<![CDATA[British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight.]]>British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. I only noticed because of the purple light shining upwards"

Everyone: ???

"We have track measurement trains. They run around, checking the tracks for faults, the power cables, etc

They're bright yellow. So they're nicknamed the Flying Banana, as a joke on the Flying Scotsman

Night time they have this blue laser that scans the overhead wires. It creates this giant glow you can see when it moves"

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/2bea5610-a65b-4126-a2f6-bb656fddb6a6/british-online-friend-saw-a-flying-banana-tonight.RSS for NodeFri, 17 Apr 2026 15:38:51 GMTTue, 14 Apr 2026 08:56:09 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:51:59 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe why is it so long?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://bananachips.club/users/qwazix/statuses/116403150489038709https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://bananachips.club/users/qwazix/statuses/116403150489038709Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:51:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:43:43 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe the measure and maintenance trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines are similar; they're named "Doctor Yellow" 😄

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jgilbert/statuses/116403117956983924https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jgilbert/statuses/116403117956983924Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:43:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:37:01 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe@ohai.social i want one of these

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://transfem.social/notes/al267ba0psfu0070https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://transfem.social/notes/al267ba0psfu0070Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:37:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:33:09 GMT]]>@niavy@masto.bike @GreenSkyOverMe@ohai.social https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Scotsman

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pleroma.breizh.pm/objects/886bac2a-1fad-44cf-90be-135ed25d66d3https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pleroma.breizh.pm/objects/886bac2a-1fad-44cf-90be-135ed25d66d3Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:33:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:32:02 GMT]]>@niavy I don’t think so https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Scotsman_(railway_service)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ohai.social/users/GreenSkyOverMe/statuses/116403072044980581https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ohai.social/users/GreenSkyOverMe/statuses/116403072044980581Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:32:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:30:20 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe
Is the flying Scotsman a Monty Python joke?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.bike/users/niavy/statuses/116403065354079311https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.bike/users/niavy/statuses/116403065354079311Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:30:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:16:37 GMT]]>@chiffchaff @GreenSkyOverMe Dr Zhicago - what a wonderful typo. Please don’t correct it.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.scot/users/allypally/statuses/116403011452109355https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.scot/users/allypally/statuses/116403011452109355Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:16:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:08:53 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe @nigecube Did you know about this? 🙂

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/lopta/statuses/116402981007672806https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/lopta/statuses/116402981007672806Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:08:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:56:09 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe
I didn't know about this and now I do . Thank you

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.me.uk/users/Christo_459/statuses/116402930914656268https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.me.uk/users/Christo_459/statuses/116402930914656268Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:56:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:37:45 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe Leaned something knew. Goooo flying bananas!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://newsie.social/users/Christofurio/statuses/116402858562928342https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://newsie.social/users/Christofurio/statuses/116402858562928342Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:37:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:32:17 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe They always remind me of this scene in Dr Zhicago because of how they arrive unannounced at small stations going line speed and surprise everyone.

https://youtu.be/wRXKHTTzayU

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/chiffchaff/statuses/116402837084813800https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/chiffchaff/statuses/116402837084813800Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:32:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:04:16 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe Funny!

Personally, I call the black-and-yellow service trains I have in my Minecraft world "bees". Called the last one "Andrena" (mining bee) because it's a driller train, haha

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/samerion/statuses/116402726954515495https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/samerion/statuses/116402726954515495Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:04:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:41:42 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe Japan has 'Doctor Yellow' for their maintenance train.

Flying Banana was used as a nickname for all the high speed train units in their original livery long before the NMT, and that was a reference to 1930s use for GWR railcars

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/etchedpixels/statuses/116402638186668800https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/etchedpixels/statuses/116402638186668800Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:41:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:34:44 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe I did not know about the blue laser! I’m going to have to keep an eye out for that - sometimes it lays over at a yard near me.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.scot/ap/users/115605311320600830/statuses/116402610768300791https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.scot/ap/users/115605311320600830/statuses/116402610768300791Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:34:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:58:46 GMT]]>@ic5146 @GreenSkyOverMe Leicester-London Euston seems a strange routing. The usual terminus for Leicester services is St Pancras.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/aadeacon/statuses/116402469385120003https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/aadeacon/statuses/116402469385120003Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:58:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:52:47 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe are you ready for an hour long video on them, from a current rail engineer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKWpXNc0g1E

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/patterfloof/statuses/116402445851027660https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/patterfloof/statuses/116402445851027660Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:52:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:38:40 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe in fact, looking at the schedules I have available (on a paid-for forum) there's 4 test trains scheduled to run today

One from Leicester via London Euston then back to Leicester, one from Mossend to Mossend via the Glasgow suburban lines (Mossend being a large freight yard just outside of Glasgow)
Rugby to Derby
Derby to Cambridge (this one is running with a 37)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/ic5146/statuses/116402390325382147https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/ic5146/statuses/116402390325382147Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:38:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:35:42 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe Banana

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://norden.social/users/zugkatze/statuses/116402378667217021https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://norden.social/users/zugkatze/statuses/116402378667217021Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:35:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to British online friend: "Saw a flying banana tonight. on Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:35:28 GMT]]>@GreenSkyOverMe the flying banana is actually only one of the multiple test trains we have in the UK!

There's iirc something like 6 or 8 HST power cars used, but the actual consists they run with are not consistent, and often you'll see them run with a Class 37 and a DBSO (oldddd cab car)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/ic5146/statuses/116402377724073896https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/ic5146/statuses/116402377724073896Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:35:28 GMT