OT- Tour of Ed Pink's race engine shop--soon to be torn down to make a bus stop

[Bill D]

Reason the original BART did not go to the SF airport was SF taxi drivers lobbied hard to keep their jobs.
Bill D

 

[EmGo]

It is not 6' gauge it is 5 foot gauge for a slightly better ride then standard 4' 8.5" with less side to side rocking. This is Russian/Indian gauge. I think even "modern' Russia knows more about trains and tracks then the Roman Empire did at it's height while laying roads for carts with 4' 8.5" wheel track.

It's 5' 6" actually, sorry I rounded up in a flurry of hyperbole. Which does not match anything, makes everything rolling that they buy special (I have made some stuff for them), makes everything much more expensive and has no effect on "side to side rocking" because trains are single-track vehicles, like a motorcycle. And the way they laid out the cars, you don't even get more people in them. All of the previous transit companies did a better job.

The main reason it was used is so the diesel commuter trains could not share the tracks. They wanted there own sandbox to play in and no sharing.

Unless the regular trains managed to sneak out of their playpen at night and lay tracks over to BART, without an interchange it's not possible.

It was stupid and pointless. And no, cab drivers do not control the world, they didn't go to the airport originally because they are dumb. Just like the effing bridge district with their nitwit gas turbine ferries. Those people do not have a clue.

It also doesn't go to Marin because marinites were worried about the darkies sneaking over on the train, sigh.

Sometimes you can't make this stuff up, the reality is too awful. However, it's still better than nothing.

 

[1yesca]

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot


All my favorite places disappeared
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay, oh, way to go, L A

 

[John Garner]

It's 5' 6" actually, sorry I rounded up in a flurry of hyperbole. Which does not match anything, makes everything rolling that they buy special (I have made some stuff for them), makes everything much more expensive and has no effect on "side to side rocking" because trains are single-track vehicles, like a motorcycle. And the way they laid out the cars, you don't even get more people in them. All of the previous transit companies did a better job.



Unless the regular trains managed to sneak out of their playpen at night and lay tracks over to BART, without an interchange it's not possible.

It was stupid and pointless. And no, cab drivers do not control the world, they didn't go to the airport originally because they are dumb. Just like the effing bridge district with their nitwit gas turbine ferries. Those people do not have a clue.

It also doesn't go to Marin because marinites were worried about the darkies sneaking over on the train, sigh.

Sometimes you can't make this stuff up, the reality is too awful. However, it's still better than nothing.

The Golden Gate Bridge District's foundational documents required that the District to 1) turn the bridge over to the state of California when the bonds were paid off, and 2) go out of business.

In the mid 1960s, the Directors realized that they were nearing the end of their good gig, and started looking for a way for the District to run a deficit. They started by buying the Marin to SF commuter bus operation from Greyhound.

When running the busses failed to burn off enough cash flow, the District Directors cooked up "high-speed ferries". IIRC, the first-generation Golden Gate Ferries were supposed to be hydrofoil. At any rate, they were so notoriously unreliable that the Directors were embarrassed.

To save face while making sure they lost enough money, those original ferries were replaced with turbine-engined boats.

Here we are, almost sixty years later. The Bridge District is still in business, and has a Board of Directors.

Mission Accomplished! I guess.

 

[Bill D]

50 years of BART: Why BART uses a nonstandard broad gauge | bart.gov

In celebration of BART’s 50th Anniversary this year, we’re looking back at the transit system’s five decades of service and innovation in a new series of stories. BART celebrates 50 years on Sept. 11, 2022.For decades, rail aficionados have asked us: Why does BART use a nonstandard gauge, or...

www.bart.gov

 

[EmGo]

"Why BART uses a non-standard broad gauge"

Exactly. Because they are stupid.

Japan Shinkansen debuted the same year, 1964. Does 200 mph, uses standard gauge. Cars don't exactly equate because of different lengths and sizes (the Japanese train is actually taller, which would give it more area to be affected by crosswinds) but from published figures I calculated the early BART cars at 990 lbs/ft and shinkansen at 1004. Worst case for shinkansen is 1089, 100 lbs/ft difference. If we take the larger billboard area of the bullet trains, probably a higher side load involved.

