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A New Age for Railways, Short Movie, 1979 IMDB

Pictures provided by: dsl

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dsl SX

2017-07-21 21:24

[Image: titlea.11.jpg] [Image: titleb.27.jpg]

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23-minute film taken from
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BFi/British Transport Films Volume 7: The Age of the Train 2-DVD set. Can't find a copy online, which is a pity for train fans as after a silly first few minutes it turns into an interesting account of major 1970s railway developments in Japan, UK, Poland, Germany, France and Italy.

Random train question I've never thought of before, but after watching several of these films recently in UK on old steam trains driver usually stood on right (I think), then on UK diesels and electrics the driver seems to sit on the left. But in Poland, the driver sits on right
[Image: trainpolandbrhd.jpg]
So anyone know what decides whether LHD or RHD?? Is there a system?? Are UK trains different from Europe??

Anyway, assuming we have some train fans amongst us, here's some trains:

Germany - including the 1835 Adler which achieved 60km/h, a 200 km/h normal thing, and a model for a test rig for 500 km/h (not a typo)
[Image: trainadlerd183560kmh.jpg] [Image: traingermany.jpg]

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Japan - bullet train
[Image: trainj.1.jpg] [Image: trainja.jpg]

UK - the "Silver Fox" - sister of the "Mallard" - the fastest ever steam train at 200 km/h (unless someone's beaten it since 1979 film date??), Footage from Elizabethan Express (1954)
[Image: trainsilverfox4mallard.jpg] [Image: trainsilverfox4mallarda.jpg]

[Image: trainsilverfox4mallardb.jpg] [Image: trainsilverfox4mallardc.jpg]

UK - the APT (Advanced Passenger Train) - full of new ideas - tilting in corners, articulated carriages with shared bogies etc
[Image: trainapt.jpg] [Image: trainaptb.jpg]

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(test train for the tilting carriages)

France - 1955 electric thing which set record at 331 km/h, and prototype of new orange thing
[Image: trainfrench.jpg] [Image: trainfrench1955331kmh.jpg]

[Image: trainfrance.jpg] [Image: trainfranceb.jpg]

Poland - stuff, including a train of Polskis
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..... and a Japan city view
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-- Last edit: 2017-09-06 00:29:23

Weasel1984 PL

2017-07-21 22:17

dsl wrote
Random train question I've never thought of before, but after watching several of these films recently in UK on old steam trains driver usually stood on right (I think), then on UK diesels and electrics the driver seems to sit on the left. But in Poland, the driver sits on right
So anyone know what decides whether LHD or RHD?? Is there a system?? Are UK trains different from Europe??

At 1st glance it makes sense that British and Polish drivers/engineers sit on opposite sides of their locomotives cabs, as in UK is left-hand traffic on rails and in Poland right-hand one, BUT there is still the question, why earlier (in steam era) British drivers were also placed on the right? On the other hand in Poland exceptions also did happen.
In case of rail left-hand traffic UK is not so alone (like it is with road traffic) as "half" of Europe drives on the left on tracks.

-- Last edit: 2017-07-21 22:35:13

rjluna2 US

2017-07-21 22:23

dsl wrote So anyone know what decides whether LHD or RHD?? Is there a system?? Are UK trains different from Europe??

All I do know that the MARTA heavy rail train operator sits on the Right. Our METRA in Northwest line rides on the left side (two slow lanes and one express lane).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Atlanta_Rapid_Transit_Authority
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_/_Northwest_Line

Gag Halfrunt UK

2017-07-21 23:01

Quote Some countries use RHT for automobiles but LHT for trains, often because of the influence of the British on early railway systems.

Link to "en.wikipedia.org"

Quote In any given country, rail traffic generally runs to one side of a double-track line, not always the same side as road traffic. Thus in Belgium, China, France (apart from the former German Alsace and Lorraine), Sweden, Switzerland and Italy for example, the railways use left-hand running, while the roads use right-hand running. In countries such as Indonesia, it is the reverse (right-hand running for railways and left-hand running for roads).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-track_railway#Handedness

Sunbar UK

2017-07-21 23:45

Checking 'Steam Days' I>Player in UK on old steam trains driver stood (sometimes seated, express running) on left not the right (1930s onwards anyway); fireman on the right.

the sad biker UK

2017-07-21 23:59

I wonder if it's anything to do with most firemen being right handed? If the driver is stood to your right then the turn & throw would feel unnatural? Or you'd catch the back of his legs with the shovel blade?

