Internet Video Thread

[Andy44]

And a diesel-hydraulic getting fired up.

Interesting. Diesel-hydraulic traction never caught on in the US. Decades ago a German company brought a couple fo DH units over to the US for trial runs on US rail lines, and while they performed adequately the railroad companies didn't bite.

Edit: I'll actually be a bit sad when they really start modernizing the rail network. I mean, sure, city-to-city rail it's quite bad and getting expensive (especially given the travel conditions), but there ARE scenic routes, and trains which pretty much lead to almost forgotten places. For a railfan, it doesn't get more real than riding an almost empty LDH-pulled train, going so slow that you can almost step out sometimes, arriving at the end of the line which is some old village way out there in the mountains, buying some snacks and pepsi for the mechanic so he lets you in the locomotive on the return trip, and enjoying a nice chat while passing through amazing scenery. The rail is decrepit, the train as well, average speed is disastrous, but somehow it's a very nice and relaxing experience for someone who likes trains.

I agree with this completely. People ask me why I like to spend 3 nights on a train across the country when I could fly in 5 hours. I tell them that you have to like rail travel to understand.

By the end of one of these multi-day train trips, the passengers are on a first name basis with some of the staff, especially the porters and dining car wait staff.

Once a friend and I were taking Amtrak from DC to Los Angeles. In the middle of the southwest desert, the dining car had a water tank leak and couldn't prepare supper for us. They stopped the train at some tumbleweed town in the middle of nowhere, and we waited while one of the railroad employees drove a pickup truck to some chicken joint and brought us all back fried chicken dinners in paper bags.

While we waited many of the passengers wandered around to a local tavern behind the old train station and proceeded to get 3 sheets to the wind with the local townsfolk, who were all cool to us and happy to see us. That is something no airline passenger could ever experience.

 

[steph]

Interesting. Diesel-hydraulic traction never caught on in the US. Decades ago a German company brought a couple fo DH units over to the US for trial runs on US rail lines, and while they performed adequately the railroad companies didn't bite.

They pretty much use them on regional routes and for shunting. Seeing one pull a longer route train is rarer, but it still happens sometimes. I've seen diesel-mechanicals in shunting services, but they're uncommon. Mainline trains get pulled either by electrics, or by diesel electrics. If the line isn't totally electrified, they basically hook up both a diesel and an electric one.Not sure how this fares on the efficiency... The diesel-electric ones actually have batteries and can move on battery power alone. Had a bit of a WTF moment a few years ago when I didn't know this and noticed one casually departing the station with the diesel turned off :lol:

Gotta love that ghost train sound:

Not exactly sure why he was going so bonkers on the horn...but the area is usually crawling with tourists during the weekend, and there are portions where walking on the rails is pretty much the only route, and you have to hit the bushes if there's a train coming, so he probably got flipped by seeing people on the tracks so many times.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

You guys have fun with your trains. I'll just sit back and enjoy the show from a bunch of A-10Cs performing a live-fire CSAR training exercise...

 

[C3PO]

 

[Urwumpe]

We also have a famous steam tourist line here, the Brockenbahn from Wernigerode to the Brocken summit. Its a meter gauge line, part of the Harzquerbahn network, that services the eastern half of the Harz mountains. The steam train needs about 50 minutes for the 20 km distance (And about 900 meters in altitude)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ssoh-u2ac"]Harzer Schmalspurbahnen von Wernigerode zum Brocken und zurück - YouTube[/ame]

Not sure if the steam line is really profitable, but the whole HSB is, its technically a private company (but its owners are the cities connected by it), 1.2 million passengers use this network every year, alone 725,000 of them use the mostly-steam Brockenbahn.

Their oldest still driving steam engine is a Mallet from 1897, they use it for the Selketal line section of their network because it handles the small curve radii better than other trains.

http://www.hsb-wr.de/mehr-erkunden/fahrzeuge/dampflokomotiven/99-5901-99-5903/

 

[steph]

Yep, the narrow gauge railways. We have/used to have some too. Mostly in remote areas, operating a joint freight/passenger service, mostly for wood-cutting and mining industries.
After the fall of the soviets, most of them got abandoned. Some, where the rail hadn't been scrapped, ended up getting restored for tourist service in recent years. Some by locals, and some by some austrian railfan enthusiast. Also, some of them don't operate with the original locomotive and rolling stock anymore.

