Evan Osnos joins a tour group from China as they traverse Europe. In the front row of the bus, Li stood facing the group with a microphone in hand, a posture he would retain for most of our waking hours in the days ahead. In the life of a Chinese tourist, guides play an especially prominent role—translator, raconteur, and field marshal—and Li projected a calm, seasoned air. He often referred to himself in the third person—Guide Li—and he prided himself on efficiency. “Everyone, our watches should be synchronized,” he said. “It is now 7:16 P.M.” He implored us to be five minutes early for every departure. “We flew all the way here,” he said. “Let’s make the most of it.” [more inside]
posted by WalterMitty
on Jul 28, 2011 -
71 comments
After scanning the old 'tube for a long while, I have selected the six most appealing videos that document n-scale realism. The selection is based on realistic impression, detail (landscaping and models), and camera use.
N-scale model railroading has gained ground over the years. One reason is that the 1:160 scale, while small, provides superior
overall realism. This first example shows a bridge scene at three angles, then an overview shot of the entire part of the layout, and a shot of the prototype scene.
[more inside]
posted by Namlit
on Nov 27, 2010 -
39 comments
In 1957, the year of the
Treaty of Rome, founding the European Economic Community and setting the aim of an "ever closer union", the national railway companies of West Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and Holland (later joined by Belgium and Spain) launched the
Trans Europ Express, a joint network of first-class-only international trains for business travellers.
[more inside]
posted by Skeptic
on Oct 10, 2010 -
14 comments
"
It... picked up cars and equipment as though they were so many snow-draped toys, and swallowing them up, disappeared like a white, broad monster into the ravine below." Nearly 100 years ago, on March 1, 1910, the
deadliest avalanche in United States history struck the small town of Wellington, Washington.
Ninety-six people died as a massive wall of snow struck two Great Northern trains stopped at Wellington to wait for the tracks to be cleared, rolling them nearly 1000 feet into Tye Creek and burying the victims under
huge piles of snow, trees, and debris.
[more inside]
posted by litlnemo
on Jan 1, 2010 -
13 comments
The
funicular railway is a kind of
cable-based railway that gives me great joy because of its peculiar shape and its uselessness for doing anything other than what it does. A funicular carriage is generally
stairstepped or
terraced, so you can't repurpose these cars for other uses. They generally work in a particular way, too, as pairs: one goes up the mountain, one comes down the mountain! Maybe this kind of glee is why they seem to be especially popular in Japan today, where they can be taken to many popular sightseeing areas--but a fair number of funicular railway riders are probably there for the journey, not the destination.
[more inside]
posted by wintersweet
on Aug 25, 2009 -
64 comments
"And much like Christmas, originally about the birth of a religious savior-figure named Jesus, is now about buying things for people and hoping that they buy more things for you, much how Easter, originally about the death of a religious savior-figure named Jesus, is now about receiving rabbit- or egg-shaped chocolates, now and forever Obon is about
collecting all of the Pokemon." Japan, trains, marketing, pachinko, hordes of stamp-seeking children.
posted by silby
on Aug 7, 2009 -
34 comments
Getting up to speed : "If it can get started, the California high-speed train would almost certainly be the most expensive single infrastructure project in United States history. Judging by the experiences of Japan and France, both of which have mature high-speed rail systems, it would end the expansion of regional airline traffic as in-state travelers increasingly ride the fast trains. And it would surely slow the growth of highway traffic."
posted by dhruva
on Jun 14, 2009 -
77 comments
A glance will show / Why Phoebe Snow / Prefers this route / To Buffalo.
And Phoebe's right / No route is quite / As short as Road / of Anthracite.
In 1908 the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad began work on the
New Jersey Cut-Off to make its New York to Buffalo mainline (the Road of Anthracite
so liked by
Phoebe Snow) even shorter and faster. It was to have no grade crossings, and was to be as straight and level as possible — through hilly terrain. The 28-mile
Lackawanna Cut-Off, as it is now known, was built over three years, cost $11 million, and was an
engineering marvel of massive reinforced concrete bridges, enormous cuts, and the largest railroad embankment in the world. All of this has been
abandoned for years, though there are plans afoot to restore the Cut-Off for
commuter rail.
[more inside]
posted by parudox
on Dec 24, 2008 -
17 comments
Just over sixty years ago the
Reverend W. V. Awdry told his sick son a series of stories based on
real life incidents with trains,
which he later wrote up as the Railway Series. Now
Thomas the Tank Engine and
the other engines of the Isle of Sodor (somewhere
between Barrow-in-Furness and the Isle of Man) are a global phenomena, with
toys, books and of course the TV series - filmed using model trains on
more than 70 1:32 scale 16-by-20-foot sets, and voiced by the likes of Ringo Starr and Alec Baldwin. 2008 has been a rough year for Thomas: George Carlin, who voiced the series in the US up until 1998, passed away (
previously), as did
David Mitton, who had written and directed over 180 episodes (and who has previously worked on the special effects for
Thunderbirds). There's changes ahead for Thomas as well - this year saw the faces of the engines, which had previously been cast in silicone and attached with double sided tape, replaced by
CGI faces, and from 2009 onwards
Nitrogen studios in Canada will be taking over production with an
entirely CGI Thomas. Meanwhile a group of British students continues the tradition of model engine-based storytelling with their YouTube based
British Railway Series.
