

London to Brighton train ride, 1953-2013 [video] - erkose
http://flowingdata.com/2013/09/04/london-to-brighton-train-ride-1953-2013/

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nohuck13
It's interesting how many more trees there are in 2013. My wife pointed out
that it looks the same with pictures of New York from the early 20th century-
green space just wasn't a thing we had the desire/means to rate as highly.

OTOH the major infrastructure hasn't changed much (bridges, urban areas, not
just the train line which is politically determined). Technological change
reshapes how live in a lot of ways in short timespans, but it's interesting to
reminded that big, capital intestive stuff like bridges and tunnels and roads
are still built with 50+ year expected lifetimes. I can't imagine writing
software with anything like that staying power.

~~~
astrosi
There is also another, more practical, reason for the lack of trees and
general greenery next to the train lines.

In 1953 we are still in the age of steam and trees were cut back from the
lines to reduce the risk of fires from hot ash.

There was a pretty interesting article with the BBC to accompany this a while
back.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23853863](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
england-23853863)

~~~
rayiner
> In 1953 we are still in the age of steam and trees were cut back from the
> lines to reduce the risk of fires from hot ash.

I'm assuming that's a joke, but one of the things that's always surprised me
is how early electrification happened. The London-Brighton line was
electrified in segments from 1909 to 1932. Many of the commuter rail lines in
the U.S. were electrified that period too.

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exDM69
If you enjoy playing Train simulator games, you probably know this route by
heart. I think this particular route has been made for every popular train
simulator out there.

I don't play that much train sims, only a little every now and then but even I
recognized parts of the track.

If you have not tried train sims and feel like the idea is a bit daft, I was
once with you on that. I had, however, liked watching trains when I was a kid.
But after a friend told he liked playing train sims, I had to try too and I
enjoyed it. So here's my warm recommendation to try out a train simulator,
it's really difficult and fun!

~~~
harrytuttle
Echoing the above, and having driven a real train (well class 58 unit) around
a large east midlands depot (a relative who was fairly senior organised it so
I got to do the initial class checkout training for an afternoon) it's a crap
load harder than you probably think it is. They really are complicated
machines with a lot to learn and driving them is a skill that isn't something
that easy to master.

The simulators, particularly MSTS is a pretty good representation and a good
challenge. Go try it :) Better than running swearing 12 year olds off the
track on Forza.

~~~
ido
As point of interest, why is it that hard? What makes the task (or mundane
parts of it) less automat-able than driving cars (which I think most people
would say isn't all that difficult)?

~~~
harrytuttle
It's definitely automatable, entirely. The DLR in the UK proved that. But that
isn't going to happen when the problem is slightly more complicated and not
predictable like it is in older lines. You have ot build with automation in
mind. One tree on the line and an automated train will plough through it for
example derailing it and killing many people (
[http://www.caerphillyobserver.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2013/...](http://www.caerphillyobserver.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2013/01/Derailment-Brith-Dir-300113.jpg) ) . One dodgy point,
it won't notice and won't report it and the next thing you know, the train is
going sideways down a platform side-swiping people (
[http://www.virginmedia.com/images/potters-bar-
crash-431x300....](http://www.virginmedia.com/images/potters-bar-
crash-431x300.jpg) )

Machines are shit at noticing these things.

Also the problem is that it's not just about sitting there and pulling a lever
- that bit is quite easy. There are a load of surrounding tasks like checking
out the locomotives, coupling, shunting, safety rules, signalling, token
exchange (which is still used), diagnosing problems (why aren't the brakes
releasing can be an hour to diagnose/fix) and the inevitable "managing drunken
passengers and coordinating with police" etc.

Not everything is suitable for the lowest common denominator of person or
automation.

~~~
JulianMorrison
Given these are the kind of obstacles a Google driverless car has to navigate
around, machines may be at the point they can match humans here. Of course
this is a much more fancy, expensive level of automation than the "docklands
light railway" type.

~~~
cstross
If a driverless car goes wrong, it's very unlikely to kill more than a double-
handful of people.

A 5000-ton freight train capable of barreling along at 100km/h while carrying
50 tanks of propane or anhydrous ammonia or similar is an entirely different
risk case ...

