‘LEGS-OUT’ RIDING MAKES A COMEBACK DOWN UNDER: THE ‘Puffing Billy’ 2ft 6ins /762 mm gauge line outside Melbourne has reinstated ‘the time-honoured tradition of sitting on the [carriage] sills with legs out’. Despite modern day health and safety rules which led to a suspension of ‘legs out’ riding in 2018, the railway has managed to reinstate the tradition which has been in place for over a century, as shown in this February 2002 picture.
KEITH FENDER
SFBW, the state-owned rolling stock leasing company in the south west German state of Baden-Württemberg has ordered 130 four-car part double-deck Coradia Stream High Capacity EMUs from Alstom, with an option of up to 100 more. The new trains, due for delivery by 2025, will be equipped with ETCS Levels 2 and 3 for operation of regional services through Stuttgart’s new underground Hauptbahnhof station which is currently being built. The new trains will replace the remaining loco-hauled regional trains in Baden-Württemberg.