Sunday Varoery

Pinterest Puzzle Pictures

Mystery Trolley

The trolley bus above looks very similar in bodywork style to the New Zealand example from Christchurch as revealed in yesterday's blog. The obvious difference us that it is left-had drive, so not from GB's former Colonial  nations.

Trolejbus Škoda 3Tr U Jána. Protektorát Čechy a Morava, 1941

fbb has failed to accurately identify the location BUT found the following on-line.

The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the German occupation of the Czech lands. The protectorate's population was mostly ethnic Czechs.

The Capital of the Protectorate was Prague.

Here the official titles of the annexed lands. Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren (German) Protektorát Čechy a Morava (Czech)
1939–1945

This shows a typical old Prague Trolleybus ...

And these look similar.

But were they green?

So fbb's guess is that the green six-wheeler, dated 1941, ran in Prague during the cynically named Nazi "Protectorate".

Canadian MagLev?

Krauss maffei MagLev vehicle on test track for Toronto "retrotransportation" "advancedtransit"

???? Obviously a test track!

Toronto Exhibition Grounds Test Track (1974): A test setup featured German Krauss-Maffei technology, though it remained a short-lived demonstration. 

A Bigger Mystery

Первый в СССР вагон на электромагнитной подвеске с линейным электроприводом, построенный в МИК (полигон «ВНИИПИтранспрогресс» в подмосковном городе Раменское) в 1985 году. Первый успешный пуск (подвешивание) произошёл 25 февраля 1986 года. Но с развалом СССР технология поездов на магнитной подушке была заброшена.

It is in Cyrillic script where C C C P is Russian for U S S R.

The USSR was at a critical junction in the mid-1980s. There was large-scale political instability and uncertainty, and cracks were beginning to form in the communist system in terms of wages, benefits and infrastructure. Part of this was new transportation challenges that served the large population of the USSR, which included 15 Republics at its height.

Maglev Trains stepped in with a solution with the Wagon TA-05 train. The train’s capacity was a few dozen people and Maglev envisioned the trains, if successful, to be used for both short-distance commuting as well as travel between the Republics. The train had the possibility to reach 400 km/h, which proves that in many ways Soviet-era production was ahead of its time.

It never did!

TEE To Northlander

TEE was, of course, a network of high speed high spec trains running under the Trans Europ Express label.

Here are four diesel electric four car sets operating a service jointly between Dutch (NS) and Swiss (SBB) Railways.

The units were exported to Canada, where, after a repaint, they operated trains from Ontario to the "North Lands".

The Northlander is a passenger train operated by the provincially owned Ontario Northland Railway in southern and northeastern Ontario, Canada. 

It was not a fast train.

The poor quuality picture of a typical timetable implies a whole day's journey.

Service was discontinued in 2012, however the Northlander is scheduled to resume service in late 2026 with an expanded route, modern trainsets, and upgrades to railway infrastructure and stations.

So the TEE units lasted from 1977 to 1992 ...

... when more conventional stock replaced them.

If the ex TEE  stock excites you, a model of the Northlander is available from Trix ...

... whilst an older TEE  version was manufactured by Roco and may well be available second hand.

A New IoW Bus Service

Only it is not new, it returns, under Government subsidy, after a long absence. It starts tomorrow.

For many a long year route 3 ran from Ryde to Newport via Havenstreet.

There were 3A and, at one time, 3B and 3C variants ...

... and in the early days of the Steam Railway, extras from Ryde to Havenstreet station ...

... although the above are of preserved vehicles on more recent running days. 

Then came the decision by Southern Vectis to withdraw the service. Steam Railway customers can access the steam trains via Island Line, by car, or buses to Wootton station, seen below with yet another running day visitor, NOT on any version of route 3!

The new bus service ...

... is but a shadow of its former self with a paltry three journeys each way.

But Havenstreet has got its bus service back - at last!

St Helens and Wirral "Metro" reviews will follow later, after Lynn's Ferry tomorrow.

 Next Kings to West blog : Mon 28 Sept