"BH Williams" wrote in message
...

A practice which continued on some continental railways on freight trains
until relatively recent times- whilst the more recent ones were a covered
section of platform,housing a screw brake, I have seen stock from as
recently as the inter-war period where the cabin was raised sufficently
for
the brakeman to have a view along the length of the train. The Southern
Railway built some four-wheel brakes for the Night Ferry which had a
similar
feature, albeit in the middle of the vehicle.

Hornby used to produce some French models of the vehicles with a brakeman's
cabin in the 1930s. I can remember seeing them in their catalogue, along
with a Nord 4-4-2 and CIWL cars.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

Alan J. Flavell wrote to uk.transport.london on Thu, 18 Nov 2004:

Sounds like me as a toddler on the rare occasions I was taken on
Birmingham trams. Where can we see one of those today? We never
actually went to the terminus (Rednal, IIRC), and I was fascinated by
the idea of changing ends and reversing the seat backs.

Me, I was fascinated by those on the Star Ferry in Hong Kong when I was
the mother of a toddler, never mind being one!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 6 November 2004 with new photos

"Alan J. Flavell" wrote in message . gla.ac.uk...
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, BH Williams wrote:

[excessive quotage now snipped]

I was only four or five at the time and much more interested in the
seats which had backs that could be folded according to the
direction of travel...

Sounds like me as a toddler on the rare occasions I was taken on
Birmingham trams. Where can we see one of those today? We never
actually went to the terminus (Rednal, IIRC), and I was fascinated by
the idea of changing ends and reversing the seat backs.

But they'd been abolished before I was paying proper attention.

It was a great pity that none were preserved

Doesn't the Black Country Museum have a tram from that part of the
World on its system? I seem to remember that they ran on track of a
narrower gauge than standard, but I can't remember what it was.

Many of the modern trains on New Jersey Transit have reversible backs.

In message , Stephen
Furley writes
"Alan J. Flavell" wrote in message news:Pine.LN
.. .
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, BH Williams wrote:

[excessive quotage now snipped]

I was only four or five at the time and much more interested in the
seats which had backs that could be folded according to the
direction of travel...

Sounds like me as a toddler on the rare occasions I was taken on
Birmingham trams. Where can we see one of those today? We never
actually went to the terminus (Rednal, IIRC), and I was fascinated by
the idea of changing ends and reversing the seat backs.

But they'd been abolished before I was paying proper attention.

It was a great pity that none were preserved

Doesn't the Black Country Museum have a tram from that part of the
World on its system?
Well, they have three trams two "Tividale" type single deckers (of which
one, 5, is no longer operational and the other, 34, provides the
mainstay of the Museum service). A Wolverhampton District car (49) has
also recently entered service but is used sparingly.

I seem to remember that they ran on track of a
narrower gauge than standard, but I can't remember what it was.
It was 3' 6" (or 1067mm).

Only one complete Birmingham tram remains in existence, car 395, which
is now on display at Think Tank, Birmingham's Science and Technology
Museum.

Although they are very close (and shared a common tramway gauge (with
connections) it is worth mentioning that Birmingham and the Black
Country are very different area with much (friendly!) local rivalry.
People from one area get slightly huffy at being mistaken for natives of
the "other" area. For that reason alone, I suspect that seeing 395
restored to operational condition and operated on the Museum line at the
Black Country Museum would be very unlikely. That said, I would dearly
*love* to see it done!

Many of the modern trains on New Jersey Transit have reversible backs.
As do trains on the Sydney system, the only place I've ever seen that on
a railway.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

"Stephen Furley" wrote in message
...
"Alan J. Flavell" wrote in message
. gla.ac.uk...
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, BH Williams wrote:

[excessive quotage now snipped]

I was only four or five at the time and much more interested in the
seats which had backs that could be folded according to the
direction of travel...

Sounds like me as a toddler on the rare occasions I was taken on
Birmingham trams. Where can we see one of those today? We never
actually went to the terminus (Rednal, IIRC), and I was fascinated by
the idea of changing ends and reversing the seat backs.

But they'd been abolished before I was paying proper attention.

It was a great pity that none were preserved

Doesn't the Black Country Museum have a tram from that part of the
World on its system? I seem to remember that they ran on track of a
narrower gauge than standard, but I can't remember what it was.

Many of the modern trains on New Jersey Transit have reversible backs.

(Stephen Furley) wrote in message m...
"Alan J. Flavell" wrote in message . gla.ac.uk...
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, BH Williams wrote:

[excessive quotage now snipped]

I was only four or five at the time and much more interested in the
seats which had backs that could be folded according to the
direction of travel...

Sounds like me as a toddler on the rare occasions I was taken on
Birmingham trams. Where can we see one of those today? We never
actually went to the terminus (Rednal, IIRC), and I was fascinated by
the idea of changing ends and reversing the seat backs.

But they'd been abolished before I was paying proper attention.

It was a great pity that none were preserved

Doesn't the Black Country Museum have a tram from that part of the
World on its system? I seem to remember that they ran on track of a
narrower gauge than standard, but I can't remember what it was.

Many of the modern trains on New Jersey Transit have reversible backs.

3'6". It also has the authentic bumpy Black Country track!

(Troy Steadman) wrote in message . com...
The first L&SW trains to Kingston-on-Railway (nowadays Surbiton) were
notable for having people riding on top and people riding below.

Were they double-deckers?

You can see an early postwar Australian variant in the opening scenes
of "The Road to Bali" where Bing Crosby is riding in a Victorian
Railways dining car and passing food through the window, by means of a
walking stick and a handkerchief, to Bob Hope who is riding the rods
below. Other points of interest:

1)the GM loco hauling the train was possibly still in service until a
couple of years ago

2)the Australian officials portrayed in the film all have BBC accents
with the occasional "mate" thrown in to add local colour ...

Turning to a film of a slightly different kind, Francois Truffaut's
New Wave classic "Jules and Jim" -- set between ca 1910-1920s --
includes archival footage of French trains of the period, and I'm sure
there's some real double-deck carriages in one of these clips.

Meanwhile I wonder if IK Brunel, not usually one to miss an
opportunity, ever considered building broad-gauge carriages *with a
basement*?

andrew clarke
canberra