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2012
| Pictures of the Month May 2012: New Flirt EMUs for NSB, Norway | |
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On 'heavy rail' local and regional traffic side the NSB of Norway is getting the newest breed of Flirt EMUs of Stadler Rail AG. At least 10 are already in the country, although the launch is a little bit delayed because of a mishap during the test drive. This had nothing to do with the trains though. The new design seen on the right on the above picture (NSB 74503) has strengthened collision structures and is in accordance to the European Union latest crash norms. Basically all trains registered to European union countries from June 2012 have to conform to these norms. The familiar Flirt design on the left (SBB 522 202) will thus disappear from the new units. |
April is the 4rail.net month for the heavier local rail transportation. See 2011... |
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| Pictures of the Month April 2012: Translohr Trams of Padova, Italy | |
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Translohr rubber wheeled trams are an interesting newer form of transportation for warmer climates. Take a closer look at the rail under the middle of the vehicle. It is a single rail system with two wheels pressing towards the center but slightly tilted upwards. This rail provides the guidance, but no support, so this approach is quite different from most rail systems. The rail also act as an earth contact for the overhead wire, so the electrical feed for Translohr is significantly easier than on trolley buses. The modular structure of the tram works as well for bigger capacity as on its steel wheeled cousins. Is this a bus then? No, we don't think so because the format is obviously same as used on most modern trams. But where is the dividing line for buses and trams? This is up to you to decide! |
April is the 4rail.net month for the light rail transportation. See 2011... |
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| Pictures of the Month March 2012: Special Red Vintage EMUs of Switzerland | |
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77 years in operation, the single body light steel rail car RBe 2/4 is still an eye catcher on Swiss rails. Due to a one man operation instead of standard two men, swing seats for looking always in driving direction, a 25% higher speed than any SBB unit, open driver compartment and with a unique body design in red livery, the RBe 2/4 were an innovative step in rail travel technology in 1935. They went into service as so called “tram train” feeder services for national trains. Three units out of a total of seven are still around: One SBB RBe 2/4 is displayed at the National transport museum at Lucerne, a RBe 2/4 is owned by private operator OeBB Oensingen-Balsthal-Bahn and a 2.6 m extended and modified RAe 2/4 with first class seating is operated by SBB Historic fleet out of Olten. The double body RAe 4/8 (above) was built in three units and got the nickname “Churchill Arrow” after Sir Winston Churchill was travelled 1946 at his state visit through Switzerland in this “high comfort - high speed” train. As a railfan you can enjoy monthly a three hours brunch special trip with the RAe 4/8 out of Zurich mains tat ion on Sundays with free track view over the driver shoulder. Enjoy Swiss history with a delicious breakfast ! |
 Swiss Railroads Main page... Swiss Railroad Gallery... Swiss Electric Multiple Units... - - - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - - - |
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| Picture of the Month February 2012: ICY Conditions in Riihimäki, Finland | |
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It's not all about the snow, it's about ICE! After you drive a few days in flying snow and below freezing temperatures the ice buildup is the real challenge to the equipment. The heat of the train melts snow to water pouring downwards and refreezing in a blizzard. Sooner or later the bogies, couplers, brakes and all other parts get clogged with tons of ice. |
Electric Locomotives in Finland... Sr1 "Wolf" electric Locomotives... Sr2 "Guinea Pig" electric Locomotives... Finnish RR Main Page... Huge Finnish RR Gallery... Diesel Locomotives in Finland... Electric Multiple Units in Finland... Diesel Multiple Units in Finland... EMU Sm4 Theme Page... - - - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - - - |
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| Picture of the Month January 2012: Rcs for Ever..., Sweden, Norway, Denmark | |
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Rc locomotives are almost synonymous to railroading in the Nordic countries (excluding Finland). Several classes are in the duties from Intercity trains to heavy freights in multiple run, from the northernmost tips of railroads to the Southern edges of the Nordic. Here two of the handsome black units are in their duties with the passenger trains. The above Rc6 is at the point of the overnight passenger train from Stockholm, Sweden to Oslo, Norway and has just brought its coaches across the snowy lines. The rough weather can not stop these beasts on their everyday duties. Picture by Ilkka Siissalo. Below a rare black Rc3 unit in daily regional passenger duties at Odensburg. The interesting panning shot really brings the focus to the locomotive! Picture by Nick Slocombe. |
