Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Don’t bother, they are putting a line in from end of Mongolia to Beijing all on the Russian guage so no more bogie changes and, more importantly, 3 hours less travel time for the poor weary traveller.
14th Oct 2019 11:21 am
Grianaig
Member Since: 08 Jul 2014
Location: Tyne and Wear
Posts: 1286
Found this. Never posted a link so not sure if will work.2014 MY Discovery XS Indus Silver. Sadly gone. Second last LR of forty eight years continuous ownership.
14th Oct 2019 4:10 pm
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26779
Wow what a faff! You’d think it would be easier to have 2 trains, and just get off one and onto another 🤔
14th Oct 2019 5:42 pm
Canburne
Member Since: 15 Jan 2013
Location: Devon
Posts: 2037
...
"the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings....the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries" Winston Churchill
2016 D4 Landmark Club Waitomo ...or is it Club Tempest????
2015 D4 HSE Aintree Green
14th Oct 2019 5:52 pm
Pelyma
Member Since: 06 Jan 2005
Location: Patching, Sussex
Posts: 15496
So the video shows the removal, but if the bogie is a different gauge how does the new one get there?
Edit just seen there are 2 rails on one side.DS3 TDV6 HSE - Silver with Alpaca (old one) Gone
DS3 TDV6 HSE- Silver with Alpaca (new one) Gone
D4 HSE Lux - Montalcino Red Gone
Porsche Cayenne V8 Diesel S
14th Oct 2019 6:23 pm
Grianaig
Member Since: 08 Jul 2014
Location: Tyne and Wear
Posts: 1286
Some sort of dual gauge track?2014 MY Discovery XS Indus Silver. Sadly gone. Second last LR of forty eight years continuous ownership.
14th Oct 2019 6:30 pm
Grianaig
Member Since: 08 Jul 2014
Location: Tyne and Wear
Posts: 1286
Russian/Mongolian gauge is 1520mm. Chinese is 1435mm so a difference of 9.5mm could easily be accommodated in one four rail track. Or is that too simple? 2014 MY Discovery XS Indus Silver. Sadly gone. Second last LR of forty eight years continuous ownership.
14th Oct 2019 6:37 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Gareth wrote:
Wow what a faff! You’d think it would be easier to have 2 trains, and just get off one and onto another 🤔
What we thought, esp as immigration & customs was done off the train. But that’s the way they’ve done it for decades ...... s’pose. It was a bit of a long wait in the immigration inspection room and really glad to be back on the train when we did, even though it didn’t head off until until it’s designated time 90 minutes later. It was nice to have 12 hours solid sleep last light in a comfy bed, in a room that didn’t move and it didn’t feel like a car crashing into us every time the driver braked. Plus the vino knockout drops helped.
15th Oct 2019 12:44 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Ok, Mongolia time.
Customs & immigration checks were all done on the train, late evening to early hours and taking about an hour each time. Funniest/sweetest bit was when a immigration lady from Mongolia in military/cammo gear came into our compartment to check something or other, started the question and got completely flustered and only “thank you” came out as she’d forgotten the English for the question. And both the Russian search dogs, they were sweeeeeeeeeet but on duty so no hugs or kisses.
We managed to get up & active just before sunrise, it was about -14c outside and lots of frost. Really pretty, even though we were totally knackered. We had to get up as the bogs on the train are locked for stops (we crashed out before the train eventually headed off from the immigration stop) and we desperately needed to get up, otherwise we’d have missed the sunrise. All pics through put cabin windows were progressively getting worse as the window was getting grubbier by the day.
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Then the stop at Ulan Batar. We couldn’t go too far as we were still a couple of hours behind schedule so no pics of the front of the train. Well not our train. Lovely steam loco.
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Re what Gareth posted re UB being one of the mist polluted cities, not hard to see why. It’s a big industrial city in a bowl so any pollution from the power stations, refinery and what looks like a steel mill will just hang there. There’s not that much traffic, and everything looks to be heated by coal so lots of smoke in the air. Saying all that, I didn’t feel at all wheezy unlike in Hanoi earlier in the year. Note yurts in this pic, this is the outskirts of UB and these weren’t for tourists. Weird mix of old & modern.
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I didn’t get any pics of our trains front end at Chojr station, and just about saw the statue that celebrates the first, and only, Mongolian Cosmanaut. Saw it just as we pulled out the station. I was heading that way but we were still behind schedule so I wasn’t brave enough to go too far from the carriage. Google pic, you can tell as it’s in focus and not through grubby glass
Random pics from rest of trip through Mongolia.
