Archive for July, 2015

‘Altostrat’ – Google’s fictitious company

Microsoft is well known for their long list of fictional companies – the name of which crop up often in the documentation for their software. However they aren’t the only company to do so – Google has a fake company of their own.

WHOIS for AltoStrat.com domain via DomainTools

Penny-pinching at Craigieburn station

Since September 2007 suburban electric trains have served the northern Melbourne suburb of Craigieburn, but the infrastructure that allows them to do so is a mere shadow of that originally planned a decade ago.

Melbourne Airport and de-icing in cold weather

Earlier this week the temperature in Victoria plummeted, with a low of -0.6C being recorded at Melbourne Airport on Monday 20 July. The result – aircraft being covered with ice, and major flight delays due to trouble removing it. So what made the ice so hard to move?

Waiting at the gate, Qatar Airways A321-231 rego A7-AIA

Failed port shuttle trains in Melbourne

For residents of the inner west of Melbourne, the endless procession of trucks carrying containers from the Port of Melbourne has been concern for many years. One proposed solution is the operation of port shuttle trains, which could carry containers directly from the wharves to ‘inland ports’ on existing industrial land, where the cargo will then be distributed to factories and warehouses. So why are such services not running today?

Containers flats in the common user sidings at Appleton Dock

How many blog posts do I write in a year?

I’ve just sat down and run the numbers – if I continue at my current blog posting rate, after one year I will have published a total of 142 new entries! My current posting schedule is as follows: Two posts a week here (104 posts/year) Once a fortnight about European railways at www.eurogunzel.com (26 posts/year) […]