London Rail

Category: International

  • 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…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #3

    The third instalment in this comprehensive series on the origins of the Shinkasen! We begin with the notion the new line would be affectionately named Yume no Chōtokkyū – or the ‘Super Dream Express.’ The older (eg 1930s era) and considerably more popular name which many use – ‘Bullet train’ – didn’t gain world wide…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #2

    This is the second part of the planning/construction of the Shinaksen. Its straight in to the history! The construction of the Shinkansen would require enormous investment, some thought it would be as much as 200 billion yen. A significant proportion of the funds would have to be raised from banking institutes. In 1959 the Minister…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #1

    Writing a comprehensive history upon the origins of Japan’s Shinkansen is a large project indeed – and few in the English world have sought to undertake such a task with the exception of Dr. Christopher Hood who is an expert on Japan and has penned a notable history of the Shinanksen. I’ve only read the…

  • MILW picture gallery #2

    The second part of this special gallery of Milwaukee Road scenes! Most are from Flickr pools – and not even featured on Google’s pages. Many fascinating pictures – and great photographers who captured these scenes! Drummond between Deer Lodge and Missoula. One of the few stops on the Rockies division to retain semaphore signals. Source:…

  • MILW picture gallery #1

    I thought I’d do a gallery of Milwaukee Road scenes! Most are from Flickr pools – and not even featured on Google’s pages. Many fascinating pictures – and some very lucky guys who captured these scenes! The eastern terminus of the 438 miles of electrification at Harlowton. Large marshalling yards and locomotive depots were found…

  • The UK’s double deck conundrum 2

    This is a post examining the long held refutation that double deck trains simply cannot be used on our gloriously tinpot railway systems. This is the second part of a response I have made claim in regards to a Twitter thread on the subject – and that tweet was yet another refutation the UK could…

  • The UK’s double deck conundrum

    A few weeks back I had written draft posts with the title Tinpot Railways – these being about the huge disbenefits of Britain’s railways and the backwards culture that is promulgated – it critically examined the role of our railways in new and unthought of ways. By way of my research I know Japan’s railways quite well…

  • On the Milwaukee Road #4

    This is the fourth part of the Milwaukee’s electrified Rockies route through Montana towards Eastern Idaho. Many questioned the choice of route especially as it served few places and paralleled other railroads. Compared to the other railroads’ attempts through this part of the States the Milwaukee’s route involved the traverse of two additional mountain ranges!…

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