#toot toot :d

[siobhanstrains]

Fun fact!

Both Melbourne and Sydney have "red rattlers"

By Trainsandtech - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65367379

By Matthew DAVALLE - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116280829

As you can see they are not the same train! In fact, Melbourne's electrification scheme was earlier than Sydney's by a good couple years, with the beginnings happening before the First World War.

The first electric train service in Melbourne was on May 28 1919, and the first in Sydney was on 9 December 1926. (This may be wrong)

I find it interesting that they have ending up with the same name over the many years that these trains were in service.

Officially, the "Red Rattlers" of Sydney were several types of single deck EMUs that were a mix of wooden and steel body.

Sidenote: I don't really know much about Sydney trains so any extra info would be awesome!

The "Red Rattlers" of Melbourne were specifically the Swing Door and Sliding Door classifications, with the Sliding Doors becoming Tait trains, and the Swingdoors getting merged into one word.

[siobhannotshane]

thinking about becoming a transport blog honestly. only problem is the lack of pictures i have of trains and trams and buses.

maybe ill take some pics of buses next time im near some.

[siobhanstrains]

Shout out Sydney for the Tangaras!

Also look at this poor little machine:

The 4D - or Double Deck Development and Demonstration (yes that's its real name)

Image by Zed Fitzhume from Melbourne, Australia - The now scrapped 4D prototype EMU at Spencer St.Uploaded by sk8er5000, CC BY-SA 2.0, Source

The design is oddly familiar, right? Well! That's because the 4D was also made by Goninan, the same creators of the Tangaras. I do say the 4D, as only one was made.

This train was unreliable. Incredibly unreliable. Comedically unreliable. In fact, here's VicSig's listing for 2002. 3 days...

This train is an unholy mix of a Comeng and a Tangara. Bodywork was near identical to a Tangara to the general public, but electrically was running similar to a Comeng train. This meant that the set sometimes ran coupled with a Comeng. Which is cursed.

The 4D having failed is coupled to Comeng 565M at Richmond. Thursday, 12th October 2000. Photo: Chris Gordon

The train was pulled out of service the same year that it only ran 3 days. It was put in storage at Newport workshops, and eventually ripped to pieces in 2006.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this silly train!

fav train & why?

ouuuugh that's a really hard question i don't know if i can narrow it down T SET BLAST

(oliver poate – cc-by 2.0)

these ones are my favourites. they're often also called tangaras. they just look so fucking awesome, this perfect balance between the super angular rolling stock that came before it and the super round, almost bubbly rolling stock that's come after it (no complaints to the a sets and b sets out there)

(thebusofdoom – cc-by-sa 4.0)

here's a more side-on view and i mean come on. trains is bugs dude. there's simply no denying it here. sometimes i call em cheese wedges on account of that big flat ol face right there.

weird place to put the windows on the sides, don't ya reckon? ah. this is my wicked trick, my terrible twist. these trains are double decker

(TfNSW/goninan – they linked this bad boy without attributing anyone in particular)

i love melbourne's rolling stock as much as the next guy (the comeng is also bugs) but there's just something about how dedicated sydney trains are to curating double decker rolling stock, by all means a relatively silly decision (takes a while to unload passengers in exchange for a decent bit more capacity).

i don't think it's a perfect train. at fucking all. the upper deck windows tend to fog up and warp a bit. you're not hearing an on-board announcement for your life. they're not the comfiest trains in tow. but i've ridden nothing like it. it feels almost otherworldly.

i leave you with the sounds behind the damn thing. they sound like goddamn angels they do

[pricklylittleloaf]

[paper-mario-wiki]

[veroinfaciem]

[siobhanstrains]

Thought I should make the link clickable.

Saturday 12 October 2024 - Down at platform level at the Anzac station open day. Plus 81 more new photos in the Metro Tunnel open day at Anzac station, Road coaches and Yarra Trams - Melbourne's southern suburbs albums https://railgallery.wongm.com/page/archive/2024-10-12/

[limielle]

a little taste of death

[misterparadigm]

Bonkers D. Bobcat, for those who remember this painstakingly animated series. It was basically film-quality animation being pumped out for TV, and for that reason alone (but among others) it is devastatingly forgotten.

[miyku]

[lynothy]

Writing ice-spice inspired bars about UI design. Opened with this banger:

Just in, it’s Timberlake the way my giant D be in UI

Now I just have to find a rhyme

[siobhannotshane]

I'd love to be able to move to Adelaide, it seems really nice. But I love trains too much. And Steamrail Victoria. soz guys

[blackjackkent]

Character Ask!

Tell me about Rasaad, so I can get to know him better.

(Character questions meme)

How I feel about this character

Eyyyyy, my boy Rasaad. <3 Another one of my favorites.