posted by Artw
on Dec 21, 2008 -
74 comments
Interior New York Subway, 14th St. to 42nd St. (1905) (sound added). In June, 1905,
G.W. "Billy" Bitzer, D.W. Griffith's cinematographer, mounted a camera at the front of a train and shot 6 1/2 minutes of footage from 14th Street (Union Square) to the old
Grand Central Depot, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt and architect John Snook in 1871. At the time of filming, the subway was only seven months old, having opened in October 1904. Two weeks after completing "
Interior New York Subway," Bitzer shot
"2 AM in the Subway," a comic short about late-night cavorting in an underground station. In March, 1905, Ray Stannard Baker (author of "
What is a Lynching") called New York's new subway
"a confusion of wonders" -- "the next step in the evolution of a Modern City." It would have its
challenges.
posted by terranova
on Dec 9, 2008 -
17 comments
Trains of Russia, photos from
Pavoroz.com, a site about the railways of Russia, the Baltics and the C.I.S. (
Commonwealth of Independent States).
More than 50 000 pictures of steam, diesel, and electric locomotives, EMU and DMU trains, draisines, stations, tracks, etc. The collection is updated daily. The Turkestan-Siberian railway.
[more inside]
posted by nickyskye
on Oct 6, 2008 -
26 comments
"Looking for all the world like an engine abandoned in the Amazon jungle, M2 class 4-8-0 number 1118 lies forlorn and forgotten at the Virginia Scrap Iron and Metal yard in Roanoke, VA."
The Lost Engines of Roanoke website chronicles the
history of four steam locomotives that were sold in the 50's to a scrapyard in Roanoke, Virginia. There are plenty of
photos of the engines and other train equipment and information on
two other lost engines. The
news section has been busy of late since one of the engines has been sold to a railroad themed restaurant in Bellville, Ohio. The move was
photodocumented.
posted by Kattullus
on Jul 25, 2008 -
10 comments
The first
National Train Day is this coming Saturday. There will be
events all over, and concerts, special guests and lots of train related attractions in four main cities,
Washington D.C.,
Chicago,
Los Angeles and
New York City. The day is May 10th to
commemorate May 10th, 1869 when the “
golden spike” was driven into the final tie in
Promontory Summit, Utah. It joined two major railways, ceremonially creating the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. Except that
it really didn't. That did not actually happen until August 15th, 1870, near Strasburg, CO. Colorado State officials
list it (pdf) as Comanche Crossing, saying "An
unpretentious white monument marks the spot". The "drab concrete pylon" was moved from the actual site and now sits in Lions Park. Next to the monkey bars.
posted by cashman
on May 3, 2008 -
4 comments
Manufold Menus [4.4MB PDF -
mirror]: Cooking on train motors, including recipes, cooking vessels (really, plastic bags and Gladware) pictures of where to stash the food, and resulting dishes.
posted by c0nsumer
on Oct 25, 2007 -
12 comments
Orphan trains. From 1853 to 1929 an ambitious relocation adoption program run by the Children's Aid Society, founded by
Charles Loring Brace, sent kids from urban slums and orphanages out to live on Midwestern farms,
with mixed results. Some became state governors, others
suffered abuse or servitude.
Even though we use the name Orphan Train, few of these children were true orphans. Some were half-orphans, having lost one parent to disease or accident. Some had both parents but had run away do to abuse or neglect. By 1910, CAS had "placed out" over 106,000 children and the program ran for another 19 years. Also, similar programs were run by the New York Foundling Home (called Baby Trains), New York Juvenile Asylum, and the Boston Home for Little Wanderers. In all, at least, 200,000 children found themselves moved from the city to small towns and farms across the Nation.
posted by Brian B.
on Mar 16, 2007 -
9 comments
Luigi Colani, Biomorphic Designer — This prolific
master of
plastic has been creating organically streamlined
planes,
trains,
automobiles,
trucks,
motorcycles,
ships,
cities,
homes,
computers,
cameras,
televisions,
furniture,
pianos,
ceramics,
shoes,
eyewearPDF,
pens,
airbrushes, and other wonderful
stuff (
including the
kitchen sink) for some
60 years. Wherever you need to
go, you can reach your
final destination in Colani style. More designs
here,
here,
here, and
here.
[Brits and touristas take note: London's Design Museum will host a Colani exhibition, Translating Nature, from March 3 to June 17, 2007. Bibliophiles can check out the book Colani: The Art of Shaping the Future.]
posted by cenoxo
on Feb 18, 2007 -
14 comments
