Dave W wrote:
Would it not have to be entirely encased? It'd ruin the view, anyway...
No - you might be able to get away without having to put up a spray shield (a wall of glass type thing). It would't have to look s*** if you did put something up.
Not sure how difficult it would be - its hard to tell what is urban myth and what isn't with that wall.
Afterall, existing electrification does work in heavy rain - so its not like it ain't waterproof.
Dave W wrote:
Would it not have to be entirely encased? It'd ruin the view, anyway...
No - you might be able to get away without having to put up a spray shield (a wall of glass type thing). It would't have to look s*** if you did put something up.
Not sure how difficult it would be - its hard to tell what is urban myth and what isn't with that wall.
Afterall, existing electrification does work in heavy rain - so its not like it ain't waterproof.
Well can't be worse than the Voyager on fire at Starcross.
Would it be third rail if it was electrified? OHLE presumably wouldn't make any difference, as it would be above the point of any flood (or if the water went higher than it, we'd probably have bigger problems than delayed trains...)
No it'd be 25kV AC overhead. The trouble with third rail is that you need lots of feeder stations in order to maintain the voltage at an acceptable rate (the loss in transmission is a lot lower the higher the voltage, hence why the Grid runs at 220kV or now 400kV) meaning the job is cheaper to do. Also, overhead is safer for everyone and really third rail is no good for high speed. The Southern region is the only large scale 3rd rail electrification system in the world and also the highest speed (at least I think it is unless anyone can prove otherwise).
3rd rail also suffers much worse in the snow and ice.
Its funny, though. When it snowed both when I went to Durham from Guildford compared to when I went home for Christmas, the Portsmouth Direct line the first time (start of december) was running like normal, with the North Downs line suffering badly, whereas when I went home it was the other way around. All I remember is that I made a 25 second connection at Reading, even though I fell over on the platform and looked like a right idiot to everyone around. Thank god that 4a/b to 4 are so close.
Also from the other thread from much earlier:
I wonder why it says that it caught fire at Starcross. The only part of the line which faces the sea is between Dawlish Warren and just before Teignmouth station. The line north of Dawlish Warren (including Starcross) is on the Exe estuary and is protected from the sea on the western side by the Lady's Mile, a spit at Dawlish Warren which goes towards Exmouth. If it caught fire at Starcross then it must have either caught fire and only stopped at Starcross, hence why it was reported as there, or whatever the water did took a minute or two to have its effect... Hmm....
All I know about Durham is that the hills are steep and go on forever and that the less stuck-up colleges are bloody miles away from the city centre. It took nearly an hour to walk from the station to Josephine Butler when I went in december because of all the snow and ice, at least I could sledge down most of the way to the station on the way back home on my suitcase though. I would remember more but going out costs about 1/4 what it does in Guildford so, you're only a fresher once, if you get what I mean...
Slightly more on topic, would 3rd rail be a cheaper option down in the far south west? The mainline from Exeter westwards doesn't go above 100mph as far as I know. If the problems with speed and safety were so bad, why else (other than cost or ease) would the SR have chosen 3rd rail in the first place anyway?
Not going to happen though, is it? Would presumably mean any train coming from east of Exeter would need to carry a transformer (admittedly, they will have to carry a diesel engine under the current proposals). Also, I understand there were real difficulties introducing much of the most recent stock south of the Thames because they were designed to be run from the more powerful 25.5kv system, and more substations had to be introduced.
Really today's 3rd rail system is a result of technological path dependency. SR inherited 3rd rail from the LSWR, which had started electrifying before WW1; the LBSCR had some OHLE which the Southern converted to 3rd rail to standardize, because the LSWR had electrified more of its network. Also the issue of technical inferiority wasn't as clear as it is today; there was no 25.5kv OHLE in the UK at this point, and other stretches of OHLE, like Shildon-Newport, were very short and often used for frieght - so there was no incompatibility issue; just having electrification was enough. So it made sense to keep expanding that network, and to build the trains for it. Also, 100mph was fast for the 1930s, although I doubt SR trains ever went quite that fast, neither did the trains of other railways in the UK or to any extent abroad.
To be honest, you'd be lucky to find a stretch of heavily used commuter network above 100mph anywhere in the world. I'd be surprised if anywhere in Japan even reaches above 100 that's not Shinkansen.
Any opinions expressed are purely mine and not that of any employer, past or present.
Kevo00 wrote:Quite true. Actually, if MSTS was anything to go by, Japan rarely gets above 100kph on account of the 3'6 gauge.
Private lines generally use Standard gauge, as do the subway systems (hence why there's so much through-running between them, and sometimes from one private line into a subway and out the other end onto another private line!)
Anyone know if in France or Spain, the trains reach above 100 on non HSR lines? I know in Germany they do (I think...)
Any opinions expressed are purely mine and not that of any employer, past or present.
Kevo00 wrote:Quite true. Actually, if MSTS was anything to go by, Japan rarely gets above 100kph on account of the 3'6 gauge.
Private lines generally use Standard gauge, as do the subway systems (hence why there's so much through-running between them, and sometimes from one private line into a subway and out the other end onto another private line!)
Anyone know if in France or Spain, the trains reach above 100 on non HSR lines? I know in Germany they do (I think...)
I'm pretty sure a lot of long-distance trains in Sweden do.
