View from the Aboveground BART

Nature writer Chris Clarke posts where it emerges from underground Berkeley to head into Albany and El Cerrito.

A whoosh of engine and a scrape of wheel on rail, and we are gone and the residents enjoy their yards in peace. I have been riding this line, though, for a quarter century, and a quarter century of daily four-second glimpses adds up. My time riding this train has been a reel of film, each pass by each yard a still frame.

Worth the two minute read.

Trainset Ghetto

Yale architecture Peter Feigenbaum has built his model train set as an urban setting--variously evocative of the South Bronx, Jersey City, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Graffiti, row houses, trash, and weeds accentuate his amazing attention to detail in this gallery of his photos.

Link

(Via Vestal Design.)

Bollywood + Narrow Gauge Railroad: That's Entertainment!

(YouTube alert: mediocre video quality)

What's more fun that Shahrukh Khan leading adorable moppets at summer camp in a musical number? What could be more fascinating than being introduced to the Hindu festival of Holi by Sharukh's "Dead Poets Society" homage?

A playback song on top of a moving train, that's what.

Check out the shot about 4:55 into this video where the camera moves into the lead couple, goes around them, and backs into the chorus dancers.

From 1998's Dil Se, directed by Mani Ratnam. Song by A. R. Rahman. The combination of electronic beats with the traditional instruments was new at the time. This song appeared again in the musical Bollywood Dreams and in Spike Lee's 2006 film, Inside Man.

Question Hour: The Fat Controller's Railway

Economist Tom Bozzo of Madison, WI has a few questions about the Sodor Railway. There are links to other blog posts and comments of interest.

4. How is it that the bakeries only keep enough flour on hand to make a day's worth of English Muffins?

Who Moved My Coal?

With all the parents of Thomas-crazed kids out there, don't you think there's a market for a management book based on the Island of Sodor archetypes and stories? (Recall "The Tao of Pooh.")

Example: In A Big Day for Thomas, Thomas gets his big chance to pull coaches rather than shunt freight cars after Henry gets sick. "Be quick now!" says Sir Topam Hat. "Don't be impatient, Thomas. We'll wait until everything is ready." says his Driver.

Thomas is faced with conflicting requirements from two different stakeholders. He is eager to please upper management and ignores the advice of his driver - the one who is clearly more in touch with the realities "in the field" - and sets off before the coaches are coupled. This results in a fiasco at the station and decreased customer satisfaction metrics.

Who Else Loves Trains?

The "enchanting resort town of Holland, Michigan" is home to not only a model train shop, but the corporate headquarters of TM Books/Videos which produces not only the "I Love Big Trains" three volume set but the million selling 12 volume "I Love Toy Trains" collection.

So why does their blurb on the VHS tape jacket note that in addition to these series, their credits include "The Celebrity Series, featuring the layouts of Frank Sinatra, Tom Snyder, and Mandy Patinkin?"

As Deirdre put it, what is the intersection of the set of people who watch toy train videos and the set of people who enjoy the work of Mandy Patinkin?

(Answer: one. Although I have to say Mr. Patinkin's work is vastly more enjoyable than the model train videos).

I'm not sure what a layout is, and I'm not sure I want to see Tom Snyder's, let alone Mandy Patinkin's.

Turns out that when they say Celebrity Layout they mean the celebrities' train layouts. Available on video or DVD!