London Rail

Category: International

  • London’s Elizabeth line a world beater?

    The claim on social media that ‘The Elizabeth Line in London moves 800,000 people daily. No highway at its busiest point moves that many people daily in North America’ certainly carries a lot of interest. Evidently its meant to point out that car usage in the USA triumphs any sense of being effective. However as…

  • Railways and canal tunnels #4

    In writing about railways and canal tunnels one might perhaps wonder why railways and canals in general are not the subject of discussion – apart from the Railway and Canal Historical Society who have existed since the 1950s with the aim of bringing history and topics on both together. There’s no doubt railways were substantially…

  • Railways and canal tunnels #3

    This third instalment looks at the longest canal tunnel in the UK and a long forgotten canal built underneath the centre of Manchester – and how the railways took advantage of this subterranean canal. Despite a dearth of canal tunnels across the pond this instalment also includes two examples of tunnel in the States (which…

  • The South Shore doubles its act!

    The South Shore line project involving work to double the route and modernise the street section in Michigan City continues. The main route also sees upgrades and enhancements at a number of other locations. The ninety mile route gets a brand new railroad too! This is a new branch off the South Shore’s main route…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line #8

    Following the publication of the five parts of the The Tokyo to Osaka Line covering the classic railway route and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, three further parts were drawn up covering other aspects of the New Tōkaidō Line. In other words mostly stuff that’s little known to the English speaking world! Due to numerous problems with…

  • Milwaukee Road: Seattle/Tacoma

    Avery is of course the western end of the noted 440 mile long Rockies electrification. However the company also ran another electrics division that traversed the Cascades in Washington state, and these tracks led to Seattle and Tacoma. The latter was of course the absolute extremity of any of the Milwaukee’s electrified lines even though…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line #7

    Following the publication of the five parts of the The Tokyo to Osaka Line covering the classic railway route and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the sixth, seventh and eighth parts were drawn up covering other aspects of the New Tōkaidō Line. In other words mostly stuff that’s little known to the English speaking world! High speed…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line #6

    Following the publication of the five parts of the The Tokyo to Osaka Line covering the classic railway route and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, follow ups were drafted. Largely completed with technical stuff and other gems on the New Tōkaidō Line, as well as its drivers and engineers etc. In other words other aspects of the…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #5

    The year is now 1964 and the New Tokaido Line is ready to be opened! The 515.4 kilometres (320miles) between Tokyo and Osaka was opened to critical acclaim in October 1964 and instantly became a world wide hit. High speed trains were the future! In the line’s early days the services were limited to a…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #4

    The fourth instalment in this comprehensive series on the origins of the Shinkasen! This covers a series of photographs of the line’s construction between Tokyo and Osaka, with the former and latter stations well represented, as seen during 1963. There’s also some detail about the construction of the New Tanna Tunnel on which work had…

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