Medellin also has the novel concept of using escalators as a form of public transport due to that city's topology.
A few operators tried to rebrand First Class in the early days of privatisation. Northern Spirit's Transpennine Express branded 158s had first class sections dubbed "Transpennine Premier". These were still 2+2 seats but with thicker cushions and lamps on each table.
Lots of them. Hong Kong has lots, but also plenty in Europe. Bilbao has quite a few, as does Naples
Not particularly novel then! Medellin's escalators are a relatively new thing, and there were lots of YouTube documentaries about it when it (and the cable car/gondola systems) opened... Just goes to show I shouldn't believe everything I learn on the internet!
Gatwick Express did use the Club Class branding in place of First Class on the 488/2 units. With many airlines in the 1990s still offering First Class on longhaul flights alongside Business Class and Economy it was probably a branding change to stop it seeming too premium but also cause a mental link with what was then Gatwick's largest carrier - one British Airways. With Victoria still having a BA check-in it was probably a savvy move.
Barcelona has them tooNot particularly novel then! Medellin's escalators are a relatively new thing, and there were lots of YouTube documentaries about it when it (and the cable car/gondola systems) opened... Just goes to show I shouldn't believe everything I learn on the internet!
Several hilly Italian cities - including Perugia and Siena - also have lengthy banks of escalators linking the city centre with either the bus or railway stations.
The weather on the forth estuary would see it cancelled a lot of the time to be honest. Particularly in the winter months.
I was quite surprised when I saw the outdoor escalator in Gibraltar. I just can't see how it isnt a maintenance/cleaning nightmare.Not particularly novel then! Medellin's escalators are a relatively new thing, and there were lots of YouTube documentaries about it when it (and the cable car/gondola systems) opened... Just goes to show I shouldn't believe everything I learn on the internet!
Presumably the Parisian rubber tyred metro lines were considered successful (if expensive) in that as far as I’m aware there’s never been any move to convert them back.
From correspondence on Facebook, it appears that Translohr is regarded as a tram under Italian law as it cannot operate without the guide rail.
They were successful at nearly making me fall over - I had timed my reach for the grab rail by Tube standards so the rapid launch caught me off guard!
Yes...and they give a rather rough ride compared to the conventional lines, especially going round curves.
They even have signs warning people to hold on. It seems to me that this demonstrates that the increased friction with the rubber tyres has no great benefit unless very steep gradients are needed.
Indeed, I referenced them as an offshoot of the outdoor escalators being talked about.
As I recall Virgin started calling First Class "Club Class" on CrossCountry services in the last few years of HSTs and loco-hauled trains, probably about 1999/2000, but still called it First Class on its West Coast services presumably to differentiate between the levels of on-board service offered to First Class passengers on West Coast and CrossCountry trains.
It was Club on Voyagers with a lesser catering offer and First on Pendolinos.
And couchette style sleeping cars with four berths per compartment and only basic bedding provided (i.e. a pillow and blanket, and maybe a sheet) so passengers were expected to sleep in their daytime clothes. I believe that the LMS four-wheel Third Class sleeping cars were like this, but apart from that the concept never caught on in Britain unlike in mainland Europe where they remain in operation on many night trains to this day as a budget alternative to proper sleeping cars. Couchette cars in mainland Europe can have four-berth or six-berth compartments thanks to the more generous continental loading gauge.
Certainly the LMS and the LNER had "convertible" third class compartment coaches, until Nationalisation. Daytime use as normal seating - which converted into four sleeping beds, by pulling down upper berth on each side of the compartment.
In the cheapest Indian sleeping cars, not only is it three per side, but there's another two-tier bed on the opposite side of the aisle. Russian third-class sleeping cars also have this arrangement, but only two tiers on the 'compartment' side. A loading gauge in excess of twelve feet wide (and enormously tall, with low platforms to boot) allows all sorts of things!
Some would argue that it was - in the form of a steam heated compartment in Mark 1 stock on overnight services long gone (albeit two 'berth' only).
And without bedding or the ability to lock your compartment door or turn the lights completely off unlike in a proper couchette (except that I believe that some punters travelling overnight on the cushions would wait until the ticket inspector had been round, then take the light bulbs out of the ceiling lights, make sure they put them somewhere where they wouldn't get broken, such as on the luggage rack (or I expect sometimes they would carelessly leave them somewhere where they would get broken), and then assuming that they hadn't got broken, they would hopefully remember to put them back in before getting off the next morning).
