>The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (reporting mark SDAE) is a short-line American railroad founded in 1932 as the successor to the San Diego and Arizona Railway (SD&A), which was founded in 1906 by entrepreneur John Spreckels. Dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved, the line was established in part to provide San Diego with a direct rail link to the east by connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad lines in El Centro, California.>the railroad has a checkered history, with periodic disruptions in service to rockslides, storms, fires, and derailments, and has never been profitable>the line ceased being used in its entirety decades ago and has been bounced around by owner to owner ever since>at present, only a fraction of the line in San Diego, Mexico, and Campo is actively used, with the rest being left to decayHere's my questions:1. Were the "Impossible Railroad's" issues inherent to the climate and terrain, or more so the technological/economic limitations at the time of its construction (the railroad was built with anachronistic infrastructure such as wooden trestles)?2. If funding could secured, would it be possible to rehabilitate or even rebuild the line in its entirety using modern engineering techniques to negate the hazards that plagued its previous incarnations?3. What services could be provided to make the line economical, or even turn an actual profit? Obviously there's tourism, Carrizo Gorge attracts thousands of tourists a year (many of whom come to gawk at the ruins of the railway). I recently found out that the Mexican portion of the line is used to host the Tijuana-Tecate Tourist Train (pic related, several gallery cars that were originally intended for it but ultimately left unused) and has proven quite popular. But I'm also wondering industries could be served or even if a US-Mexico commuter service would be feasible (ignoring current diplomatic issues)
>>2038870The biggest problem was that the original railway was built on a shoestring budget (it was basically the brainchild of one man, John Spreckels), hence the antiquated shit like wooden trestles and had the misfortune of construction starting just prior to the start of the Mexican Revolution. The fact that a significant portion of the line runs through Mexico complicates things further because piece of cargo and passenger traveling the full length of the Desert Line will have to go through customs inspections, twice, just to reach their destination.Honestly the view is scenic enough that I think it would have potential as a tourist line, especially given that one of the termini is downtown San Diego, but you would need to essentially rebuilt the entire line before that became feasible. It doesn't help that the route is 70 miles long and the other terminus, Plaster City, is a complete shithole with nothing but Gypsum mining to it.Maybe, you could do it as a hotel train where you depart in the early evening (5pm) running at a leisurely pace of >10 miles per hour (slow enough to make the journey around 14 hours and run comfortably), treat everyone to a fancy dinner, have the train turn around in Plaster City and return in the morning (7am). Restore some old heavy Pullman sleeper and dining cars and better yet, a working steam locomotive, and you might find a niche market for being the only play in the world where you can relive the zenith of American rail travel.
>>2057523>will have to go through customs inspections, twice, just to reach their destination.Check out the big brains on Brad. It's not like similar things don't happen between the US and Canada with no customs checks required.Most people on /n/ are completely fucking clueless yet pretend to be total experts.
>>2039300>The real money-maker in railroads has never been people, it's been freight.The real money maker in highways has never been people, it's freight.
>>2058499What point are you trying to make here
Nobody would want to use an ancient ass ROW that dips into Mexico.
Pulse Lightstar (1986)
40mpg is not any kind of impressive benchmark. a honda supercub gets something like 120mpg
>>2060866>>2060879an heavy ass honda civic gets about 40 averaging city and highway driving
>>2060879I'm saying....how the fuck does and Ecomobile get 100mpg, and better acceleration? Pulse published 100mpg at launch, which was like cut lumber.You lose two seats, half the width, and you only get fucking 40mpg? If we cant get ground up rationalism a about car design, and not a horseless carriage, what is the point? Where is my F1 derived fuel sipper with KERS, scuderi, 6 stroke steam, turbo super charge?Where is the sailplane fuelselage with a motor in it? I cant be the only one who has thought of it....>>2060899The one with all the fairings gets 100mpg https://aerocivic.com/
>>2060899imperial gallon is 20% more than us gallon, so those numbers are even less impressive
Share your daily rides, post pics and stats. Complain about hills and mosquitoes.you do actually ride your bike, right anon?old thread >>2045380
>>2057240wtf stop taking pictures of my abusive spouseshalifax meetup when
It warmed up to -7C today and the wind was surprisingly light making for a pleasant ride. Yesterday morning it was -30C. The roads were in great condition too, a nice even layer of packed snow on the side streets for smooth easy rolling.
