BBC Top Gear: Bentley GTC vs. Amtrak California Zephyr

Fan Railer wrote:Is that me, or is than an abnormally long Zephyr in the first picture?

Out on the highway, yes! There's just too many cars. They're far enough away I can't identify each car.
I don't think so in the photo at the station. At the station I think I see:
1 Baggage
1 Transition Sleeper
2 Sleepers
1 Diner
1 Lounge
3(?) Coaches
That looks like a normal consist to me.

Fan Railer wrote:Is that me, or is than an abnormally long Zephyr in the first picture?

Appears to be at least 13 Superliners, plus the baggage.

Also notice there are 3 P42's in the first picture, but only 2 at the station, so it was either shopped, or not a Zephyr (at least, not a regular one, is there a revenue consist that has 13+ Superliners on it? Or could it be a non revenue special?)

They could've also just tacked a couple spare cars on for the cameras (really long trains looks like a successful railroad...) (and of course the third engine was to win the race )

More than likely they parked the Bentley there in the yard in front of *a train,* not specifically the Zephyr, in the name of "efficient" journalism. Most readers aren't going to notice that there's an extra locomotive on the pan shot.

David Benton wrote:Hardly british at all.I can imagine "the lads" been amused by it .
I would imagine there would be some spectacular footage of the technical highway near grand junction.

Can't stand the man. He seems to worship the gas guzzlers, and likes to sneer at trains.

The yard shot (chicago 14th street coach yard) is likely just whatever train they could find. Notice the train is facing south, unlikely for #4 during daytime. #4 usually approaches facing north, discharges, and backs out to the yard. By the time it's washed and turned, it's probably near dark this time of year.

The first picture has 3 sleepers plus trans dorm, and 3-4 coaches. There's also 3-4 PV's on the train, so the extra power is understandable.

As for Clarkson, ignore him. He's like a radio shock jock. He's quite funny sometimes but you can't take him too seriously, as he puts on the act because he knows it drives viewership. Half of his reason to sneer at trains is because James May likes trains and overall has a laid back personality, known as Mr. Slow. Jeremy and Richard enjoy ribbing him for this, and this includes his like for trains. If I recall, May's daily driver is a Rolls Royce Shadow MkII. Talk about pokey and gas guzzling. That said, if you dislike gas guzzlers, this isn't the show for you. I'd suggest NPR's "the delicious dish" instead.

Tadman wrote: As for Clarkson, ignore him. He's like a radio shock jock. He's quite funny sometimes but you can't take him too seriously, as he puts on the act because he knows it drives viewership. Half of his reason to sneer at trains is because James May likes trains and overall has a laid back personality, known as Mr. Slow. Jeremy and Richard enjoy ribbing him for this, and this includes his like for trains. If I recall, May's daily driver is a Rolls Royce Shadow MkII. Talk about pokey and gas guzzling. That said, if you dislike gas guzzlers, this isn't the show for you. I'd suggest NPR's "the delicious dish" instead.

I would point out too that, although Clarkson makes an act of sneering at trains, in the "Great North Race" episode (car vs. motorcycle vs. train, London-Edinburgh) he not only chose the train, but actually *fired* a BR A1 "Peppercorn" class 4-6-2: at the end of the episode he literally staggers into the bar of the Balmoral hotel in coveralls, completely covered in coal dust.

I was going to point that out as well - even though he lost, he seemed to enjoy his journey and was rather impressed that a 100 ton steam engine could even achieve wheelspin, and just how powerful of a thing it was, the speeds it could acheive, etc.

Clarkson is a bit like any aged celebrity or tv personality. He reminds me a lot of David Letterman. Both can be quite funny still, but you have to wade through the "act"; it's as if they're doing you a favor by showing up for work and filming. Their 1990-ish work is much tighter and less self-centric. That said, the above posters are correct - Clarkson's true enthusiast self shows through after firing the A1 for hours one end. You can tell he's really enjoying himself on such a beast of a machine rather than putting on the usual act.

PS - anybody find a link to youtube or hulu film of the Bentley v. Amtrak race yet?

I like the UK topgear more then ours. Clarskon like formula 1 while the other two hate it, May makes references to WW2 and the others hate it.

Favorite episodes(no particular order)
Lorry(truck) driving and Hammonds fails at trailer hookup
India special
Both U.S. specials
They make an electric car(eagle I thrust) that's the name they gave it
Top gear top fails
Cheap trains(use cars and camper vans)
Make cars their rv's(clarksons was ridiculously tall)
Use cars as boats to get across the English Channel
Find new police cars(hammonds car looked ridiculous) either clarkson or may said "officer Barbie has arrived" when Hammond pulled up)

Clarkson is generally regarded as a closet Railfan, but not the type who will go out of his way to ride and fawn over modern transit.

Oh UK TopGear is fantastic!

I enjoy (in no particular order)

Great North Race
The one where they made a train of an Audi A8 and Jaguar XJS
The run across the middle east
The one about "make your own RV"
The one where they race an MB SLR versus a ferry to Norway or Sweden.
The one where they race an Aston DB9 versus TGV
The one where they race a Ferrari 365GTB/4 (IE "Daytona") versus a boat
The one where they race a Nissan GT-R versus the Japanese Railroad.

I just wish they'd put up video of the Amtrak race... You can tell the races are some of my favorites. I could care less about celebrity lap times.

I personally like the bonneville episode. Clarkson practices using the camper while Hammond is sleeping as James is on the throne as he calls it. They also set car alarms off in Reno and may wants to get rid of his Cadillac. During all if this they try to be serious, it's get to the point where they are talking about what the numbers on the dashboard equal.

I don't know how we got so off track onto a Top Gear history topic, but I'm going to continue it...

Having seen that West Coast road trip (series 12) before anything from series 9, I was royally confused about the running joke of needing to be a "serious documentary" for their visas to be valid... Then I saw the southeast US Special from series 9 (Florida to New Orleans, the one with the infamous Alabama incident) and immediately understood.

I have a feeling if someone besides the main presenters were driving in the original article in this topic, we probably won't actually see it on the show, it appears as though it was just for the article on the site.

It's inevitable that Top Gear (original) will do some sort of Amtrak vs Car race. Richard Hammond practically is an American already (he flies an American flag outside his house!) and James May loves that kind of thing (see the James May's Toy Stories episode where he restored service on a 10 mile long abandoned rail line using models.) Like I was going to post before, but didn't my hunch is that it will either be some long Cross Country race like this one (this could be a trial run for the show) or something with the Acela Express in the northeast. The latter could be quite competitive if it was from the airport gate in Boston or DC to Midtown or Downtown New York City with morning or afternoon traffic to contend with. This means Clarkson would need to rent the car while the other two would go directly to the train. DC might be interesting if it involved a morning trip round the beltway, but getting in to the city from Dulles via transit can be a nightmare. A race to the World Trade Center site or the Battery would be interesting because Clarkson would be forced to drive through Manhattan while the other two could just take PATH.