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Post by ducatisti on Jan 1, 2009 10:05:11 GMT
Hello! Made it back in one piece (although I did cheat and take a taxi for the fisrt nightbus leg). Thanks to the peeps on this board for the advice and all the transport peeps keeping the system running all night.
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 31, 2008 10:35:05 GMT
Picked this little lot up for £2 in a charity shop www.flickr.com/gp/27565507@N06/47X554Does anybody know anything about the book or the kit (it's all Rotring, so I'm assuming it was decent when it was made)? Is this sort of stuff still made? (I'm thinking about compatibility/buying cartridges etc). Yes I know you could do it all on a CAD package, but that's not the point...
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 31, 2008 10:29:51 GMT
Excellent! thank you very much. I am wondering if I'd be better avoiding the centre (I think i'd be looking at a Leicester Sq change, which I suspect will not be a lot of fun). I may shoogle west and go up on the night bus from Baker Street way.
If I don't post on the 1st you'll know it all went a bit wrong...
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 31, 2008 0:19:27 GMT
OK - Are they running all night? Any thoughts on where the worst bits are? stations/times to avoid? (I'm planning to get back from West London to North London).
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 22, 2008 11:35:35 GMT
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 22, 2008 9:20:44 GMT
True, London did congeal rather than grow, but the size of wagons that it congealed with isn't that far off the size of eg transits, so it's only longer vehicles that are the problem...
Not true, the second bus can wait until there is a gap for it to fit into, rather than trailing accross the road it is crossing. Also there is the issue of sideways movement. Bendy busses seem to need a lot more sideways room to make a curve, so will often prevent use of two lanes where a conventional bus will only occupy one
Disagree - two busses will take up more length, but that length can be broken up to allow crossing traffic to filter between them. Also the sideways issue is a big one as they will block multiple lanes in a lot of locations, which aside from sheer volume, can also foul up filter lanes etc.
True that all-door boarding is an issue, but the back door of a bendy bus is sufficiently far enough away to prevent any guilt-pressure from the driver to count.
No they aren't. Bendys do provide more capacity, but query if a non-standard fleet are cheaper. As for reliability, I do remember unions making a fuss about them catching fire when they were introduced, which seemed to tail off when we got a Tory mayor - politicised? Also, they kill around twice as many cyclists per operational mile than ordinary busses and cause more congestion than other busses.
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 12, 2008 11:29:09 GMT
Excellent, I was a trifle "refreshed" at that stage, and had a terrible fear I was being very confident, but very wrong...
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 12, 2008 9:48:36 GMT
A friend has just asked me about a signal at Earl's Court. Apparently there is a purple single aspect at the Richmond etc end that comes on as a train approaches and then goes out as the train gets close. I said I assumed it was a tripcock tester. Was I right?
Mike
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 11, 2008 16:39:27 GMT
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 5, 2008 9:50:09 GMT
Ahhh, that would seem likely. Is that to stop it heat-cycling too much? Presumably they are replacing the rail too, so maybe they don't want to weld the transition bit as it'll be somewhere else the next evening?
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 2, 2008 17:49:23 GMT
Instead of houses and hotels you could have seats...
Community Chest - you have come second in a tube photography competition, collect £10 Chance - You are regulated, miss a turn
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 2, 2008 14:03:57 GMT
I presume all the cash would be on little oystercards?
Which dissapointing manager from America? Yerkes? Forbes? [;0] or the latest one...
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 1, 2008 12:47:44 GMT
hmmm, fair enough... but I'm fed up with the number of announcements. If I get on a metro in foreign climes I make darn sure I know how many stops it is to my destination and count 'em off
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 1, 2008 11:29:21 GMT
To be honest, that sounds brilliant. (yes I know it's against the rules etc)
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Post by ducatisti on Dec 1, 2008 10:15:04 GMT
Whilst lurking about Paddington Bakelerloo southbound platform on Sunday early evening, I saw an unusual fishplate.