-- Last edit: 2017-07-22 00:00:23

dsl SX

2017-07-22 00:47

Sorry, maybe I got the bit about steam trains being RHD wrong. Logically, if you have a twin track line (ie an up track and a down track side by side), the driver should always be on the outside to see signs, signals and to watch the platforms (which would be on the outside). That should apply across all systems and countries, and whether the up line is the left or right of the pair. So the question is only why they chose left or right, which is mainly answered by some comments above (Gag's in particular).

But sad biker's idea about firemen must mean that RHD train countries only had left-handed firemen???

rjluna2 US

2017-07-22 03:56

dsl wrote But sad biker's idea about firemen must mean that RHD train countries only had left-handed firemen???

Perhaps these early RHD fire trucks in our country were used to locate the fire hydrant quicker :think:

Sunbar UK

2017-07-22 13:03

The effect of the fireman standing on the left or right occurred to me also as whether one was easier than the other.

I doubt 19th century engineers had any idea of ergonomics/human engineering however and it seems the fireman must always face the driver and can only occupy half the foot plate anyway as the coal access and firebox door are both in the centre. The driver is also well over to the left looking out to the side of the boiler. Anyway with the amount of coal to be shifted the fireman must develop his best technique if he is to last the day.

An excellent discussion on Right/Left running on the worlds railways/subways etc here... Link to "www.trainsim.com"

... with a very much shorter version reproduced below.

Here are the rules for a few countries:

Left: Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK.
Right: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, USA.

Most track systems in the United Kingdom (with a few exceptions) operate on the left, and the driver sits on the left, allowing a better view of trackside signals.

In France (where cars keep to the right), trains run on the left as a legacy from the days when they were first constructed by English engineers with equipment imported from England. Alsace-Lorraine run on the right, as it wasn't worthwhile converting them when the territory was returned to France.

In Korea, trains drive on the left, presumably because the railroad system was built by the Japanese (who drive on the left) when Korea was a Japanese colony.

In Russia, most trains run on the right, except for the line between Moscow and Ryazan, which was designed and built by British engineers.

In Taiwan, trains drive on the left because the railroads were mostly built during the period of Japanese rule.The new Taipei Rapid Transit System, built in the 1990s with French aid, keeps to the right.

In the USA and Canada, trains keep to the right, with one major exception: the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. The line's construction was financed by British capital, which may have influenced the track plans. While American railroad engineers usually sit on the right side, there are exceptions. One is the above-mentioned Chicago & North Western Railway.

Where neighbouring countries run their trains on opposite sides of the track, trains must switch sides at the border. In The Netherlands trains run on the right, but in Belgium they move on the left. A tunnel and bridge connects Copenhagen, Denmark, where trains run on the right, and Malmo Sweden, where they run on the left Malmo Central Station is the cross-over point.

Gag Halfrunt UK

2017-07-22 14:18

@rjluna2: The "fireman" on a steam locomotive is the man who shovels coal into the firebox. He has nothing to do with firefighting.

Some American railroads still use the term fireman to mean the second crew member of a diesel locomotive.

rjluna2 US

2017-07-22 20:15

Sunbar wrote In the USA and Canada, trains keep to the right, with one major exception: the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. The line's construction was financed by British capital, which may have influenced the track plans.

I found this also at Wikipedia's Link to "en.wikipedia.org" :)

I used to go Metra Northwest railroad line between where I used to live to visit downtown Chicago when I was growing up. I never thought about that until I read that article above.

rjluna2 US

2017-07-22 20:16

Gag Halfrunt wrote @rjluna2: The "fireman" on a steam locomotive is the man who shovels coal into the firebox. He has nothing to do with firefighting.

Oops, I must have misread the sad biker's quote [:shy]

dsl SX

2017-08-02 15:56

Some further LHD/RHD train discussion at /movie.php?id=1742630 with another forum thread link
johnfromstaffs wrote https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/left-or-right.17979/

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