Thursday, November 20, 2003

Las Vegas Monorail

Live from the Third Rail reports on the proposal to sell the names of stations and trains on Las Vegas's new monorail.

Monorail?

Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!

Obviously, the good burghers of Las Vegas have never seen that classic Simpsons episode.

posted by pete at 1:51 PM

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

3-D tube map

Not a particularly useful map and someone obviously has too much time on their hands, but it's pretty to look at.

Of course, a realistic picture of the tube should include:
- sweat rings (under the arms);
- grafitti (on the inside and outside the trains, including incising on windows, stations, lineside furniture, staff);
- empty fried chicken boxes (do people eat the bones too);
- squash balls

N.B. - I forgot to link back to Mike from whence I got this link. Sorry, Mike. Bad netiquette.

posted by pete at 2:22 PM

Monday, November 17, 2003

Meet the Minister

Your chance to have your say/a go.

"This week, Transport Minister Kim Howells will embark on a regional tour to get to the bottom of rail performance."

I thought rail services had already reached the bottom of performance.

"The itinerary for the tour this week is:

Monday: Birmingham for trains going into London from the Midlands
Wednesday: Waterloo and Clapham Junction - to find out about trains coming in from South London and South Coast
Thursday: Liverpool Street for trains going in from East Anglia
Friday: Paddington and Swindon for trains coming in from the West"

Hope his train isn't late...

posted by pete at 1:44 PM

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

Leaves on the line story

If you're not a commuter in Britain you might not know the agonies that autumn leaves can cause to trains. Certain types of leaf leave a sticky substance on rails which causes train wheels to spin. This plays havoc with the train motors and damages the steel wheels too. So, every autumn we get the pleasure of "delays due to leaves on the line", only it now goes under the euphemism "poor rail conditions".

So, here's today story:

"Britain's first mass leaf fall of the autumn caused a minor hiccup in rail services last night as a train skidded past its stop. The West Anglia Great Northern service overshot the platform at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, before grinding to a halt close to the path of express trains.

"The driver ... went on to the next stop, leaving the shaken passengers to take another train back to Hitchin."

I commuted from Hitchin for some 5 1/2 years. One night there was a broken down train in the station that meant the northbound platform was out of commission. I had to get off at the next station, Sandy. However because of knock on problems caused by the broken down train, I had to wait nearly an hour for a train back to Hitchin.

This also reminds me of a journey back to Southend one night, back when I lived over a bookstore in Westcliff. We overshot the platform at Leigh-on-Sea due to "poor rail conditions". The driver just reversed back into the station. Guess you can't do that anymore.

posted by pete at 11:12 PM