On Tuesday, a driver in South Los Angeles turned onto the light rail tracks at the absolute worst possible moment. According to police, the individual amazingly suffered only "scrapes and bruises." From ABC7:
From the video, it appears a gate was down blocking traffic that would be approaching in the right lane, but there was no gate blocking the left side. With normal two-way traffic, that side would be driving into oncoming vehicles in any case.
It was not immediately apparent if there were any flashing lights or bells working at that crossing.
Read the rest
The 1896 film "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" was not shot in 4k at 60 frames per second, but it gets there in this remastering using neural networks. The result has some uncanny, distracting warping going on, but it's nonetheless detailed and transporting.
Denis Shiryaev:
Upscaled and resounded version of a classic B&W movie: Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, The Lumière Brothers, 1896
For reference, here's the original:
And here's a 2012 "Remake":
Read the rest
This video of Maeklong Railway Market in Bangkok was shot in time-lapse but it's clear that people have to shake a leg when a train comes chugging through.
View this post on Instagram
Maeklong Railway Market in Bangkok By @demas . Follow @outofmind #bangkokthailand #railwaystation #foodmarket #trainride #aerialview #transporter
A post shared by OutofMind (@outofmind) on Jan 9, 2020 at 1:23pm PST
From Wikipedia:
The railway became famous for its route through the Maeklong Railway Market, nicknamed (Thai: ตลาดร่มหุบ; RTGS: Talat Rom Hup), meaning the "umbrella pulldown market". It is one of the largest fresh seafood markets in Thailand, and is centred on the Maeklong Railway's track. Whenever a train approaches, the awnings and shop fronts are moved back from the rails, to be replaced once the train has passed.
YouTube has a number of ground level videos of the market. Here's one:
Image: Instragram screengrab
[via the New Shelton wet/dry] Read the rest
Vigilant trainspotters will notice Thomas the Tank Engine sitting in with these real world trains. Delightful editing by Pavel Jirásek using source material from the video below (and elsewhere):
(via The Kid Should See This and Kottke) Read the rest
This video captures a freight train engaging its emergency brake (about 2m in) and grinding slowly to a stop. Momentum is everything... until it's nothing. Read the rest
BigBread's No Destination is a "game" in the classic spirit of Desert Bus, and you don't even have to make the occasional steering adjustment. Just sit and enjoy the journey, looking out of a train coach at the procedurally-generated hills and woods of wherever it is you are.
It's just the first entry I've checked out from from the 2019 ProcJam -- "Make something that makes something" -- and there are dozens more experiments, artworks and according-to-Hoyle games to enjoy.
An endless train ride, a sitting simulator.
Just a relaxing time
Left mouse button to sit in a seat
Right mouse button to hide the cursor
wasd to move around
spacebar to get up
escape to quit / close the game
Read the rest
In Mumbai, India, the Western Railway deployed a police officer dressed as Yamarāja, a Hindu god of death, to educate commuters about railway safety and enforce the laws. From Zee News:
Railway Ministry's handle warned the people in Hindi, "Do not cross the track in an unauthorised manner, it can be fatal."
"If you cross the track in an unauthorized way, then Yamraj will be standing in front of you," Railway Ministry added.
In 2018, as many as seven people on an average lost their lives on a daily basis due to carelessness in crossing railway tracks illegitimately. At least 1,476 people had lost their lives while crossing the railway tracks while over 650 people died after falling off the trains.
Read the rest
Christopher Herwig is a photographer who previously did a fantastic series of photos of Soviet-era bus stops.
Now he's back with a book of photos of Soviet subway stops -- and they are, if anything, even more mesmerizingly gorgeous. The USSR really went in for epic geometric patterns receding into the infinite distance. The book's available here, and his Instagram is here.
Some more photos of stops are below, but here's a bit from a Colossal post talking about how he got exposed to the subject:
Herwig explains that he became interested in the underground architecture of the stations while visiting Moscow and Tashkent. Because many of the metro stations were used as nuclear bomb shelters, they were considered military sites and photographing them was prohibited. “Although I likely could have gotten away with a few images I really wanted to do the series properly and cover all the cities in the former USSR with metro lines not just a few flashy ones in Moscow,” he told Colossal. “With restriction being lifted in many of the cities it meant I could have a go at it.”
Herwig’s images take viewers on a journey through the architectural and political influences of decades pasts. Soviet-era symbols, relief sculptures of significant events and figures, and displays of opulence cover every square meter of the well-maintained subterranean spaces. Often making early morning and late night trips into the stations, Herwig says that many of the otherwise busy hubs appear to be abandoned because of his goal to “use people with purpose and not to distract from the space and design of the stations.”
Read the rest
Model train hobbyist James Risner creates mesmerizing spirals from HO Scale model trains. His creations remind me of kinetic art sculptures. All aboard!
https://youtu.be/qUZVv0nr2rc
(via The Kid Should See This) Read the rest
Hanoi has a train track running down a thin alleyway, immediately adjacent to homes, pubs, cafes and, well, all the tourists there to see if Train Street is for real. Alexatron: "Whilst most people would argue that a train passing through their neighborhood is a crazy dangerous thing, the local Vietnamese people have turned it into a must see tourist hot spot. Trust the Vietnamese to turn a curse into a blessing and a profit.
Previously in alarming trains in Vietnam. Read the rest
Finally! Holy cow this is huge news. Beginning on September 23, 2019, Amtrak will offer weekday nonstop service from the nation's political capital to its financial and media capital. Washington DC to New York and NYC to DC, weekdays only. Read the rest
Watch this short video to understand why train wheels are conical instead of cylindrical and why they have rigid axels. Read the rest
A train station in Japan is apparently unique, in that it has no exit or entrance other than the platform. Get off the train, check out the beautiful scenery, and get right back on again.
Called Seiryu Miharashi Eki, which translates to “Clear Stream Viewing Platform Station“, this station has been built so that passengers can stop off and admire the surrounding scenery.
Read the rest
An Australian locomotive engineer is very embarrassed.
Via Newsweek:
For around 50 minutes, the 1.2-mile locomotive sped along with 268 wagons in tow until authorities decided to remotely derail it from BHP's operations center almost 1,000 miles away in Perth.
The locomotive got free when its driver stepped out of his cab to check on one of the wagons. However, before he could get back in, the train had already set off on its unplanned journey. "While the driver was outside of the locomotive, the train commenced to run away," the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) explained.
No one was injured in the accident, though the ATSB said the train was badly damaged along with around a mile of track, The Guardian noted.
Read the rest
Having a great time, wish I was there!
This video produced the NRK TV-program "Nordlandsbanen Minutt for Minutt", which shows ride on the train cabin driver's view through beautiful Norwegian landscape.
(via Kottke) Read the rest
City Hall Loop was one of the terminus stations for the first subway line to be built under New York City. Opened to the public in 1904, it was beautiful, featuring brass chandeliers, glass tiling and sky lighting to fill it with a warm glow during the day. Unfortunately, the station was closed to the public back in 1945.
Happily, it's still possible and totally legal to catch a glimpse of this wonder from a bygone architectural era. All it takes is a little patience and a ticket to ride the MTA.
Image: by Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link Read the rest
Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's largest model train set. It's so large—including airports, cityscapes and even seas—that to even call it a train set seems a good example of the German sense of humor. It covers 1,500 square meters, has 260,000 figurines in it , 9,250 cars, 1,040 trains, 42 planes, 385,000 LEDs, and cost 21 million Euros to construct. Read the rest