Halfway down the platform, the line changes from flatbottom to bullhead. At the end of the bullhead there is a piece of rail that does the transition in profile. After that, between it and and the end of the flatbottom proper, there was a four-bolt fishplate with no bolts in it, but two clamps going round underneath. Judging by the profile the main flatbottom looked fairly new. Would this clipped fishplate be a temporary measure before some new flatbottom was installed in the next engineering possession? Why was it clipped not bolted? I don't see how clamps would be any easier to undo than bolts...
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Post by ducatisti on Nov 13, 2008 12:51:07 GMT
Coming soon to the museum shop "Eau de Waterloo"...
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Trams.
Nov 10, 2008 16:25:32 GMT
Post by ducatisti on Nov 10, 2008 16:25:32 GMT
Well, as it runs on the public highway, arguably you are... Also, seems pretty sensible to me, the idea of a tram driver who didn't know how traffic behaved would seem somewhat worrying to me.
What mystifies me about trams is the opposition based on noise. They are the quietest things on the road (and like any railway vehicle, I find the sound comforting)
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Post by ducatisti on Nov 10, 2008 11:33:13 GMT
Waterloo underground always smells of vomit. It can't always be chundered upon. Wonder if its a chemical they use for some purpose?
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Post by ducatisti on Nov 6, 2008 21:21:50 GMT
Ah yes, I'm glad you spotted the deliberate mistake there... well done that man Interesting, I assume they will have to write the *entire* book of rules and standards from scratch. (IIRC from a slightly-remembered article on class 66s somewhere, the US system puts a lot more responsibility on loco manufacturers for type-approval and safety-case stuff). Will be interesting to see how they go.
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Post by ducatisti on Nov 6, 2008 13:54:55 GMT
Our approach will be grounded by public-private financing and guided by scrupulous fiscal discipline and accountability. We accept the charge to build this train and we recognize our enormous responsibility to the current and future residents of this great State. We will live up to their expectations and aspirations." hmmm, so that should stop anything happenning for the next few years anyway... what is the American definition of High Speed lines? also, isn't California something like the world's 4th biggest economy on its own?
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 31, 2008 19:37:56 GMT
Cor! that was quick! Thanks
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 31, 2008 19:32:57 GMT
(for the older, and probably these days for the younger posters the Prodigy were a popular beat combo in the late 90s.)
Just seen the vid for Firestarter on TMF. It's clearly filmed in LUL property. We have 1) some tube tunnel with 4-rail track, but sufficiently unimportant that they are allowed to play with an angle grinder on the conductor rails 2) some tunnle that looks like it might be old running tunnel (concrete track bed(?) in place) 3) a shaft (lift? air?) no kit in it.
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 29, 2008 22:19:22 GMT
The train I was on this evening made a fairly loud metal scraping on metal sound. Would this be the sleet brushes?
If so, what are they there to do? (And if they do do whatever it is they are supposed to do, why don't southern region electrics have them?) It's obviously not just sleet...
Also, I've seen them on the outer shoes, is there one on the middle shoe beam?
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 28, 2008 13:23:51 GMT
Thinking about it though. How much do you need to know beyond "terminates at Euston". If you want to go beyond you'll catch the next train if its close, or if not, you have the time inbetween to switch. I suppose it's a bit further to the Vic line platforms, but that's about it really.
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 26, 2008 20:46:33 GMT
One of the Euston platforms and one of the Camdens (I think)
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 22, 2008 12:48:32 GMT
What's the current thinking on cost/benefit calculations (IIRC it was an 8% return on Capital for railway projects?)
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 17, 2008 10:14:39 GMT
I can well imagine. I wonder what the delay payments would be if you did a liverpool street and dropped a bridge on the ECML...
The insurance costs would be hair-curling. Shame, it could take a lot of traffic of the roads round there I would think
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 16, 2008 16:04:12 GMT
heh. Terror, or sheer naked incomprehension. Not sure which...
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 16, 2008 12:12:32 GMT
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Post by ducatisti on Oct 16, 2008 12:12:01 GMT
muswellhillmetrogroup.atspace.com/ Does anybody know about this lot. On the face of it, seems like a fairly sensible scheme that isn't depending on connection to the network. I presume the building over the old trackbed will stymie it
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