~~~
harrytuttle
Indeed. In the UK, nuclear waste is transported by train as well.

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VBprogrammer
Its a little sad that repeating the exercise today shows little improvement
over 30 years ago. The HST125 is still the fastest diesel train in the world
(the actual video was likely taken from a Diesel Multiple Unit which are
lighter and more efficient but not faster), those lines are still not
electrified little has changed in train signalling with most of the
improvements in train control being to centralise it rather than actually
improving the rail service.

~~~
jcdavis
That line is actually electrified in all 3 videos, just not with conventional
overhead caternary. Southeast England is one of the few places in the world
that uses 3rd rail power outside of mass transit metros. You can clearly see
the rail just outside of the running rail in all the videos.

~~~
yangyang
Does Essex count as Southeast England? Because the LTS (C2C) line is overhead-
electrified. So is HS1.

~~~
petercooper
More formally, I think they should have referred to trains that depart from
London's southern termini? (Victoria, Waterloo, Cannon St, London Bridge,
Charing Cross).

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ibrow
Are the three videos running at the same speed? Or are they constantly
adjusted so they keep up with each other so we can see more clearly any
changes in landscape?

I can actually believe that the journey time _hasn 't_ increased since the
1950s. However, possibly the clock at the end of the film is there to indicate
the differing journey times?

Anyway, interesting video. thanks for posting.

~~~
billforsternz
They've clearly made progressive adjustments to synch the journeys - it would
be extraordinary if they entered/exited tunnels etc. at _exactly_ the same
time otherwise.

~~~
TeddyLondon
I make this journey everyday, pretty cool to see it as it used to be, it is a
shame it is so fast.

You can see when they go through the first big tunnel (the merstham tunnel
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merstham_tunnels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merstham_tunnels))
they enter at the same time and exit at the same time so the old one must be
(maybe??) sped up.

It would have been interesting to see what Gatwick airport was like then but
it doesn't really show it, other than there being a big space on the right
hand side that isn't there any more (2:11).

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danmatan
And of course, the video for the song, which might explain its choice:
Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S43IwBF0uM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S43IwBF0uM)

~~~
skatenerd
I was momentarily very excited because I thought this was the source of the
music video

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raintrees
I wish there was a speed control, I would have liked to slow it down in
places, having never traveled to the UK yet...

~~~
autodidakto
Some videos are html5 and have speed controls (you can opt in to the program
or add &html5=true to the url. Otherwise, you gotta youtube-dl the file and
run it in vlc.

For someone who uses the advanced features of VLC, web video is a frustrating
experience.

~~~
raintrees
Thanks!

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sdfjkl
Interesting how the way passengers dress has changed vastly in the first 30
years and not so much in the recent 30.

~~~
jdimov
Yes, Brits dressed WAY WAY better 60 years ago. I just took this trip a few
days ago and was appalled and disgusted by the way that most people were
dressed.

~~~
TeddyLondon
disgusted by the way people dress? were they copying the American "lady ga-
ga's" bacon outfit
([https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lady+gaga+bacon&safe=activ...](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lady+gaga+bacon&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nWYoUrvsN-
PQ0QW7nYHoCg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=985))?

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ginko
It's interesting how much straighter the route has gotten over the years.

~~~
joeyo
I noticed that as well and wasn't sure whether to chalk it up to lens
distortion or if it really is a straighter track now. Interesting also how
many fewer track "spurs" there are now.

~~~
zimpenfish
Considering it starts and ends in the same place, goes through the same
places, and the UK isn't known for tectonic activity, I'm reasonably sure the
track hasn't straightened enough that it would be visible at that magnitude.

Which is a long way round of saying "I think it's lens distortion and
placement".

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ricardobeat
It's a shame they used such a shitty camera for the 2013 video.

Things look mostly the same, and there seems to be _more_ green in the more
recent videos.

~~~
cclogg
I wonder what the 1983 video was shot on? Would have been cool if all 3 were
shot on film too heh.

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mdesq
The quality of video color has improved dramatically.

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casca
Direct link to the Youtube video referenced in the post:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGTwSNPqAqs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGTwSNPqAqs)

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dulob
i've got dizzy

