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UK Longest Train

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Mutant Lemming

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I'm sure this has probably been asked before but I couldn't find anything relating to it on a search of the forum.

What is the longest train in the UK ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvTZMBR28z8

Is it that one ?

I suppose it could be subdivided in to
- longest 'one offs'
- longest regular train
- longest passenger train.
 
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telstarbox

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The Eurostar (Class 373) is the longest passenger train at 394m and 20 coaches.

Are 12-coach EMU services as seen in Kent/Sussex the longest domestic services?
There are 11-coach Pendolino sets, and IC225 sets are 9 coaches + 2 locos, but these might be longer?
 

tirphil

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Westbury - Acton jumbo trains conveying stone and (when they ran) Carlisle - York Yards coal trains, both run by EWS are/were half a mile in length.
 

sprinterguy

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The train seen in the Youtube video is Network Rails' Plasser High Output Ballast Cleaning System, which is 800 metres long. While working at maximum output, it travels only half its' own length in an hour and I would be surprised if anything else on the UK network surpassed it for length.
 

ainsworth74

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The Cally sleeper is pretty long seeing as it fills the longest platforms of Euston.
 

sprinterguy

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Westbury - Acton jumbo trains conveying stone and (when they ran) Carlisle - York Yards coal trains, both run by EWS are/were half a mile in length.
That's a good point: The Carlisle to York Yard "jumbo" MGRs utilised 42 HTA high capacity bogie hoppers, hauled by a pair of 66s, so they must have at least matched the length of the HOBC. I'd forgotten about those.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The Cally sleeper is pretty long seeing as it fills the longest platforms of Euston.
350 metres, plus loco.
 

GNERman

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Wasn't the longest train a Foster Yeoman stone train which utilised 2 59's (one D.I.T) and two rakes of wagons? Or was that the heaviest???
 

tirphil

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Wasn't the longest train a Foster Yeoman stone train which utilised 2 59's (one D.I.T) and two rakes of wagons? Or was that the heaviest???

Tthere was a one off running where a train from the Westbury was something like 10,000 tonnes and a mile long but I can't find the exact details.
 

GNERman

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From Wiki

On 26 May 1991 class member 59 005 set the European haulage record for a single locomotive, with a stone train weighing 11,982 tonnes and 5,415 feet (1,650 m) long.
 

tirphil

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That's a good point: The Carlisle to York Yard "jumbo" MGRs utilised 42 HTA high capacity bogie hoppers, hauled by a pair of 66s, so they must have at least matched the length of the HOBC. I'd forgotten about those.


HTA jumbo's were 2478 feet in length including loco's. Up services were double headed but down services were allowed to have a loco marshalled in an intermediate part of the train but restricted to a maximum speed of 70mph. (Covered in the WON's and PON's, and maybe even the Sectional Appendix now for all I know!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
From Wiki

On 26 May 1991 class member 59 005 set the European haulage record for a single locomotive, with a stone train weighing 11,982 tonnes and 5,415 feet (1,650 m) long.

Thanks for that. Glad I wasn't imagining it!! Record set on my 24th birthday too.
 

GNERman

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Bit more info...

This loco carries an additional plate on the cab side reading ‘This locomotive No. 59005 hauled the heaviest and longest train operated in Europe, 11,982 tonnes, 5,415ft long on 26 May 1991 between East Somerset Junction and Berkley’
 

The Decapod

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Stone train, just over a mile long, just under 12000 tonnes, pulled by Class 59 no. 59005 (presumably with help from at least one other loco) in Somerset in May 1991.
 

jopsuk

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Domestic passenger trains in service is most definitely the Caledonian Sleepers, South of Carstairs (Lowland)/Edinburgh (Highland service) these have 12 mark 3s, 4 mark 2s and a Class 90 loco. Standing at the platform at Euston, they also have a second loco trapped that brought the set in.
 

Masboroughlad

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What were the Jumbo Trains that used to ferry passengers to the West Country - were they North East/West to West Country or Paddington to West?

I vaguely remember double header locos pulling 14/16 (?) mk2 air con. Sure I can remember double headed 31s?
 

ChristopherJ

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Some of the longest trains on the network are for the automotive industry.

My record is 50 double deck car carrier wagons on a Ford service from Dagenham back in 2009 - it just kept coming, and coming, and coming! :o The wagons are in fact twin and quad semi-permanent coupled sets but I count each individual vehicle as a wagon rather than the entire unit.

IPA23874375004-M.jpg


The BMW trains from Morris Cowley (Oxford) - Purfleet are also a contender, this example is 45 vehicles (or 9 WIA unit wagons)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3570Th1wB3I

Otherwise, try any Channel Tunnel service - look at the size of this baby!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXsqXHwv_uc&feature=related
 

12CSVT

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In the 1960s there was a test train (in the Peak District, to test continuous braking if I remember correctly) consisting of class 37 D6968, a dynamometer coach and 99 ferry wagons.
 

jopsuk

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Exactly 3 years before I was born ;) 1650m is ridiculous, must take a couple of hours for it to pass a single point!

If it got up to 60mph, it would have taken almost exactly one minute.
 

DownSouth

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Shouldn't be a problem, 1800m freight trains cruise at 115 km/h (72 mph) in Australia without any issues, even double-stacked containers which have a significant aerodynamic penalty as well as being heavy. They aren't exactly noteworthy either, being normal practice on our long interstate lines.

For the record, at that speed an 1800m train passes in just under a minute.
 

atomicdanny

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23 Car class 375 at Tonbridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jta4c9FMmCA

Although its not in service, could it be the longest one-off EMU?

I've been on a 24 Car Class 375 after two 8 Car broke down during the snow (about 5 years ago), one broke down then the next service tried to rescue it and then broke down as well. The third 8 car managed to get it to Canterbury East at the time (there were engineering works between Faversham and Ramsgate at the time). Unfortunately i don't have any pictures or video, I was going to work at the time so didn't have one!
 

The Snap

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23 Car class 375 at Tonbridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jta4c9FMmCA

Although its not in service, could it be the longest one-off EMU?

Bit more info...

This loco carries an additional plate on the cab side reading ‘This locomotive No. 59005 hauled the heaviest and longest train operated in Europe, 11,982 tonnes, 5,415ft long on 26 May 1991 between East Somerset Junction and Berkley’

With trains that length, how are the signal sections affected? Obviously it doesn't make too much different if they fit inside a section, but what if you had a particularly short section that the front of the train is leaving while the rear of the train hasn't even entered...?
 

marks87

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With trains that length, how are the signal sections affected? Obviously it doesn't make too much different if they fit inside a section, but what if you had a particularly short section that the front of the train is leaving while the rear of the train hasn't even entered...?
I'd like to think all three sections (i.e. containing the front, middle and rear) are shown as occupied!
 

Mintona

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They would all show as occupied, it wouldn't affect signalling too much, except that the train behind would effectively be at least 2 or 3 signals behind all the way.

The signalling between London Bridge and Waterloo East means a 12 car 375 can occupy 3 sections at one time.
 

OuterDistant

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Eeh, these real life trains have it easy. When I was a lad I couldn't have more than 10 or so wagons behind my Hornby 47, or they would all derail when trying to start away on a 1st radius curve :D
 

Badger

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I don't know if it was the longest, but I seem to remember it as being so - a passenger service way back in the 1850s, heading south on an excursion from Wolverhampton station. It was so long that on a stretch near Brierley Hill the train split in two - the rear half of the train rolled down a gradient hitting a train behind it. It was the worse railway accident of it's day. I think that was 42 coaches with 2 locomotives.

There might have been one longer, I just thought it was an interesting digression.
 
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