Rc/Rd locomotives page... Swedish electric locomotives... Malmbana northern locomotives... Sweden RR main page... Norway RR main page... Denmark RR main page... - - - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - - - |
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2011
| Picture of the Month December 2011: Steam and Snow in Sumpter Valley, Oregon, U.S.A. | |
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Sumpter Valley in Oregon, U.S.A. is one of the important places where steam railroading era has been carefully preserved. The museum railroad sometimes operates also in the snowy conditions like in these pre Christmas pictures. |
Sumpter Valley, steam and snow... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month November 2011: Rigi Bahn, Mountain Railroading on Swiss Alps | |
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Rigi offers some of the best vistas in the whole Switzerland. The steep mountain slopes are climbed with two separate railroads coming together at the top in Rigi-Staffel with an incredible view to several directions. |
Swiss Rigi Bahn Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month October 2011: Maschen, the Busy Spot of German Railroading | |
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Maschen in the Northern Germany is an incredible busy spot for railroading. The transportation volumes have again risen steeply after the depression of the year 2009. When transportation volumes rise in Germany, the railroads still have to cope with less than a kilometer long trains, where the U.S. and Russian railroads would span the train up to 5 kilometers and add motive power to front and possible to the other end as well. As a result, Germany has a lot of little trains going to their destinations with minimal intervals on the main lines. While the trains handling is easier, this leaves much to hope from the effectiveness viewpoint. Just imagine a large ocean going vessel being unloaded: In U.S. the containers can be downloaded to maybe 10 trains, where as in Germany you will need closer to 100 trains to carry as many containers! |
N123. - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month September 2011: Heavy Passenger Railroading in Chicago, IL | |
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In the U.S. passenger EMUs are very rare and the passenger trains, whether local or long distance are as a rule pulled by huge diesel (how else ;) or sometimes electric locomotives. The other end of the train is formed of the driving trailer in all the local trains and many long distance ones so there is no need for a time consuming run around of the locomotive at the end of the routes. Chicago as a city of almost 3 million inhabitants is one of the busy cities in U.S. using these "virtual multiple units". Hannu caught recently this interesting picture of the Metra MPI 36PHi number 419 starting a local at the down town Chicago. Below another view to a similar train, only this time pulled by a rebuilt Metra F40PH-2 loco. |
North America RR Main Page... North America RR Visions Page... North America RR Gallery Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month August 2011: Railroading lighter Side on the North Sea Islands, Germany | |
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| Sometimes you bump into a refreshing variety of the railroad equipment. This happened to Ilkka, when he made a trip to Sylt and other North Sea islands on the German northern coast. The unforgiving nature of the sea eats away the islands on one side and fills them in elsewhere which has meant that the islanders need to be quick in moving the ground to their purposes. To many of the islands it is hard to get around by boat, impossible by foot and roads are nonexistent leaving the light railroads as the only possibility in these cases. As every household can build their own license inspected vehicles there is a great variety of these: Above a basic motorized model and in the picture below a model that protects you from the occasionally rough weather, when the tracks are accessible at all. Picture above: Dagebüll, Germany, a 900mm gauge width 9 km long so called Halligbahn from mainland to the islands of Oland and Langeness. Picture below: Lüttmoorsiel, Germany, a 600 mm gauge width 3,5 km Halligbahn to the island of Nordstrandishmoor. Families have each their own "train". Pictures by Ilkka Siissalo. |
North Sea Islands RR Theme Page... Germany RR Gallery Page... Germany RR Main Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month July 2011: Heavy Shays of Cass, West Virginia | |
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| Cass West Virginia is a base for many rare surviving shays. Gerry Putz made a trip to see these magnificent old steam locomotives and from that trip we have a privilege to see the pictures here and on the U.S. Visions page. In the pictures number 6 of Western Maryland. The shay is a steam locomotive constructed to maximize traction needed to haul extremely heavy loads like lumber from the woods. The whole mass of the locomotive is resting on the tractive wheels. For this purpose both sides of the loco house a massive cardan axles making the engine look unusually interesting. Pictures by Gerry Putz. |
