Hello from a New Admirer
 

So a few weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk at work, bored out of my skull when something led me to documentaries on YouTube about the British Railway system. I have watched several and have even gone back to look at photographs I took on my last trip across the pond in 2010 where I visited what I can only describe as a tiny railway museum of sorts.

I joined this forum to as a question, but I'm not sure where to ask it. It's about US vs UK trains.

Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the forum from all the staff, have a look through to ask your question, enjoy and and all the best.

Thank you, Station Manager. I'm not sure where to ask my question, but I will have a look around.

I've had a look around, but I'm not sure where to ask a comparison-type question. i.e. why one style is one way and another different to that.

Hello NolaBlue and welcome to the Railway Forum. You can ask your questions on this page and anyone who has an answer will also answer here. If you take a look back through the forum, you will find that many questions have been asked and answered here. Enjoy the forum and post as often as you like. We love to see U.S. steam locos and trains.

Thank you DSY :)

I have moved your question from say hello to Derailed.

Thanks very much.

I think that the U.S. trains were bigger and heaver than U.K. trains because they had much longer distances and heaver loads to deal with. They also had to travel further between water stops. Their coal and water tenders had to be bigger. Like the loco's of the Rhodesian Railways, who had large coal and water tenders who also had to travel long distances before they could refill. They both also had fewer goods trains running, so carried a lot more goods to small towns that were far from the big city's.
U.K. trains did not have too far to go before they could refuel, therefore the loco's did not have to be very large. Also there are not many areas of the U.K. that did not have A train with in a short distance from a station in the hay-day of the British railways. Sorry to say, most goods now travel by road in the U.K.
Hope this is a start in answering your question.