Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/highlands-told-to-look-at-glass-roofed-trains-1-3398239

Switzerland, and now a proposal for Scotland.  How about in the South West of England and South Wales?

Discuss  ;D

Presumably it's only worth considering on non-electrified lines? Otherwise, all you'd get is a nice panoramic view of a lot of gantries, catenaries and bits of wire speeding by... :D

Glacier Express - http://www.glacierexpress.ch/en/Pages/default.aspx - is electric.   Electrics would probably mess up the photos, but I suspect the experience is still worth having.  But I have never tried it.  I suspect the trains would need a good cleaning regime, and perhaps seats that align with windows / glass panels.

Now that's something I'd like to see on the Portishead trains - the views of the Avon Gorge would be spectacular!

Glacier Express and similar Swiss trains (eg Voralpen Express) have high windows that wrap around at cant rail height to follow the roof profile, but there is a solid bit of roof down the middle.  OLE doesn't spoil the view. Problem is you're sealed in an air-conditioned box, you're far better using a normal local train on the Glacier Express route and then you can hang out of the windows.

Note the interesting formation in this picture, which is on a rack section dropping into Andermatt.

Edit to add:  Note also absence of line side fences - Switzerland is not a nanny state and the Swiss don't need 2m metal fences everywhere..

Most other countries dont need 2m fencing as the liability is reversed. Your sheep trespass onto railway land its your fault for not keeping them in.

In this country its Notwork Fails fault for not keeping them out.

I once photoshopped two Devon Belle Pullman observation cars back to back to create a 'class 157 Scenic Sprinter' DMU. My idea was the driver's controls could be under a locked desk at each end of the unit, similar to what I once spotted on the Docklands Light Railway (except that there would not be automatic operation, so the driver would always be using the control desk at the leading end). The seats at the end of the unit would be in a 2+1 layout, with the individual seat at the leading end being for the driver.

Sheep (and most cattle) can normally be stopped with fencing like this (http://adsfencing.com/images/3/lrg/Stock-fencing%28l%29.jpg), although wild animals have a habit of burrowing under them which can open up an escape route for lambs. Such fences are alot shorter than 2m and alot less visually intrusive than the horrible 'palisade fencing' (http://www.elmhorticulture.com/news/images/PF3.jpg) which has been installed alongside the railway in places.

This is how the Swiss provide a clear front view for passengers on certain sections of the Golden Pass Express route - the driver is above the front row of seats giving an unobstructed forward view for the passengers.

Goodness - he looks very similar to Action Chugger, IMHO... (See Chuggington Wiki (http://chuggington.wikia.com/wiki/Action_Chugger) for details).

'Chuggington' is a marvellous world, for those who don't know it, where tenderless steam engines happily swan around with unpressurised cold-water boilers, among other travesties. No wonder kids today don't understand engineering...

One of my grandsons is a devotee. At just over 2, he is a little young to be told that trains don't cross in front of each other at grade (not in this country, nor without signalling) but I will keep an eye on his progress. He is a veteran of the Llangollen railway, so is out of the blocks.

And the similarity to Action Chugger is uncanny. I bet you don't see them on opposite platforms of the same station!

I think there are one or two such places in the UK actually (Newark flat crossing on the ECML?)

I'm surprised you didn't quote the Welsh one  ;)

The Welsh one being a flat crossing of two different gauges.

...whereas this one , in Chicago, could have been lifted straight out of Chuggington. Wonder if they have glass-roofed trains in Chicago?

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/CTA_loop_junction.jpg/800px-CTA_loop_junction.jpg)

A thing of beauty!

I am amazed at how many "grown" men here watch CBeebies (me included).