Class 375/3 units started operating services on the Medway Valley Line from May 2012 to January 2016, and then from September 2016 to present day, with the exception of a few high-speed services from London St Pancras during peak hours. 4-car Class 375s and Class 466 Networkers occasionally appear as well as a substitute unit. When the sea wall between Dover Priory and Folkestone Central collapsed, Class 466 Networkers covered the services along the route until it was repaired in September 2016, with the Class 375/3s being used as a shuttle service between Ramsgate and Dover Priory via Sandwich and Deal.
Minder is a British comedy-drama series about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV (originally by Thames, then Central Independent Television in 1993 and 1994 after Thames lost its franchise). The original show ran for ten series between 29 October 1979 and 10 March 1994. The series was notable for using a range of leading British actors, as well as many up-and-coming performers before they found their greatest success; at its peak it was one of ITV’s most watched shows.
The British Rail Class 313 is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit (EMU) train built by British Rail Engineering Limited‘s Holgate Road carriage works between February 1976 and April 1977. They were the first variety of British Rail‘s then-standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, which eventually encompassed 755 vehicles and five classes (Class 313/314/315/507/508). They were the first second-generation EMUs to be constructed for British Rail and the first British Rail units with both a pantograph for 25 kV AC overhead lines and shoegear for 750 V DCthird rail supply.[3][4] They were the first units in Britain to have multi-function Tightlock couplers, allowing coupling and the connection of control electric and air supplies to be carried out from the cab.
The TGV (French: Train à Grande Vitesse, high-speed train) is France’s high-speed rail service. The idea of a high-speed train in France was born about twenty years before the first TGVs entered service. At that time, about 1960, a radical new concept was thought up; combining very high speeds and steep grades would allow a railway to follow the contours of existing terrain, like a gentle roller coaster. Instead of one or two percent grades which would be considered steep in normal applications, grades up to four percent would be feasible, thus allowing more flexible (and cheaper) routing of new lines. Over the next several years, this very general idea gave rise to a variety of high speed transportation concepts, which tended to move away from conventional “wheel on rail” vehicles. Indeed, the French government at the time favoured more “modern” air-cushioned or maglev trains, such as Bertin‘s Aérotrain; Steel wheel on rail was considered a dead-end technology. Simultaneously, SNCF (the French national railways) was trying to raise the speeds of conventional trains into the range 180 to 200 km/h (110 to 125 mph) for non-electrified sections, by using gas turbines for propulsion. Energy was reasonably cheap in those years, and gas turbines (originally designed for helicopters) were a compact and efficient way to fulfil requirements for more power. Following on the TGS prototype in 1967, SNCF introduced gas turbine propulsion with the ETG (Elément à Turbine à Gaz, or Gas Turbine Unit) turbotrains in Paris – Cherbourg service, in March 1970.
The desire for higher speeds and the successful development of the turbotrain program are two ideas that came together in the late 1960s, further spurred on by the 1964 start of the JapaneseShinkansen high-speed train. They were embodied in a joint program between SNCF and industry to explore the possibility of a high speed gas turbine unit. The project, initiated in 1967, was entitled “Rail Possibilities on New Infrastructures” and was code-named C03. The experimental X4300 TGS railcar, predecessor of the ETG, had been tested at speeds up to 252 km/h (157 mph) in October 1971, and gave promising results. Since the very high speed lines envisioned by SNCF called for speeds of 250 km/h to 300 km/h (155 mph to 186 mph), SNCF had Alsthom-Atlantique build a special high speed turbotrain prototype to test out some concepts in high speed rail. Thus was born the turbotrain TGV 001, standing for Train à Grande Vitesse, or High Speed Train 001.
Blue has been an important colour in art and decoration since ancient times. The semi-precious stone lapis lazuli was used in ancient Egypt for jewellery and ornament and later, in the Renaissance, to make the pigment ultramarine, the most expensive of all pigments. In the eighth century Chinese artists used cobalt blue to colour fine blue and white porcelain. In the Middle Ages, European artists used it in the windows of cathedrals. Europeans wore clothing coloured with the vegetable dye woad until it was replaced by the finer indigo from America. In the 19th century, synthetic blue dyes and pigments gradually replaced mineral pigments and synthetic dyes. Dark blue became a common colour for military uniforms and later, in the late 20th century, for business suits. Because blue has commonly been associated with harmony, it was chosen as the colour of the flags of the United Nations and the European Union.[2]
Weevles Updates Disabled Bloggers Team 