Railroading in Finland * Lot´s of photos*


T

Teddy Tiger

The Flying Finn
I introduced myself in an other topic, and I was asked if I could post some pictures about railroads and engines in Finland. VR (Finnish National Railways) is the only operator in Finland, so pretty much all the photos im going to post are VR:s stock. All the photos are from website http://www.vaunut.org

Hope that there´s not too much of photos for one post?

Let´s start with the ones that are still in use. I´ll begin with the electrical stuff, and will continue with diesels later. Feel free to ask if want some additional information... :)

In the first picture there´s the newest electric engine, the Sr2, a.k.a Lok 2000 in Europe. Switzerland and Germany uses these also, maybe some other countries too? This is used in passenger and cargo trains.

Sr2:
47829.jpg

( photo by Ilkka Myllyniemi / vaunut.org)


The other big electric is Russian made Sr1. In the same use as the Sr2.
Here´s a picture in typical Finnish landscape.

Sr1:
50261.jpg

( photo by Leo Männistö / vaunut.org)


Followed by the flagship of VR:s marketing, the closest thing to a bullet train up here north. We proudly present, The Sm3 Pendolino! Top speed up to 220 km/h (~ 137 mph). It´s Italian made, so it has had some problems especially during winter.

Sm3:
43708.jpg

( photo by Karri Pietikäinen / vaunut.org)


These next trains are used to handle the regional traffic. Here´s Sm1, we also have a Sm2, but looks pretty much the same so lets begin with one photo.

Sm1:
45218.jpg

( photo by Jukka Tölkkö / vaunut.org)


Followed by the newcomer, Sm4.

Sm4:
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( photo by Toni Aitta / vaunut.org)


Here´s a nice mugshot of them all at Helsinki railwaystation:
42530.jpg

( photo by Karri Pietikäinen / vaunut.org)

Hope You liked these, will continue later!
 
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Thanks for the photos. I enjoy having an opportunity to view engines and rolling stock from other countries. And that red and white paint scheme is very nice.
Tom
 
Teddy very nice. I too enjoy see trains from all over the world. Thanks for sharing these!
 
Teddy, great pictures. I rememeber those Russian electrics when I was there although they have been painted in much more attractive colors now. They seemed to me to be about the loudest electrics I ever heard but I understand they could really pull a load (when they weren't in the shop, which seemed like a regular occurance. :) ).

Those Finnish stations put ours to shame. I remember wondering if someone went out every morning with a tootbrush and cleaned the platforms. I never saw any trash thrown about by the customers and even the ballast looked like it had been cleaned. No grafitti either. Much different than the dank holes we call stations here. :(
 
Great photos, Teddy. I don't know about thee others, but I would like to see some of the cargo (freight) equipment. Kiitos!
:D
 
That first photo is striking - because of the angle the train appears to be floating above the tracks that are in front of the tracks the train is actually on!
 
The photos are very good, I tried to pick up some of the best pictures I could find. So none of them are taken by me, the photographers names are under the pictures.

Jim, those Sr1:s are loud! I think they are actually pretty good engines, russians know how to design an engine that can be operated in wintertime also. Their technology is somewhat rugged, but quite durable.


JazzDad, I´ll be adding some diesels next, have been a bit busy lately. There should be some freight included...


And Jeff, now that mentioned, indeed it looks that way!


I have about two weeks to go before my course starts. In a year, I should be able to drive all those engines in the first post :cool:
 
Some more stuff, diesels that are still in use. All these are designed and manufactured in Finland unless otherwise mentioned. The first is Dr16, mostly used in northern Finland, in freight and passenger trains.

This ain´t the best possible picture of the engine, but looks so cool I just had to post it!

Dr16:
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(photo by Ville Saarelainen / vaunut.org)


Here is a better one:
37043.jpg

(photo by Petri Tuovinen / vaunut.org)


Next one, Dr14, used as a heavy shunter and also in freight trains. Powerful engine.

Dr14:
31642.jpg

(photo by Jarkko Rokka / vaunut.org)


The Dv12 is a real all around- machine. Used in pretty much every way, passengers, freight and increasingly also as a shunter.

Dv12 / Nice pic:
49763.jpg

(photo by Osmo Tietäväinen / vaunut.org)


Dv12 / Another one:
48934.jpg

(photo by Mika T.Polamo / vaunut.org)


Most of the Dv12:s have been recently renovated:
49693.jpg

(photo by Matti Jalava / vaunut.org)


There´s a couple to start with, enjoy the pics!
 
Nice pictures again, Teddy. That first shot would look great on a Christmas Card. :) It seems that cabs on Finnish locomotives are much larger that cabs on US locomotives. The Dv12's cab seems really large. Any reason you know for this?
 
UP2CSX said:
Nice pictures again, Teddy. That first shot would look great on a Christmas Card. :) It seems that cabs on Finnish locomotives are much larger that cabs on US locomotives. The Dv12's cab seems really large. Any reason you know for this?
Click to expand...

Well, I´m not sure how it is on American ones, but those diesels have the controlling equipment (dashboard) for both directions. But this is quite common I believe?
 
Teddy, I think the diffference is that the Dv12's are what we would call "center cabs", meaning the engine can run in either direction. There's a full set of control stands (or dashboards) for running in either direction. Most American locomotives, although they can run in reverse, have one end designated as front and they only have a full set of control stands towards the front of the cab. Consequently, our cabs are much smaller than the ones on the Dv12, even though the locomotives are much bigger. American engineers would love to have cabs that big. :)
 
Yep, I think that the cabs are bigger than in most of American ones. They actually are quite roomy, it´s possible to get about six persons and the driver in and still be able to drive, altough the visibility is a bit limited.

I´ve been quite busy lately, it´s the first week of my engine driver course. It has been very interesting!
 
Teddy, nice to hear from you. I hope you're doing well in your courses and that you're taking lots of photos for us. :)
 
Hey, do you know the people at the "Tapiola Parish Model Railway Club"? They have a nice website and they obviously do excellent work, but it seems as though they're not as active now as they were a few years ago.

You've go to admire someone who can say "Tapiolan seurakunnan pienoisrautatiekerho".
 
Funny thing that you asked John, I´m actually a member of the club! I´ve just had a few years pause in hobbying, but now back in business again.

Well the club is still active, we get together every wednesday. I think we are starting to build a FREMO- modular system based layout to our club. The websites haven´t been updated so much lately, since there haven´t been any spectacular changes recently.

I´ve mentioned this forum to our club´s no.1 man, Pekka :)

I praised this forum, and perhaps he will join us in the near future.
 
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