I love Rasaad a lot. Like many great characters, he means well and the ways he goes about approaching his goals are often deeply flawed.

His overall initial presentation is of a fairly stoic, fairly self-controlled, fairly introspective monk focused on spreading the light of Selune to the masses. Most of that is a thin veneer for a man who has been terribly hurt and whose primary motivation is vengeance on someone who keeps slipping out of his grasp - and, as a result, comes close to losing a lot of other things that are important to him.

There is a lot of natural darkness and hotheaded anger in Rasaad but he struggles towards the light anyway, which is always a fascinating dynamic in my opinion.

He's also the reason I made Hector a Selunite monk. XD Although he is not very much like Hector, ultimately.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Jaheira! \o/ I will shut up about this never bc people keep encouraging me. :P

Also Gorion's Ward if you happen to play it that way. I haven't done a playthrough with his romance (and probably won't at this point) but it is a fun little mess of a relationship. Rasaad handles nothing well about it at all. XD

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Minsc! And Khalid! In my "canon" worldstate, he and Caden and Minsc and Khalid were a really tight buddy foursome and got up to Hijinks together. (This was my favorite moment of that, although it was before Khalid showed up in Siege. XD )

My unpopular opinion about this character

I'm not entirely sure enough people talk much about Rasaad for any of my takes to be very hot. :P

I think he's good of heart and dumb of ass; he makes a lot of decisions that are based on emotion and they come to bite him in the butt. I do not, however, think that the Sun Soul is justified in their opinions of him - they end up accusing him of murder of his fellow monks based on incredibly flimsy evidence. (The fic I'm working on is going to end up positing a reason for this, because it bothers me. :P )

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

ALORGOTH NEEDS TO BE SIX FEET UNDER. [foams at the mouth]

Alorgoth is the evil Sharran who faked the death of Rasaad's brother and instead converted him to Shar, revenge for which is Rasaad's primary motivation across the series. He's also responsible for the aforementioned murder rap that Rasaad gets framed for.

He does not, however, actually end up dead at the end of Rasaad's questline - due to (I'm told) copyright issues with him being a WotC character, he turns out to be ALIVE in all of Rasaad's possible epilogues, and in all of those epilogues (EVEN THE HAPPY ONE) he ends up finding Rasaad and killing him instead.

This is the reason Open Your Eyes exists, because all of Rasaad's endings are stupid and I've elected to ignore them.

Fuck Alorgoth. >:(

[oceanlipgloss]

I...I think I just finished this Simeon fic. Oh God. It's been too long. It will finally, finally be discharged from the elderly home for WIPs. I'll post it tomorrow :P

[t00nified]

Missed the main day but happy 29th Bonkers!!

[thesearchforbluejello]

I fundamentally do not understand this show. The Dominion War was RIGHT THERE. Like, RIGHT. THERE. Why did we need some whack Romulus-blew-up backstory when the federation was already decimated by the war?? A follow up on the fallout of that and how the ceding of territory, the betrayal by allies, and the xenophobia of threats from both within and outside would have been SO much more interesting to me.

And they're so busy pulling half developed plotlines out of thin air that they're not even pounding in their anchor points for it all. Like, case in point, Jay looking for Icheb's cortical node. SEVEN HAS IT. IT IS LITERALLY IN SEVEN'S FUCKING HEAD. Like, okay fine easter egg? Maybe? But a major plot point isn't exactly an Easter egg?? Like obviously Beyer knows a shitload about Voyager, so at least one of them must be aware of that, so I assume it's implied... but not everyone has seen every Trek and that is from one specific Voyager episode, and Seven had the perfect opportunity to rub that in Jay's face... And are we not going to talk about Seven becoming a Ranger which is HUGELY antithetical to where she was at in Voyager? Because the fact that she became an individual on a ship that was what, 1/3 Maquis? Um, that's a super fucking important fact? Love that for her, but Christ alive nail. these. plot points. home.

idk I guess these two are nitpicks, but I have so many more and just don't feel like writing a novel expounding upon what I perceive as their many (MANY) failures in writing this show. But this show is just full of those moments and I don't understand their choices. Easter eggs only work when there's actually something semi coherent to hide them in (hence why most of M*rvel's fail nowadays, just saying). This feels almost as incoherent as Renegades, and I am SOOOOO very sorry to be actually saying that because woooooof that is not a compliment. Like... it's the Romulans, it's the androids, it's the Borg. It feels like whatever unholy combination is happening with Applebee's and iHop right now. Like... Okay I guess? But it's just a weird combination and very unnecessary. Just fucking pick one and go from there.

I do however need like a lot more ex-Borg bonding that was such a good moment okay thanks bye