What volcanic ash?

[hackbike 666]

isn't that when the leaves reduce traction between wheel and the rail? ......My son just told me that.

Blimey how did he know?

Remember it's metal on metal.No i don't really understand this leaves thing but it happens.

I don't know a lot about driving cars but doesn't a lot of leaves on the road make it slippery between car tyre and tarmac?

I just heard the archetypal knuckle dragging passenger on the news saying there wasn't enough information - just one sheet of paper and sommat about an eruption somewhere.

Tell you what mate, you tell me which big of 'dangerous cloud of ash' you don't understand, and I'll draw it in crayon for you.

It's easier being a passenger.There I am when I am waiting on a train and it doesn't move I wonder what the bloody hell is going on.

Happened to me last week track circuit failure outside Liverpool Street.

 

[Mark_Robson]

Blimey how did he know?

It started with Thomas the Tank Engine and a thousand trips to steam railways.

 

[Arch]

Remember it's metal on metal.No i don't really understand this leaves thing but it happens.

Makes perfect sense to me. Wet leaves are a good lubricant, and as you say, it's metal on metal.

Do trains still have sandboxes feeding under the wheels to improve grip, or did that go out with steam?

 

[Arch]

It started with Thomas the Tank Engine and a thousand trips to steam railways.

I have a nephew like that. He still struggles to say 'orange' perfectly (for some reason he says 'ozzange' a bit like he's trying to get 'juice' in there as well), but is clear as a bell on 'Pendolino'. He's two and a half.

 

[Speicher]

Makes perfect sense to me. Wet leaves are a good lubricant, and as you say, it's metal on metal.

Do trains still have sandboxes feeding under the wheels to improve grip, or did that go out with steam?

Yes, they do have sand boxes, but they are used to improve grip when necessary, IIRC, and not all the time.

 

[Mark_Robson]

I have a nephew like that. He still struggles to say 'orange' perfectly (for some reason he says 'ozzange' a bit like he's trying to get 'juice' in there as well), but is clear as a bell on 'Pendolino'. He's two and a half.

Bless him

 

[ASC1951]

Heard earlier Radio 5 from a listener....

And this from someone Radio 4 cornered outside Manchester Airport - "Bloody Icelandics, innit. First they steal our money, now they knacker our holidays.."

 

[hackbike 666]

It started with Thomas the Tank Engine and a thousand trips to steam railways.

Great.

Kids like trains dont they.

Makes perfect sense to me. Wet leaves are a good lubricant, and as you say, it's metal on metal.

Do trains still have sandboxes feeding under the wheels to improve grip, or did that go out with steam?

Over the last ten years sand has been fitted to the older 1980's built trains and the new 2000+ stock has it fitted as standard.

I have a nephew like that. He still struggles to say 'orange' perfectly (for some reason he says 'ozzange' a bit like he's trying to get 'juice' in there as well), but is clear as a bell on 'Pendolino'. He's two and a half.

Awwww.

 

[Speicher]

I have a photograph somewhere of the only railway engine in Iceland. They had a light railway near the docks. Big kids like trains as well.

 

[hackbike 666]

I have a photograph somewhere of the only railway engine in Iceland. They had a light railway near the docks. Big kids like trains as well.

Ooops looks like I hijacked the thread again.

 

[Mark_Robson]

Quite ironic that we went from Volcanoes to trains as they both blow out plumes of smoke and ash.

 

[hackbike 666]

Quite ironic that we went from Volcanoes to trains as they both blow out plumes of smoke and ash.

I hope mine don't pal.

 

[Arch]

My late boyfriend was a bit of a train buff - in a prefectly healthy, engineering fashion, not anoraky - and he was once stewarding on a steam service on the Gloucs and Warks, and saw a chap sticking his hand out of the window with a little bag. When he asked what he was doing, it turned out the guy collected smuts from ever steam loco he travelled behind, and kept them in an album...

 

[TheDoctor]

Oooooookay.
Mind you, I once worked with a plane buff, who collected a souvenir from every flight and kept them in an album.
A sick bag.
Not used, obviously, because that would be strange...

 

[BrumJim]

I have a photograph somewhere of the only railway engine in Iceland. They had a light railway near the docks. Big kids like trains as well.

Didn't know that there was one on Iceland.

Quick irrelevant question:

Which is the largest island in the world without a full gauge railway, and which is the smallest island that DOES have one?
I think I know the answer to both, but less certain about the second. Island in this case is defined as a land mass unconnected by bridge or tunnel from another land mass - so that rules out Great Britain.