Time flies by when you're the driver of a train
May 25, 2013 5:39 PM   Subscribe

You may remember the 7.5 hour documentary released in 2009 which allowed you to travel the journey between Bergen to Oslo from the comfort of your home. If your wanderlust was fired up watching that video, then you may enjoy some of the other trips you can take. Switzerland:

France: UK: Italy: Austria: Myanmar: Japan: USA: Australia: New Zealand: Greece: Russia: Romania: The Netherlands: Portugal: Norway:

And last but not least you can enjoy the entire 9h50m trip from Trondheim to Bodo Happy Travels!
posted by jontyjago (28 comments total) 158 users marked this as a favorite
 
awesome post. Anyone know if there are torrents of these, like the previously?
posted by milestogo at 6:06 PM on May 25, 2013


Australia:
Karratha - Tom Price (5h)


If there is a hell it will certainly involve this video over and over. At least it isn't Perth to Kalgoorlie though.

Good post otherwise though.
posted by Talez at 6:40 PM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wonderful post!
posted by quazichimp at 6:48 PM on May 25, 2013


This makes me inordinately happy.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 7:34 PM on May 25, 2013


Nice collection here. No one seems to put quite as much money or patient pageantry into it as Norway does, though. Even the spruces have a look of restrained pride.

(Sorry to Norwegian Mefites for projecting onto your flora.)

These will be on in the background as I work tomorrow. It's always nice to have quiet company for a Sunday job.
posted by mcoo at 7:44 PM on May 25, 2013


Orient Express. Please. With murder or without, makes no difference, I'll be looking out the window.
posted by jfuller at 7:45 PM on May 25, 2013


These videos are wonderful. Years ago I rode a lumber car from Oregon to California by way of the Cascade Range. Briefly, for a couple days, I knew adventure.

I returned home on the same line in a passenger car. The scenery was hardly recognizable through the glass windows. I haven't previewed every video in the OP, but I hope there are a few taken from outside the train.
posted by troll at 8:11 PM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you stare for awhile, and the train stops, it looks like you're moving slowly backward.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:14 PM on May 25, 2013


I hope there are a few taken from outside the train

I'm afraid not, they're all cab views. I did come across this one of the Feather River Express, which is filmed by a passenger so you see the train itself. I didn't include it in the post as it's not a cab view.
posted by jontyjago at 8:26 PM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ah, Switzerland. So Swiss.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:30 PM on May 25, 2013


Amsterdam Centraal - Brussel Zuid

Wow, there's a ride I made many a time. Fond, fond memories of European train travel. I've missed it a lot these past 18 years. Sigh...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:32 PM on May 25, 2013


I'm favoriting this post but my Internet pipes are not happy about this, not in the least.
posted by notyou at 11:53 PM on May 25, 2013


I'd like to watch these but I'm just about to do a Waterloo to Windsor for real. I love my job.
posted by Decani at 1:33 AM on May 26, 2013


Prague - Decin (25 min)
posted by biffa at 2:36 AM on May 26, 2013


NRK did one for Flåmsbanen as well. It's the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe and Norway's third most popular tourist attraction.

Aftenposten, Norway's largest newspaper, also recorded a 12 minute video from a ski track maintenance vehicle in Bærumsmarka - a few miles outside Oslo. It's not on rails, but there are tracks!
posted by knapah at 3:18 AM on May 26, 2013


Oh, cool! Ever since I watched the Bergen-Oslo trip I've made it a life mission to take that train in real life. Soon...

What language are they speaking in the cab in the Australian one? Sounds like French, but that doesn't seem right. An aboriginal language?
posted by sixohsix at 3:22 AM on May 26, 2013


Wait, is that "English"??
posted by sixohsix at 3:24 AM on May 26, 2013


If you book early enough you can get a one way ticket on the Oslo Bergen railway for 299 NOK as part of the Norwegian railway's minipris offer. That's around £30 or $50.
posted by knapah at 3:45 AM on May 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Cool tip, knapah. Looks like I can easily get that price in August. But... what else does one do in Norway in August?
posted by sixohsix at 4:31 AM on May 26, 2013


Hiking, camping, swimming and fishing in some of the most beautiful places on earth? Eating gravadlax sandwiches and fresh berries at picnics overlooking a stunning fjord?
posted by biffa at 4:56 AM on May 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


I like trains. This is so wicked neat.
posted by tilde at 5:38 AM on May 26, 2013


Sixohsix, there's two blokes in the cab. One pretty clearly the driver with a moderately broad Australian accent, and the other a passenger occasionally asking questions in English with what sounds to me like a fairly quiet and soft voiced German accent (check out 1.05.12 or so where he says "There are people living in zis area?"). I'd hazard a guess he's the guy who posted the video on youtube as Saalbahnhof. What commentary he adds as text is in German.

There's quite a few voices over the radio at different times, mostly Anglo-Australian accents ranging from middle of the road to very broad. At 1.04.18 or so there's an accent that might be aboriginal but could also just be a bit old, "bushy" and perhaps missing a tooth or two. Hard to tell, but it's only a minute and a half or so (1.05.38) before they pass the two signalmen by the side of the tracks, and at least one of them, possibly both, appear to be aboriginal.

And thanks JontyJago, this really is something genuinely wonderful. Passengers don't usually get to ride on ore trains, and there is something really kind of special about viewing such a starkly beautiful region from the perspective that the loco's cabin affords.
posted by Ahab at 5:58 AM on May 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'd love to find HD versions of some of these, to project at an event I'm planning.
posted by Marquis at 3:15 PM on May 26, 2013


I'd love to find HD versions of some of these, to project at an event I'm planning.

This Reddit comment has links to torrents for 4 Norwegian routes. Alternatively, there's a few plugins out there that allow you to download youtube videos - some of the above videos have HD resolutions.
posted by jontyjago at 5:30 PM on May 26, 2013


This is awesome. And my four-year-old asked if there are videos like this taken from ships.
posted by bassomatic at 5:45 PM on May 26, 2013


Oh my, your four year old is in for a treat.
NRK did a live broadcast of the five day (134 hour) journey of the Hurtigruten from Bergen to Kirkenes. It's available to stream here. You can even click on the route map to jump to that point of the video.

They also recorded a ship traversing the Telemark canal, which I think you can watch here.
posted by knapah at 1:59 AM on May 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


How about Burma? Here's one from someplace called Thazi to another place called Kawal. Both towns are in the central Mandalay region. Next to nothing in Wikipedia about either town, but there is more in Lonely Planet.

Lots of verdant scenery and people ambling along the side of the track. (4 hours fifty). Here.
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:25 AM on May 27, 2013


I remember taking the train from Glasgow to Fort William. Gorgeous ride, and of course, it's raining in the video :P
posted by schmod at 12:03 PM on May 28, 2013


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