Railways – The Beauty & the Beast

These two cards came to me from Ruth in Germany who sent me the Beast (;-)) and Nora from Taiwan who sent me the Beauty.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2800 Class is a class of steam locomotive designed by G.J. Churchward for heavy freight work. They were the first 2-8-0 class in Great Britain. The prototype, originally numbered 97 but later renumbered 2800, appeared in 1903. Construction of the production series commenced in 1905 and continued until 1919. The 2884 Class which appeared in 1938–1942 was developed from the 2800 class and is sometimes classified with it.

Taiwan High Speed Rail is a high-speed rail line that runs along the west coast of Taiwan. It is approximately 345 km (214 mi) long and runs from Taipei to Kaohsiung. Construction was managed by a private company, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC), which also operates the line. The project had a total cost of US$18 billion and is one of the largest privately-managed and funded transport schemes to date. For most of its length, THSR runs on viaducts or in tunnels. THSR's technology is based mainly on Japan's Shinkansen system, mixed with European standards and system components. The Taiwan High Speed 700T train is a variant of the 700 Series Shinkansen and was built by a consortium of Japanese rolling stock builders. THSR began service on January 5, 2007. Trains with a service top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) travel from Taipei to Kaohsiung in as fast as 90 minutes, compared to over four hours for a train on the conventional Western Line of the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA). Tickets are more expensive than on normal trains or express buses, but cheaper than on airplanes. Most intermediate stations are outside the cities served, with rapid transit connections constructed only after the opening of the line. Ridership missed forecasts, but grew from under forty thousand passengers a day in the first few months to over a hundred thousand passengers a day in 2010. THSR took away passengers from airlines on parallel routes almost completely, and also impacted road traffic.