I hope carry fast doesn’t see this it will give the poor chap a heart attack that his beloved Americans use trains to move freight. He still thinks convoy was a serious documentary.
Pat Hasler:
I had forgotten how used to seeing things like this seem normal to me, thats a normal container train, usually 2 -3 miles long.
A common sight this side of the pond.
I was suitably impressed and spent every stop watching these double decker container trains when I travelled Amtrak from Penn Station to Union in Chigago. It was mint that you could get off at each stop and just wander around while leaving my stuff on the couchette
Gembo:
Pat Hasler:
You could mention te average speed of such trains here is about 30 mph, not like the speeds of trains over there, even the average passenger (so called express) trains only run at 55 mph.
We now have a high speed link from Washington DC, through NYC to Boston called ‘Acela’ that still only averages 100 mph … and it is a European design and construction.Sometimes I spose but those “stack trains” on the Trans-con will run at 70 mph for many miles across Nabraska and such.
The Norfolk Southern’s “road-railer” dosen’t hang around either- youtube.com/watch?v=xiTbaM0b … plpp_video
53 foot trailers ‘bookin it’.
I have spent quite a bit of time in Nebraska and the mid west and never saw any train of any type doing much over 55, it has always been trucks on the interstate outrunning the frieght trains.
I worked for British Rail for 11 years as a signalman 78/89, and one of the proposals put forward by the rail unions at the time for increasing capacity was for double decker trains, both passenger and freight, to be considered but this was shouted down by Thatcher who hated the railway unions and who would have shut us down in a second if she could, and she encouraged the then management to rip up any “spare” or “surplus” capacity to “save” money, as a result hundreds of miles of sidings, loop’s, etc were ripped up, and lines single tracked in an ■■■■ of management vandalism, and to watch a video like this and see what can be done, while we could not have run the length of train it was entirely possible to run the double deckers, thus doubling capacity.
Blunder Man:
I worked for British Rail for 11 years as a signalman 78/89, and one of the proposals put forward by the rail unions at the time for increasing capacity was for double decker trains, both passenger and freight, to be considered but this was shouted down by Thatcher who hated the railway unions and who would have shut us down in a second if she could, and she encouraged the then management to rip up any “spare” or “surplus” capacity to “save” money, as a result hundreds of miles of sidings, loop’s, etc were ripped up, and lines single tracked in an ■■■■ of management vandalism, and to watch a video like this and see what can be done, while we could not have run the length of train it was entirely possible to run the double deckers, thus doubling capacity.
I’d have thought the MANY tunnels and bridges in the UK would make it very difficult and costly to run double deck trains?
With a few exceptions such as the Acela Express, the maximum speed for a train in the USA not fitted with cab signalling is 79 mph. This is a complete joke when you consider American trucks aren’t speed governed to 56 mph like they are in the EU.
Most freight trains in the UK have a 75 mph top speed and passenger trains can run up to 125 mph without signal aspects being displayed in the cab and/or continious speed supervision.
Yes the bridge/tunnel height was the difficulty, and would have cost a lot to remedy, BUT it would have cost nothing like the £30 billion that it is going to cost for the new Chiltern line, or the £100 billion given to African dictators since in “overseas aid”, the £12 billion being spent on 3 weeks of running jumping doped up idiots in July would have probably covered it + created thousands of job’s, but political dogma won the day, in fact the money being spent on the Chiltern line to give wealthy commuters a 5 minute quicker journey would be better spent on that.
waynedl:
I’d have thought the MANY tunnels and bridges in the UK would make it very difficult and costly to run double deck trains?
I’ve been on a double-decker train in the UK, I’ve even found a photo of it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernar … n_disaster
This incident always somewhat fascinated me.
mb14:
That was [zb] awsome wished i’d seen that for real must take some stopping.
never mind about the stopping - what power to get it rolling!! 
Harry Monk:
waynedl:
I’d have thought the MANY tunnels and bridges in the UK would make it very difficult and costly to run double deck trains?I’ve been on a double-decker train in the UK, I’ve even found a photo of it.
That’s both cool and weird looking.
Not quite the same as 2 containers on top of each other though?
waynedl:
Not quite the same as 2 containers on top of each other though?
True, although in the US a train can travel thousands of miles without encountering a tunnel which makes double-decking a little easier.
Harry Monk:
waynedl:
Not quite the same as 2 containers on top of each other though?True, although in the US a train can travel thousands of miles without encountering a tunnel which makes double-decking a little easier.
Christ Harry, showing your age there if you been on one of those! 
Gembo:
Harry Monk:
waynedl:
Not quite the same as 2 containers on top of each other though?True, although in the US a train can travel thousands of miles without encountering a tunnel which makes double-decking a little easier.
Christ Harry, showing your age there if you been on one of those!
Well I’m no spring chicken, I’m guessing it would have been early 1970s when I lived in Eltham, SE London.
waynedl:
Blunder Man:
I worked for British Rail for 11 years as a signalman 78/89, and one of the proposals put forward by the rail unions at the time for increasing capacity was for double decker trains, both passenger and freight, to be considered but this was shouted down by Thatcher who hated the railway unions and who would have shut us down in a second if she could, and she encouraged the then management to rip up any “spare” or “surplus” capacity to “save” money, as a result hundreds of miles of sidings, loop’s, etc were ripped up, and lines single tracked in an ■■■■ of management vandalism, and to watch a video like this and see what can be done, while we could not have run the length of train it was entirely possible to run the double deckers, thus doubling capacity.I’d have thought the MANY tunnels and bridges in the UK would make it very difficult and costly to run double deck trains?
Yeah, its ball ache here. Even though this country was the first to invent rail transport, which was probably the problem, there was little forsite into the future. Everyone thought that our comparitivly small “loading gauge” would be big enough. There is an ongoing ‘gauge enhancment’ program on Network Rail (the comapny who own it all and who i work for) but its only select main arteries that are getting the treatment. This is mainly south to north and serving the big conatiner ports and terminals to enable the ‘high cube’ containers to be carried. Whereas its a start, i doubt we’l ever see the ‘stack trains’ here like they have in the U.S.
Makes me laugh that a few years ago, the container loader in a port up north somewhere made a mistake of putting a high-cube onto a train bound for Southampton Maritime terminal. The high cube wasn’t the problem but it was dropped onto the wrong wagon (should have been a “pocket” wagon) This was all very good until the train reached Bassingstoke and the container took alot of the station canopy with it when it passed through!
The size differance, on the left an American locomotive and on the right, a Canadian built locomotive that was for the U.K market just before shipment. The one on the right is about 12 feet 6 inches high!
Harry Monk:
Gembo:
Harry Monk:
waynedl:
Not quite the same as 2 containers on top of each other though?True, although in the US a train can travel thousands of miles without encountering a tunnel which makes double-decking a little easier.
Christ Harry, showing your age there if you been on one of those!
Well I’m no spring chicken, I’m guessing it would have been early 1970s when I lived in Eltham, SE London.
Yeah, early 70’s would have been my guess. Those things didn’t last to long IIRC.
cieranc:
I lost count at 160 something, missus bumping her gums about Britains Got Talent distracted me.
295 to be exact.
Weight wise i’d say more like 22000 tons going on an average of 20 tons per container