Train porn

Raurimu Spiral



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raurimu_Spiral

also, crazy bridge

CIE wrote: »

Here's a Raurimu Spiral video at normal speed, and with real music (with all due respect) generated by the train...

didn't even realise it had music, I generally don't have the speakers on

Fairly interesting!

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Not the best picture in the world - it was a grim day and my Blackberry 9300 has a crap camera - but here's a shot of the F40PH (s/n 6417, GPA-30H spec - separate engine for electrical). Top speed on an F40PH in VIA Rail spec is 95mph.

This loco took me to and from London, Ontario yesterday (where the picture was taken) with a rake of LRC model carriages behind which had not yet gone through refurbishment. Note how low the platform is to the rail, you have to step up to the train using trapdoor steps - very few Canadian railway platforms are high-floor because of the interests of freight lines and their outsize loads. That's salt on the ground, it was snowing that day.
IMG-20120126-00179.jpg

CIE - ideally VIA would bin the high door HEP, LRC and Nightstar stock for something like the 125mph Kawasaki bilevels MARC uses on the Northeast Corridor but the shekels just aren't there for that. The Nightstars (Renaissance in VIA usage) are proof of that - they bought surplus rolling stock from the UK rather than ordering new, purpose built stock and have now been obliged to spend a fortune on winterisation and accessibility because of penny wise and pound foolishness in the Government of Canada's bureaucracy.

CIE wrote: »

Trams in Toronto, Canada. This video is from the 1980s; lots of PCC cars. Also shows trolleybuses operating, and some views of Toronto's underground.

Only two PCC cars and one Peter Witt remain for special events - the Witt only comes out about once a year. Trolleys gone entirely (big mistake having seen how well they work in Vancouver during the Olympics). The red subway cars are gone since 1991 ("Gloucesters"). The first streetcar in frame is a "CLRV" - to be replaced by custom gauge/curve radius 100%LF Bombardier Flexities over the next decade.

A 1950s Rail Diesel Car having been stripped back to the frame being rebuilt in Moncton, New Brunswick
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Details of project here.

corktina wrote: »

great but whats with the non genuine green livery?

A few paragraphs down in this article explains why the RPSI went with 'CIE Green'.

http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/locomotives/loco461.htm

One of my other loves aside from 'regular' trains is the New York Subway. I became fascinated with it after my first visit some years ago and always make a point of adding to my mileage on it whenever i return.

I was over last week and wanted to cover another one of my strange interests,ghost stations. There's a station beneath City Hall that's been closed since 1945 but is an absolutely beautiful station that is rarely seen by the public. The only way of seeing it these days is by becoming a member of the New York Transit Museum and trying to get a place on one of their tours. This is obviously a bit awkward when living in Dublin,so the only other option for getting a glimpse of this jewel is by staying on a Downtown 6 train after it terminates at Brooklyn Bridge and riding around the loop it takes to bring it back to the Uptown platform. This loop brings it through the old City Hall station and gives you a chance to get a brief glance at the once lavish station. I did this last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This blog features a tour by the NYTM and gives an excellent idea of how majestic this station looked.

http://newyork.untappedcities.com/2010/09/26/touring-the-old-city%C2%A0hall%C2%A0station/

And here's a fairly crap video i took through the carriage window.

This pic gives you a good idea of what the curve is like at City Hall station with a modern Subway car.