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Richard Smith Profile picture
@richardavsmith
Apr 19, 2022 • 22 tweets • 14 min read • Read on X
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I spent Day 6 of my #SouthernRailways trip in and around Lisbon, so here's some highlights.
A very windy crossing.
Cais do Sodre station.
Monument to the Discoveries by the harbour.

I'm British, and even I think this is a bit on the nose for an imperial monument.
If that's not enough colonialism for you, you're going to love the compass rose/map of Portuguese colonies donated by the Government of South Africa (yes, that one) in 1960.

Yikes.
I did like this fish monster though.
All the Portuguese flags I've seen on this trip have been at half mast, I wonder why.
The 25th of April Bridge, named after the date of the Carnation Revolution which overthrew the remnants of the Salazar dictatorship in 1974. (The bridge was formerly named after him.)

It carries a road on the top deck and a railway below.
Cascais station, the terminus of the westernmost railway line in Eurasia.
A glorious cove in Cascais.
Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point on the Eurasian continent.

(The southernmost point in Europe, Tarifa, isn't that far away. The other extremes are a lot further away.)
Sintra, former Royal seat and World Heritage Site.
Sintra station, and the ride along the commuter mainline back to Lisbon.
The impressive but poorly designed (windy, ticket offices small and feel tacked on, signs of degradation, most screens and escalators not working) Lisbon Oriente station; a Calatrava classic.
Site of World's Fair 1998, complete with line up of flags from participating countries/organisations. (Spot the Western European Union flag, rarely seen!)
The Vasco da Gama Bridge, the longest in Europe.
Riding one of Lisbon's beautiful classic trams through the heart of the city, winding up and down and through some very tight curvature.
Santa Justa Lift designed by Eiffel, sadly closing as I got there.
A beautiful city that's so much fun to explore. Definitely need to come back, much more to do that I didn't manage today or on my previous trip.
And a Fertagus train back to my hotel over the 25 of April Bridge.

Those are my highlights from today; more normal service should resume tomorrow.
You can find the other days of my trip here:
Next day:

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More from @richardavsmith

Richard Smith Profile picture
Jul 8
My number is VO0534.

VO0 took about 40 minutes to advance by 10.

This office closes in an hour.

I need to make InterRail reservations for the two trains I *cannot* do online.

Compulsory reservations are an awful system made worse by @Renfe being a mess of a company. Image
What's a particular joke is that obviously a lot of people simply give up most numbers yeild no one.

And the room has multiple ticket machines, going unused because they cannot do many basic things.

And every booking requires so much info from customers that it takes 5-10 mins.
Honestly RENFE would be top of my list of companies to sack the whole leadership team and replace them with e.g. UK TOC staff.

Just a load of ridiculous systems that go repeatedly unchallenged.
Read 17 tweets
Richard Smith Profile picture
Apr 20
Right, let's do this: going to a retirement for a train I've ridden maybe a half dozen times before!

(Well, when in SF. Accidentally. At the right time.)

#EclipseByRail

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I'm at the very end of my #EclipseByRail trip. While I've still got a lot of earlier days to update (tech issues and data thwarted me doing it live!), this is a mini thread while I'm in SF and this @SFBART event is going on.
Ooh, shiny new replacements.

I guess this is my first time on them. I love how wwwwwiiiiiiiddddddeeeeee the @SFBART trains are.

It's starting to feel weird to see a new train without fully open walk through gangways.

Also there's a place to put your bike, love it!


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Read 39 tweets
Richard Smith Profile picture
Oct 13, 2023
23* Train Operating Companies (TOCs).

One All Line Rover.

One day. (Yesterday, to be precise.)

And not much of a plan.

Let's (try to) ride #AllTheTOCs.

*Don't worry, I'll get to this. Image
So, before we begin, some quick caveats:
1) 23 TOCs on the All Line Rover, so excludes Eurostar and HEx (mostly operated by GWR anyway)
2) GTR and WMT are each a single TOC
3) My goal was to ride every TOC at least one stop, but...well, wait and see.
4) Times are actual not sched
#AllTheTOCs 1/23: Caledonian Sleeper
05:46 Glasgow Queen Street to 06:29 Helensburgh Upper
1Y11 (66+73+Mk5s)

You can travel in the seated coach from Edinburgh-Fort William and v.v., but have to reserve free in advance

Helensburgh Upper is the shortest you can go.

@CalSleeper


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Read 49 tweets
Richard Smith Profile picture
Apr 20, 2022
It's Day 7 of my #SouthernRailways trip, and I'm heading from Lisbon 🇵🇹 to Seville 🇪🇸.

I've really enjoyed my time in Portugal, I need to come here more often.
You can find the other days of my trip here:
A pleasant walk to Pragal station, spotting the morning commuter traffic into Lisbon heading towards the bridge, and a TAAG Angola Airways jet. (Always love a dot on the front end of a jet.)
Read 83 tweets
Richard Smith Profile picture
Apr 18, 2022
I'm heading to Portugal, for the first time travelling there from London without flying.

It's Day 5, and it's time for a new operator on this #SouthernRailways trip: CP (Comboios de Portugal), the national railway company of Portugal. Image
You can find the other days of my trip here:
After picking up my free (but pointless?) reservation for the CP Internacional train to Porto, I had just under an hour to wander in Vigo. ImageImageImage
Read 119 tweets
Richard Smith Profile picture
Aug 21, 2019
Here we go again. #startoftheline #summeroftrains2019 #es9150
You can find my journeys by train in Europe earlier this year here. #springoftrains

You've got to hand it to Eurostar: it takes a lot of self confidence and optimism to claim you have WiFi time and time again despite all evidence to the contrary. We could all learn a thing or two

(My first tweet was initially sent in London. It didn't make it up until Calais!)
Read 320 tweets

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