Took my bike for a test ride just up the street. It's only like -3 but actively snowing. I didn't die, but I take a trail to work and worry it won't even have salt on it and there'll be a thicc layer of ice underneath fresh powder and then I will die. My tires suck ass
>>2061227I was flying my drone yesterday and was reminded how blue the shadows can get in the winter on a sunny day. Right around sunset all the snow can turn blue for a little while.I've been watching them work on that bridge for over a month. Drove dozens of multi piece steel piles, having to stop periodically and weld on an additional piece. They were dropping off new concrete pier caps yesterday.
In which we discuss the Bikelighting culture (Fahrradbeleuchtungskultur) of our countries.Here in Germany, because of the Danger, it is not allowed to have a blinking Taillight. This is also the Reason that all emergency Vehicles in the World have blinking Lights. By attracting other dangerous night Vehicles to crash into the Ambulance, instead of the civilian Vehicles, it spares Drivers in smaller Vehicles, where the Occupants are less able to administer emergency self-Aid. This is the Consequence of what we call a „high trust Society“; our culture of Politeness dictates the most Risk to the most capable Roaduser. The same Expectation is extended to Police and Construction Engineers who are paid more for occupational Hazards such as a blinking Light.Do you have a Law about blinking Bikelights in your Country?
Those cheap as fuck button lights (a rechargeable one obviously). Theyre kinda good cuz they arent meant to be bright, so a lot of time they provide visibility for quite a while on one charge, they arent heavy and can be spammed.Brightness is not as important as most people make it out to be. At night, any light stands out great. The important part is you have a light that works.strap them to your backpack straps or jacket so theyre always kinda around indoors to charge and such- and you dont have to bother attaching them to your bikeand here's the real key, theyre cheap so you can have multiple. Just buy a 2 pack, so when one runs low, you have another and have a few days at least to remember to charge it and swap it back in.---I tried superbright lights with massive batteries. They do last longer but often times have bad mounts that snap. I couldnt find a convenient solution.
>>2053772Craziest thing ive ever read, but in happy motoring madness, completely expected.
I am tired of cagies and their ridiculous 1250000 lumen high beams that they keep on all the time. what is the brightest man-portable light I can get for riding in the cityI found a 2500 lumen flashlight at a hardware store but i want even brighter. the kind of shit ships carry for portable searchlights kinda shit. i want to outright blind people and cause lasting vision damage to cagies
>>2053895I would have 10 years ago but everything has an internal lithium battery that charges over USB these days so why fucking bother. i just pop it off the bike and charge it in the office when i get in>what if ur battery failes THOUGHwhat if your dynamo wiring freezes and cracks
Anyone have experience with magnetic lights/signals (e.g Reelight)?
>The aircraft, registered as VT-EHH, was a Boeing 737-2A8F from the Baby Boeing family. Delivered to Indian Airlines in 1982, it later operated with Alliance Air before Air India converted it into a freighter in 2007.>It flew with India Post titles but was grounded at Kolkata Airport in 2012. Instead of being sold, scrapped, or parted out, the jet sat idle in a remote corner of the airfield and disappeared from the airline's fixed-asset documentation.>Kolkata Airport officials eventually contacted Air India to request the removal of the abandoned jet.>This prompted a detailed internal check that confirmed the aircraft had been omitted from multiple documents for years.>Air India CEO Campbell Wilson informed staff that, in the years leading up to privatization, VT-EHH was repeatedly left out of internal records.>As a result, the aircraft did not factor into the valuation during the Tata Group acquisition. Before privatization, the carrier did not maintain the kind of structured fixed-asset registers that well-run airlines use to track depreciation, parking charges, insurance liability, and maintenance cycles.https://archive.ph/cYDOd
I'm visiting India rn and the difference between the level of air travel conduct in North and South cannot be overstated. On my flight from Canada it was all Punjabis and it was fucking chaos. They didn't care if you had your belt buckled, kids wandering everywhere, no sense of personal space, people playing music from their phone. But I had to get a connecting flight down south and it was completely different. Well-dressed, polite people, minding their own business, actually apologising in decent English if they need to get into the aisle or step on your shoe or something. The whole Gangetic plain gives this subcontinent such a bad rap
>>2061118Now compare the experience of working with north Indians vs. south Indians. I'm from Brampton and I've worked with a lot of difficult people from different backgrounds, from Guyanese to Jamaicans to rednecks from rural Ontario and crackheads from Kennedy and Queen, but average Punjabis make the absolute worst colleagues, bar none
>>2060587Fees get paid, no one questions.
