Hundreds of rail passengers have been left stranded after a power cable broke and fell onto their train leaving them trapped inside.
The 18.30 service from London Paddington to Cardiff stopped minutes into its journey after the overhead cable supplying power to the electric train broke and wrapped itself around a carriage.
Bach to the way God intended trains to work.
Still, at least this explains why Monbiot got stranded on his way to Penzance (because, yes, uses the Bristol line to go west from London).
Elizabeth Line? But that’s brand new. So, a snagging issue then. he he
Why back to steam? They’ve been made obsolete.
Back to Diesel trains.
Wasn’t it fairly recently electrified…? They were still running HSTs when I left…
I used the Elizabeth Line recently to go to Heathrow. I seemed to spend most of the journey walking through Bond Street Station and then miles at the other end. Nothing special tbh, on the way home I just got on the Piccadilly Line as usual.
Not the first time the overhead wires have come down. What’s the overall reliability of overhead electric versus a diesel service? If a diesel train breaks down, you can shunt it off the main line and all the other trains carry on as usual. But if the electric wires fall down, the entire line can be closed for days.
In my younger days, when Oz didn’t seem to have enough oil, I’d have agreed with you Tim. But then a steam locomotive chuffed past me and I smelt the smoke.
Diesel is definitely the way to go. Though I’d have no problem if they converted the coal to dimethyl ether to fuel them with.
Dimethyl ether?
I think that would produce a case of “you were only meant to blow the bloody doors off”.
Seriously flammable stuff, that.
At least Rachel Riley was there .
I think the edict from Klaus Schwab and King Charles is that most of us on this thread won’t be able to travel at all other than by foot or bicycle so I think the question is a moot one!
A major problem facing heritage railways in the UK is the lack of availability of the high quality coal they need.
@Chernyy Drakon, Boganboy
Wouldn’t the best design for coal powered trains today be coal turbine – electric? Simiilar to diesel-electric trains?
This wouldn’t solve the problem of the coal smoke offending my delicate nostrils Pcar.
A quick google suggests DME’s the fashionable substitute for diesel fuel these days. Of course if Peter M feels it’s too dangerous, we could simply turn the coal into diesel instead.
Chris: my local heritage railway is doing an experimental conversion to oil fuel.
A quick google suggests DME’s the fashionable substitute for diesel fuel these days. Of course if Peter M feels it’s too dangerous
The two statements are mutually exclusive. A diesel requires a fuel with a relatively high flash point. Or it won’t ignite at the correct point in the compression stroke. Explosive implies a low flash point.