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Comment by gerdesj | Hacker News Reader

"See Britain and trains."

There are quite a few confounding factors at play in Britain with regards trains. The UK is quite small and infrastructure like railways takes up space and competes with roads and so on. There is the need for bridges and tunnels to accommodate crossings with other methods of transport or itself or to traverse topography.

A first stab at really high speed rail here called APT Advanced Passenger Train involved engines and carriages that tilted. It seems that the journalists on the demo run were so pissed (drunk) that it was given horrific reviews and the idea was shelved. That might have been our really fast railway links.

We did get HST 125 (High Speed Train) which in the early '80s did look pretty fancy compared to the older blunt nosed locomotives that they replaced.

Is that what you meant?

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it was a little tongue in cheek, but one concrete example of what I meant is the UK system being on a narrower gague than most of the rest of the world because it was built early and is next to impossible to change, meaning taller double decker trains aren't possible.

It's the width of a Roman Chariot - what's wrong with that 8) It was the first and that's the way it goes.

Not sure why you need a double decker train and I think you could if you really packed people in. You can just make them twice as long. Railways don't have the same constraints as nearly anything else.

I remember the carriages of the later half of C20 and each person had a huge amount of space. In one design you had a corridor running the length of the carriage with a series of bays with seating for up to four or five on each side, loads of leg room and a luggage rack above. Separate door to the platform for each bay. Obviously you had to puff furiously on your pipe or fags to fill the space with healthy smoke.

I've ridden that design in Italy! I'm not sure they still exist but it was a lovely way to travel (something like Genoa to Pisa I believe).

Double decker trains I just find fun for some reason, and you get slightly better views riding up top over fences and walls and such.

I do enjoy riding on double decker trains - as you say the view is amazing. We do have lots of double decker buses and a ride through the country at the front of the top deck is a delight.

I remember taking the bus from Plymouth to Millbrook (mid 1990s), which included a trip over the River Tamar on the ferry. I can't remember if it was one bus or two to get there and back.

One year I recall a harsh winter and icy roads. On one trip, I was sitting in one of the top front seats. It was early evening and I was heading home to Plymouth, idly watching the stiff, whitish countryside through the haze on the windows. The bus lost grip on a gentle incline and started to spin gently but, well, I nearly needed to change my trousers. We did a good two complete spins until a wheel hit a bank and we came to a halt facing mostly backwards. "Drives", made a polite announcement and reversed down to the bottom and then did a very gentle 10 point turn and cracked on.

Fair enough - we are missing out on some lovely views.

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