Trains have steering wheels. Obviously.

[BitchfaceBarclay]

Otherwise they'd fall off the tracks.

H is trying to tell me otherwise. I simply don't believe him.

I am right aren't I?

The signal boxes are sadly disappearing at a rate. They are being replaced by large control centres and signalmen pulling large levers consigned to historical railways only.

Yabu. And google it instead of starting a post on Mnet.

That's right thread police IonaNE, nobody can ever post anything that they could google. Anyone would think this is a forum for people to talk about things that are in their mind. Oh. Wait...

So...when will we have fully automated trains without a driver?

nacho

Ah a class 156 'super sprinter's I don't mind those at all if they've had a decent internal refurbishment. There's plenty of table seats and the windows open (I find air conditioned trains slightly claustrophobic). Sadly quite a lot of them are in pretty tatty condition internally, but nothing a decent refurbishment won't solve. They've probably got a good 15 years left in them.

We already do - there are some on the Docklands Light Railway.

^response to Orlantina

Line 14 on the Paris metro has driverless trains, too.

The great thing about threads like this is that

(A) they're very very funny, and

(B) you learn more, and more quickly, from interested experts than you do by googling.

Orlanta _ that's a very long way off, if ever. On most routes there's no in cab signalling and it is dependant on the Drivers spotting trackside signs and their own route knowledge. - no mean feat when you're responsible when you're traveling at 125 miles an hour.

Op are you at the gala in Swanage by any chance? Thats where we were yesterday.
may have also highlighted the timetable

I am Fudgy. I love swanage. Good chips and ice cream. And I love Corfe cos I can pretend I am in the famous 5.

Trains began the industrial revolution

No they didn't. The first steam engines were to pump out mines in the 1780s. There was already a fair old bit of industrialisation in factories and so on by the time railways get going. They accelerated it and upped the rate of social change because news and fashions and so on spread faster, but they didn't start it.

(I feel this is the sort of thread where I can be pedantic. And I am posting from the 12:57 from Basingstoke to Waterloo, though I didn't pay attention to which class of train it is.)

H is delighting in showing me the insides of trains and there is a bit of a lack of wheels. I may have to concede this one.

Ebear your on either a 159 or 158 (more likely a 159). I know this because i work on that line and basingstoke station is where our training took place. I answered many train time questions while on training

Fudgey Are you a driver?

Then perhaps we have passed each other on the way up to Basing View some time, Fudgey.

I follow Swanage Railway on Twitter and am loving the tweets about the gala this weekend.

I'll be down there next month. Can't wait for the trip to Corfe on a steam train. We always go on it when we're in Swanage, and have a cream tea at the Model Village tea rooms.

Asmoto no not a driver, i work for a toc, but not on the trains.

Ds 1 has been a train driver for 10 years, he has worked for many different train companies.
Its very exciting riding in the cab

I'd love to ride in the cab - you're so lucky, Hazel. I've only ever been in a stationary cab.

I've ridden in a train cab ! Extremely noisy !

And the driver did not use a steering wheel

Engine cabs don't have steering wheels.

www.ianforsythphotographer.com/blog/2016/12/documentary/hitachi-unveils/

Very jealous that you're at Swanage, OP. We've been watching on railcam but there's no sound!

Big class 37 fans here, especially ones taking the nuclear flasks from Crewe up to Sellafield.

Now, trains might have steering wheels A Class 37 in extremely rare livery!

Aye, without trains, Durham wouldn't have this as one of its iconic landmarks.

Can't say as much for the shithole of a bus station at the other side of the roundabout, mind. Shame, as buses are our thing and ds1 doesn't get nearly so excited about trains.