Happy Rail Safety Week. Level crossing. Three tracks. The two in the foreground have no train coming, and the automatic gates for them are open. There’s a train approaching on the other track, and its gates are closed. Logic would suggest it’s perfectly safe, and perfectly legal to walk through the open gates, right? Turns ... [More]
Can you combine street art, classic video games and a Melbourne street map? Yes! CDH Art: “Using the familiar street art motif of retro gaming, I created a walking guide-map to Melbourne’s street art.”
A couple of months ago PTV released a set of three technical documents related to the Metro rail tunnel. I’ve done some skimming through two of them so far (I hope to read the third soon), and am posting some notes from the first one here that I hope might be of interest to people: ... [More]
Fifty years ago the people waiting on this bench might have been smoking — now they’re all fiddling with their phones. It’s long been thought that mobile phones might be replacing cigarettes: Teenagers may be getting healthier because mobile phones are replacing cigarettes as a symbol of rebellion and fashion. Clive Bates, Ash director, suggested ... [More]
Clearing out some old books, I found this from 1997. It’s a Telstra brochure explaining a new product they’re introducing: the “SMS Text Message Service.” Front cover: Middle pages: Back page: Everything was new once upon a time, right? From the brochure (and this matches my recollection), initially messages could not be sent between operators. ... [More]
Yowzers. It’s been 7 years since I bought the house. And it’s been four years since I bought the car. At the time I bought the car, the dealer I bought it from had just paid the rego, so it’s due every August. This year it’s $696.50. Obviously because I bought the car in August, ... [More]
Some people will tell you that rail lines down freeways are a great idea, because “the train overtaking cars is a great advertisement for public transport.” Perth has done this, primarily because it’s been the easiest way of extending the train network. So the Clarkson/Joondalup and Mandurah lines both run down the middle of freeways. ... [More]
One of the problems plaguing public transport in Victoria is the secrecy. Historically the Department of Transport has kept its cards very close to its chest. There’s a lack of information, and a lack of consulation. As some people sitting around a table during a parliamentary inquiry into train services a couple of years ago ... [More]
All good things come to an end, and so it was with our Perth trip. We had a sleep-in, then packed up our stuff into the car and headed out. The flight wasn’t until lunchtime, but we had one more place to go before heading home: the boys have a strong interest in retro video ... [More]
A few pics from recent days. It’s kind of nice that the Tourist “Shuttle” bus gives tourists the thrill of a hook turn Fog at Bentleigh station on Wednesday morning Gleaming rails near Southern Cross Station — on the left you can see the Regional Rail Link under construction Plaques in Melbourne Central (formerly Museum) ... [More]
Tuesday 10th July We’d be heading from Margaret River back to Perth today, so we packed up the serviced apartment and loaded everything into the car, then headed to cave number two of our tour: Lake Cave. Lake Cave has guided tours, and while we waited for it to begin, we pondered the displays and ... [More]
That’s definitely a train icon on that sign, right? (Southern Cross station, Bourke Street bridge) PS. Reminds me a bit of Metro’s “emergency” gate.
I’m not normally one who really watches the Olympics, but I really enjoyed the opening ceremony of the London games. Not the athletes parade of course; apart from the quite inspiring presence of some of the really troubled countries like Sudan and Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, I’m sorry, but I find it a real yawnfest. ... [More]
What’s with the bling on the carriages these days? (This is a phone pic, so it’s blurred a bit; it’s actually a row of LEDs.) I’m guessing it’s some kind of safety regulation to ensure they’re visible at night?
Another in a series of posts about Perth PT and how it relates back to Melbourne. Perth’s city centre (and town centres of Fremantle and Joondalup) have CAT buses — Central Area Transit — free services running (reasonably) frequently in loops that people can hop on, hop off to get around. They are very popular; ... [More]