dewline | Entries tagged with trains

As someone interested in passenger rail, graphic design and where the two intersect, this gets my attention:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/sep/22/british-rail-logo-designer-appalled-by-green-makeover-mess

I do think Mr. Barney is correct about the idea of re-nationalising the passenger rail system(s) of the UK to whatever degree practical and possible, but I've lived in the land of VIA Rail here in Canada all my life. CP and CN had their own passenger services when I was born, but VIA has been around so long that I can't quite imagine the idea of each rail line running its own passenger lines along with the freight services.

Getting back to watching Ottawa City Council discussing motions re: the O-Train in particular and OC Transpo public transit service in general...

Current Mood: busy

I watched the city's transit commission have their monthly meeting via YouTube this morning. It was busy, it was informative, and I've got some notes to work through in case there's something that might actually be helpful to someone to post my more detailed impressions.

My left shoulder is stiff and achey after last night's sleep. So's the elbow on that side.

I think I actually got seven hours' sleep last night, and I did have dreams. Not clear on the details of the dream this time, beyond "no domesticated crustaceans acting like puppies this time". I think that was a one-off incident. There are experts I can consult about that imagery tomorrow if I feel the need.

Job search continues.

More as I think of it.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Home-for-now
Current Music: Spark on CBC Radio

Public transit...there's a topic.

My understanding of the current state of OC Transpo and STO across the river in Gatineau goes like this: the buses and trains here are usually, at worst, ¾ empty. Everyone aboard has mostly managed to keep their distance from each other, and masks are standard good-manners practice. I can't afford to not use it if I want to leave my neighbourhood to do anything outside of it.

I keep paying for my monthly bus pass despite my lack of usage because they're a continuing target for deficit hawks, and they need the money to maintain the facilities and fleets for when Pandemic is finally over. Even if the levels of demand-for-service stay reduced afterward, the transit services have to be able to do their work safely.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Home-for-now
Current Music: The Sunday Magazine on CBC Radio

Tom Leroux pointed this video out to me this afternoon. Food for argument, maybe?

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Home-for-now

Some names are more commemorative than others.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: The Current on CBC Radio One

One example of the more amusing names we've given our O-Train cars:

Current Mood: amused

...from above.

Current Mood: nerdy

I used to live in Regina. For a decade. Until I graduated high school. So this lead-in-the-water issue matters. Yes, it was decades ago. But I'm not sure that it matters.

Depending on which other cities and towns are affected to what degrees, that problem might be a contributing factor in the "Wexit" mess. Certainly not the only one. I expect international oil industry money has a hand in it, too. And a century or so's worth of cultural conditioning going back to fostering of resentment of Laurier's decision to not allow One Big Province where Alberta and Saskatchewan now stand. You could call Frederick Haultain a political ancestor of Manning, Klein, Kenney and Wall as a result of this 1905 mess.

There's the ongoing transit confusions. More wordage needed than I can spare right now for that. Because I've got to get to work shortly.

Current Mood: busy

This morning's transit adventures, I could have given a miss to.

For that matter, so could a lot of other passengers of bus and rail in the eastern reaches of Ottawa.

Took the local feeder to Blair to catch the train, but the train looked at least 20 minutes away by the time I got there. So I went back down to Level One to grab an R1 - the Line 1 "when the train's not running when it should be" substitute bus - and that took a winding set of side streets from Blair to Hurdman. At that point, it was climbing the stairs to the upper platforms where the trains were finally making their runs again. The outdoor, open-air stairs. Which look great in the summer, but more of us suspect that the looks of them is going to be a pain in the winter months.

By the time I got into the day job - despite leaving at my usual time of 620 AM which usually leaves me getting into Centretown by 725 AM, with about half an hour to take care of banking and shopping chores along the walking route - I was instead fifteen minutes late. As it turns out, my job-site supervisor had been dealing with similar transit pains of their own over the last few weeks, and so was entirely empathetic to the situation.

You can gather from the news linkages I've added in that this is a continuing issue. I'd been lucky up to this morning myself, but that was not going to last.

Misadventure, of a minor sort. A First-or-Second-World Problem at worst, right?

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Fool's Overture" by Supertramp

Found out about this yesterday:

https://www.otrainfans.ca/

Warning: there's a three-minute video that auto-launches when you open the home page. But, yes, it's related to the train service.

And on a related note, this set of forums is about Ottawa the city:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=254

Current Mood: busy

So we're winding down an era of public transit history here on the Ottawa side of the river this weekend.

Route 95 was part of my life from the day I started taking classes at Algonquin. Since I live on the other end of the city - even pre-amalgamation, this was true - from the Baseline campus, Route 95 was an essential component of getting around town. Officially, I lived in Gloucester for the first year, Cumberland for the second, and my classes were in Nepean. But, still...it was all Ottawa, or it was all going to have to become one Ottawa eventually. Mike Harris' shotgun civic marriage plans in the works or not.

