Trains...why?

Use this board for general non-cycling-related chat, or to introduce yourself to the forum.
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

pwa wrote:
kwackers wrote:
Cugel wrote:What is the practical purpose of 0-60 in a couple of seconds? Is it James Bond device to break the neck of the assassin sitting in the back of your car with his gun?

The practical purpose was for Tesla to sell the idea of a milk float to a V8 loving public.
Top end Tesla's cost the same as Ferrari's and other 'sports' vehicles.

Having won over a fair chunk of petrol heads and gotten the idea that electric cars aren't really milk floats most folk will now wonder off and buy something they can afford with respectable if not neck breaking performance.

Or one of the Aston Martin electric cars soon to be made a few miles down the road from me.

Oh no, in Wales, I am ashamed

One top reason to travel by train is safety, the risk of being killed as a passenger is almost zero
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
kwackers
Posts: 15643
Joined: 4 Jun 2008, 9:29pm
Location: Warrington

Re: Trains...why?

Post by kwackers »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
pwa wrote:Or one of the Aston Martin electric cars soon to be made a few miles down the road from me.

Oh no, in Wales, I am ashamed

One top reason to travel by train is safety, the risk of being killed as a passenger is almost zero

Aston Martins?
I doubt your average motorist will be considering an Aston.

As for train safety - you may not die in an accident but there's always being stabbed, pushed onto the lines, mugged, sexually assaulted (less so for us blokes) and having our immune systems stress tested.
Last edited by kwackers on 10 Nov 2018, 10:05am, edited 1 time in total.
pwa
Posts: 17371
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by pwa »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
pwa wrote:
kwackers wrote:The practical purpose was for Tesla to sell the idea of a milk float to a V8 loving public.
Top end Tesla's cost the same as Ferrari's and other 'sports' vehicles.

Having won over a fair chunk of petrol heads and gotten the idea that electric cars aren't really milk floats most folk will now wonder off and buy something they can afford with respectable if not neck breaking performance.

Or one of the Aston Martin electric cars soon to be made a few miles down the road from me.

Oh no, in Wales, I am ashamed

One top reason to travel by train is safety, the risk of being killed as a passenger is almost zero

You obviously haven't shared a carriage with belligerent drunks on a late Saturday night train from Cardiff to Bridgend! Safe it is not!
PDQ Mobile
Posts: 4659
Joined: 2 Aug 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by PDQ Mobile »

pwa wrote:You obviously haven't shared a carriage with belligerent drunks on a late Saturday night train from Cardiff to Bridgend! Safe it is not!


Though that is a societal problem not one of travelling by train per se.
The same could be said of travelling amongst a load of drunk drivers.
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

pwa wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:
pwa wrote:Or one of the Aston Martin electric cars soon to be made a few miles down the road from me.

Oh no, in Wales, I am ashamed

One top reason to travel by train is safety, the risk of being killed as a passenger is almost zero

You obviously haven't shared a carriage with belligerent drunks on a late Saturday night train from Cardiff to Bridgend! Safe it is not!

Sorry, I was thinking of the Top of Wales :wink:
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
Marcus Aurelius
Posts: 1903
Joined: 1 Feb 2018, 10:20am

Re: Trains...why?

Post by Marcus Aurelius »

I often organise rides on routes / circuits that are not local to me. It’s invaluable to be able to stick my bike on a train, travel the 45 miles to the start of the course, do the 50 - 60 mile course, then not have to ride another 45 miles home. Sure they’re not the comfiest way to travel, but useful nonetheless.
User avatar
meic
Posts: 19355
Joined: 1 Feb 2007, 9:37pm
Location: Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen)

Re: Trains...why?

Post by meic »

I used to do that but they stopped running the trains that I needed to get to my destination in the morning. The service then only starting after I needed to be there.
Yma o Hyd
User avatar
Cugel
Posts: 5430
Joined: 13 Nov 2017, 11:14am

Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cugel »

kwackers wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:
pwa wrote:Or one of the Aston Martin electric cars soon to be made a few miles down the road from me.

Oh no, in Wales, I am ashamed

One top reason to travel by train is safety, the risk of being killed as a passenger is almost zero

Aston Martins?
I doubt your average motorist will be considering an Aston.

As for train safety - you may not die in an accident but there's always being stabbed, pushed onto the lines, mugged, sexually assaulted (less so for us blokes) and having our immune systems stress tested.

All that happens in cars too. And in the back of vans. Also in lorries. I would bet that it even happened in a Reliant Robin somewhere! (Yes, we must substitute "pushed out into the road" for "pushed onto the lines"). I suspect it all happens rather more in the oil-burning personal death machines than on trains. Well, unless you read The Daily Frightener.

On the other hand, they will have to make the toilets on a Virgin train work and remove their carriage-wide stink if I am to ever get on one again. There is a list of other things they must do too, such as deal with all those phone prattlers.

One option is not to travel so much. Of course, one must be content with a more simple life then; or be able and willing to ride a bike many miles. Our car does about 4500 miles per year, of which I drive about 1000. I probably do 5X that on the bike. One comes across so much more on a bike.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
pwa
Posts: 17371
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by pwa »

PDQ Mobile wrote:
pwa wrote:You obviously haven't shared a carriage with belligerent drunks on a late Saturday night train from Cardiff to Bridgend! Safe it is not!


