Portland Maine to Boston was a fun little excursion on my engagement trip, ah, 11 years ago
I assume the trains are even better now yes?
I mean, you can still buy beer and sleep so it's better than doing the drive yourself.
I think when I retire and hopefully have more space in my home than my apartment now I will get into model railroads, either traditional or Lego. They set up a neat one at the mall each year for Christmas and it's really cool but far larger than any space I have currently.
Ive always wanted to build an N-scale layout. Especially now a days being able to 3d print scenery.
I had no idea N scale was a thing. I could maybe even find a place for one, but darn they're pricey!
0
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Portland Maine to Boston was a fun little excursion on my engagement trip, ah, 11 years ago
I assume the trains are even better now yes?
I mean, you can still buy beer and sleep so it's better than doing the drive yourself.
I think when I retire and hopefully have more space in my home than my apartment now I will get into model railroads, either traditional or Lego. They set up a neat one at the mall each year for Christmas and it's really cool but far larger than any space I have currently.
Ive always wanted to build an N-scale layout. Especially now a days being able to 3d print scenery.
I had no idea N scale was a thing. I could maybe even find a place for one, but darn they're pricey!
I'd love to build a layout like this with the Coast Starlight.
The DC metro has some deep problems, from the modern day stifling idea of it operating on a profit to its historic effects such as the Green Line I’m on existing to bulldoze black communities in its way. Yet I still like riding it. The brutalist concrete station designs to the raised section peeks at the outer fringes of the city. Not having to actively drive during a 40 minute commute means 80 minutes of fucking around.
Always had a fantasy of exploring the local neighborhoods of the various line ends, mostly the Virginia ones I don't normally go down.
I think the brutalist styling is really cool on the metro, and I liked the high ceilings a lot
I do wish they took the examples of like, Toronto or Montreal though, and made each station have a more visible aesthetic from the train car, because sometimes I was real fucking tired in the mornings and waking up to scramble to figure out what station you were at could be a slight panic sometimes
Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
edited October 2022
so between the world wars, what was left of the Ottoman Empire was divided between France and the UK, with the caveat being that "these aren't colonies, ok guys? for realsies. the League of Nations (remember that august body?) is giving you guys a Mandate the build these places up to be independent nations, so you gotta. Ok, no supervision, we trust your word as Gentlemen of Honor byeeeeeee"
and the thing about old fashioned Colonial Imperialism is resource extraction, which at the onset of the 20th century meant railway lines
so there was a time you could board a train in Vienna and travel from Istanbul to Aleppo where you could decide if you wanted to head on further east to Baghdad and down to the coast of the Persian Gulf, or instead have a southernly jaunt to Cairo via Beirut and Jaffa, maybe take a detour through the mountains to Jerusalem before going to Gaza
of course things are different now, but you can still find vintage posters from the 1930s in local languages offering ski trips in "The Land of Cedars", which given contemporary politics is capital dublya Wild
Indie Winter on
+9
GrobianWhat's on sale?Pliers!Registered Userregular
The DC metro has some deep problems, from the modern day stifling idea of it operating on a profit to its historic effects such as the Green Line I’m on existing to bulldoze black communities in its way. Yet I still like riding it. The brutalist concrete station designs to the raised section peeks at the outer fringes of the city. Not having to actively drive during a 40 minute commute means 80 minutes of fucking around.
Always had a fantasy of exploring the local neighborhoods of the various line ends, mostly the Virginia ones I don't normally go down.
I think the brutalist styling is really cool on the metro, and I liked the high ceilings a lot
I do wish they took the examples of like, Toronto or Montreal though, and made each station have a more visible aesthetic from the train car, because sometimes I was real fucking tired in the mornings and waking up to scramble to figure out what station you were at could be a slight panic sometimes
There is one subway line here in Berlin where each station is tiled with a unique color. It's really nice if you have learned them.
Also my hometown has pretty great public transport. We have subways, light rail (goes on it's own track and doesn't interfere at all with roads. Basically it's a subway that's overground. But sometimes it goes underground. And some of our subways are overground. I don't know where I'm going with this), trams (has their tracks either on a shared space with cars or separate in the middle of the street but still has crossings and traffic lights etc), buses, actual good cabs, bad cabs (uber) and also regional trains are sometimes worth it for the longer distances because the city is so big.
Actual trains in Germany are fine. We like to complain a lot and Deutsche Bahn has some serious problems but also it's still better than many other countries.
The EU is now forcing train companies to make a system where you can book international tickets easier, that's gonna help a bit with reducing air traffic, hopefully.
Edit: public transport outside of the cities is terrible. I once was on a business trip to some engineering firm in the heart of Bavaria. And the ICE was super fast and then we changed to some regional train which was fine and then we ended up at a station in the middle of nowhere that only had a parking lot and nothing else. Nice fields and mountains around though. And the bus goes only in the morning or afternoon to accomodate schools. We had to call a taxi from the next small town or wouldn't have been able to go anywhere.