>>2061141aye fair enough. but even parking lots will boot your car if you just leave it there for weeks on end even if you pay daily
>>2061141>Going for the banana gets us all hosed, and we don't even need to get hosed anymore because we stop the impetus in its tracks>Heh, stupid monkeys.
Old thread finally hit its bump limit >>1750878 2023 started out as a crazy year on the collectible market but things seem to have settled down a bit Have you made any new acquisitions ?What do you wish to buy year?Collectible bike thread!!
>>2060170Can you imagine if someone found a Delta V1000 in that condition?
>>2060175My grandchildren will know that feel when they unearth the shipping container I buried in the Sonoran desert.
>>2060762I remember you talking about this over ten years ago when we first started talking about how collectible the Delta V1000 is.Did you really do it? There is no way a person could amass more than one or two now. They are unobtainable at any price
>>2061150I did actually look into it, my grandpa had unwanted property out there, but I think I found a better way to safely store a single digit amount of Delta Vs. That's as in-depth as I want to go though, I'm paranoid about leaving a highway of breadcrumbs for other questers.
>>1942311https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ybZmYvaqwEg
should i go with a flight on a 737-700 or an erj-135/erj-140/erj-145
Never going to fly on this. Fml.
>>2060301Post flight number
>>20605090.....0
>>2060473I have flown on both the BAe version of that and the Avro version. Have also flown on an IL-62 and L1011. Flew on a Pan Am 747 SP too. Am I cool yet /n/?
>>2060301That's a 732...
Theoretically speaking, if I was an entrepreneuring billionaire and I wanted to bring back one of the great American passenger trains (Super Chief, California Zephyr, Panama Limited, Empire Builder, City of Los Angeles/San Francisco, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Powhatan Arrow, Coast Daylight, etc.) to run on a regular basis (let's put it at at least two times a month for a start), which option would be more feasible from an economic/technical/legal perspective?1. Acquire all of the surviving rolling stock (sleepers, dining cars, dome/observation cars, baggage cars, etc.) from the original consist from private owners, heritage railways, and museums, as well as matching surviving locomotives (can be from ones different railroads since thousands of functionally and aesthetically identical EMD F and E units were sold to all Class I railroads). Renovate them as necessary to make them FRA-compliant, obtain waivers wherever possible. Put them into service as a part-luxury train, part-mobile museum.2. Commission the construction of a replica consist. Building entirely new streamlined cars from scratch, designed to match the internal and external appearance of its original as much as possible, with changes only being made when it's literally required to make the car FRA-compliant/modern user friendly (updated wiring, HEP, power outlets at seats, WiFi support, replacing wooden paneling with MDF paneling etc.). Motive power consists of custom-built Siemens Chargers designed to resemble the original E and F units (streamlining, bulldog noses, matching paint schemes, etc.) as much as legally possible.1/2
>>2056965Why not?
>>2053390nah
It's been over a year and most of the replies have been you bumping your own thread
>>2048178> or just get drunk or high enough on Amtrak to imagine yourself in the golden age of rail travelIf you take the Piedmont service between CLT and RGH, you can ride for 3 hours in 50's era coaches. Put on a suit and tie to complete the feel and it's like stepping back in time with the very dated interiors and comfy large seats with ridiculous leg room.