Did I mention they run at 200 mph ? BART might make 70 ? And oh yeah, buses, which are much lighter than FART with a larger area to be affected by winds, run across the golden gate bridge on a daily basis without tipping over. (This is one of their listed excuses.)

Basically, those people are stupid. Were stupid and still are.

Research did uncover that Qingdao has a new maglev that runs 385 mph. Time to head north, I've been 275 but not over 350. Twenty feet off the ground, that's cooking

 

[Ries]

I have actually worked as a small sub on 5 light rail sytems, right of way trained for 5, tunnel trained for two.

Did two major projects on the LA system, although not this line. I lived in LA in the eighties, when the last real hot rod guys were still around, and it was very cool.

but I dont have a lot of sympathy for a property owner who paid over $2 million for this land close to ten years ago - they will be making serious bank on this sale.
In all five of the Western Cities I worked on light rail, the prices paid we’re always hideously high. Even the owners in poor neighborhoods made out very well.

Cant agree the bad decisions are due to stupidity- been in too many meetings seeing the actual sausage being made. Its always political, with small cities having veto power over multi billion, and nowadays multi trillion dollar projects, with things like one company, or one neighborhood of 500 nimby ‘s calling the shots on a $500 billion dollar project that serves 2 million people. Racism also often plays a big role- as mentioned about Marin County, a few rich white people can change routes or veto stations. Beverly Hills fought off the subway for 30 years, and still managed to screw up station locations even when they finally lost. Let the cleaning ladies take the bus for two hours. One developer in Bellevue Wa, home of Bill Gates, defeated coomon sense for 30 years, to prop up his weird racist ideas- his granddaddy stole the whole downtownfrom japanese american strawberry farmers who were conviently locked up in Manzanar.
there are always plenty of engineers in those meetings proposing how to do it right- but they dont make campaign donations. In Japan, or China, or Europe, the government just makes the decisions, and it happens. But here- Freedumb!

 

[Big B]

I have actually worked as a small sub on 5 light rail sytems, right of way trained for 5, tunnel trained for two.

Did two major projects on the LA system, although not this line. I lived in LA in the eighties, when the last real hot rod guys were still around, and it was very cool.

but I dont have a lot of sympathy for a property owner who paid over $2 million for this land close to ten years ago - they will be making serious bank on this sale.
In all five of the Western Cities I worked on light rail, the prices paid we’re always hideously high. Even the owners in poor neighborhoods made out very well.

Cant agree the bad decisions are due to stupidity- been in too many meetings seeing the actual sausage being made. Its always political, with small cities having veto power over multi billion, and nowadays multi trillion dollar projects, with things like one company, or one neighborhood of 500 nimby ‘s calling the shots on a $500 billion dollar project that serves 2 million people. Racism also often plays a big role- as mentioned about Marin County, a few rich white people can change routes or veto stations. Beverly Hills fought off the subway for 30 years, and still managed to screw up station locations even when they finally lost. Let the cleaning ladies take the bus for two hours. One developer in Bellevue Wa, home of Bill Gates, defeated coomon sense for 30 years, to prop up his weird racist ideas- his granddaddy stole the whole downtownfrom japanese american strawberry farmers who were conviently locked up in Manzanar.
there are always plenty of engineers in those meetings proposing how to do it right- but they dont make campaign donations. In Japan, or China, or Europe, the government just makes the decisions, and it happens. But here- Freedumb!

Americans seem to be very subjective in our thinking compared to a lot of other countries that are run by objective thinkers.