Grobian on
PoGo friend code: 7835 1672 4968
+5
DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
if I'm gonna have a train, it'd be Art Deco all the way, the swoops
I'm one of those people where, I think cars and especially motorcycles are cool, love the sensation of driving a vehicle, and also hate feeling societally mandated to drive places
thankfully I live really close to Penn Station in Baltimore so getting to like, Philly or DC or NYC via train is easymode (at least at certain times of day) and bus service in the center of the city is reasonably good along the north-south axis, but even still the amount of casual tasks I need my own wheels for is kind of stupid (it doesn't help that my partner has zero intention of learning to drive and won't get on my motorcycles, so driving's effectively become my main household chore)
I miss living in Japan a lot, because my ideal vehicle combo would be one small motorcycle and a train pass
I took the same train home and didn't take the free section toll road because it's pointless
I'm yet again getting mad at a highway that was agreed upon just finished and is useless privately owned and tolled and I was like 8 when this was given the a ok and was finished 2 years ago lmao
Coulda had at least one good ass train from Ottawa to Toronto shaking my god damn head
All train travel in northern Germany was stopped yesterday for several hours because someone cut an important comms line in North Rhine Westphalia and then cut the back up line in Berlin several hundred miles away. Like they lifted heavy concrete lids from manholes and knew exactly where to cut what. Wild shit.
On the bright side I took a train trip from Belfast to Derry and the coastal route once you go past Coleraine is real purdy and train nerds should check it out sometime.
0
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
All train travel in northern Germany was stopped yesterday for several hours because someone cut an important comms line in North Rhine Westphalia and then cut the back up line in Berlin several hundred miles away. Like they lifted heavy concrete lids from manholes and knew exactly where to cut what. Wild shit.
All train travel in northern Germany was stopped yesterday for several hours because someone cut an important comms line in North Rhine Westphalia and then cut the back up line in Berlin several hundred miles away. Like they lifted heavy concrete lids from manholes and knew exactly where to cut what. Wild shit.
(One of my pals farther up the car sent him back to me, haha)
This sentence made me curious. I'm imagining 2 possible scenarios.
1. You are friends with these people but, like, not very good friends. Bad enough friends that you don't want to sit near them.
2. You are such a friendly person that any person sharing the same public transport as you automatically becomes a friend.
I would love to say it was 2, but it was actually just that we joined this trip fairly late (it was initially an engagement celebration trip for the friends up-car and they invited us to party in Toronto with them), so our assigned seats were all over the place
Late May, my wife and I flew out to Chicago and spent a few days rambling around that fun city. Then we got on the Amtrak and took the line to Seattle. We got a sleeper cab.
One of the singular best life experiences. We read, we talked, we listened to music and watched the world roll by. We got off the train talking about how great it was and we were for it.
Trains rock (and obviously roll). If you can take a friend or partner on a long "let's spend the night on this thing and wake up somewhere new!" I highly recommend. Damn the cost and any anxiety.
Train to Toronto in economy class! I boarded from my neighbourhood station instead of the one downtown. This meant I could basically show up 10 minutes before the train arrived and be confident I wasn't going to miss it
If I did miss it though, at certain tiers Via will reschedule you to a different train, no fee extra (this has saved me once in the past!). You basically pop on, put your luggage in the big compartment at the front of the train, and then saunter back to your seat
On the way down we had a newer car, so, individual arm rests and more comfortable headrests! The way back is unfortunately one of the older cars with a single arm rest, but they're at least big enough to not be uncomfortable
I did get there a little earlier (20 minutes instead of 10) for the return trip because they have you line up at gates at Union Station. I don't really mind though, architecturally the main station is really quite pretty (though the gates are less so these days unfortunately)
I've only ridden a passenger train once. The train stations on either end were underwhelming, but the train ride itself was very nice. Comfy seats, lots of leg room. Not a ton of other people either. Infinitely better than any bus, plane, or subway ride I've had.
Constantly bummed that our rail infrastructure means riding more trains is basically never an option for me.
Posts
I had no idea N scale was a thing. I could maybe even find a place for one, but darn they're pricey!
I'd love to build a layout like this with the Coast Starlight.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I think the brutalist styling is really cool on the metro, and I liked the high ceilings a lot
I do wish they took the examples of like, Toronto or Montreal though, and made each station have a more visible aesthetic from the train car, because sometimes I was real fucking tired in the mornings and waking up to scramble to figure out what station you were at could be a slight panic sometimes
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
and the thing about old fashioned Colonial Imperialism is resource extraction, which at the onset of the 20th century meant railway lines
so there was a time you could board a train in Vienna and travel from Istanbul to Aleppo where you could decide if you wanted to head on further east to Baghdad and down to the coast of the Persian Gulf, or instead have a southernly jaunt to Cairo via Beirut and Jaffa, maybe take a detour through the mountains to Jerusalem before going to Gaza
of course things are different now, but you can still find vintage posters from the 1930s in local languages offering ski trips in "The Land of Cedars", which given contemporary politics is capital dublya Wild
There is one subway line here in Berlin where each station is tiled with a unique color. It's really nice if you have learned them.
