Trains, Transport & Infrastructure

[Smoggy]

Blue Mountains road upgrade..

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-16/highway-business-case-confidential/101241124

 

[Paul01]

9 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Blue Mountains road upgrade..

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-16/highway-business-case-confidential/101241124

 

Another case of the Conservatives hiding the truth from the general public. 

The truth is that they want to give a big fat contract to one of their developer donors. The end result is more money for the NSW election campaign by the Liberal Party. 

It is out-and-out corruption.

 

[MathyouWSW]

I managed to come across this youtube channel this week. It seems to be someone that works for Sydney Trains and films from the cab. He always does a real time version of the journeys and then a high speed version. I mostly play the real time version.

I really enjoyed this video, I didn't realise how big the Leppington yard is (you can see them drive towards it from 44:45). 
 

 

[marron]

So, the landslide at Mt VIc will knock out the line for quite a while yet, with a bunch of trains stranded.

It's been 2 weeks now just about - and they have not yet organised for a replacement bus contract. There's literally 3 buses being driven by blokes on 16 hour shifts to cover it, who normally are only used to replace a train if one breaks down or what have you. Atrocious.

[Wanderboy]

1 hour ago, MathyouWSW said:

I managed to come across this youtube channel this week. It seems to be someone that works for Sydney Trains and films from the cab. He always does a real time version of the journeys and then a high speed version. I mostly play the real time version.

I really enjoyed this video, I didn't realise how big the Leppington yard is (you can see them drive towards it from 44:45). 
 

 

Love it. Great video.

I'm a wannabe train driver. It's something I always wanted to do when I was a kid and I've always been fascinated by trains and public transport in general. Also infrastructure basically. Roads, airports, city building etc....

Instead, as a 15 y.o, when I left school, I fell into a trade instead. I missed my calling.

Hence why I waste so much time on weekends watching videos like this.

I particularly, for obvious reasons, love watching cab ride views and watch them from videos from all parts of the world.

Nerdy  - yes. My hobby and passion - also yes.

I'd still love to become a train driver but I think I'm probably just a bit old to do so now.

My dream would have been to drive high speed rail in Europe. Oh well. At least these vids somewhat satisfy my appetite and give me a feel for what could have been.

 

[MathyouWSW]

24 minutes ago, Wanderboy said:

I'd still love to become a train driver but I think I'm probably just a bit old to do so now.

It's never too late.

I know someone that applied to work as a station guard for Sydney Trains. Eventually, she got promoted to be a train guard and then a few years later, she's now actually driving trains the last time I heard. Plus, she's in her 30's (I don't know how old you are but just saying).

[Wanderboy]

8 minutes ago, MathyouWSW said:

It's never too late.

I know someone that applied to work as a station guard for Sydney Trains. Eventually, she got promoted to be a train guard and then a few years later, she's now actually driving trains the last time I heard. Plus, she's in her 30's (I don't know how old you are but just saying).

I'm in my mid/late 50's, Hence my comment.

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Wanderboy said:

Love it. Great video.

I'm a wannabe train driver. It's something I always wanted to do when I was a kid and I've always been fascinated by trains and public transport in general. Also infrastructure basically. Roads, airports, city building etc....

Instead, as a 15 y.o, when I left school, I fell into a trade instead. I missed my calling.

Hence why I waste so much time on weekends watching videos like this.

I particularly, for obvious reasons, love watching cab ride views and watch them from videos from all parts of the world.

Nerdy  - yes. My hobby and passion - also yes.

I'd still love to become a train driver but I think I'm probably just a bit old to do so now.

My dream would have been to drive high speed rail in Europe. Oh well. At least these vids somewhat satisfy my appetite and give me a feel for what could have been.

 

Think I have mentioned before I grew up around trains as my old man worked for British Rail, my childhood was spent kicking around train sheds and yards because that is where my dad spent most of his time, and took me with him.

I remember when we would go down to Devon or Cornwall for our 2 weeks holiday. For most that meant messing around on the beach, ice cream and chips. For me it was my dad telling me we would head up to Plymouth train sheds to see what was going on  We would turn up at the sheds, my dad would tell me to wait outside while he went in and had a chat (me stood outside kicking stones around), 10mins later he would stick his head back out of the door and say “we’re in, come on”..and basically we would be given the run of the place, **** WHS lol I suspect my dad flashed his BR employee card around.

We would wander up and down the maintenance sheds and my dad would chat to the blokes who worked there. Which usually ended up with him being asked if he wanted a brew and my dad asking if I could sit in a cab of a train for a bit, while he went for the drink “yeah, he will be right in there for half an hour..just don’t  press any buttons”  And I would sit and pretend to drive the train for half an hour…and then tbh I got bored because my old man tended to be gone a lot longer than 30mins and I ended up kicking nuts and bolts around….

That was repeated wherever we went on holiday from Scotland to Cornwall. That is what he liked doing so that is what we did.

I wouldn’t say i always enjoyed tbh, because my old man always talked shop for long periods, and sometimes I just wanted to be on the beach or at those kids parks other kids went to. But they were happy times.

Edited July 17, 2022 by Smoggy

[SBW]

On 16/07/2022 at 10:45 PM, Smoggy said:

Blue Mountains road upgrade..

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-16/highway-business-case-confidential/101241124

 

Not is surprised about this, the Libs have always awarded the jobs or contracts to their mates as long they get something in return.

