Archive for April, 2022

Photos from ten years ago: April 2012

Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is April 2012. Farewell to Metcard Ten years ago the old Metcard magnetic stripe ticketing system was on the way out, replaced by new Myki smartcards. The old ticket machines being removed from stations. But ticket gates at stations weren’t fast […]

Level crossing boom barriers – timber or metal?

If you take a close look a level crossing, you might’ve noticed something about the boom barriers used to prevent cars driving onto the tracks. Some are made of metal. Aluminium channel to be specific. And others are made of timber. Two separate pieces, tied together to form a truss. So what gives? The answer […]

Diesel trains in the City Loop

Normally Melbourne’s underground City Loop are only used by suburban electric trains, but occasionally diesel trains and V/Line services end up running through the tunnels – either by accident, or on purpose. Railfan specials On 1 March 1997 newly restored heritage diesel locomotive GM36 went for a trip through the City Loop with a railfan […]

Getting ‘hugged to death’ by Hacker News

The story starts when I published a piece on the backyard approaching lighting at Adelaide Airport to my blog. Later that day I noticed that my website was now running rather sluggishly, so checked the logs – an explosion in traffic. And the reason – someone over at Hacker News had shared a link to […]

Backyard approaching lighting at Adelaide Airport

Located smack bang in the middle of South Australia’s capital city, Adelaide Airport has an interesting runway approach lighting system – located in suburban streets and residential backyards! Some background Adelaide Airport is located approximately 6 kilometres from the Adelaide CBD. With the suburbs of Brooklyn Park and West Richmond under the approach path to […]