Having amazed my eldest grand daughter, who seems to think that nobody over the age of 17 should be allowed anywhere near Youtube I seem to be getting the hang of this uploading video malarkey! Anyway, for those of you who enjoyed my thread on the State railways of Thailand I though i would show you some video footage of the fascinating rail system that is the S.R.T I'll start with the station of Khon Kaen which is a city in the province of Issan in north east Thailand. Typical of local services are the Hitachi RHN diesel multiple units seen here on Bua Yai and Nakhon Rachasima services [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJelYbj-tc"]YouTube - Passenger trains at Khon Kaen, Thailand[/ame] Note the fine array of german signalling and the water crane more soon!
Kev, those are excellent videos, thank you. However, I have two questions..... 1) How is power transferred to the axles of those trains, hydraulic or electric? The sound of the diesel RPM stepping rather than continuous acceleration implies electric, but I'm not familiar with the sound of hydraulic propulsion. 2) Are each of those cars powered, or is only the first powered, the rest being trailers? The earlier trains sounded as if there was only one powered car, but the last sounded as if there were two, perhaps three powered cars. Looking forward to more of your videos, thanks again.
More Video staring at the screen whislt these clips upload onto Youtube gives me time to dig out the info. It appears from Janes World railways 1984 that all of the diesel multiple units seen here are diesel hydraulic/torque converter drive. The Hitachi RHNs are a mixture of powered driving cars and unpowered trailer cars. I think the THNs, the stainless steel ones have more than one powered car, I will find out and let you know, meanwhile here is some more stuff These are some more shots around Khon Kaen in Issan province [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzszCVIK6DA"]YouTube - Hitachi DMUs at Khon Kaen 2007[/ame] just down the line is the pretty little station of Tha Phra. There is an interesting container yard across the tracks from the station. Seen here is a northbound DMU on it's way to Khon Kaen [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igCIs2um5Do"]YouTube - Hitachi RHN DMu at Tha Phra, Issan, Thailand[/ame] Coming up next Big Diesels in Bangkok
Hank, diesel railcars in S.R.T.'s service have diesel-hydraulic transmission system. I'd ask some railfan I know for some info on their handling and consist building P.S. The transmission used in S.R.T.'s diesel railcars is made by Voith Turbo
Thonburi, a magical place in Bangkok this video footage doesn't really do justice to the engine shed at Thonburi, Bangkok. Home to S.R.Ts surviving steam locomotive fleet and a couple of the Krupp diesel hydraulics. But it does give you an idea. I could spend hours here just photographing and recording every nook and cranny. The Henschel shunter is marshalling trains in the nearby Bangkok Noi station which replaced the majestic and now demolished Thonburi station [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOttnXhqfkg"]YouTube - Thonburi engine shed Bangkok,[/ame] The little Henschels are equally busy at Bangkok Hua Lamphong 24 hours a day [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1VKmOrNovY"]YouTube - Henschel HAS diesel hydraulic shunter, Hua Lamphong[/ame] I promised some big diesels here is a sequence of S.R.Ts most modern motive power at Hua Lamphong, Bangkok. The action nevers stops here during the day and if you get chance to go take plenty of film, tape and memory cards with you! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIgZrl8PmVw"]YouTube - Big Diesels at Hua Lamphong[/ame]
Kev, your additional videos are wonderful, I could watch them for hours...well, almost. And thanks to you and Sophon for clarifying my ignorance of power transmission. I now remember that sound from the few times I rode on Budd RDCs 55-60 years ago. Both SP and D&RGW experimented with the heaviest locomotives that Krauss-Maffi offered in the early 1960s. IIRC, the experiment failed because the locos were not sturdy enough to handle the high tonnage trains and and long mountain grades day after day. Until I joined the TB, I didn't realize the philosophy of freight locomotive operation in North America was so different from that in the rest of the world in terms of tonnage per train, length of runs, and continuous days in service. I have learned a great deal from the threads in the International Forum....thank you all so much!
two clips from a ride on the Sattahip branch I spent a pleasant day riding the train from Pattaya down to Ban Plu Ta Luang and back on the Sattahip branch of the Eastern Line it was a bit of a trek to get to Pattaya station from the town centre as the taxi bike I took went to the bus station by mistake first! Motive power was Alsthom ALD Co-Co #4303 seen here running around the train at Ban Plu [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWcTT7ctZ7s"]YouTube - Asthom #4303 at Ban Plu Ta Luang, Thailand[/ame] I spent a couple of hours measuring and drawing one of the corrugated iron roofed salt vans for a future modelling project before heading back or a couple of ice cold Singha beers. Once back at Pattaya I watched as it departed for Bangkok via Chachoengsao Junction [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AGJ219U1Ss"]YouTube - Alsthom ALD #4303 at Pattaya station[/ame] more soon....
Brakes!!!! Working in the railway industry and in particular the nuclear transportation sector of it my colleagues and I are constantly audited on health and safety. The company I work for is one of the most regulated and audited organisations allwed to operate and maintain trains and roling stock. So it comes as a shock, when travelling the rest of the world, to see activities that would get the personnel suspended, 'med screened' and subject to some re-training if they were caught doing the following in the U.K The scene was shot in Bangkok Noi station (THonburi) prior to a southern train leaving. See how many mistakes you can spot! [ame="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0TjQoe8odJo"]YouTube - Brakes!!![/ame]
I hope the brake repairman had finished and moved before the locomotive was allowed to couple. Also, I did not see a Blue Tag on the end of the lead car. Other than that, my untrained eye saw nothing abnormal.