North America RR Visions Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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To the top of the page| Picture of the Month June 2011: Heavy Railroading on Malmbanan, Sweden & Norway | |
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| Malmbanan (English: the ore railway) in the Northern Sweden and Norway is probably the heaviest mountain railroad in Europe. It's 30 metric ton axle weight allows for use of powerful locomotives pulling long trains of ore cars over the mountains or down to the seafront in Luleå, Sweden. Kiruna in Sweden has actually developed the largest underground mine in the world! The mine traffic is so huge that there is a lack of locomotives despite the 30 IORE units (picture above) and the remaining few Dm3 units (picture below). Above the a pair of IOREs has stopped for a train meeting on the single track Malmbanan at the Torneträsk station in the background. The train is returning from Narvik, Norway. Below the Dm3 "Dennewitz" is sitting outside in the unloading area of Narvik. Dm3s are still used and the personnel we met say they love these old locos, so we hope these will be around for a long while more despite the additional orders for IOREs. In the background you can see beautiful Norwegian mountains and another large ocean going ore vessel waiting it's turn for the ore loading docks. Pictures by John McKey. |
Malmbanan Main page... IORE Locomotives Page... Rc and Rd Locomotives Page... Sweden's Electric Locomotives Page... Sweden Main page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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To the top of the page| Picture of the Month May 2011: Railroads and Commuting, Switzerland | |
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| Switzerland at the heart of Europe is an incredibly lively railroading nation. Several routes mainly on North-South axis cross the country creating an immense market for both freight and passenger markets. Also the local and regional segments are large, above the Swiss class 514 double decked EMU is stopping to board passengers on one of the heavily used routes at Stadelhofen. Below the early spring light plays on the older regional Interregio train stopping at Horgen, Switzerland. Pictures by Andreas Ehnberg. Please see the links on the right for more pictures by Andreas. |
Switzerland RR Main Page... Switzerland RR Gallery Page... Switzerland Electric Locomotives... Switzerland Diesel Locomotives... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month April 2011: Unusual Trams in Helsinki, Finland | |
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| Stanislav managed to capture to digital film some of the most usual trams we have seen! Above the Hot rod tram in the heart of the city Helsinki is advertising retail food chain with it's bright livery. Below another tram has been converted to culture tram, where different shows and happenings take place during the normal commuting. City of Helsinki has about 15 of these unusual advertisement trams alongside it's fleet of more common high and low floored trams. The add trams were acquired as used from Germany and some have been running now for 5 years. Every year some appear to add to the much needed capacity. Pictures by Stanislav Voronin. |
More unusual trams at the Unusual rr pictures gallery... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month March 2011: Winter Giving Way to Summer in the U.S. West Coast | |
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| The tough winter is giving way to the new spring creeping slowly northward. While the northern latitudes are still covered with ice and snow the weather in the south can be like in the summer. This months picture pair was taken by Gerry Putz. Above the CSX manifest is rolling through the tough winter weather and below a similar place with an s-curve with an empty coal train bathing in the summers warmth and sunlight. Pictures by Gerard J. Putz. |
- Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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To the top of the page| Picture of the Month February 2011: Winter Railroading in the European Northeast | |
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| These pictures were chosen to honor the work of Stanislav Voronin taking professional quality train pictures in the bitterly cold weather in the European Northeast. Out of the hundreds of pictures we chose the above Russian train Alexander Nevsky picture visiting Helsinki Finland around new year. Here the train is ready to depart with the double wolves at the front. Below is a celebration car on one of the the new years extra trains. There were a total of 36 extra trains between Russian and Finland to bring Russian tourist to see Finland. Pictures by Stanislav Voronin. |
- Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month January 2011: Winter Railroading in the U.S. | |
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| Winter can enable beautiful landscape photography with trains. We had a rare opportunity to publish some of the excellent pictures Nick Slocombe took on his travel to Colorado in the U.S. Professional camera work, heavy railroading and "western" sunlight created numerous interesting pictures. Above the BNSF C40-9W number 728 and C44-9W number 5489 head the grain train through the mountains at Lark Spur, Colorado. Below the long manifest of Union Pacific railroad has encountered heavy snowfall on it's route. Pictures by Nick Slocombe. |
ES44C4 on U.S. Visions Page... BNSF Roster Page with ES44C4... GE ES44AC/ES44DC/ES44C4 Page... GE AC4400/C44-9W Page... North America Main Page... N.A. High Speed Main Page... High Speed Main Page... North America RR Pictures Gallery... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month October 2010: TGV's Running at Line Speed, Nissan, France | |
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| The double pictures series for the October Pictures of the Month feature fascinating pictures taken by Focalplane in the Southern France near Nissan. Above the multi electric version of the TGV-Réseau dashes from the Nissan tunnel and is just starting to ease for the curve by the photographer. Below another unusual picture in Nissan, France of the rare TGV-Hybrid / TGV-RéseauDuplex speeding through the green Mediterranean scenery. Why not take a look at the interesting history of the 19 unit fleet of the TGV-RéseauDuplexes and other TGV stories! Both pictures by Focalplane. |
TGV and AGV Page... High Speed Main Page... France Main Page... TGV-RéseauDuplex... TGV-Duplex... TGV-Réseau... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month September 2010: ICEs / Velaros Conquering International Markets | |
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| The next in the double pictures series is a pair of the ICE3 / Velaro-D trains, above unit in Liege Belgium and below a drawing at the Frankfort Main station in Germany. Surprisingly the two pictures resemble each other even though there was no connection in taking them! Actually the drawing was made earlier, although you would think the picture being the starting point for the drawing. The above picture is of Deutsche Bahn class 406 ICE3 and below the newest of the breed class 407 Velaro-D, which was introduced at Innotrans huge railroad fair late September in Berlin, Germany. Picture above by Ilkka Siissalo, below by Siemens AG. |
Velaro / ICE High Speed Page... High Speed Main Page... Belgium Main Page... German RR Gallery Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month August 2010: The Year of Recovery for Heavy Freight Trains | |
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| We decided to continue with our "double pictures of the month" scheme as we got these great pictures from Gerry Putz. Above the BNSF looong double stack freight wounds the S curve in the southwestern U.S. These trains are beginning to be more and more commonplace, just as they were before the recession. Some of the worlds countries have even reported best ever results for transportation in the beginning of the year 2010! On the tip of the train is a brand new BNSF unit 6619, which is a part of their experimental ES44C4 fleet. The six axled C4s can raise the middle axles of each bogie without sacrificing valuable traction. Where added distributed weight is needed, the "dummy" axle will be lowered again. Sort of returning to the early days of diesels and 4 axled diesel designs. Pictures by Gerard J. Putz 2010. |
ES44C4 on U.S. Visions Page... BNSF Roster Page with ES44C4... GE ES44AC/ES44DC/ES44C4 Page... GE AC4400/C44-9W Page... North America Main Page... N.A. High Speed Main Page... High Speed Main Page... North America RR Pictures Gallery... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month July 2010: Allegro Pendolinos tested in Russia | |
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| The Karelian Trains Allegro units are bringing the winds of change to the traffic between Russia and Finland. With 50%/50% joint venture of the dominating railroad companies in the area, mighty RzD in Russia and VR-Yhtyma in Finland the success of these four new high speed Pendolino train sets is imminent. They will replace the now existing trains "Sibelius" and "Repin" between St Petersburg Russia and Helsinki Finland at the end of the year 2010. Click one of the links on the right to learn a lot more on the subjects! Why 2 pictures of the month? Well, we simply could not choose between the master shots of Stanislav. The above is taken 5 o'clock in the morning in the first light train passing Kerava station and the one below the previous day running at Kerava junction. Pictures by Stanislav Voronin 2010. |
Finland Main Page... Russian Main Page... Karelian Trains Theme Page... Allegro Theme Page... Pendolino High Speed Trains... High Speed Main Page... Finland R.R. Pictures Gallery... Russia R.R. Pictures Gallery... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month June 2010: Heavy Railroading in Estonia | |