As for the Blue Mountains, its very difficult to build it without causing major environmental impact to the BMs, I think an expressway from either Penrith/Cranebrook/Richmond should have been built long time ago which would bypass the towns in the BMs but where in the BMs should you build that?

[marron]

4 hours ago, SBW said:

Not is surprised about this, the Libs have always awarded the jobs or contracts to their mates as long they get something in return.

As for the Blue Mountains, its very difficult to build it without causing major environmental impact to the BMs, I think an expressway from either Penrith/Cranebrook/Richmond should have been built long time ago which would bypass the towns in the BMs but where in the BMs should you build that?

You can't, basically.

 

[Unlimited]

As an aside: one of the people on Beauty and the Geek this season is a train driver enthusiast.

Who made it on TV? It's one of you I'm sure...

[Smoggy]

13 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

As an aside: one of the people on Beauty and the Geek this season is a train driver enthusiast.

Who made it on TV? It's one of you I'm sure...

Bugger off back to your love life shite thread and leave us geeks here to it 

[Midfielder]

Nice bit of history .... should use these trains on the Blue Mountains runs...

 

 

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

11 hours ago, Midfielder said:

Nice bit of history .... should use these trains on the Blue Mountains runs...

 

 

very funny story with those locomotives. from what i remember, as they were closing the railway in the late 80s, a few drivers and fireman conspired and stole a locomotive and managed to avoid management and had locals help keep the engine loaded with coal to aid in the getaway.

[marron]

Can someone explain to me why the hell people care so much about the powerhouse museum?

I get that that the sites chosen are not appropriate, that bit, sure. No dramas.

But

a) it's a **** museum (i'm sorry, it is, it hasnt changed since i went there as a kid in 1989 or whatever, same vehicles, same plasma globe thingy, same make electricity with pedals, sheesh).

b) if it's about the building being sold off (is it? is it a developer thing?) why isn't there more of a general anti-development thing going on with more buildings that are suffering the same fate? Why do people care so much about this one out of the hundreds in Sydney's stupid shitshow?

 

[Carns]

I think part of it is there is a certain type of person who doesn't want to schlep out to Parra to go to the museum (even though they rarely went when it was in Ultimo). Obviously more to it than that but there was definite protestations about the distance from the CBD.

[marron]

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. When they announced it at first, I wasn't paying close attention, but I was like, good! It's good to have stuff like that in the west.

Then I heard the site was no good etc etc, and fair enough, but yeah.

I don't know if people have been but I found more interesting stuff in that kellyville museum that is like the powerhouse rejects or whatever than in the real thing.

[Carns]

33 minutes ago, marron said:

I don't know if people have been but I found more interesting stuff in that kellyville museum that is like the powerhouse rejects or whatever than in the real thing.

I've been meaning to go to the other site for a while. I believe some of that stuff is also proposed to go to the new site.

[marron]

There's not a whole heap there, but it was new! Worth a visit imo. My favourite thing there was an electric car from like 1910 some old mate drove around sydney for 30 years.

 

[Smoggy]

High speed just a dream…

For now…as in now meaning 45 years lol Surprised they are still peddling these stories really as usually only something rolled out at election times.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Smoggy

[Midfielder]

wow 500 posts who would have thought...

 

[SBW]

On 24/07/2022 at 8:14 AM, Smoggy said:

High speed just a dream…

For now…as in now meaning 45 years lol Surprised they are still peddling these stories really as usually only something rolled out at election times.

They've been talking about high speed rail for yonks and have spent over $100m on feasibility studies.

Gladys went to Tokyo in 2019 and she has expressed interest in bringing HSR to NSW and she made a promise to set aside $500m to the side to start on it and she also promise to start building HSR before the next election.

Now the Parrot is in Tokyo and its pretty much the same thing. Like with all our other infrastructures, this should have been built at least 50 or 60 years ago. The one thing they didn't forecast back then was population growth, urbanisation and gentrification.

[Smoggy]

2 hours ago, Midfielder said:

wow 500 posts who would have thought...

Best thread on WSF..

[SBW]

4 hours ago, Midfielder said:

wow 500 posts who would have thought...

 

as a former Engineer myself, who worked with the NSW Government, who helped build and maintain roads around the state (until Fatty O'Farrell became Premier), watching his channel and seeing the devastation that the Libs have done to our infrastructure, yes they have built new roads and rail, but the fast tracking of development, has left our infrastructure behind. 

Plus the environmental damage with these Urban sprawl has caused irrepairable issues.

[Midfielder]

 

[Midfielder]

 

[WSWJACK]

On 21/07/2022 at 6:09 PM, marron said:

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. When they announced it at first, I wasn't paying close attention, but I was like, good! It's good to have stuff like that in the west.

Then I heard the site was no good etc etc, and fair enough, but yeah.

I don't know if people have been but I found more interesting stuff in that kellyville museum that is like the powerhouse rejects or whatever than in the real thing.

yep been there a couple of times, they had a lot of Mawson's kit from the Antarctica expeditions, brilliant, love the explorer stories. 

[SBW]

Neville Wren had some brilliant ideas and he forecasted the future of Sydney and NSW, these missing link roads and expressway would have done so much for Sydney's woeful traffic, especially the horrible roads towards Macquarie Park and North Ryde, by far 2 of the biggest shitholes in the middle of nowhere.

 

[pseudonym]

[Davo]

"The more you use us the better we get" absolutely isn't my experience of Sydney public transport.