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    Fate f the 58s in spain

    Four are still sitting outside Albacete, looking pretty forlorn after many years in the same spot at a more or less abandoned AVE maintenance depot. Saw them from a Ouigo en route to Alicante a month ago. DP
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    What happened to the Elipsos sleeper stock?

    The network described above is almost exactly what there used to be. In fact, 30 years ago there were even two tiers of night train. Estrellas (which ran with conventional coaches) as well as the talgo tenhotels. There was still Motorrail until the early 2000s as well. Chamartin used to be very...
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    Bilbao to Madrid (and then Portugal)

    Renfe website provides this, Two direct trains, one with a change somewhere. Maybe Burgos or Valladolid, I expect. 07.00 4 h. 28 min. 11.28 ALVIA desde 43,05 € desde 49,20 € 15.20 6 h. 25 min. 21.45 LD-AVE desde 102,10 € desde 111,35 € 17.35 4 h. 28 min. 22.03 ALVIA desde...
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    Class 395 Refresh

    395s I was on in December looked remarkably well looked after for 10+ years service, but I really don't understand the UK rail obsession with carpets. They just seem to be asking for trouble and mess - and cause it! I travel on Iryo in Spain quite a lot. High class, brand new frecciarossa...
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    Class 395 Refresh

    I'm sure I saw a SE publicity video suggesting they'd have upgraded CIS, with flat screens and realtime departure info for stations, etc. Then I saw a walkthrough of a completed unit on YT which showed no changes whatsoever to the original set up. Did I imagine it? DP
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    Trainspotting at Madrid Atocha

    No chance you'd get to stay on a platform at either station without a ticket - and if it wasn't for a train due to leave imminently as most services open 30 mins before departure, you'd be spotted on the platforms and kicked out. Chamartin is a right mess at the moment as it's simultaneously...
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    Thanet Parkway updates

    Lots of doubts about it locally, as it seems a massive waste of, apparently, 34 million quid. Not least when local bus services have just been cut back fairly dramatically. The only thing you can see it doing is easing the parking at Ramsgate and maybe people dropping off there from around...
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    Varamis Rail Given Operators Licence from ORR

    Thanks. Don't think I've ever been on Platform 1! Curious that heading North the train seems to have to sit in a loop for 30 mins in the middle of the night. I wonder how many other dormant Parcels/Red Star-type facilities are left that could be reactivated. Preston has one, I think. Redhill...
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    Varamis Rail Given Operators Licence from ORR

    Has anyone seen this in operation at BI? How does the loading and unloading work? Presumably BI has some legacy infrastructure in place to get lots of parcels/trolleys on and off the platforms? Can't recall seeing it on past fleeting visits. And isn't this very similar model to the planned...
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    RENFE (was Do double deck suburban trains run in Madrid on a Sunday morning?)

    Renfe's approach to ticketing has always been quite a mystery and the uptick in high speed services has made it worse. Even before them most long distance trains were bookings only. The Spanish network, although very well resourced. always feels massively underexploited compared to say, France...
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    How many non-UK passengers use interrail passes in the UK?

    Ive been travelling in the UK on Britrail for many years. Only ever been asked for proof of residence once, on what was Virgin East Coast, which was the one time I'd left my docs behind. I just about managed to do it by showing a lot of non-UK utility and banking apps on my phone. I usually...
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    Diesel Loco Engine Hauled Passenger Trains in Western Europe

    Double headed 334s are common on the route from Caceres/Merida/Badajoz to Madrid. It's just one talgo set per service as a rule, so hardly taxing, but two locos seems routine. Perhaps an insurance thing on a very long single line with loops. DP
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    Renfe scrapping all sleeper services

    A shame to see the Lusitania go, if Renfe have managed to get rid of it. It used to be an outstanding way to spend a weekend in Lisbon from Madrid, with 2 nights Gran Clase in the train and 1 in a 4* hotel being a very good deal for some years - not least as dinner and breakfast (when there was...
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    Southeastern revenue staff making an appearance

    Heading further East, I'd estimate the % of times the gates at Canterbury West are in operation (off peak at least) is about one time in ten, at best. On a lot of High Speed services there don't seem to be checks before Ashford, either. Seeing as hardly any stations east of Ashford that feed...
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    Strangest Places you have come across trains

    Half a Eurostar. Not too surprising I admit until I mention it was at Madrid Chamartin! It was part of one of those Rail Future type exhibitions 10 or more years ago when the place was entirely 5' gauge. It was brought over the Iberian gauge network on a piggyback wagon used to move AVE sets...
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    SouthEastern franchise direct award through to 1 April 2020 (& franchise competition terminated)

    Probably justified in going for 12 car 395s (396s?) for the new build when it eventually happens. The capacity is needed for a lot of the day - and week. It's noticeable how busy Sundays often are. DP
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    Grim British Railway Journeys

    Most of the Madrid suburban network is a horror story of graffiti, concrete trenches and/or industry and/or retail parks. There's not that much railway-based flytipping though, as the countryside is used for that. Only the bits heading out towards El Escorial are in any way pleasant and that's...
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    Caledonian Sleeper Mk5 Discussion

    The third picture looks exactly like a MK III (the roller blind!) with a few bits and bobs added and tidied up. What I guess is an ensuite compartment seems to have a vast amount of empty floor space, so perhaps it's an accessible one? 0ne of the few faults with the III design is the amount of...
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    First TPE's Nova brand for their new trains

    No va means, pretty much, he/she it doesn't go - as in a person or animal moving. The original verb - ir - isn't really used in Spanish in the same way as the English go after that. You'd probably use marchar to describe a car or train moving (or otherwise). So while it's an accurate translation...
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    Transport for the South East public body to be set up

    Historically, however it may look on a map, most of East Kent and some parts of the Sussex coast - Hastings, Bexhill, etc - were *much* further from London timewise than, say Oxford or Aylesbury and their hinterlands. HS1 has changed things a bit for some of them, it's true. But Herne Bay and...

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