steph
Well-known member
Some romanian rolling stock . The vast majority of our trains here are quite old. They're sloooowly starting to replace the locomotives and the passenger cars, but it's mostly soviet era equipment. The condition of the railways is bad and getting worse, so travel times are getting longer year by year and the speeds lower. As far as I've heard, they're pretty much leaving the infrastructure as is and only fix the most urgent issues. Elsewhere they just slap a big speed restriction on it.
And a diesel-hydraulic getting fired up. The rail looks pretty much standard for industrial railways around here. Beat-up, but still functional, and trains lumber on at low speeds. The "torch in the intake" thing looks a bit dangerous to me, though. The thing with industrial lines is that they're usually not often used, so they lose their "polished" aspect and you can mistake it for being abandoned. Also, be very very careful of trains with the locomotive in a pusher configuration. Almost had it once...all I heard was some light metallic squeak and saw something with the corner of my eye, and next thing i knew, this boxcar was rounding the bend and coming at me. Not fast, I'd say 20 km/h /14 mph at most, but still....
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.
And a diesel-hydraulic getting fired up. The rail looks pretty much standard for industrial railways around here. Beat-up, but still functional, and trains lumber on at low speeds. The "torch in the intake" thing looks a bit dangerous to me, though. The thing with industrial lines is that they're usually not often used, so they lose their "polished" aspect and you can mistake it for being abandoned. Also, be very very careful of trains with the locomotive in a pusher configuration. Almost had it once...all I heard was some light metallic squeak and saw something with the corner of my eye, and next thing i knew, this boxcar was rounding the bend and coming at me. Not fast, I'd say 20 km/h /14 mph at most, but still....
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.
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