Severn Wonders of the Railway World

davvydo · Post by **davvydo** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:26 pm

1) The Stockton & Darlington (First in the World)
2) Mallard (Fastest Steamer Ever)
3) Channel Tunnel (Most amazing modern construction project)
4) Brunels original GW main line Paddington-Bristol (most original and far-sighted early construction project)
5) The original Japanese bullet train (makes the HST look like a Hornby has-been)
6) Construction/joining of the East-West continental lines in the USA (for the speed of construction and administrative organisation alone). Everyone interested in railways should read the history of this construction project: it makes anything built in Britain look like a kid playing in a sandpit!
7) The Settle & Carlisle line (the line with the most romance, soul and scenery in Britain. And another staggering construction story)

took the words right out of my keyboard !

alexnick · Post by **alexnick** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:55 pm

My suggestions are:
1. CIWL
2. The Albula Line
3. The Trans-Siberian
4. RhB Xrotd (a mere-gauge self-prpelled steam rotary snowplow - how fantastic is that)
5. The Lignes a Grande Vitesse (in combination with TGVs)
6. Berlin Lehrter Bahnhof-Hauptbahnhof (at least when it's finished)
7. The Channel Tunnel

At least they're impressive from my point of view...

calvert · Post by **calvert** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:40 pm

Trans-Siberan
Trans-Contineal
Fourth Brigde
Chunnel
The Chinise Tibet line
S&C
Many other buildings!

How about the 7 Bloopers of the Railway world?
GWR, APT, Pacers, General Motors....

andrewtoplis · Post by **andrewtoplis** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:34 pm

calvert wrote: How about the 7 Bloopers of the Railway world?
GWR, APT, Pacers, General Motors....

Privatisation??

There is a whole book of those...Adrian Vaughan's Raliway Blunders

mattvince · Post by **mattvince** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:46 pm

7 Mistakes of the Railway World:
- Broad Gauge - technically brilliant, slight lack of 'network think' though.
- Atmospheric Railway - again, technically brilliant, although the rats thought different.
- Every single absurd variation on the steam locomotive - I will simply point you to: http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/L ... coloco.htm
- George Hudson - okay, he did reorganise parts of the industry, but it was otherwise a money-go-round scam.
- Steam Superpower - the 1930s big US steamers - not bad at what they did, but no better than that which preceeded them - a triumph of marketing over engineering.
- British Rail Procurement - bought 999 standard steam locomotives, then scrapped nearly all of them within 20 years. Brought hundreds of shiny diesel locomotives then scrapped many of them within 10 years. Bought Pacers. Tried to buy APT. Tried to buy IC250. Bought Class 60s and then discovered they broke down lots.
- The Politician - considers the railways as their personal toy train set. Creates policies which don't work, then creates more policies which don't work, then creates more policies which don't work ad infinitum, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Won't let the railways get on with running themselves, and then, after all that, wonders why the rail industry costs so much. To be replaced with another politician in short order.

andrewtoplis · Post by **andrewtoplis** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:48 am

mattvince wrote: - The Politician - considers the railways as their personal toy train set. Creates policies which don't work, then creates more policies which don't work, then creates more policies which don't work ad infinitum, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Won't let the railways get on with running themselves, and then, after all that, wonders why the rail industry costs so much. To be replaced with another politician in short order.

...who promptly blames the railways for the previous politician's incompetence!