Ugliest Trains?

[marknewton]

I've just been in Poland for a few days and I found the PKP Series EN57AKM to be very offensive to the eye. I love the original EN57 and EN71 EMUs and it makes me wonder if whoever came up with the modernised design seriously thought "Yup, great! That's how they should look!"

They probably did think that, because most of the industrial designers I've encountered in recent years were wankers with no self-awareness or aesthetic sensibilities.

 

The original EN57s look great, BTW. You know straight away they're Polish.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Socimi]

Taoyuan MRT. An Ariport Express masked as Metro in Taipei (Taiwan).

 

Has it's own dedicated baggage cars for chek-in luggage (with automatic loading!).

They make perfect sense but they look, if not ugly, at least weird.

 

http://www.2427junction.com/63c-1c217.jpg

 

Photo from:

 

http://www.2427junction.com/taiwantaoyuancar2000.html

Edited June 1, 2017 by Socimi

[velotrain]

"Form follows function"

[Densha]

I've just been in Poland for a few days and I found the PKP Series EN57AKM to be very offensive to the eye.

I love the original EN57 and EN71 EMUs and it makes me wonder if whoever came up with the modernised design seriously thought "Yup, great! That's how they should look!"

Giving old trains ugly new fronts has unfortunately been the way to go for rolling stock refurbishments in Eastern Europe for years now.

[kvp]

It's mostly just to make them look new and some dumb new crash safety standard that requires a crush zone in front of the driver insted of the classic 2 mm iron sheet welded onto a frame in the corners.

[miyakoji]

wankers with no self-awareness or aesthetic sensibilities

 

Tell us what you really think, Mark

[cteno4]

Sadly design is more cut and paste these days a lot of the time.

 

Jeff

[Densha]

Taoyuan MRT. An Ariport Express masked as Metro in Taipei (Taiwan).

 

Has it's own dedicated baggage cars for chek-in luggage (with automatic loading!).

They make perfect sense but they look, if not ugly, at least weird.

What part of this train looks ugly, or at least weird to you? I think this train looks pretty cool, to be honest...

[cteno4]

One of the problems with the thread is the old adage, beauty (or ugliness) is in the eye of the beholder...

 

Jeff

[Khaul]

Alright, following up on Mark's comment and being fully aware of the eye of the beholder and all that, but... I have to say it. I find both the Shiki-shima and the Twilight Express Mizukaze really hideous... I don't really like JR Kyushu tourist trains either... phew, feeling better now.

[velotrain]

> I don't really like JR Kyushu tourist trains either

 

In particular, I'd nominate Yufuin no mori.

[Kiha66]

Alright, following up on Mark's comment and being fully aware of the eye of the beholder and all that, but... I have to say it. I find both the Shiki-shima and the Twilight Express Mizukaze really hideous... I don't really like JR Kyushu tourist trains either... phew, feeling better now.

 

I definitely agree with you on the Shiki-shima, but I've come to actually like the Twilight Express Mizukaze, it looks much better in videos (and I assume IRL) than what the first pictures seemed to make it look.   The Yufuin no mori rebuild isnt that great, but the seven stars looks ok, and I do like the look of the Kyushu sweet train.  

[Khaul]

I was indeed thinking about the Yufuin no mori in particular. The Seven Stars has too many golden thingies attached to it, including an upside down car grille in the locomotive. What worries me most in the design trend that seems to be catching on in Japan.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Khaul

[Takahama Trainwatcher]

They probably did think that, because most of the industrial designers I've encountered in recent years were wankers with no self-awareness or aesthetic sensibilities.

 

The original EN57s look great, BTW. You know straight away they're Polish.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

I like the look of the original EN57s. That picture made me feel nostalgia for Sydney's red rattlers.

[railsquid]

Did we have the E991 yet?

[Suica]

Did we have the E991 yet?

I actually quite like asymmetrical end car. The one at the other end is extremely ugly though.

[medusa]

Looks swollen. Some big hammer punched it? ;)

[VentureForth]

I'm not real fond of the Tokyo Monorail, either.  Looks like a toothless dog trying to bite down on a bone.

[Yavianice]

I have two three more contenders (though it's mostly because of the paint job):

 

The scary Iga Railway 200 https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%B3%80%E9%89%84%E9%81%93200%E7%B3%BB%E9%9B%BB%E8%BB%8A#

 

The absolutely frightening Menuaru Densha, produced by MicroAce (A0424) (http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10045230)

 

 

and the newly released Panda Train (Adventure World Wakayama)

 

http://www.aws-s.com/press-release/pdf/170714.pdf

Edited July 14, 2017 by Yavianice

[Suica]

and the newly released Panda Train (Adventure World Wakayama)

 

http://www.aws-s.com/press-release/pdf/170714.pdf

My god... that Panda 287 series looks horrible. The frontal view with the glowing eyes shown in that pdf is especially terrifying. (Also I don't like Pandas in general)

[Yavianice]

My god... that Panda 287 series looks horrible. The frontal view with the glowing eyes shown in that pdf is especially terrifying. (Also I don't like Pandas in general)

Me neither! And to be frank, I actually kind of like the other decals on the sides of the other carriages. But the panda themed ones/the frontal view....  :icon_puke_l:

[cteno4]

Cool, evil panda! Now that takes some work to make pandas look possessed! That'll scare the kiddies for the day at the park! I want one.

 

The eyes train I think is probably one that you need to see 1:1 to judge it well. I do like it's very odd art, very helter skelter.

 

Jeff

[Socimi]

I have two three more contenders (though it's mostly because of the paint job):

 

The scary Iga Railway 200 https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%B3%80%E9%89%84%E9%81%93200%E7%B3%BB%E9%9B%BB%E8%BB%8A#

 

The absolutely frightening Menuaru Densha, produced by MicroAce (A0424) (http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10045230)

 

 

and the newly released Panda Train (Adventure World Wakayama)

 

http://www.aws-s.com/press-release/pdf/170714.pdf

 

Good find! They fully deserve to be called ugly.

The Kakogawa line train looks like the designer was using LSD when designing that paintjob.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Socimi

[Gryphr]

Got a few ones from the local area here:

 

The result of Colognes' B-Wagen refurbishment project which looks rather ... weird, luckily it got cancelled before too many were made:

http://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/deutschland~stadtbahnen-und-u-bahnen~stadtbahn-koln-hochflurstadtbahnen-b-wagen-und-k5000/793328/die-modernisierten-b-wagen-2422--2412.html

especially the Front/Skirt sectiion looks more like a stranded fish than a train

 

The refurbishment project of the same model in Bonn is much easier on the eyes:

http://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/Deutschland~Stadtbahnen+und+U-Bahnen~Stadtbahn+Bonn/763702/7456-auf-dem-barbarossaplatz-am-21022014.html

 

Then there's also the full body Telekom advertisements that some of them wore for a while, with questionable Color compositions:

http://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/Deutschland~Stadtbahnen+und+U-Bahnen~Stadtbahn+Bonn/552655/strassenbahn-in-bonn-telekom-express---14092011.html

 

 

For reference, how they originally used to look, much prettier that way :D

http://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/Deutschland~Stadtbahnen+und+U-Bahnen~Stadtbahn+Bonn/13645/der-erste-bonner-stadtbahnwagen-mit-der.html

 

 

 

 

[Densha]

Was the refurbishment program of the Bonn ones also cancelled? I hope so...