Though that is a societal problem not one of travelling by train per se.
The same could be said of travelling amongst a load of drunk drivers.

I'd sooner be on the road, in a car, on my way back from Cardiff at 10pm than on a train. I have done both and a car feels safer by an order of magnitude.
PDQ Mobile
Posts: 4659
Joined: 2 Aug 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by PDQ Mobile »

pwa wrote:
PDQ Mobile wrote:
pwa wrote:You obviously haven't shared a carriage with belligerent drunks on a late Saturday night train from Cardiff to Bridgend! Safe it is not!


Though that is a societal problem not one of travelling by train per se.
The same could be said of travelling amongst a load of drunk drivers.

I'd sooner be on the road, in a car, on my way back from Cardiff at 10pm than on a train. I have done both and a car feels safer by an order of magnitude.


Which might be a little illusory?
And personal preference too?

But it remains a societal problem and not one of the train per se.


I suppose one other "advantage" is that you could join the "party" on the train legally.
Assuming you didn't cause any trouble. :wink:
pwa
Posts: 17371
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by pwa »

PDQ Mobile wrote:
pwa wrote:
PDQ Mobile wrote:
Though that is a societal problem not one of travelling by train per se.
The same could be said of travelling amongst a load of drunk drivers.

I'd sooner be on the road, in a car, on my way back from Cardiff at 10pm than on a train. I have done both and a car feels safer by an order of magnitude.


Which might be a little illusory?
And personal preference too?

But it remains a societal problem and not one of the train per se.


I suppose one other "advantage" is that you could join the "party" on the train legally.
Assuming you didn't cause any trouble. :wink:

Call it societal if you like, but the reality is that after previous experience I am not getting on an evening train at weekends. Whether I blame the train itself or the folk on it is just an academic point. The last experience involved a dozen or so drunks shouting abuse at each other, with violence threatened. Swearing was flying around, with a mother trying to reassure her young children who were clearly upset by the hostility around them. It was awful. And it was not my first such experience.
PDQ Mobile
Posts: 4659
Joined: 2 Aug 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by PDQ Mobile »

pwa wrote:Call it societal if you like, but the reality is that after previous experience I am not getting on an evening train at weekends. Whether I blame the train itself or the folk on it is just an academic point. The last experience involved a dozen or so drunks shouting abuse at each other, with violence threatened. Swearing was flying around, with a mother trying to reassure her young children who were clearly upset by the hostility around them. It was awful. And it was not my first such experience.

My sympathy and I have experienced drunken behaviour on a late train too. Actually to the point of being fairly lightly struck whilst merely sitting quietly in my seat. But it's another story!

It is not an academic point though, but one founded upon good reason.
The train is not to blame.

Cure the ills of society and much anti social behaviour would dissapear.
I have travelled on many European trains and the incident noted above happened here in Mid Wales.
Better security in the form of more personnel on late night trains is another method.
pwa
Posts: 17371
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by pwa »

PDQ Mobile wrote:
pwa wrote:Call it societal if you like, but the reality is that after previous experience I am not getting on an evening train at weekends. Whether I blame the train itself or the folk on it is just an academic point. The last experience involved a dozen or so drunks shouting abuse at each other, with violence threatened. Swearing was flying around, with a mother trying to reassure her young children who were clearly upset by the hostility around them. It was awful. And it was not my first such experience.

My sympathy and I have experienced drunken behaviour on a late train too. Actually to the point of being fairly lightly struck whilst merely sitting quietly in my seat. But it's another story!

It is not an academic point though, but one founded upon good reason.
The train is not to blame.

Cure the ills of society and much anti social behaviour would dissapear.
I have travelled on many European trains and the incident noted above happened here in Mid Wales.
Better security in the form of more personnel on late night trains is another method.

I'm sure we all agree that this sort of thing shouldn't happen and anyone should be able to use public transport without a worry, day or night. But if I had a journey to do tonight I would avoid public transport for that reason, just as I would avoid dark alleys in urban areas. It isn't going to change soon, so nor will my preferences. The world should be a nicer place, but it isn't.
PDQ Mobile
Posts: 4659
Joined: 2 Aug 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Trains...why?

Post by PDQ Mobile »

It isn't actually a "world" problem though.

It is my experience that in much of mainland Europe that while a certain amount of drunkenness is apparent, the boundaries about not interfering with other passengers seem more rigid.
Trains are cleaner too.

You live in S Wales, it is sadly renowned for such drunkenness.
But do not tar all trains or all parts of society or Nations with the same brush.
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I travel quite a bit by train in Germany, usually the carriages are almost silent, full of people reading. A child gambols in the aisle and enchants everybody, rarely seen problems with alcohol more than people being in a good mood. If a football match is on there are lots of cops on board so once would be safer than normal if one managed to squeeze on

One private train operator, metronom, banned alcohol 24/7, I read the FAQs, one may take sealed beer bottles on board but they must not be visible, if one has a half-empty bottle one should discreetly pour the contents down the toilet :?

Seems a bit unnecessary, maybe metronom does not have a licence to sell alcohol, €¥$!
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
Post Reply