What is it you like about trains?

[dieselman]

As i work for the railway as a fitter repairing these things i know what i enjoy from a mechanical side of things but what do you like?

I see many spotters at stations about the area when working i chat to a few, have taken the odd photo for them like underneath, engines,inside a cupboard etc.

Just interested to know what attracts you to these things?

 

[Oswyntail]

Good question!
For me it is a combination of two factors. 1) I have a direct link with an activity I was doing for the last 50 years, and it still helps to evoke some of the pleasant experiences of childhood. 2) An interest in railways can be completely black and white, no shades of grey, if you want. In other words, as a means of relaxation and getting away from the complex issues that day to day humanity throw up.

 

[generalvegitable]

I've always liked the railways often changing the reasons, now I think its the travel side, and the noise that some engines make

 

[87031]

Its a combination of the travel aspect, locos and rolling stock. Its the whole package for me, with the lack of loco hauled diagrams around it's hard to avoid units but HSTs are still the perfect combination of style, speed, rolling stock (Mk3s), comfort etc. It would be a huge shame if the Sleeper services stopped there really is something special about overnight trains the whole vibe is special. For me Voyagers and Pendolinos are whats bad about the railways today, the MK3 is still setting the standards on what is good about rolling stock, Mk1s much more comfortable and pleasant to travel on than the plastic mentioned above.

 

[Bastiaan]

Sight, sound and emotion

 

[TDK]

As i work for the railway as a fitter repairing these things i know what i enjoy from a mechanical side of things but what do you like?

I see many spotters at stations about the area when working i chat to a few, have taken the odd photo for them like underneath, engines,inside a cupboard etc.

Just interested to know what attracts you to these things?

Driving them for a living

 

[SouthEastern-465]

For me Its everything,If you like trains youll just take to them,but I love the community of enthusiasts,and everything really.
Regards

 

[Aictos]

Hmm, learning and seeing how everything works from the humble SPT to the doors on a 313!

Yes, I know I probably should be looking at a fitter's job but I'm content in my platform job,

 

[Demps]

what do ya work on?

 

[Techniquest]

Sight, sound and emotion

A nice and simple reply that summarises it well for me too.

The sight and sound of HSTs is still enjoyable to me. Not quite as much as they used to thanks to the MTU, but I still look forward to a trip anywhere on a HST. Even the stagger to Skegness and back recently wasn't enough to make the journey boring!

I enjoy other traction, but not much comes close to how much I enjoy the HSTs. Nothing quite like storming along at 125mph and hardly feeling it! If I had to choose some loco classes I like, then it's virtually anything EE (20s, 37s, 40s and 50s mainly), although Westerns and 56s are two classes I also rate rather highly. So that's 6 classes of locomotives and the HSTs I enjoy the most.

The travel aspect is the other aspect I like, I can't imagine quite why I'd have ever gone to places like Penzance, Great Yarmouth, Thurso, Holyhead, Fishguard, Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock and countless other places otherwise!

 

[dieselman]

what do ya work on?

153,155,156,158,142,144,150/1/2,321,333, think thats about it.

A great job with plenty of time off but we do work through the night & bank holidays weekends etc.

 

[HSTfan!!!]

Not alot any more tbh, would much rather be working hands on with them i.e. fitter/driver/shunter etc. but until a job comes up I'm stuck on the platform.

 

[Teaboy1]

Its the environment that railways are located in or traverse that I find most appealing. In the 70's and 80's there were still bits of countryside and landscapes that had not altered since 1908 and they were like time capsules to me.......all olde worlde and hardly ever visited by anyone. Places local to me were South Yorkshire long-gone railways Dearne Valley, H&B, Wath & Manvers where coke & naptha plants existed, all very fascinating to a young lad where clapped out colliery 0-6-0's still worked for real.
Today I realize that nothing lasts for ever, everything changes and whats modern and new today will be history tomorrow, that goes for 225's and even 66's. One day they will be gone....!
Yes theres the sound of a machine doing its stuff and order in the grand scheme of things, etc
Plus I'm nosey and like to see what the other bloke does to earn his living...........and nothing beats sitting in a nice secluded spot waiting to see what turns up next, sun on yer back with a Tetleys beer in the other.
Cheers mate....!