>>2053389I know you jest :(
This thread is for talking about railways, and things related to railways, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - that means we're all about big intercity trains, modest rural trains, long freight trains, trips, tracks, trams, subways, stations, you get the idea. Trains are cool.If you're planning a journey, take a look at the nationalrail.co.uk/ journey planner - tell it where you're headed from and to, and it'll show you your options before handing you over to a train company so you can buy a ticket. Doesn't matter which train company, they'll all charge the same price for the same seat on the same journey. Overseas visitors - trip.com and thetrainline.com are your best option.Here's a few links:~New rolling stock currently on order, listed (trainlogger.co.uk/units/)~A Visual History of Railway Rolling Stock in Great Britain (gaelan.me/br-stock/)~The Man in Seat 61 (seat61.com/) - easily the best rail travel resource out there.~Geoff Marshall (youtube.com/@geofftech2) - likes trains. Mostly harmless.~Jago Hazzard (youtube.com/@jagohazzard) - London train history. Ditto....and some cool 'open data' stuff:~Realtimetrains (realtimetrains.co.uk/) - live train timetables: ideal for keeping on top of ETAs and platforms.~Openrailwaymap (openrailwaymap.org/) - not quite 'Google Maps for railway infrastructure', but close.~TIGER (https://tiger.worldline.global/home/) - live departure boards.Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
('the alternatives' being fiddling with the timetable so you get a more frequent service, thus moving more people per hour - or going with 3+2 seats and putting up overhead wiring, as with commuter stock)
>>2061125>Pedantic note: GBR doesn't exist yetThis has been tripping people up for a while. We've already had the 'Public Ownership' bill passed into law (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3732/) - this was the legislation that basically said 'we're not doing franchises any more, we're going to put the railway into public ownership instead', like a reverse of the 1993 act that killed BR.What's *now* going through Parliament - the 'Railways Bill' - is the legislation where everyone is going back and forth as to the nitty-gritty details of what that public ownership will actually look like; so basically, putting cards on the table, here's what GBR is going to look like and act like, here's how we're going to fund it, here's what it's going to be committed to by law, etc. You can follow its progress here:>https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4030...and there are a handful of factsheets found below, with the original legalese bill and plain-language explanations:>https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/railways-bill...fares, freight, tickets, devolution, it's all in there. This is the plan as it stands at the moment, so it's not the final set-in-stone legislation - as it goes through Parliament it may well end up being amended in some way before it's voted on.
>One year to go: Mayor of Greater Manchester reveals step-by-step plan to bring trains into the Bee Network from 2026>https://news.tfgm.com/press-releases/a2e0db71-60ed-4200-a7d7-a7c18e6558e4/one-year-to-go-mayor-of-greater-manchester-reveals-step-by-step-plan-to-bring-trains-into-the-bee-network-from-2026>Industry unveils yellow Northern train to promote services joining the Bee Network from December 2026.>New airport services, station upgrades, improved customer information, and tickets to come in the year ahead.>17 stations on the first two lines will be refreshed with Bee Network branding and new customer information points to make onward journeys between train, tram, buses and bikes even easier.>Step-free improvements started at Bryn station in Wigan, with work due to start at Hindley, Reddish North and Swinton in 2026.The lines to Glossop and Stalybridge will join the Manchester Overground (ah hur hur hur) this time next year.
The new Enterprise trains look nice, as well: based on Stadler's FLIRT platform, trimode (diesel, DC electric, and battery), to be maintained at York Road shed.
>>2061128I took one in Belgium a couple of months ago, and they aren't wheelchair-friendly at all. My dad isn't in a wheelchair, but he is decrepit as fuck now he's retired, and even he had a tough time on the staircases.
If steel is so great, why do the companies that make the best steel tubing in the world use carbon for their forks?If steel is so great, why do the finest steel bikes in the world use carbon forks?It seems to me that steel has an aesthetic value that cannot be substituted by anything else, but as a material for building bikes, its value decreases the more that is demanded of a component.
>>2060992Wait, are you implying carbon has less hysteretic losses than steel? Because that would be hysterical.
>>2060892>stiffer than carbon
>>2061019My original point was that steel bikes are stiffer than aluminum. Yeah, carbon components are typically stiffer than steel, in some but not always all directions. Carbon fiber is not some generic isotropic material, it can be stiffer than steel, it can be less stiff than steel, it depends on the laminate schedule.
>>2061017Obviously not. Again, why are you pretending to be an engineer, especially such a specialised one? Very odd larp.
>>2061138Oh so you think I'm larping because I used a more layman way to describe hysteresis? That's because 99% of 4chan users don't know what hysteresis is, you gay retard.
An entry level new bike, that is agreeable to ride, not dragged down by antiquated standards like QR, that you won't regret buying, nor immediately feel the urge to swap out half the components because of cut corners, cost approximately USD $1500 at standard retail prices as of late 2024, give or take a few hundred (depending on the finer details).Now, the prices are going to go up by at least 20%, and the smaller independent brands are going to go under as only the largest players will have the spare cash to ride out the sudden loss of consumer confidence. The most interesting and original bike products will simply disappear from the market permanently until the next wave of prosperity (which may be entirely concentrated somewhere far away and foreign, so that only the wealthiest of your peers will be able to import and use such goods).How does that make /n/ feel?