Also my hometown has pretty great public transport. We have subways, light rail (goes on it's own track and doesn't interfere at all with roads. Basically it's a subway that's overground. But sometimes it goes underground. And some of our subways are overground. I don't know where I'm going with this), trams (has their tracks either on a shared space with cars or separate in the middle of the street but still has crossings and traffic lights etc), buses, actual good cabs, bad cabs (uber) and also regional trains are sometimes worth it for the longer distances because the city is so big.
Actual trains in Germany are fine. We like to complain a lot and Deutsche Bahn has some serious problems but also it's still better than many other countries.
The EU is now forcing train companies to make a system where you can book international tickets easier, that's gonna help a bit with reducing air traffic, hopefully.
Edit: public transport outside of the cities is terrible. I once was on a business trip to some engineering firm in the heart of Bavaria. And the ICE was super fast and then we changed to some regional train which was fine and then we ended up at a station in the middle of nowhere that only had a parking lot and nothing else. Nice fields and mountains around though. And the bus goes only in the morning or afternoon to accomodate schools. We had to call a taxi from the next small town or wouldn't have been able to go anywhere.
thankfully I live really close to Penn Station in Baltimore so getting to like, Philly or DC or NYC via train is easymode (at least at certain times of day) and bus service in the center of the city is reasonably good along the north-south axis, but even still the amount of casual tasks I need my own wheels for is kind of stupid (it doesn't help that my partner has zero intention of learning to drive and won't get on my motorcycles, so driving's effectively become my main household chore)
I miss living in Japan a lot, because my ideal vehicle combo would be one small motorcycle and a train pass
This seems relevant to my interests, because
I'm yet again getting mad at a highway that was agreed upon just finished and is useless privately owned and tolled and I was like 8 when this was given the a ok and was finished 2 years ago lmao
Coulda had at least one good ass train from Ottawa to Toronto shaking my god damn head
The anorak, as modelled here by Alan
https://www.euronews.com/2022/10/09/germany-railway
This does not spark joy
oh good I am glad I'm not alone in immediately going to this place
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
I will report in on the experience
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
Grrrr Beeching
More a result of partition and political oppression and the Troubles
I took a picture to show my pals, and then he came back and said "I heard you were taking photos of me? Well here's another one!!"
And he posed with, as I recall, a palm tree in one hand and big clown-ish glasses on his face
(One of my pals farther up the car sent him back to me, haha)
Absolute railway hero
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
So...heist? Heist.
We have a ghost train on the tracks I've repeat we've lost it it's gone it could be anywhere!
It happened in a lot of places.
Here in Atlantic Canada, we have an excellent trail system built on the old railway line.
I used to get the train past this very location every day, in the before times, when it was a vast expanse of concrete used as an ad hoc car park
Beautiful CAMERA TRAIN RIDE through the natural America | Miniatur Wunderland
This sentence made me curious. I'm imagining 2 possible scenarios.
1. You are friends with these people but, like, not very good friends. Bad enough friends that you don't want to sit near them.
2. You are such a friendly person that any person sharing the same public transport as you automatically becomes a friend.
I would love to say it was 2, but it was actually just that we joined this trip fairly late (it was initially an engagement celebration trip for the friends up-car and they invited us to party in Toronto with them), so our assigned seats were all over the place
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
One of the singular best life experiences. We read, we talked, we listened to music and watched the world roll by. We got off the train talking about how great it was and we were for it.
Trains rock (and obviously roll). If you can take a friend or partner on a long "let's spend the night on this thing and wake up somewhere new!" I highly recommend. Damn the cost and any anxiety.
I was walking along the Dartmouth waterfront today, and a train rolled by. A minute or two later, I saw a young family walking with their kids.
Kid who looked like he was about three: I wannna go, wanna go see where, where the train stops!
The apparent dad: Uh, that's way down in Eastern Passage.
Kid: YESSSS!
Dad: ...we're not walking that.
I got a kick out of it.
Train to Toronto in economy class! I boarded from my neighbourhood station instead of the one downtown. This meant I could basically show up 10 minutes before the train arrived and be confident I wasn't going to miss it
If I did miss it though, at certain tiers Via will reschedule you to a different train, no fee extra (this has saved me once in the past!). You basically pop on, put your luggage in the big compartment at the front of the train, and then saunter back to your seat
On the way down we had a newer car, so, individual arm rests and more comfortable headrests! The way back is unfortunately one of the older cars with a single arm rest, but they're at least big enough to not be uncomfortable
I did get there a little earlier (20 minutes instead of 10) for the return trip because they have you line up at gates at Union Station. I don't really mind though, architecturally the main station is really quite pretty (though the gates are less so these days unfortunately)
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
Constantly bummed that our rail infrastructure means riding more trains is basically never an option for me.
Nevermind, trains are bullshit now
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
I miss the days when they would still let you take a bottle of wine to drink on the train.
Honestly this sounds awesome, if it works, and you live in France
Wait, they don't let you bring alcohol on trains where you're from? Then how do you do train drinking?!
They prefer to sell it themselves. In plastic cups.