 

[dieselman]

Plus I'm nosey and like to see what the other bloke does to earn his living...........and nothing beats sitting in a nice secluded spot waiting to see what turns up next, sun on yer back with a Tetleys beer in the other.
Cheers mate....![/QUOTE]

Take yourself up to Huddersfield station 2x nice pubs on platform and sit there with a beer!

 

[37401]

The sight,sound,smell,enviroment nowt beats having a laugh with your mates filming/fotting trains but a bit of everything for me really

 

[Demps]

If all goes to plan, after i've served. I'd straight away consider a job as a fitter.

 

[TrainBrain185]

After the novelty of fixing trains for a living wore off long long ago, the main interest is taking rail journeys as I always find that you can always see more of the countryside and landscape from a train somehow than what you see from a road. Don't know if anyone else concurs with this?

 

[SWT Driver]

I used to like them but not anymore.

I've driven for a considerable amount of time >20 years and in that time I've driven (deep breath)

08, 09, 33 (all derivatives), 47 & 73's

TC, VEP, BEP, CEP, REP, CAP, HAP, EPB, CIG, BIG, MLV, 158, 159, 170, 442, 444, 450, 455 & 458s.

I think that's all of them!

My opinions of them are:

The Desiro's are just too cold & clinical, characterless, built to a price, not a decent specification, great traction, crap brakes & build quality.

The 455's are just plain awful & should be consigned to the scrapyard, they leak when it rains and constantly blow a gale either under the door or where some idiot has pulled the draught excluder out from under the desk, so freezing your knackers!

458's aren't too bad, other than just plain ugly, the toilets are disgusting.

I love the 442's the best EMU I've ever driven in my career, I miss them terribly.

I miss the "slammers". :cry:
I loved the REPS, a slammer with WARP DRIVE!

I liked the 158's & 159's, although I don't drive them anymore. The 170s were & still are the most abysmal pieces of crap going, unreliable as hell.

 

[Pumbaa]

Almost every other SWT crew I've spoken to shares exactly the same opinion as you! It's always seemed weird to me that the 458s seem well liked by crew, but not by management!

 

[poshbakerloo]

Its a good question...

I know it was my dad that got me into them, he used to take me to watch the tube trains on the District and Circle Lines in London as we lived near the big triangular junction between Earls Court and High Street Kensington...

I'm not sure what I like about the trains...the sight, sound and smell I guess...

 

[monkey]

...I like to sleep the trains. the gentle hum lulls me to a gentle doze, and I feel totally relaxed. no wonder I'm such a fan of sleeper trains...

 

[poshbakerloo]

153,155,156,158,142,144,150/1/2,321,333, think thats about it.

A great job with plenty of time off but we do work through the night & bank holidays weekends etc.

Are they all Northern trains, it sounds like it?

 

[Fincra5]

I like the liveries, style (shape) of the train and the noise.

Basically i like it. Excluding nodding donkeys.

 

[SWT Driver]

You need therapy...

 

[j0hn0]

The engineering.

Routes, stations, junctions, trains themselves (high speed, tilting, diesel, electric, steam)

 

[Dai.]

What interests me in railways is -

The companies behind them,
The liveries, shape and general designs,
The smell on the platforms (that smell of diesel train just left!)
The sounds, nothing can beat it, I find it relaxing.


I think that's it.

 

[monkey]

^^all of those...

 

[Daimler]

It's a struggle for me to answer this question - I can't put it down to any one thing...

I'm a big fan of the 'traction' side of things, but equally am interested in railway architecture and the other assorted railway infrastructure.

I'm also interested (though often frustrated!) in the business/political side of the railways - they are fascinating in this respect.

Equally, I love railway heritage (ahh, steam...) and enjoy preserved lines.

Then, of course, there's the sheer enjoyment of railway travel, and just being around the railway generally - it's seldom, if ever, dull to be on a busy station, taking photos and just watching the trains go by!

 

[Dave R]

Are they all Northern trains, it sounds like it?

sounds like neville hill (leeds)

 

[317666]

Comfort, noise, convenient, cheap.