London to Brittany - by Wayne

On 13 July 2015, we travelled from London to Brittany.  Brittany is located on the coast of France, about 200km south of Normandy: made famous because it was the location of the Landings of Operation Overlord during World War II which took place on the 6 June 1944—D-Day.

We travelled by TGV—which is short for “Train à Grande Vitesse or high-speed train."  The TGV was developed during the 1970s and was originally designed as to be powered by gas turbines.  However, following the oil crisis in 1973 when OAPEC introduced the oil embargo, the French redesigned the trains to run on electricity. 

It turns out that NZ was doing the same and for the same reasons.  The 411 km section of the NIMT railway between Palmerston North and Hamilton was electrified in June 1988 as one of the Muldoon Government's 1970s "Think Big" projects at a cost of $250 million.

The TGV holds the record for the fastest train running on wheels, reaching 574.8 km/hr.  However, we travelled at the more leisurely pace of 300km/hr. 

Julie travelling on the TGV.