Over the years there have been many examples were real world processes being squeezed to fit in with what a computer system can support. Well the railways are no stranger to this, as these examples show. Some background Locomotives all look the same, so it’s not like you can tell a train driver “you’re driving […]
The other week I spotted something strange on my train home – the gibberish looking message on the destination screen of a Melbourne train. So what’s the story here? To be accurate, the message wasn’t complete gibberish – but {“Colour”: “#009639”, “text”: “Flinders Street”} – JSON formatted data for ‘Flinders Street’ and hex colour code […]
Playing the ‘spot all squares’ game to solve a CAPTCHA gets old quickly, but the other day one of them caught myeye – is that set of traffic lights in Melbourne? The clues all add up: Australia Post mail box, and post office; Herald Sun sign on shop; a leafy green road with two lane […]
There’s a railway related factoid that has been doing the rounds for years in relation to Hawthorn Station – that the roof over platform 2 and 3 originally came from Flinders Street Station. So how true is it? Going digging Hawthorn station certainly looks old enough. And the roof over platform 2 and 3 is […]
One question I’ve seen people ask many a time is why the Ballarat line loops around after passing through Bacchus Marsh, instead of just running in a straight line. But the answer is simple – there is a bloody great big hill in the way. Going for a ride We start on the Melbourne side […]
