West Highland line tops world's best rail journey poll

[JasonM]

Go on Vern, you know you want to

[bigvern]

No pressure then...

[Darpor]

How big were the DEM gaps then Vern? I presume too big and too frequent just to fill?

[bigvern]

How big were the DEM gaps then Vern? I presume too big and too frequent just to fill?

I haven't looked at the southern section but certainly around Glenfinnan there were several large holes over a few square km that it would be difficult to patch manually. It's just a shame there's no reliable way of patching DEM - which plenty of programmes (3Dem, Microdem and Transdem) can do - without being able to save back in hgt format. BILSRTM generates too many artefacts, terrain pillars etc. when I tried it last, actually looked worse than the original DEM. Hence my plea in previous threads as to whether RS.com could look at building in some means of healing faulty DEM to overcome the problem.

[Darpor]

Ah right, thanks for that Vern, didn't realise the problem was that big!

[mikesimpson]

Interesting item, but Wanderlust is a UK magazine, so asking its readers what was the worlds greatest rail journey is unlikely to bring many votes for train rides in India or Peru is it?

Thats a bit like asking an Englishman which 2 teams will be in the World-Cup final this year, when it will obviously be Australia vs New Zealand, but that will not be his answer

Mike

[longbow]

I don't think even a Kiwi would predict an Australia v New Zealand World Cup Final this year, Mike - much better chance of that happening at the cricket or rugby World Cups in 2011!

[class43HS125]

hi,

cricket


Ross
NZ

[bigvern]

I guess what the West Highland has going for it vs other scenic routes is relative ease of information with gradient profile (Ian Allan), track plan (Quail) and high def GE readily available. One of the most scenic routes is indeed the Central Railway of Peru and even more so the narrow gauge extension onward from Huancayo to Huancavelica. Try finding out detailed technical information for those! That said, I did stumble on a site a few months ago where a guy had uploaded a sketch type trackplan of all the stations on the narrow gauge line but I haven't been able to locate it since. Most times, web searches on overseas scenic railways simply return a load of tourist, rather than technical or civil engineering, resources - even for US prototypes.

The exception (surprisingly) was Taieri Gorge where the railway has uploaded the gradient profile on their official site and the trackplan can be gleaned from the MSTS version.