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Plus very bad pic from loads of bad pics of camels. Pics taken into the low sun through our compartment window so glad I got at least these. We know you lot would get the hump if no pics of camels.
And our new Mongolian buffet car. Deffo a work of art.
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Plus means to catch dinner if out of stuff. Or peeps haven’t paid!
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Pretty good, if pricey, food. Well good for this train’s food. We didn’t get any local cash so paid in Roubles and paid the price but, as they say, it’s only деньги.
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Beer was good, all 3 of them, hence nice long sleep before immigration stops exiting Mongolia and entering China.
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And then it’s bye bye Mongolia. We didn’t see much of it but as Arnie says, we’ll be back.
15th Oct 2019 3:21 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Grianaig wrote:
https://youtu.be/_LcS1BEotRA
Found this. Never posted a link so not sure if will work.
Thanks for the vid. Can’t have been a pleasant job as the toilets “vent” straight out to where the bogie units are. I’ll do a dittty re the TransSib generally in a bit, but whilst the bogs weren’t the highlight, they weren’t as bad as they could have been. And flushed with hot water so when it’s well subzero outside you get a load of steam heading up.
Now planning the next few days in Beijing. Slobbing day today, out & about tomorrow and Berlin Great Wall on Thursday. The Berlin bit was a bit of wall Confucius by one of our group, can’t say which or she’ll kick me.
We didn’t think we’d need a slobbing day after 6 days of 1st class travel on a train but, apart from after a 13 hour flight, I don’t think we were ever as knackered getting to a hotel. We managed to get our train tickets for our 2 onward rail sections in China, even though the only non Chinese sign was to say English language only at window 12. Jen was heading to some military type security dudes to ask then where tge desk was, I said prob not a good idea, she went to line 12 and I asked them anyway as they seemed quite happy to help. Then out to get the Metro PAYG card. SWMBO did both of those and gets a big from me!!
Re the hotel, we’ve got a very nice comfy and non moving room. Though we sometimes still think the room is moving. We’re in the Crowne Plaza, got upgraded two room types and free lounge access so breakie and happy hour (with food so evening meal is sorted) thrown in. Just we need to enjoy the wine a little bit less tonight, we were both a bit wobbly last night. Though SWCKVH (She Who Can Kick Very Hard) might deny that.
15th Oct 2019 3:57 am
Rescue01
Member Since: 14 Jan 2008
Location: Aberdeen
Posts: 2529
Loving it Del.sounds like a true adventure keep up the posts Its not the height of the fall but the sudden stop at the bottom that hurts!!
15th Oct 2019 6:26 am
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26779
Great story so far.
You say the pollution is bad in Mongolia, but they are obviously trying to sort it out!
15th Oct 2019 7:39 am
Pelyma
Member Since: 06 Jan 2005
Location: Patching, Sussex
Posts: 15496
Apparently the rich move out of UB in the winter to live in the countryside where there isn’t the pollution.DS3 TDV6 HSE - Silver with Alpaca (old one) Gone
DS3 TDV6 HSE- Silver with Alpaca (new one) Gone
D4 HSE Lux - Montalcino Red Gone
Porsche Cayenne V8 Diesel S
15th Oct 2019 7:48 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Re Priuses, in some parts about every 3rd car was one, they were pretty much everywhere. I even saw one cross a fairly deep stream to get to his farm, prob ~1ft deep. It deffo took it in its stride.
15th Oct 2019 8:51 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
The GFWoC is fighting back tonight, will bung in the pics & add text while I can get the weefee and VPN working together.
Whilst we were going to have a slobbing day, and I was just settling down for a mid morning nap, SWMBO announces “grab yer Yikatong card, we’re off”, or words to that effect. 700m hike to metro, 3 trains later and we’re at the small part of the Summer Palace.
Back in the world of seeing sights with what seems like millions of Chinese tourists. Believe me, they are a breed apart wherever they are. Getting out of the metro at a stop involved a serious amount of pushing peeps out the way. And that was just by SWMBO. And this isn’t Golden Week, otherwise known as last week, it would have been really hooching.
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View from the palace Northwards.
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This is Sikou St, where you had to pay a couple of £s to get in to, to then pay through the nose at a load of very touristy shops. But the locals loved them.
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More looking N
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Note the ornamentation on the roof ridges. Looks like we’ve found SWMBO’s Chinese cousins.
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Strange name for a temple.
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And did I say there were loads of tourists there?
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PS SWMBO loved these characters on the ridgeline if the building. The more there are, the more important the building. But she especially likes that they were all being chased by SWMBO's Chinese cousin.
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