Trivia - Furthest away you can see a train?

[Peter Mugridge]

That’s the south end of Bishops Stortford; you‘d have been directly over Little Hallingbury at around 1500 feet, and well under a mile away from the train.

It's 5 cars, so it would have been a 720 and being a single unit would have been a Cambridge service - the two class 720 diagrams on the Stansted Express are invariably 10 car workings.

@DynamicSpirit - could you tell us the exact date and time you took the picture? It's probably possible to work out exactly which 720 it was...

 

[pokemonsuper9]

@DynamicSpirit - could you tell us the exact date and time you took the picture? It's probably possible to work out exactly which 720 it was...

The file's name has 23:17 on 19/05/2025 as the time, and while I'm not entirely sure where where the photo was exactly taken, it may well be 2S66 2230 Stratford (London) to Bishops Stortford, formed of 720581

 

[Sad Sprinter]

You can see Thameslink trains on the Catford Loop in Peckham from the top of One Tree Hill in Honor Oak

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The file's name has 23:17 on 19/05/2025 as the time, and while I'm not entirely sure where where the photo was exactly taken, it may well be 2S66 2230 Stratford (London) to Bishops Stortford, formed of 720581

Hmmm, I think there's a lesson there for me and for everyone about removing metadata before posting pictures. That's not far off from, you being able to work out exactly which flight I was on, which in this particular case I don't mind, but is probably not what people would normally want!

But as it happens that time is an hour out (probably, phone not yet updated to UK timezone). Assuming the minutes were correct (my memory isn't THAT good!) it was probably 22:17 on 19th May. So it wouldn't be the 22:30 from Stratford.

In terms of where, putting Google maps alongside @Bald Rick's helpful analysis shows the train was passing just South of the Thorley Field business park in Bishops Stortford.

 

[Skiddaw]

Theoretically you can see the summit of Snowden from Merrick, which is 230km (based on being able to see it from Snowden in this picture)

Views from the Summit: Snowdonia-Scotland

However having a clear enough atmosphere to be able to pick out something as small as a train would be a challenge. 230km is far more atmosphere than you'd get looking at Snowden from orbit. I guess with enough adaptive optics or in the right wavelengths you might be able to, at what point does it still meet the "can see it" test.

* Technically if you're on the moon that would be "the ground". You'd need a telescope that's around 200 metres wide (in theory maybe 100m) to pick out a train though.

Yes, on a good day you can indeed see Snowdon from Merrick (along with various Scottish Highland hills and Goat Fell on Aran). You can apparently see both Snowdon and Scafell Pike from Slieve Donard (Ireland) on a good day too, though we never have (but probably not the Snowdon mountain railway). Those amazing visibility days are one of the many things I adore about fell walking. But I digress....

 

[pokemonsuper9]

That's not far off from, you being able to work out exactly which flight I was on, which in this particular case I don't mind

I probably could if I had a flightradar subscription and could go back far enough to see the arrivals on the day, and while I could brute force it, I think there are better ways to spend my evening.

In terms of where, putting Google maps alongside @Bald Rick's helpful analysis shows the train was passing just South of the Thorley Field business park in Bishops Stortford.

Yep, that absolutely lines up with roughly 51.842694, 0.159306.

But as it happens that time is an hour out [...] it was probably 22:17 on 19th May.

While two solo 720s passed at around that time, the photo shows the lights on the rear are red, meaning the train is moving away from the camera, and that'd make it 2S62 2130 Stratford (London) to Bishops Stortford, operated by 720560.

 

[Bald Rick]

FR731 Vienna to Stansted, EI-HGX, 737-MAX8

Seat number uncertain!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

FR731 Vienna to Stansted, EI-HGX, 737-MAX8

Correct! Not sure I dare ask how easy that was.

Seat number uncertain!

Now you can do better than that. Sure, the row number is going to be uncertain, but from the fact that I was able to take that photo you should be able to guess the letter

 

[SteveyBee131]

At the old Bromsgrove station it was possible to see trains start to descend the Lickey from two miles away ... platform kudos for the first person to recognise the class.

...

Mine is similar to this. Back in the days of my youth, I have fond memories of standing on the footbridge at Thorne North. There, the line towards Goole is pretty straight for roughly 2½ miles. It was great fun to see who could spot a train first, and back when there was more variety up that way (and long before mobile internet, Real Time Trains etc!), to guess what it was. True, it's not umpteen miles away and from the top of a mountain like some earlier posts, but it's part of what helped to kindle my like of trains in a landscape as well as close up, and spotting details of them at a distance. Happy days!

 

[Bald Rick]

Correct! Not sure I dare ask how easy that was.

Very, using replay on Plane finder. Although it thinks you were there a minute after your phone.

Now you can do better than that.

Well most likely A, but possibly B with a lean over, or C with someone else taking it.

Unless you were in Row 0, flying one handed.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Although it thinks you were there a minute after your phone.

Although, the timestamp on the photo is 21:17:56.865 (I mis-read it 23:17 earlier) so it was taken only 3.135 seconds before 22:18.

 

[Bald Rick]

Although, the timestamp on the photo is 21:17:56.865 (I mis-read it 23:17 earlier) so it was taken only 3.135 seconds before 22:18.

bang on then!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Unless you were in Row 0, flying one handed.

How did you guess? I hope the passengers didn't notice the wobble in my flight descent..

 

[MichaelTrains]

From Criccieth beach in North Wales you can see as far as the approach to Llwyngwril Station which is about 19/20 miles as the Crow Flies.

Which I find impressive. Especially when you see the train Llwyngwril knowing it’ll take the train a good hour to skirt around the coast to Criccieth.

 

[unlevel42]

From Criccieth beach in North Wales you can see as far as the approach to Llwyngwril Station which is about 19/20 miles as the Crow Flies.

Which I find impressive. Especially when you see the train Llwyngwril knowing it’ll take the train a good hour to skirt around the coast to Criccieth.

If you can see Llwyngwril from the beach at Criccieth it must be easier to see from the railway crossing or on the train behind Dylan's?

 

[MichaelTrains]

If you can see Llwyngwril from the beach at Criccieth it must be easier to see from the railway crossing or on the train behind Dylan's?

I’m not familiar with the area. I just remember being amazed that whilst getting off the train and visiting the castle.

Once down on the beach, I could see the train I got off snaking around the coast. Then when it was time to get the train back you could see it and track it to the timetable.

Call me sad but I watched it for a good 30 minutes before deciding to head up from the beach to the station.