Here are some interesting railway pictures sent in by members. Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Picture
Description
From

 

Indian railway pictures, Darjeeling Himalaya Railway, pre 1914. Platform view at unknown station. Note half-timbered “British” architecture,

Giles Barnabe
Indian railway pictures, Darjeeling Himalaya Railway, pre 1914. Rangtong station with loco being prepared in the distance. Giles Barnabe
Indian railway pictures, Darjeeling Himalaya Railway, pre 1914. A pause for water near the 12th milepost. Giles Barnabe
Indian railway pictures. Photographer unknown. Indian railway construction:- Locomotive AKBAR being ferried across a river in 1887.
 Giles Barnabe
This little metre gauge rust-bucket was discovered in the "future projects" siding at Ecuille station - the headquarters of the preservation socity running the southerly section of the Blanc-Argent line in France. It look as if it might have started life as a 60cm gauge engine, and is clearly in need of some TLC!
 Giles Barnabe
CF Baie de Somme preservation railway in Northern France at their Steam Weekend. In complete contrast to the larger steam engines there were several railcars on view. This one was about the smallest, though I'm not sure who owns it. I did like the period luggage on the roof, and I shouldn't be at all surprised if that large bottle carried refreshments for the week-end

 Giles Barnabe
Permanent way vehicles come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but this must be one of the more unusual. It is a hedge-trimming locomotive, and can be found on the preserved southerly section of the Blanc-Argent line in the Tourraine region of France.

The locomotive started life as a Brookville diesel, and I wonder if it was always metre gauge? Given its American origin, 3ft might have been more likely. I'm not sure of the significance of the poster on the cab-side. Possibly the firm has sponsored the locomotive which must see plenty of use, as the railway is lined with trees and bushes for several kilometres.
Giles Barnabe
This picture shows a Kent & East Sussex class P locomotive and its LMS brake-van "on holiday" at the CF Baie de Somme preservation railway in Northern France at their Steam Weekend. This event takes place in late March, every three years, and as the K&ESR are twinned with the French line there is usually something British to be seen. In 2006 for the first time a complete British train was running; here it is at St Valery sur Somme, just before setting off for Noyelles. In order to board passengers, a high platform had been built on one of the town's level crossings, and the road closed to cars. Can you see that happening in the UK???
 Giles Barnabe
Up to Christmas 2005 the SNCF's RTG Turbotrains could be seen passing between Bordeaux and Lyon each day, as two trains made the daily trip starting at each end of the line. The early departure from Lyon met and crossed the mid-morning train from Bordeaux at Mussidan, in the Dordogne, so you could have had a picture of two units standing side by side. Needless to say I was never around to see this now vanished event, except once when I was waiting in the car at the level crossing, without a camera.

This picture was taken at Perigueux in 2003 and shows the train departing for Lyon. The route visits several stations where the train's direction reverses (Perigueux is one of these). As the service is now run with a diesel locomotive and four coaches, the journey takes well over an hour longer, and consequently there is only one daily service in each direction.

The Turbotrains were a real style link with the past, showing their design origins in the 1950s. From this angle one can see similarities of design with the Italian "Settebello" and even with British Railways' Midland Pullman - all three units would have been designed within about ten years of each other, though from memeory of a childhood trip, the Settebello had the edge.

On their retirement from SNCF the Turbotrains were in a terrible condition externally with the bodywork patched with body-filler - even sticky tape was not uncommon. I believe they've been sold to Egyptian Railways.
 Giles Barnabe