Bikes and Trains

That pink steam remembers me of the scene from back to the future...

Loved watching the racing this morning, and the train was beautiful. Perfect timing

[Super]

You were there live AOF?

Spotted during today's stage of the Tour de France (won by Wout van Aert in full-on super-human-beast-mode) - this little 'Autorail' at Lumbres, south of Calais, on Le Chemin de Fer Touristique de la Vallée de l’Aa.



https://www.cftva62.com/autorails-picass...-et-x3853/

Further investigation reveals a most interesting class of rail-bus, the SNCF X3800.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF_Class_X_3800

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSWiZDQB2PI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNqGg4r_GHc&t=1s

You were there live AOF?

New Zealand, Middle of the night, Starts around 10-11pm and goes through to 3-4am.
If I get the chance I will watch the first hour or so, But as I get up at 5.30am for work, I need some sleep.

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@Chrisjo

Wow, what an unusual Cab area. Hope there are no low hanging branches, tunnels, gantry's or bridge works 😁😁😁

Well, I didn't expect to see any trains while watching the Saudi Tour, but life's full of surprises.  This is what popped out of the desert today:



A little digging leads us to the 1600km narrow gauge Hijaz Railway, built at the beginning of the 20th century to speed the faithful from Damascus to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca in what was then the Ottoman Empire.  It seems we've got Lawrence of Arabia to thank for wrecking it.

There are bits and pieces of it still scattered all along the route:

 

Sections of the line still operate locally in Jordan, Syria and Palestine, and there are several museums.

There's a good looking book, and the author has his own website which has a wealth of fascinating material, and where you can order the book direct (I have just done so).

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I love that working steamer in the first picture and the desert carcasses in the other two.

Nice when your favourite pro-racing stats provider tips you off that a race is passing by a steam railway!

In this case we're in the Netherlands, and its de Miljoenenlijn (the Million Line) operated by the Zuid-Limburgse Stoomtrein Maatschappij.

[Super]

Oh my...that steamer is stunning 😃