Melbourne’s W class trams are a well known icon of Melbourne that date back to the early 1920s. A main part of Melbourne’s transport system until the 1990s Today the trams are a tourist drawcard operating free on the city circle line as well as at night converted to restaurant trams. Interestingly Melbourne is not the only place in the world where you will see the iconic trams operating as a tourist trolly, a few of the 748 Melbourne built trams were exported to the US in the 70s and 80s and today can be seen operating in San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, New Orleans, Dallas and Portland. The youtube video above is of a Melbourne tram turning onto San Franscisco’s Embarcadero. There are also some W class trams operating in Auckland and Christchurch New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts under ‘Trains’
The Trans Siberian Railway
The Trans Siberian Railway is one of the world’s great railroad journeys linking Moscow to Beijing via 9,288 kilometres of track that spans eight time zones. The project to build the rail was one of the most expensive in Russian history at the time the first stage was opened in 1916. Technically the Trans Siberian Railway ends at Vladivostok but branch lines continue to North Korea and via the Trans Manchurian line or Trans Mongolian line to Beijing. The video above has a few good shots of the wonderful Russian landscape, it’s no surprise watching this one that this rail journey is so popular. Read the rest of this entry »
Tripandom Disney Week – New Monorails
Well we thought being Christmas Week we should feature stories on the happiest place (or places) on earth- Yes Disneyland’s around the world. Our first story celebrates new monorails at the Anaheim Disneyland. We were reading on one of our favorite blogs that the monorails at Disneyland are getting a huge overhaul. As the photograph shows they are going to look pretty flash, word is they will have fancy blue glass and red strips which change colours in sunlight- a bit like one of those hypercolour t-shirts I suppose. The cabins take on a real futuristic retro look which should look great zooming around the Disneyland park. It looks like the first passengers will be able to ride on these sleek machines around February, so there’s not much time to wait. There should be plenty of new fun at the park during 2008 with a huge multi million dollar upgrade underway at both Disneyland and the Californian Adventure which will both see new attractions and fun for all over the next few years.
A train that floats on magnets
The last World Expo was in Nagoya in central Japan and to help get the 20+ million visitors to the site the Linimo Maglev Train was built. This amazing piece of technology offers a fully computerised, safe and smooth ride and is the first Japanese train to use the maglev system. It is hoped the technology will be used in the Shinkasen bullet trains in years to come, a Tokyo to Osaka train is in final stages of development, infact testing is being currently undertaken with speeds in excess of 580kmh. Nagoya’s train however is a suburban train it stops at 9 stops and rides upon a elevated track and reaches speeds of up to 100kph and actually floats 8 mm above the track being held up by magnetic force. The Linimo Train is able to carry 4000 passengers in each direction every hour with each train designed to carry 244 passengers, but as with all Japanese trains many more will squeeze in.
All aboard the Tramvaje in Prague
There is a lot to see in the Czech city of Prague and there is no better way to cover the distances between palaces, castles and museums than on the Tramvaje. The local tramway has over 500 km of tracks around the city and it is estimated used by over 300 million people a year. You will catch a tram every 10 or so minutes so there is no long waiting time but peak hours the carriages can get very busy. Tram 22 and 23 are probably the most useful for tourists they go past many of the city’s most scenic routes including passing the National Theatre to StaromÄ›stská and Malostranská metro stations, and continuing up to the Belveder, Prague Castle and PohoÅ™elec. Tickets are cheap as chips costing only 25Kc for adults and 10kc for kids and seniors, but for a real bargain get a short term tourist pass they work on all public transport . Tickets can be bought from newsagents, stations, hotels and some department stores. There are also vending machines close to many stops.
Dinner on the Tube
While we enjoyed the video above of this group of people setting up their dinner party in a London Tube Train, it’s probably not recommended and perhaps frowned upon by the transit police. If you have ever been on London’s subway you will remember how cramped these trains are compared to other trains around the world. Many of London’s subways were built in the late 1800s and looking back it would have been better if they were built a wee bit bigger, the trains are shaped to maximize the little space they do have and are well known for being overcrowded and uncomfortable. Read the rest of this entry »
The Rocky Mountaineer
One of the most scenic places on earth would have to be Canada’s Rocky Mountains and there is no better way to see it than with luxury train travel. Canada has a large selection of rail options taking in much of the country’s breathtaking outdoors. Some of the carrages are even equipped with glass roofed windows to take in the slendor of the amazing countryside. Sit back and enyoy this weeks You Tube of the week and get a glimpe of the best of Canada on rail.
Get on board the Horizontal Lift
What is a “Horizontal Lift” you may ask? Well it a unique subway station design only found in St Petersburg, Russia. St Peterburg’s subway system was built in the late 1950’s when the city was known as Leningrad and Soviet Russia was in the middle of the Cold War. The cities subway system is not only one of the most beautiful in the world but also one of the deepest with 53 of its stations being deep level. At the time of building, Leningrad pioneered the use of platform screen doors, but with a design known as the “Horizontal Lift”. Basically the station’s platform looks like a large room with lots of lift doors in it, the first time you are aware of a train being on the other side is once the large steal doors open up reveling the insides of the train. While the design has some good ideas, it was not popular and only about 10 stations were built like this. Today platform screen doors made of glass are becoming more and more popular around the world, so check out the video above to see how the original “Horizontal Lift” works. Read the rest of this entry »
Quick as a flash on the Eurostar
The Eurostar is the famous train that takes passengers from Waterloo Station in London to Paris’ Gare du Nord as well as to Brussels South. Travel time between London and Paris has been around 2 hours 35 mins in the past but recently by using a new high speed track in the UK a new record has been broken at 2 hours and 3 min. Previously once the train hit the UK the trains had to slow down to use the British rail network along side other trains. Now the new high speed track brings the trains to a new terminal at St Pancras at the same speed as the French side, proving the British can be as good as the French! If you need to get from London to Paris go the train instead of the plane, its the quickest way to get from the centre of one city to the centre of another. Read the rest of this entry »