 

[Servicar rider]

I have noticed that modern city planners don't like small businesses like auto repair places or small machine shops. In my area they seem to be wanting to be eliminating them as much as they can. This seems to be going on now for about ten years. One friend of mine has a fifty year old automotive electric repair business he inherited and the city came along and told him they were redeveloping the area so they could build a casino (which didn't happen) and now they want his land and the rest of the block for a new hotel. They haven't been much help in finding him another place to move the business. A couple of places he has looked at don't have the zoning required and the zoning dept keeps telling him they won't rezone any place he finds. He has been told the only place he can put his business is in the industrial park on the edge of town and that real estate is beyond what he can afford.
Another guy who has been in the same location for 40 years wanted to downsize his fab business due to getting close to retirement and move into a building down the street. He had a tenant lined up for his old building and the city came along and told him the zoning was changing and the building would no longer be zoned for heavy industrial and gave him a list of acceptable businesses that could be in his location and they wanted him to update the electrical and put sprinklers in his building, then the fire marshal came in one day and told him he had to install fire proof doors between different parts of the building before he could lease it! The bottom line is they will no longer allow manufacturing in that part of town. Other parts of town have vacant lots where older buildings once were because the city wouldn't work with the owners?
Yet another guy in the next town east bought a very nice ten year old building with a big lot and after a few years when he wanted to add onto his building was told that he had to provide an environmental impact statement and a plan for disposal of rainwater runoff before a building permit would be considered? No matter what he proposed it was rejected.
The same thing has been happening with older homes. The city doesn't want the older homes remodeled or repaired so they deny building permits, yet the homeless population has tripled and rising in the last few years because of a lack of affordable housing.

 

[standardparts]

Americans seem to be very subjective in our thinking compared to a lot of other countries that are run by objective thinkers.

Which countries are run by objective thinkers?

 

[jim rozen]

Most of the shops I've used in the past have closed, simply because the proprietors have either aged out, moved away, or just died. In several cases the buildings have not really been used much after the business went under. These were in mixed use, or commercial areas to start with so there was never any city action involved. It's apparent the shop inquestion that started this dicussion had more going on under the covers than the ytube thing let on. Businesses close or sell out all the time. I doubt the clamoring to find the 'evil libtard conspiracy' has any validity.

 

[1yesca]

land grab ! see snatch !

 

[gustafson]

I have noticed that modern city planners don't like small businesses like auto repair places or small machine shops. In my area they seem to be wanting to be eliminating them as much as they can. This seems to be going on now for about ten years. One friend of mine has a fifty year old automotive electric repair business he inherited and the city came along and told him they were redeveloping the area so they could build a casino (which didn't happen) and now they want his land and the rest of the block for a new hotel. They haven't been much help in finding him another place to move the business. A couple of places he has looked at don't have the zoning required and the zoning dept keeps telling him they won't rezone any place he finds. He has been told the only place he can put his business is in the industrial park on the edge of town and that real estate is beyond what he can afford.
Another guy who has been in the same location for 40 years wanted to downsize his fab business due to getting close to retirement and move into a building down the street. He had a tenant lined up for his old building and the city came along and told him the zoning was changing and the building would no longer be zoned for heavy industrial and gave him a list of acceptable businesses that could be in his location and they wanted him to update the electrical and put sprinklers in his building, then the fire marshal came in one day and told him he had to install fire proof doors between different parts of the building before he could lease it! The bottom line is they will no longer allow manufacturing in that part of town. Other parts of town have vacant lots where older buildings once were because the city wouldn't work with the owners?
Yet another guy in the next town east bought a very nice ten year old building with a big lot and after a few years when he wanted to add onto his building was told that he had to provide an environmental impact statement and a plan for disposal of rainwater runoff before a building permit would be considered? No matter what he proposed it was rejected.
The same thing has been happening with older homes. The city doesn't want the older homes remodeled or repaired so they deny building permits, yet the homeless population has tripled and rising in the last few years because of a lack of affordable housing.

Again, not a fan of Eminent Domain, but a lot of this post is short on details and long on opinions
I actually agree there is a bias against commercially zoned business, and this is a problem, but:
Having to update fire code and other things in order to rent is not unusual for an old building
drainage and runoff plans are now common, if you pave your lot, what does it do to your neighbors property, where is that water going?
On remodeling older homes?
Baloney
They will take the permit fees and increased taxes and run.
Now I do have issues with 'existing non conforming' buildings sometimes being unable to do things, but this is a small subset of properties in general.