High-Speed, Narrow-Gauge, Low-Floor, Under Wire ~ Tuesday, July 14, 2009

This new train is the fastest narrow (meter) gauge train in the Swiss network.



It runs at 120km/h (=75MPH).

Original story in German, or in English via Google.

Like this one, a lot of Swiss regional trains look like slightly scaled up versions of what we consider Light Rail vehicles in the US.

Best Father's Day Present Ever ~ Sunday, June 21, 2009

It's a Trolley X-ing Sign!

New at Washington-Mason ~ Saturday, June 13, 2009

This is the latest creation of the craftsmen at the SF Muni's cable car shop, just delivered to the barn for its test run.

Thanks to gripman Val Lupiz for letting me post these pictures here.

A Micro-Layout Staring me in the Face ~ Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Five days a week I wait for a train home on the northbound platform the CalTrain's Mountain View station, which gives me a good trolleyfanning view of the adjacent VTA light rail station.

This is the western terminous of the VTA's Tasman West line. During rush hour, light rail trains do an interesting dance--one train will arrive, another will depart (they have to be syncronized because the last few miles of the line are single-track). And sometimes trains pull in and out of a pocket track. The track arrangement is a double X-over, like this:



Or scroll around a satellite view via Google Maps:


View Larger Map

Anyway, it recently occurred to me that this whole terminal could be an interesting micro layout. For a little bit more interest you could build up the pocket track into a small servicing area (a minimal barn with room for one or two cars plus some work equipment--maybe squeezed into some into some random unused urban space, like Portland Streetcar's under a freeway) and let the rest of the system be "off layout staging".

I've posted a few pictures and movies of the VTA here over the years, mostly centered around Mountain View; you can find them all under the Contemporary tag.

PCC Body Design Patent ~ Monday, June 08, 2009

It is US Patent 110,384 "Design for a Rail Car or Similar", invented by Dan H. Bell, assigned to the Transit Reseach Corporation.



I hadn't realized that the body design itself was patented (though I have heard that Brill was forced to pay royalties for their look-alike Brilliners).

Searches for Transit Research Corporation lead to other interesting patents. Enjoy!

New P&SR Book ~ Sunday, May 24, 2009

Fresh from the presses of Arcadia Publishing:



Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railway, by John & Kristina Schmale

Check out the Google Book Preview.

This is the first full-size book about the Petaluma & Santa Rosa (not to knock the writeup it got by Stanley Borden many years ago, in a special issue of Western Railroader Magazine--which any P&SR fan should still nab a copy of if they can...)

Tomytec Toyama Articulated Tram Available ~ Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Here's a flyer.



I'm putting in an order with HobbySearch--one to build as-is, plus a few extra body shells to kitbash a Zürich Cobra (some day!)

Relaxation ~ Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Today I...

- Was in so many meetings actual work seemed like a break

- Discovered my bike had a flat at quitting time

- Couldn't get on the train because the bike car was full (@#%$& bike-to-work day brings out all the newbies)

- Got lectured by a cop for crossing a street in the crosswalk against a flashing red-hand/don't walk sign

Seemed like a good night to try out my new Arnold/Duewag articulated tram (thanks, eBay.de). Yes, it can make it around the curves of the Tomix finetrack (103mm radius) track on my layout (whew):



Note "Cuddlecat Mountain" and the Salt and Pepper storage silos of the condiment factory in the background.

Going out with the kids for pizza helps after days like this too :)

Quake and Rebuilding: An Archive of Streetcar Pictures ~ Friday, April 17, 2009

San Francisco's major transit provider at the time of the 1906 earthquake, the United Railroads (later reorganized as the Market Street Railway, later merged into the Muni), kept meticulous photographic records. Some of the have recently emerged from the City's archives, and show both the devastation caused by the earthquake and fire,



and hurried rebuilding:



Here's an online SFGate/Chronicle story with more pictures.

Nathan's New Toy--A Rotary Converter? ~ Friday, April 03, 2009

This is a pretty cool toy; kids can spin it, it sings, and says a letter or animal that it ends up on (like a roulette wheel).



But it reminds me of a rotary converter: