At certain times of the day in the Manchester area,you can see the Emirates A380 double decker flying low over the moors.Quite a sight.
citycat:
Pimpdaddy:
citycat:
Yeah, I sort of guessed they didn’t fly around the sky with pilots shouting out“Whoa whoa, pull up quick, there’s someone underneath us, s**t, there’s one to the right of us now, pull left pull left, and watch out for that b****r over there, whoops just missed him…” :
Still need to keep your wits about, remember the Ãœberlingen mid-air collision…?
Oh yeah, think I remember reading the air traffic controller on duty that night was later stabbed to death by an anguished husband who lost his wife and kids on one of the flights.
Sounds like the storyline of a movie !
this one
Vitaly Konstantinovich Kaloyev (Russian: Виталий КонÑтантинович Калоев, born 15 January 1956) is an architect and deputy minister of housing from North Ossetia, Russia, known for his 2004 murder of Peter Nielsen in the Swiss town of Kloten.
Kaloyev was born in Vladikavkaz. His family died aboard Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, which collided with DHL Flight 611 over Ãœberlingen, Germany on 1 July 2002. Nielsen, an air traffic controller handling traffic when the collision occurred, was freed from any responsibility in the following inquest and he retired from further air traffic work afterward. However, Kaloyev held Nielsen responsible, and became a hero in his native Caucasus republic following the murder. Kaloyev was released from prison in November 2007 and shortly after was appointed deputy minister of construction of North Ossetia—Alania.
For all you fellas chatting about that accident found this
m.youtube.com/watch?v=_XhIAt4NUbw
So sad. Russian one was pretty much full of children going on once in lifetime holiday.
Freight Dog:
I’m a sucker for interest in trains
Me too, wish I could drive one…
:lol:
I hope one birthday my misses gets me a footplate experience ride at a steam railway. That would be cracking. Proper Casey Jones stuff. Also would love a go on one of those class 66 diesels you see pulling freight around. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. Always find the steam railways when we go somewhere. I’ve a mate in the merchant navy. Love hearing his salty sea dog stories. Couldn’t do the job though. 3 weeks away finishes me off. Too much of a home bird!
I fancy a go on the electric stuff, class 321, 91 or LU 1973 stock:lol:
Pimpdaddy:
I fancy a go on the electric stuff, class 321, 91 or LU 1973 stock:lol:
There you go Pimpdaddy and Freightdog. Two cab rides for you. The first is a 66 where you can listen to that General Motors engine rev at the 2 minute mark.
The second, a ride on a Class 91. I used to be a train guard on the East Coast mainline.
That’s a interesting one lu 1973 stock lol! Loved going on the class 91 GNER to London. A modern classic.
I used to think the real monsters were the class 43 units pulling the HST with paxman valentin engines. They were so loud and smokey. Awesome. All re engined now shamefully and run on bunny rabbit fur or something and shoot rose petals out of the exhaust.
My misses must never see this conversation she’ll award me full geek points for a year
Great vids. That engine sound at 2 mins like you say is great. Real power. I love the sound. I bet they’re noisy inside.
Interesting you worked on the railway. Did you enjoy it?
citycat:
The first is a 66 where you can listen to that General Motors engine rev at the 2 minute mark.
What a machine, was that an EWS Class 66?
citycat:
The second, a ride on a Class 91. I used to be a train guard on the East Coast mainline.
Lovely, Bounds Green depot was nice to see:lol:
Freight Dog:
That’s a interesting one lu 1973 stock lol!
Weird I know lol, it’s the pneumatics & the fact that it’s a 70s machine that’s been refurbished & looks fantastic out of the whole lot to me, i think it’s also one of the few lines left that’s actually driven manually. I’m just as passionate about it as this guy lol youtu.be/_ZgNJzh36FE
United 918 is delayed 1 hr 30 minutes
Freight Dog:
Interesting you worked on the railway. Did you enjoy it?
Yes, it was a good life as a train guard. Lots of top business totty in tight suits with split skirts and revealing blouses to discreetly ogle while doing the tickets on the morning trains from London up to Leeds and Newcastle 
With regard, to the Paxman Valenta, the drivers were told to pull out of stations in notch 2 or 3 I think due to noise abatement. However, one driver I worked with regularly liked to cause mischief. With me hanging out of the guard’s window just behind the power car to get the full effect from the engine, he’d set off from Leeds just above idle to get the train moving. As we got level with the commuters waiting for their local trains, he’d whack it on full power so they’d get the full on ‘banshee scream’ right next to them. It was fun watching them almost drop their phones or newspapers in fright and rushing to cover their ears while trying not to breath our exhaust fumes as we tore out of the station.
This driver also let me ‘have a go’ a couple of times, and there’s nothing quite like driving an HST at 125mph. With regard to the second occasion when I drove an HST from Doncaster to Peterborough, we swapped back again around Tallington, the driver sliding into the seat while I slid out keeping the DSD (driver dead man pedal) depressed with my foot. It was then arranged that he would throttle down the engine to idle and coast for about thirty to forty seconds, giving me time to get back through the engine room and into the train without being deafened before he powered up again.
As I made an unsteady progress through the lurching engine room trying not to get oil on my uniform, I accidentally dropped my pager. I spent several seconds searching for it before finding it lying under a pipe. As I picked it up and started to make my way back, I was suddenly hit by the full scream of a Paxman Valenta at full throttle just inches away from me, the driver obviously thinking I had made it through. I had to clamp my hands over my ears and stagger on into the side passage and through the wind tunnel that was the large side vent to the outer atmosphere before reaching the sanctuary of the power car brake van. I have never heard anything so loud in my life as that Paxman at full chat, far too close for comfort, and my ears were still ringing like an alarm clock as we pulled into Kings Cross 50 minutes later. It was a great experience though, better than any amusement park ride !
It was never the same when they took out the Valenta engines and replaced them with MTU’s. They sound like a hairdryer in comparison 