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Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Old photos from August 2006

Another in my series of photos from ten years ago. This rather cool Warholesque tram design was marking 100 years of Melbourne’s electric trams. Well, 100 continuous years. (The Box Hill electric tram ran from 1889 to 1896. The Victorian Railways St Kilda trams ran from 1906. Read all about it here.) Siemens train paralleling  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism music

Rickrolled in Bunnings

Categories
transport

It wasn’t just a 37 day project

What they got done at Bentleigh, Mckinnon and Ormond during the 37 day shutdown of the Frankston line to remove the level crossings was very impressive, and I’m told the project team are (rightly) proud of the results. 37 days of round-the-clock works, 3 of the worst level crossings gone. Watch them disappear in 3  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne

The fascinating world of high tech garbage collection

A transport podcast I’ve just discovered is Transit Insight. There’s a key difference with this one: it’s run by, and features, people who actually work in the public transport industry. There are a lot of other good podcasts out there, but almost all of them feature advocates or academics. I’m working my way through their  ... [More]

Categories
News and events Toxic Custard newsletter

Census – vital, but confidence has been eroded

It’s Census night. Normally it’s relatively uncontroversial, but this time it’s different — a number of concerns have been raised by people, especially those interested in privacy and data security. Some of the issues raised include: Names and addresses to be kept for four years. This obviously creates a risk of privacy breaches if the  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Consumerism Toxic Custard newsletter

The chains of Bentleigh

My local suburb is increasing in density, and (not entirely disconnected from that) it’s also interesting to see how the retail strip is doing. The shopping centre has grown around the railway station, which is still the epicentre, though the east side of the tracks is where most of the busiest shops are located. The  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Mckinnon station is open

After the big 37 day Frankston line shut down, the trains are back, and the new shiny Mckinnon station has re-opened. The other two stations, Bentleigh and Ormond, will open late in August. Here are some pics from Mckinnon from the past month… 28/6/2016 – the station had been closed since 25th March, a couple  ... [More]

Categories
Photos from ten years ago

Old photos from July 2006

It’s the last day of July, so here’s my monthly post of pictures from ten years ago, from July 2006. Cooking a stew on my ancient stove, with my cast iron pot. Delicious, as I recall. I really should do this more often. All the other photos below were snapped with my then brand new  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Melbourne

Bentleigh getting denser – and that’s fine by me

With Ormond likely to get its tower (whatever the height might be), what of other nearby suburbs? The transition is already underway in Bentleigh and many other areas. Around the station, numerous developments are going up. And in principle, I have no problem with this. Melbourne’s population continues to grow. People have to live somewhere,  ... [More]

Categories
transport

“Value capture” development above Ormond station? Good idea… in theory

Although it won’t reopen until the end of August, Ormond station has been coming along… Here’s how it looked on Saturday: Under the station building facing North Road is the deck for the concourse, as can be seen in the plans: But further north from that, a second deck is taking shape. It’s actually easiest  ... [More]

Categories
Culture News and events Toxic Custard newsletter

A bit of pedantry

I can be a bit of a pedant, so this photo caption in Saturday’s Age caught my eye: “Former NGV director Patrick McCaughey” pictured in 1986 — so was he the former NGV director back then? No — the article text makes it clear he was the director in 1986. There’s a simple way of  ... [More]

Categories
driving walking

Pedestrians in the car park – often there’s no choice

I sometimes wonder if motorists driving in and out of car parks get irritated by pedestrians walking through. Often the pedestrians have no choice. These pictures are from Caulfield Plaza – with the major drawcard inside being the Coles supermarket. There is obvious pedestrian traffic from the railway station and the university campus to the  ... [More]