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Observation Cars

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davelew99

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Do such things still exist in the UK? (Not sure if this should be here or in the Special Workings section).

I only ask because i was recently re-watching Michael Palins Great Railway Journey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railway_Journeys S1x04), on one railtour the rear coach was an observation car - with a sort of balcony at the end where you could go outside and on a BR standard service they had a converted (1890s?) restaurant car with an official BR guide giving a commentary of the route (towards the Kyle of Lochalsh).

This was in 1980 and i certainly have never seen anything like this, do such things exist on the mainline?
 
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matt

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There is also the Caroline saloon that is usually push/pulled by a DRS 37 but again isn't a public service
 

jopsuk

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Definitely not in normal service. They're only really compatible with loco hauled trains where turning facilities, runaround sidings etc exist. Though the Japanese have a few "panoramic" units where the driving cab is either below or above an observation saloon at each end of the train- or in a similar arrnagement to old DMUs/EMUS with a glass panel behind the cab, but some have the driver's seat lower than the passenger seats.
 

starrymarkb

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Plus on the Continent you have ICE's with their observation lounges behind the cab - Plus the Swiss have Panorama coaches and units.

Also would the Docklands count with the view out the front..
 

EltonRoad

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Indeed - there aren't any in regular use apart from the Royal Scotsman which as Peter says has a car with a balcony at one end that you can walk onto and admire the views.

The Queen of Scots set has one but it is only used rarely for specials. I photographed it in July last year on the Oban branch, see photo below. The front coach is the observation car. The whole set is very old! (There is a steam engine on the rear)

BR reintroduced observation cars in (I think) the early 90s on the Kyle line. They were also on the West Highland Line in the 80s and maybe the 90s.
 

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Chris125

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Remember that mk1 restrictions apply - so the various inspection and observation vehicles cant carry passengers in the rear vehicle except where a derogation has been given for operations north of Glasgow/Edinburgh, which applies to the RS.

Chris
 

Hydro

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Remember that mk1 restrictions apply - so the various inspection and observation vehicles cant carry passengers in the rear vehicle except where a derogation has been given for operations north of Glasgow/Edinburgh, which applies to the RS.

Chris

Or for Caroline, which carries passengers both when propelling and trailing.
 

davelew99

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Cool that's all useful info thanks.

Should have known the Royal Scotsman was a VSOE train... it'll be a while before I get to travel on that. I think I'd still prefer the traditional trip across Europe instead though.
 

sprinterguy

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The Queen of Scots set has one but it is only used rarely for specials. I photographed it in July last year on the Oban branch, see photo below. The front coach is the observation car. The whole set is very old! (There is a steam engine on the rear)

BR reintroduced observation cars in (I think) the early 90s on the Kyle line. They were also on the West Highland Line in the 80s and maybe the 90s.
The observation lounge of the Queen of Scots set is actually the cab of a class 101 DMU that has been attached (in some sort of "cut and shut" job by the looks of it) to an 1892 West Coast Joint Stock dining saloon. The rebuild was undertaken in 1960. This vehicle was used as an observation car in the Royal Scotsman in the seventies and eighties until the current Royal Scotsman rake (A set of 1960 Metro-Cammells built for the ECML) entered service following conversion in 1990.

The Queen of Scots rake really is a fascinating hotchpotch of vehicles. The 1890 LNWR dining saloon in the rake, for instance, was remounted on the underframe of a LMS GUV in the eighties.

The observation car that was used on the Kyle line in the eighties and early nineties, in the green and cream "tourist" mark 2 rake, was also a class 101 DMU driving car IIRC.

The two beaver tail observation cars that were used on the LNERs' "Coronation" streamlined train were rebuilt in a more angular form in 1959 (IIRC) and were used on the West Highland line in the sixties. Both are now preserved IIRC.

The two former Devon Belle observation cars also graduated to Scotland for use on scenic railtours in the sixties, on the Kyle line and from Glasgow to Oban. Both of these have also been preserved.

So as can be seen, and as brillopad says, there's several pre-nationalisation observation cars operational on preserved lines around the country.
 
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