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| Estonia is one of the rare places in Europe, where heavy freight railroading is common. The Russian built powerful 2Te116 locomotives haul oil, coal and other raw materials to Estonian ports and lumber and pulpwood to Estonian growing wood processing industry. Here the double (or quadruple) unit is starting a kilometers long empty can train from Estonian city Narva across the river to Ivangorod in Russia. Transoil is the second largest Russian private operators with literally hundred of the 2Te116 units in its service. Recently the western alphabet on the locos has been changed to Cyrillic and all the locos repainted with slightly different tone of red to create a systematic corporate look. Picture by Hannu Peltola 2010. |
Estonian Picture Gallery... 2Te116 Theme Page... Russian Locomotives Page... Estonian Main Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month May 2010: Stockholm Underground in the City Center | |
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| The C20 3 unit consist of the Stockholm Underground is gliding away from the darkness and crosses the bridge southbound in the middle of the city. Stockholm is just one of the cities, where the only way to transport great number of people and doing it fast has made metro number one vehicle. More than 300 million people daily travel by metro. The C20 units replaced the older rolling stock after year 2000. The C20 are built by Adtranz, now part of the Bombardier. Picture by Antti Eväsoja 2010. |
 Sweden's Picture Gallery... Sweden's Multiple Units... Sweden's Electric Locomotives... Sweden's Diesel Locomotives... Sweden Main Page... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month April 2010: SBB ICN tilting at Curve in Wassen, Switzerland | |
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| The seven module ICN train of the SBB is doing the maximum tilt at the curve in Wassen, Switzerland. The "Intercity Neigezug" is a common sight in Switzerland's regional traffic with its 43 unit fleet. The trains were built by a consortium of Bombardier, Alstom and the SBB itself. The interesting design is by Pininfarina of Italy. Here the unit on its route from Basel to Lugano taking a tight curve at Wassen on the Gotthard Route in Switzerland. Picture by Nick Slocombe 2009. |
Swiss Picture Gallery... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month March 2010: Railroads back at work after the recession | |
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| The economy is improving and the hardest winter for years is retreating, so its time to get back to work with higher volumes for many operators around the world! A T44 (EMD 645 powered) Swedish road switcher crew is exchanging ideas with another similar switchers crew through the air instead of talking on the radio phone. Notice the engineer on the left carrying the remote control equipment. Many T44's are used remotely while switching, often enabling a single worker to handle the whole work. Picture by Hannu Peltola 2009. |
Diesel locomotives of Sweden... Electric Locomotives in Sweden... Swedish Multiple units... Sweden Main Page... Swedish Gallery... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month February 2010: Finnish Tk3 Waiting for the Spring | |
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| In this impressive and dramatic photograph by Christian Westerlund the Finnish vintage Tk3 type steam locomotive is clearly waiting for the spring. Sitting in the snow and covered throughoutly with the frost the unit 1163 is seen against the sun in the horizon, barely capable of warming the air. With the coming months the angle will change and with time the sun will be able to melt the frost on the loco. Given a few more weather cycles this preserved but not in driving condition steam locomotive can hopefully be restored to original working order. Interestingly, the locomotive is sitting just 100 meters from the busiest Finnish station Pasila, Helsinki, so if you visit Helsinki, give it a few minutes! Picture by Christian Westerlund 2009. |
Westerlundphotography.com... VR1 Steam Loco Page of 4rail.net... Vintage Locos of Finland... Finland RR Picture Gallery... Ken Storey Winter & Steam Pictures... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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| Picture of the Month January 2010: Snow in the U.S. East Coast | |
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| CSX mixed freight at Point of Rocks Maryland, U.S.A. The CSX mixed freights is lead by a trio of heavy locomotives, ES40DC units 5317 and 5317 plus an SD40-2 number 8463, past the beautiful Neo-Gothic station. This picture is quite unusual with its forward angle to train showing surroundings, and the handling of the light for the camera is great. You can almost see the movements of the train slowly rolling forward through the snowy scenery bathing in light. Picture by Gerard J. Putz 2009. |
Visions from U.S. by Gerry Putz... ES44/ES40 Page of 4rail.net... - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - |
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