Robbie
@zoqaeski.bsky.social
Railway aficionado and occasional worldbuilder.
Reposted by Robbie
I think we're now able to build a pretty clear picture of the most likely mechanism of the train crash at Adamuz in Spain.
January 19, 2026 at 12:49 PM
I think we're now able to build a pretty clear picture of the most likely mechanism of the train crash at Adamuz in Spain.
"There's no way to prevent or mitigate this disaster," say politicians and leaders of nation where this kind of disaster regularly occurs.
January 9, 2026 at 8:21 AM
"There's no way to prevent or mitigate this disaster," say politicians and leaders of nation where this kind of disaster regularly occurs.
If we're doing controversial tram takes, mine is that Sydney should have adopted enclosed drop-centre trams in the 1920s instead of having a predominantly toastrack tram fleet for as long as they did.
Same number of doors for passengers: Ws have two sets in the middle; Fiducias have two sets, one at each end
My controversial tram take is that the Ws are not a very attractive tram, although the City Circle livery is handsome
My controversial tram take is that the Ws are not a very attractive tram, although the City Circle livery is handsome
January 6, 2026 at 11:06 AM
If we're doing controversial tram takes, mine is that Sydney should have adopted enclosed drop-centre trams in the 1920s instead of having a predominantly toastrack tram fleet for as long as they did.
Had anyone in the government cared enough to invest in it, this line could have been an electrified Regional Fast Rail line twenty years earlier than the mid-2000s partial upgrade.
Today’s historic pic: Exactly 40 years ago today, broad gauge 1500V DC electric loco L1157 hauls the down Gippslander into Morwell, Vic, December 24 1985. The Gippslander was a day-return train between Melbourne and Bairnsdale. This line was de-electrified in 1987 but VLine DMUs still run here today
January 2, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Had anyone in the government cared enough to invest in it, this line could have been an electrified Regional Fast Rail line twenty years earlier than the mid-2000s partial upgrade.
Reposted by Robbie
I still enjoy pressing the button at pedestrian crossings just to make traffic stop, but not cross the road. I'm 43 now.
December 18, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I still enjoy pressing the button at pedestrian crossings just to make traffic stop, but not cross the road. I'm 43 now.
The only redeeming thing about summer is that my washing dries very quickly outside. Everything else about it is awful and I hate it and cannot wait for autumn.
December 18, 2025 at 2:43 AM
The only redeeming thing about summer is that my washing dries very quickly outside. Everything else about it is awful and I hate it and cannot wait for autumn.
What an absolute disgrace. So what if accessibility requires sacrificing road space for cars? I'm surprised that in spite of missing the deadline multiple years in a row, there's no legal requirement to build level access stops at all new or upgraded stops.
It's bad enough that there are still hundreds of inaccessible tram stops across Melbourne, 3 years after the legal deadline - now the government wants to build 3 new inaccessible stops, entrenching this problem even further. Disgraceful.
Feedback closes 24 Dec: engage.vic.gov.au/route-57-nor...
Feedback closes 24 Dec: engage.vic.gov.au/route-57-nor...
December 17, 2025 at 9:45 AM
What an absolute disgrace. So what if accessibility requires sacrificing road space for cars? I'm surprised that in spite of missing the deadline multiple years in a row, there's no legal requirement to build level access stops at all new or upgraded stops.
TRAINS!
If you're in need of a distraction, if you're like me and doomscrolling bad news is doing you no good, and if you like trains, then here's a timeline-cleanse of a thread with random railway photos, some by me, some historical
I'll begin with a northbound VLocity in Moonee Ponds, 8 January 2011
I'll begin with a northbound VLocity in Moonee Ponds, 8 January 2011
December 15, 2025 at 9:06 AM
TRAINS!
Melbourne should take a lot of lessons from Zürich on how to manage traffic and transit on arterial streets.
Two examples from Zurich of how indirect maneuvers help simplify intersection management and deliver effective Transit Priority even in very complex junctions, as part of a broader circulation plan.
The Bellevue/Stadelhofen and Kreuplatz nodes
The Bellevue/Stadelhofen and Kreuplatz nodes
December 9, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Melbourne should take a lot of lessons from Zürich on how to manage traffic and transit on arterial streets.
Hot take: Melbourne needs more stations with layouts like East Pakenham where express trains can overtake stopping trains. We also just need more quad-tracked sections in general.
November 30, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Hot take: Melbourne needs more stations with layouts like East Pakenham where express trains can overtake stopping trains. We also just need more quad-tracked sections in general.
Reposted by Robbie
![4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiby6can6k76yzfmv2czxs4pu2l7zie7bqbrpswi7h3ifmiadkuqvu@jpeg)
Reposted by Robbie
Superb example of the genre of "AI produces bad outputs, but what can we do, we're stuck with it so the solution is somehow 'AI literacy' rather than plugging the holes from which slop oozes"
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Help, the bot I fed on racism has turned out to be a racist. theconversation.com/historical-i...
