comparisons with it to High Speed Trains. The rail network gets enough bad publicity as it is. An earthquake sounds like an earthquake and has nothing to do with trains. Nothing. 

Yesterday I went to buy some models with my friend who likes models even more than I do. On the way back, via Scrubs Lane, as we went past a railway he suddenly shouted, “Matt. It’s a Deltic. It’s a Deltic, Matt! It’s a Delticmatt!” I had a quick look and I was certain it was not a  Deltic. We then had a ferocious argument, only very recently settled with evidence to the contrary which I list here, here and here.

There’s a lesson to be learned here, spotters and enthusiasts. Just because a diesel locomotive looks like a Deltic doesn’t mean it is a Deltic. By all means, if you see a class 55 then shout as loud as you can. But just make sure you don’t make the same mistake as my friend. I did once and I’m still paying for it. 

This is more like it. A superb video of British enginesmanship at it’s best. More excellent footage to follow at RailUK.wordpress.com THE UK rail blog.

FGW operates a sleeper service between London and Penzance. It also operates a sleeper service between Penzance and London. At some point the trains must “cross over”, a very exciting moment, regardless of trains, tracks or terminus. My aim is to catch the crossover of the two sleepers. On video. And then post it to YouTube. But… Where should I go? The only way to deal with this is to use the well known programming technique called the Deltic Chop. So,  I’m off to Bristol tonight for a stab at what could, quite honestly, be a unique capture. A moment of railway history.

One can understand DelticMatt’s fierce determination to see off the MTU on the FGW HSTs. They make no noise, emit no smoke and are German. Trains aren’t the only things that have crap engines. I’ve recently been getting particularly annoyed at the choice some airlines make. Hopefully, this campaign might gather the same momentum that the anti-MTU effort has managed.

Tomorrow is a very big day indeed for the spotting community. Tomorrow, weather permitting, affords the greatest chance to either complete or merely add to the list of numbers that a spotter has amassed.

Here’s my list

66133

66196

A rather large number that I couldn’t write down.

I can’t wait for tomorrow!