I am going to paris in july, and was wondering, where is the best place to watch the tgv trains go past at full speed? I saw somewhere that the haute-picardie station is good, but does anyone know of any other good sopts?
I will also be visting london and brussles, so let me know if you know of any good train watching spots there too.
Thanks!
Lets just say that railfanning the TGV is cool but other than video the picture taking is not to easy.
And maybe someone can correct me but in France it is officialy against law to picture trains as of last year or so, so as foreigner be carefull.
ok, thanks for the heads up. I was just looking to take a video of some trains passing, thats all. I will be sure to ask though.
In austrailia, I did have to get a pass to take pics.....
Has anyone heard about the train photographing laws in Germany? I've taken a few from some platforms and along bike trails but was pretty inconspicous about it. But I didn't try to hide it when I was a Wurzburg hauptbahnhof because of the steam engine sitting there about 10 tracks over. Dang, now that I remember it I had to use my camera phone because my digital camera batteries were complety dead. If I had more time and wasn't carrying a ton of luggage I would have made my way closer to it. But I had another train to catch. , it was the only time ever I wished the German trains wern't on time.
yad sdrawkcab s'ti
Thanks! I will try and get out to Ealing broadway and olympia.
Also, is there a direct connection from the CDG airport to paris by TGV? I was looking into it, and I found nothing. Not even on raileuroppe.com. They say to take a RER train, but that could take an hour to get to paris......same as a shuttle that drops you to your hotel...
ironhorseman wrote:Has anyone heard about the train photographing laws in Germany? I've taken a few from some platforms and along bike trails but was pretty inconspicous about it.
Has anyone heard about the train photographing laws in Germany? I've taken a few from some platforms and along bike trails but was pretty inconspicous about it.
If you want to see Eurostars running in London (before the move to St Pancras), I've found Vauxhall (accessible from the Victoria Line) to be quite good, although I was last there some years ago.
This station is on the main line to Waterloo, but if I recall correctly, the Eurostars ran on a single bi-directional line on the north side.
M636C
M636C wrote: If you want to see Eurostars running in London (before the move to St Pancras), I've found Vauxhall (accessible from the Victoria Line) to be quite good, although I was last there some years ago.This station is on the main line to Waterloo, but if I recall correctly, the Eurostars ran on a single bi-directional line on the north side.M636C
I'm from Germany, and as far as I know there are no restrictions for taking pictures of trains. I often took pictures of trains and never had problems. And I never heard of laws about that...If you take pictures, just take care you're not entering rail facilities which are closed to public.
Vauxhall - about 40MPH!
It's a mile out of Waterloo International and a long way before the high speed lines, but you will see about 100 train movements an hour.
Another UK suggestion is Stratford, East London, where you'll see about 70 movements an hour on the Network rail system, then trains every few minutes on the London Underground system and Docklands Light Railway.
You'll see freight at Stratford (and Ealing) but not at Vauxhall.
To see TGV action at full speed in France is'nt easy without a rental car I'm afraid.
Brussels Nord sees probably 50/60 movements an hour but is in a rough area. It's been tidied up in recent years but I'd still be wary about toting camera equipment around.
Brussels Centraal is in a tunnel - forget it!
Brussels Midi - also known as Zuid - is best. That'll give you about 80 movements an hour at peak periods including Eurostar and Thalys TGV..
If you get chance whilst in Belgium try an evening at Antwerp Berchem. It's about 45 mins from Brussels and, in the evening, gets a freight every 5 minutes roughly, plus passenger services every 2 minutes.
At every station ask to meet the station manager, explain what you're about and you should have no problem.
Things will get quicker when the second part of the high speed link opens later this year, though train visibility will not be good as most of the link will be in tunnels. As far as I can see there will be some photographic opportunities in East London and in South Essex, but neither area is photogenic, being basicly flat and industrial.
If you really want to see lots and lots of trains then Clapham Junction remains as good a place as any. There are often trainspotters at the London end of platforms 11/12 and 9/10 (separate faces of the same platform) and photography there is common. In any case the platform staff tend to have their work cut out with the trains that do stop (about 1 every 3-5 minutes).
One final option would be Harrow and Wealdstone on the main line to the North West. 4 main line tracks, plus two suburban ones that are used by London Underground as well (Bakerloo Line). Virgin trains run about ten Pendelinos an hour through at 100 mph, Silverlink run local trains and you can expect freight outside the rush hours of 07:30 to 09:30 and 16:30 to 18:30. As an aside most freight does not run in London at these times, the passenger service is very intensive and takes priority.
Cricketer wrote:Things will get quicker when the second part of the high speed link opens later this year, though train visibility will not be good as most of the link will be in tunnels. As far as I can see there will be some photographic opportunities in East London and in South Essex, but neither area is photogenic, being basicly flat and industrial.If you really want to see lots and lots of trains then Clapham Junction remains as good a place as any. There are often trainspotters at the London end of platforms 11/12 and 9/10 (separate faces of the same platform) and photography there is common. In any case the platform staff tend to have their work cut out with the trains that do stop (about 1 every 3-5 minutes).One final option would be Harrow and Wealdstone on the main line to the North West. 4 main line tracks, plus two suburban ones that are used by London Underground as well (Bakerloo Line). Virgin trains run about ten Pendelinos an hour through at 100 mph, Silverlink run local trains and you can expect freight outside the rush hours of 07:30 to 09:30 and 16:30 to 18:30. As an aside most freight does not run in London at these times, the passenger service is very intensive and takes priority.
Wow, that is some great info. Thanks!
ok, I was looking at my london tube map, and I see Clapham north, common, and south. Which station were you refering to? North has a national rail symbol next to it, and I am guessing thats the one.
Tulyar15 wrote:N o, Clapham Junction is not on the Underground. Easiest way to get to it is either:-a) catch a SouthWest train from Waterloo, they go every 5 minutes.(you could perhaps stop off at Vauxhall on the way, as Simon Reed suggested)b) Catch a Silverlink train from Kensington Olympia. These are less frequent only running every 30 minutes.
Just on a side note - just got my eurostar, thalys, and hethrow express tickets in the mail.
Nataraj wrote:In austrailia, I did have to get a pass to take pics.....
Where in Australia did you have to get a pass to take pictures? I have never needed anything like that living here, never even heard of it before.......
I shot a lot of hand held Video all around Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and England no problem.
I found the best place is the very end of the platform. You are way out of the way and there is a lot of action.
I was totally caught up in the very ,very fast switching action.
Another great but only 1 hour place. Take a ride on the Skywheel Farris wheel on the T??? (the river in the middle of London). You will see a lot of action all around.
Bulbous wrote: Nataraj wrote:In austrailia, I did have to get a pass to take pics..... Where in Australia did you have to get a pass to take pictures? I have never needed anything like that living here, never even heard of it before.......
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