Historical images made with AI recycle colonial stereotypes and bias – new research
Generative AI is known to mirror sexist and racist stereotypes, but it also carries a colonial bias that is reinforcing outdated ideas about the past.
theconversation.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Superb example of the genre of "AI produces bad outputs, but what can we do, we're stuck with it so the solution is somehow 'AI literacy' rather than plugging the holes from which slop oozes"
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Reposted by Robbie
“I keep scraping my car on the bike lane barriers, so the barriers must go!” always indicates someone whose driver’s licence must go
Horrific, people hitting the concrete demonstrates exactly why the concrete was needed.
Our sheltered bike lane has been removed because ppl kept hitting the concrete
October 24, 2025 at 8:36 AM
“I keep scraping my car on the bike lane barriers, so the barriers must go!” always indicates someone whose driver’s licence must go
We also want reliable trains.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
most people don't want politics that hurt other people. we just want a long overcoat like david bowie and affordable housing
October 20, 2025 at 8:18 AM
We also want reliable trains.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
Reposted by Robbie
Congratulations to the sub who wrote this headline, the Graun should give them a raise
You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned
You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned
Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists
The pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires.
Australian media representatives were among those to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday with about 150 members of newswire alliance Minds International. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Congratulations to the sub who wrote this headline, the Graun should give them a raise
Apparently V/line was unintentionally testing slip coach operation on the Seymour line near Tallarook this morning. This could be useful if the Mansfield line ever reopened.
August 25, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Apparently V/line was unintentionally testing slip coach operation on the Seymour line near Tallarook this morning. This could be useful if the Mansfield line ever reopened.
Reposted by Robbie
State capacity is when you can look at a super narrow (750mm) 1880' suburb-to-rural single track rail line with 50 yo cars and can decide
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
August 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
State capacity is when you can look at a super narrow (750mm) 1880' suburb-to-rural single track rail line with 50 yo cars and can decide
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
I knew ARTC maintains their track to a poor standard but I never expected the Melbourne–Adelaide line to be this bad. The train bounces and sways and feels like it is galloping along. Every few hundred metres there's a BANG as the wheels jolt over a mud hole or something.
August 14, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I knew ARTC maintains their track to a poor standard but I never expected the Melbourne–Adelaide line to be this bad. The train bounces and sways and feels like it is galloping along. Every few hundred metres there's a BANG as the wheels jolt over a mud hole or something.
I love not being able to see out the window of my tram during dark and rainy weather. Why do we allow advertising to take up so much space?
August 12, 2025 at 7:37 AM
I love not being able to see out the window of my tram during dark and rainy weather. Why do we allow advertising to take up so much space?
Japanese stations are a bit like that, aren't they?
on the other hand, i haven't been to a chinese station that has the kind of internal layout as a major japanese one as seen in this gif of hakata station
a black and white photo of an optical illusion of stairs in a building .
ALT: a black and white photo of an optical illusion of stairs in a building .
media.tenor.com
August 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Japanese stations are a bit like that, aren't they?
On Monday, there was denial and anger. On Tuesday, the union got involved so that was bargaining. Yesterday was depression and today there's acceptance, I guess. Hopefully I'll be able to find a new role soon.
July 25, 2025 at 1:41 AM
On Monday, there was denial and anger. On Tuesday, the union got involved so that was bargaining. Yesterday was depression and today there's acceptance, I guess. Hopefully I'll be able to find a new role soon.
This is ridiculous and I am glad Australia has the sense and decency to have independent Electoral Commissions for the Federal and State levels.
One of the proposed Texas gerrymanders includes a long skinny district snaking from Houston to the tip of the Panhandle, which is over 600 miles 🙃
July 22, 2025 at 7:01 AM
This is ridiculous and I am glad Australia has the sense and decency to have independent Electoral Commissions for the Federal and State levels.
I will never be a morning person, but there is definitely something to be said for watching the sky get slowly lighter from the window of a train as it travels through the countryside. The darkness turns to silhouettes, and the fields are pale with frost, a foggy haze settled over the landscape.
July 17, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I will never be a morning person, but there is definitely something to be said for watching the sky get slowly lighter from the window of a train as it travels through the countryside. The darkness turns to silhouettes, and the fields are pale with frost, a foggy haze settled over the landscape.
Immediately after Sunbury station the track quality becomes significantly rougher. For all my complaining about Metro Trains, they certainly maintain their tracks to a much better condition than V/line does. The Bendigo line could certainly do with some extra ballast and a good tamping.
July 17, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Immediately after Sunbury station the track quality becomes significantly rougher. For all my complaining about Metro Trains, they certainly maintain their tracks to a much better condition than V/line does. The Bendigo line could certainly do with some extra ballast and a good tamping.
Apparently Monty isn't the only hungry bridge in Melbourne. Even better is that the Racecourse Rd bridge has a tram pass under it, so it would have been a ZAP as well as BANG.
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
July 16, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Apparently Monty isn't the only hungry bridge in Melbourne. Even better is that the Racecourse Rd bridge has a tram pass under it, so it would have been a ZAP as well as BANG.
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?