>Go to the capital Helsinki
>see a tiny train cruising along the streets of the downtown
>question your sanity
Fuck that place, never again! ;)

So I am an unabashed streetcar buff. Also know some stuff about Finnish and Swedish state railways but not much more.

I do know that we operate basically a Russian railway stranded in the Euro-land but still.

The best references I have for a wider Russian railway operation is the film "Krai", or "Bim the Black Ear", or the soviet Lassie as it was called. (Never reached the home; the home didn't burn down but instead she froze to the d3eat in dog catcher's van instead.

>>384
Ah well, I guess I should explain: "Lassie palaa kotiin" = "Lassie returns to her home / Lassie burns at her home". Because "palaa" means bot 'return' and 'burn'.

Bim the black ear had some extensive railway shots. The dog futilessly running behind the train is probably burned to my memory forever. (Along with the kids who were searching for some rare non-soviet gum wrappers...)

Anyway, one knows the shit is getting real when the foot is applied to the accelerator.

(An of course, the trusty old O class will indeed be the snappiest when under non load...)

>>384
After all the things you've learned here, after all we've been through... You still judge Soviet/Russian railways by the "Kray", like some nOrMiE. YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE, ANAKIN!!! You were meant to destroy the ignorance around Russian rail transport, not join it!

If seriously, the Kray is a nice film but I wasn't much surprised to deduce many people totally believe Russia and its railways still look _exactly_ the same way as portrayed in the film, and everyone else who says otherwise is "Imperial propaganda".

Speaking of propaganda, the pic is EG2Tv "Ivolga", the current poster girl of our commie railway engineering. Of course the proper achievements are in the locomotive field but who on Earth among the normal sane people gonna care about some stupid engine, right?

BTW it is NOT ugly! I have no idea why everyone in the Russian rail community instantly goes RRREEEEEEEeEEeeEeEEeEeeeeeeeeee as soon as it comes to Ivolga's appearance.

Offtopic: On the background you can see the Moscow business center and a construction of another bloody highway. Well I guess it still beats pointlessly widening the streets (because this would totally NOT create even more traffic jams) by destroying tram lines and generally oppressing public transportation as it was some decade before. Right, mr. Luzhkov?..

No future at all in the US.

Uff. That was some level 1 drunk posting.

Back on topic and staying in the realm of urban rail, with my limited experience I must say Düwag GT6 and its derivatives. Smooth aesthetics, smooth ride.

>>387
The film is definitely in the guilty pleasure -category, what comes to realism, historical accuracy about trains, gulags, secret police, realations between different nationalities and such. Though I've understood, it was quite cheaply made for the visual quality of the final product.

The busy Moscow livery doesn't help the situation with Ivolga, I think. Either get rid of the red and orange nose and roof or the mega-sized wave pattern that is constantly broken with uni-colored doors. On the trams, that same pattern is sensibly only in the top edge above the windows. Does it happen carry any local significanse, or is it some new top corporate branding, worth millions?

>>403
Not even on the freight side?
That kind of baffling defeatist attitude is everpresent on the /n/ too, like no worth
trying, everything will always be terrible. Yet, the knowledge about the mistakes made in the past decades is out, surely things can't but impreve from this point on?

Btw on the Euro side, the EU is slowly dismantling national rail monopolies. I'm cautiously optimistic this could help the market share of the freight. Doesn't strictly help here though, we would need domestic legislation that would allow easier cross border traffic with Russia. Especially to allow Russian cars to be leased here, if they ever really want competition to VR (and it sadly appears, the current cabinet is very against both ideas).

>>410
>Either get rid of the red and orange nose

No can do, cuz safety reasons. If you look closely, all Russian railway stock has some orange reflective surfaces on the front.
Besides, come on, really? Orange beak is what makes it cool! Because, y'know, Ivolga is a bird, and birbs have beaks?.. *insane chuckling*

>or the mega-sized wave pattern that is constantly broken with uni-colored doors
> Does it happen carry any local significanse, or is it some new top corporate branding, worth millions?

This is both and neither. It is a variant of the "Moscow Transport" sorta-unified livery, planned to be used on metro trains and urban elektrichkas, but turned out to be used only in metro with the exception of two Ivolga prototypes.

