Life on the Rails

[Savonarola]

And Okehampton station itself has been nicely restored to something out of the 1930s. 

That sounds really cool; could you get some pictures next time you're there?

[mongers]

And Okehampton station itself has been nicely restored to something out of the 1930s. 

That sounds really cool; could you get some pictures next time you're there?

Will do, also a bloody smooth ride on new track and it's mainly downhill from Dartmoor.

[Syt]

Is this where we post rail related stuff? Saw this on Twitter (aboard a German train):

[Savonarola]

Toronto is in an unusual situation in terms of rail; all passenger trains terminate into one central station (Union Station.)  This central area is an enormous interlocking called the Union Station Rail Corridor (USRC) which is 3 miles long and about 400 ft wide at its widest (5 Km and 120 m) most of which is below grade.  The signaling system is incredibly complex:



This rail map covers the area is entering into the station from the west.  (As you can see it's right in the shadow of the CN Tower with its revolving restaurant.  Throughout the night you're treated to a stunning views of Lake Ontario, Downtown Toronto and this enormous rail ditch.)  While this is an incredibly complicated system, it's all the more amazing because the entire signaling system is analog.  Today most switching systems are remotely controlled, usually by computer at remote locations.  At USRC there are three towers (John Street Tower at the top of the map is one of them) staffed with people who spot the trains and give commands to hand throw switches.  Here's one of the switching facility shortly after Union Station was opened in 1927:



And here it is today:



Say what you like about rail; we build things to last.  Our bid sales lead is a huge fan of this era of technology; and told me that this is the same mechanism they use to controlled the cells in Alcatraz.  He also told me they plan to turn one of these facilities into a museum once our work is completed.

In rail you always have to go through a series of inductions before they let you go on the tracks.  I went through one today for Metrolinx (the overall regional rail system in the Greater Toronto Area.)  USRC is so complicated that it requires its own unit and has rules that only apply within the area.

[Jacob]

That's pretty cool Sav.

[Savonarola]

Thanks, Jacob

One of the take-aways from any safety training is the sort of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) that you'll need.  Usually they're standard (safety glasses, hard hat, work boots and a reflective vests), but always with some quirks.  At the Prodeco yard in Colombia we always had to have a long sleeve shirt; although the sleeves could be rolled up.  The Fortescue Mining Group requires everyone where a yellow and blue reflective shirt and pants, while the neighboring Roy Hill Mining company requires orange and blue.  At Amtrak only safety inspectors are allowed to wear yellow vests, everyone else must where orange.

Metrolinx had two rules that were unusual.  The first is that contact lenses are forbidden; the reason they gave us is that hot works are prevalent in the railroad industry and a spark from an arc-welder could go behind your safety glasses and fuse a contact lens to your eye.  While that sounds like an urban legend to me, I don't wear contact lenses.  The other is that you must wear both a reflective vest and reflective pants (this is new, in the past only the vest was needed.)  They must be either chartreuse or orange, and they're not allowed to have blue in them.  That was unfortunate, because I do have yellow and blue reflective pants and a shirt, but not just yellow.  So I told my wife I had to get chartreuse or orange pants.

CB:  Do you have to go to Miami to get those? 

She was disappointed to learn that they were safety pants, and I didn't have to start dressing like Bruno Mars.

[mongers]

That nearly 2km long Swiss train was something else:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-63442530

 

[Duque de Bragança]

Now that's some real train snaking its way through the mountains. 

[mongers]

Now that's some real train snaking its way through the mountains. 

Yep, makes me won't to go there for the scenary and trains; pretty much my only two criteria for judging a visit to a country on.

[mongers]

Something for rail enthusiasts and especially for Shelf:

Why sleeper trains are being revived across Europe

There's no doubt that Julia Senninger is a train aficionado.

Living in the Swedish capital Stockholm, the 33-year-old regularly travels by rail, not only to visit her family in Luxembourg, but also to her holiday destinations.

She favours train travel over flying mainly for environmental reasons. Yet she adds that trains are simply more enjoyable, especially sleeper services.

"It's so much more fun," says Ms Senninger. "You meet more people, and you more have interesting conversations."

She is in luck, as sleeper trains are continuing to make a comeback in mainland Europe, with a number of new services being launched since last summer, or due to start later this year, or in 2024.

Back in October, Ms Senninger and her husband travelled on the then newly-launched sleeper service from Stockholm to Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city. This is run by Swedish railway company SJ.

The service departs Stockholm every day at 5.30pm and arrives into Hamburg at 6.30am.

.....

Rest of article here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64950747

[Jacob]

Sleeper cars are great. I've always enjoyed traveling on them

[Josquius]

Interesting mention of a Paris to edinburgh sleeper there. That would be a first.

[Savonarola]

Another one for rail works at its own speed: the big project prior to our current one for the Union Station Rail Corridor was to automate train authorization.  This was going to be done by using a Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signal through the trains analog radios.  DTMF is a 60s era technology, its biggest application was for push button landline phones.  Since this project is still in the books (and might be completed) I had to explain to the junior engineers what DTMF was.  I'm not sure either of them have ever used a landline phone.

[Savonarola]

Austrian train plays Hitler speech over loudspeaker



I can't imagine anyone thinking that they'd get away with this; there's only so many people who have access to public address messaging.  Furthermore, even if it was something much more banal ("Issue order 66") you'd still be fired (at least in North America,) since the PA system is critical for passenger safety in emergency.

[Jacob]

You link doesn't lead to the article, Sav, but rather to this thread...