Noticed the rail-converted Ford vans at 9:50. I saw a similar contraption once for a main-gauge railway. Spare locomotives maybe? Technically they're diesel-mechanical :lol:

Only the one in Maramures operates a working freight service, I think. And many have some rarefied timetables, as in they only operate in weekends or during holidays and so on. Tried to visit the Brad-Criscior line once, only to find out that it wasn't operating that weekend.

Edit: The Brockenbahn is quite amazing as in it really looks like a functioning railway, only with steam engines and narrower gauge. The stuff you see around here tends to look more like improvised mini steam train )

 

[Urwumpe]

Edit: The Brockenbahn is quite amazing as in it really looks like a functioning railway, only with steam engines and narrower gauge. The stuff you see around here tends to look more like improvised mini steam train )

That's actually pretty easily explained: Until the 1980s Eastern Germany used steam trains in regular service and Germany still maintains a lot of the infrastructure for building and maintaining steam engines, like the large Dampflokwerk Meiningen:

http://www.dampflokwerk.de/

 

[Scav]

Some of what I did last summer. It's steadicam; the coaches were wobbly and I did the best I could.

The railroad featured here is the Durango and Silverton narrow-gauge; it is entirely steam-powered (though they have diesel locos that are little more than switcher engines serving as backup). The railway spans a 50 mile (80km) distance between two cities, follows the Animas river VERY closely, passes through a national forest and climbs about 2,000 feet (600m) in altitude. One way takes about three hours to complete; there is a tourist trap at the terminus in the mountains (decent places to eat and you can buy all sorts of "I was there!" stuff).

 

[steph]

Cool scenery. Going so close to the river, i have to wonder if there aren't incidents regarding flooding during wet intervals.

When talking about canyon railways , let's not forget the Belgrade-Bar railway. A bit on the unknown side, but nonetheless spectacular. I once went to Montenegro by car, and the road pretty much hugs tha canyon bottom. I kept looking up at the cliffside and couldn't really tell what those linear structures were. Until I saw a train pass, that is :lol:. It's reaaaallly high up on the mountainside.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zHacev7mnY"]Railway Bar- Belgrade, through Montenegro 2014. - YouTube[/ame]

 

[steph]

The crash is at 1:10. He had it coming though...you don't go THAT fast in a city. I'm guessing he didn't aim for a certain speed , he just floored it all the way and only hit the brakes when absolutely necessary

 

[Artlav]

The crash is at 1:10. He had it coming though...you don't go THAT fast in a city. I'm guessing he didn't aim for a certain speed , he just floored it all the way and only hit the brakes when absolutely necessary

And the Darwin Award goes to... Well, he survived.

Familiar places. Not the best road for speeding, AFAIK, due to a lot of traffic lights. You usually see idiots like that on the circular road, which is wide, non-stop and with a limit of 100km/h.

 

[Andy44]

 

[Evil_Onyx]

 

[Graham2001]

Burn, baby burn...

Space Launch System booster QM-1 test firing

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[SolarLiner]

Now that is interesting.
Watch the following video on Chrome or an Android device:

Any other browser to watch the full 360 frame.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Not made for the job of tracking other aircraft, but can do so in a rudimentary fashion just the same. LOL! You are looking for the colored radar return that occurs near the TCAS diamond on each radar sweep, not the diamond symbol itself...

 

[steph]

Baking soda !!!! :lol:

 

[Graham2001]

Looks like someone decided to update the Nantucket Sleigh Ride.....

The Leviathan -- Teaser

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[DeskOrbinaut]

 

[gertz]

A clip about time, universe, future and humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FMJNta-okRw - russian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DynLBcmOTGs - french.

Makes me want to cry.