That pattern might looks annoying, yes, but you won't believe, Ivolga is hated purely because of its shapes, and not the livery. But to be fair, they did indeed change the livery for the Ivolgas after the 002, which does look more in accordance with your criticism. Pic related.

>>421
After this iteration, clearly under the pressure of the constant complaints of the (potential) passengers (obviously most of them being transport fans LOL) which suddenly found themselves being enough of an aesthetes to be "culturally offended" by the Ivolga's design, they upgraded its exterior to look more soapy and less "aesthetically offensive". IMO it looks like total crap, but who would have thought that everyone totally liked it?.. Sucks to be a nonconformist, I guess.

Also, SPEAKING OF FUTURE OF TRAINS, at least here in Moscow, it should be noted that Ivolga is a mere part of a larger project on the MCD or the Moscow Central Diameters, a grand plan to turn all the radial directions of Moscow railway (which there are 10 of) into 5 pass-through (including building some new connections, yes) diametral S-bahn/RER-like urban-rail routes to reduce some stress on the overcrowded metro (to large part overcrowded by suburban commuters which interchange on the closest metro station available to save a buck on the cheaper tariff zone - countering that by taking firm control of totally rampant CPPK tariffs and unifying everything within 30 km from Moscow with only two inexpensive tariff zones is the main selling point of the MCD) and also VASTLY improve the conditions for the suburban commuters. Obviously this all while retaining the capacity of said lines to be used for freight and long-haul trains, as well as elektrichkas to farther destinations than the MCD which focus on the closer suburbs, which generate most of the passenger flow - in perspective they gonna build additional dedicated MCD tracks on all of them but initially for the first two diameters they just plan to run Ivolgas in the mixed schedule with common elektrichkas. I realize they wanna open it as fast as they could but I think they should build additional tracks first, it's ought to be a mess...
I bet at some point I gonna cover this in more details - maybe even this time should there be enough interest - maybe even create a dedicated thread, who knows. Anyway, heres at least a link to a rough map of how MCD it _supposed to_ look at this point. https://www.mos.ru/upload/newsfeed/newsfeed/mcd_21082019(1).jpg

>>421
From the 1960s, BR started applying full yellow ends to anything that could move under its own power. The rules no longer require this, but you can generally tell what the limit is at any given time by looking at a preserved diesel, which will invariably have been given the smallest warning panel they can get away with.

Speaking of reflective paint, VR started to use it only fairly recently (2012 or thereabouts, from memory) when the current green livery was introduced. Engines in the old red livery with a stripe of reflective "warpaint" applied can still be spotted.

I liked the "express" carriages. Big real seats even in the 2nd class, drapes, radiator heating, opening windows, level floor above the bogies like God intended. (Preferably Rt, where R meant full service (with absence of k) diner, t = smoking allowed.)

>>435
If it was to be historically accurate, shouldn't the nose then be full yellow?

>>436
No, because when those locos were originally in that livery they didn't have full yellow ends initially.

Freight trains are the best trains!

>>422
Aaaaaand heres how you take an overall sensible design and botch the heck out of it... with just three letters.


























МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД МЦД

To return to the issue, clearly the designers were attempting some recollection towards the iconic ER2/ER9, but to me too it mostly resembles a duckfacing fiat multipla.

Front end of the the revised Oriole (lit. "Zander Cooker" in Finnish) kind of brings the oncoming Tampere tram to mind. It's the swirly logo that does it.

I emitted a big phew when seeing it in the nature, at least it was something inoffensive and conventional. Never go full Strasbourg...
(Of course, rail "fans" didn't like it.)

1chan Gold thread

also, waor wings

>>382
>What's ur favorite trains?
Anything LNER.
>Model Train kits?
Yes.
>How about thoughts on where trains are headed (no pun intended) in the future? Super fast trains?
With all the controversy surrounding HS2, it's 50/50 whether it will actually get built. I'm kind of on the fence over the whole issue, because yes high speed rail is cool, but the money could be better spent upgrading the existing network, especially in the north of England, and there's the problem of woodland being cut down to make way for the railway.