>noooo you dont understand I NEED thru axles because... I just do ok?!
>>2036140If it's just for transportation, always keep in mind that your bike can get stolen and you can get into an accident with it. Buy something cheap first and see if you use it. A 300 to 400 bucks bike will last you two or three years. Then buy a new one again. By then you'll know if you use it and if you do, you'll know exactly what you want and what you want to spend your money on.Whether you buy 3 or 4 new bikes over the course of 10 years or just one expensive one doesn't make a difference in the financial sense, but the cheaper options hedges your risk against damage and makes you more flexible later on.If it's for offroad sports you can go berserk, but there quantity also trumps quality unless you care competing, which lets face reality, you are not if you're asking here.
>>2060843Good point. Better stand in your nearest toilet and carefully watch all the kids urinating just in case one of those pervert trannies tries one of their perverted tricks!
>>2044726Better than 0km
>>2036140>not dragged down by antiquated standards like QRqr is fine unless it's carbon (and entry level bike won't be carbon)
Would anyone ever want to buy these books? It's a bunch of shit from wild swan. They cover how to paint a model locomotive, how to assemble locomotive kits, and scratchbuilding locomotives. Its all british steam locomotives mind you. It's a mix of currently in print and long out of print books. I don't want them anymore.
i mean you haven't even identified the books in questioni suggest going to second-hand book websites and seeing what the books in question have sold for
I'm also angry, but for me it's stereotypes of dwarves in fantasy. Elves can live in space or grow butterfly wings or whatever and no-one blinks an eye but as soon as you say "Dwarf" it's a drunk autist who lives in a cave.
>>2060738Shut the fuck up you retard. You know exactly what I fucking have. I don't need to spell it out for your dumbass.
yeah
I am a railway fan from Moscow. In my free time, I make videos of trains, subways, and transportation. Ask questions about my activities, and the transport of my country, stereotypes, in general, everything that is interesting, I will try to answer.
>>2056880I don't remember it being navalny, crazy. I thought it was just some random troll.
I am watching a cozy 7 hour video of russian trains
>>2036727NTA. Yes, those are not going away.
>>2036639why are you russian
>>2036639I've heard about russkie anarchists/antifascists sabotaging a bunch of railway infrastructure to hinder the war effort against ukraine. how much of a thing really is this? are people aware of it and does it cause real problems?
If all children's (geared and break-pad) bikes were banned and everyone rode fixies (adult bikes), then we wouldn't need any of the polarising debate over 'bike infrastructure'. We wouldn't need to slow down traffic through cities or dig up roads and pavements, everyone would be a lot safer and bikes could flow freely among cars.Is it finally time for governments around the world to ban geared bikes (at least for people above the age of say, 10) and give up on the idea of seperate bike and car infrastructure, letting all modes of transport to flow freely among eachother?
are fixie riders the new manual transmission "its better cuz u have to pay more attention" people?
>>2061088The adrenaline from the constant pedaling seems to make me more alert personally. So ye kind of lol
>>2061088I used to be gas/o/holic in the 00s with a manual FC and S13 back in the day, I now ride fixies and yes it's the manual of the bicycle world. The motorcycle equivalent is carbureted and no abs/tcs.>"its better cuz u have to pay more attention"the real answer is more road feel for better man-machine connection
>>2059840>it's less parts/cables you need to buy how fucking poor are you
>>2060248i hope he died
Why do Americans tolerate this?
nice backpacks
>>2058141Isn't the TSA the only Federal law enforcement agency that permits hiring of convicted felons? I recall some incident like ten years ago where they landed in hot water for hiring a former employee of the Catholic Church who had been forced to leave after he was accused of diddling kids (shocker), which would get you disqualified from being hired as a county sheriff basically everywhere even if you weren't convicted.
>>2060770US military recruits plenty of felons these days with a waiver. Shit, school administrators are felons and in the country illegally. The government is full of crooks.
>>2060770ICE will basically hire anyone physically capable of driving a motor vehicle and squeezing the trigger of their service weapon
>>2060770>>2060773"felon" in the US could mean you had too many unpaid parking tickets THOUGH