Route 95 was the glue that was binding them together. And now, supposedly, the O-Train Confederation Line is taking over from that. The vision is incomplete for now, but Phase 2 pre-construction tree-clearing and suchlike is underway. So that's going to happen. Barring a total disaster in federal and provincial funding not coming through, which...I suppose is possible in the next three weeks once the 2019 federal election is done.

It makes getting around town a little more complicated than it was. No more single-route bus-rides straight into Centretown and Lowertown West/ByWard Market and Sandy Hill.

It's going to take some adjustment.

Current Mood: drained

Good morning.

Just heading off to work in a minute. I think I'll take the bus this morning rather than the train because it's familiar. I need "familiar" today. Will use the train - between Blair and downtown because Blair is where it starts for me - tomorrow to see how it affects my travel time.

Current Mood: busy

Well, it's progress. We've been waiting a while on this, of course. Filed by Joanne Chianello with CBC News:

LRT is now set to be delivered by Aug. 16
Passengers should be riding the Confederation Line in September

Current Mood: hopeful

Another test of the new O-Train line this week...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-smoke-test-belfast-yard-1.5051700

As a reminder to myself. The Gifted Type dropped it from their roster of magazines they carry about a year ago. I don't get to visit Hobbyhouse often. So it looks like that's going to leave subscription as my option of choice.

https://bytownrailwaysociety.ca/index.php/branchline

Current Mood: nerdy

Noting a few other things for the record...

Starting with the city's announcement of an environmental assessment as a prelude to possibly extending the Confederation Line of the O-Train network to the Canadian Tire Centre(AKA Corel Centre AKA Palladium). If this goes all the way to actually building the tracks and running the trains, there'll be a lot of happier hockey and music fans in this city. Especially out here on the eastern end, owing to the current transit times via the 4xx-series bus routes that feed that stadium on game and concert nights. And even if the Ottawa Senators do end up moving from Kanata's Palladium Drive to Lebreton Flats as many hope, the convenience will still be there for many on the western end of the line.

(Sidebar 1: And I can't see the CTC not still being useful for all manner of major public events for the next couple of decades in any case. Provided the facility is properly cared for by whoever owns it. Yes, that's a piece of advice to the owners I want to see heeded.)

(Sidebar 2: As soon as I see a link to City Hall's page(s) on the matter, I'll set that up here.)

Back to those Unrealistic Expectations held by OC Transpo management.

They're hoping to be rid of paper tickets and bus passes forever, with all regular users forced into the Presto card system. Effective next year.

Not a welcome idea. I want those physical proofs of payment, partly as souvenirs in their own right, partly as tax paperwork documentation. Because tax credits for public transit usage. And because the Presto system requires using the internet to pay the monthly fare. I don't know that I'll be able to maintain my own access to the internet until I'm physically unable to use public transit anymore (hopefully due to extreme old age). More to the point, there are many other people across this city who share such financial uncertainties for any combination of reasons. And even if we can figure that out, internet access can be denied to entire populations due to accident or malice. We've seen an example of the kinds of unexpected infrastructure issues that can pop up today with the Rideau Street Sinkhole Incident.

Better to leave transit users the option of paying for hardcopy bus passes for the long term. Much better.

Current Mood: worried

So. There was a bus-train collision today in the southwest corner of the city today.

I was already safely at my day job when I heard the news over the radio. Worried about one family I know of who live in that neighbourhood. I've since found out that they're all okay.

I've been on buses passing through there, and I've ridden the train in both directions through there as well. Call the mood...sombre. Otherwise, I'm looking at this and seeing a mystery in why it happened at all.

Beyond that, not sure what else to say...

Thank Cory Doctorow for tracking this down.

http://boingboing.net/2013/01/20/guy-re-creates-a-via-rail-car.html

Wondering what Amtrak would name a direct route between Gotham City and Chicago. They name all the other train routes they operate, after all. Some names inherited from pre-Amtrak operators of the routes in question, of course...

Opinions are welcome.

Current Mood: curious

Just to show you how it looked coming into town on the train from Ottawa.

That's the general neighbourhood for next year's WorldCon, Anticipation. The main hotel, the Montréal Delta, is north of that building by what looks to be a block or two.

Later this morning, before Con*Cept resumes, I hope to climb Mount Royal.

Current Mood: busy

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On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

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On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Entries tagged with trains

UK: An Intersection Between Graphic Design and Passenger Rail

(no subject)

Public Transit - My Mind in February 2021

TRANSIT: State of the Confederation Line

FLICKR: Train Names - Poppy/Coquelicot

FLICKR: Train Car Names of Ottawa

OTTAWA: Watching the trains...

Things of Concern

Transit Travails

About Ottawa's Transit Issues

Transit Changes

First Day

(no subject)

Transit

Magazines for Railfans

OC Transpo: Unrealistic Expectations II (With a Caveat)

Sadness

boingboing.net - The Guy With the Train in His Basement

Naming Passenger Trains in the DCU That Was

Montréal: The View Upon Arrival