2010

[noofnoof]

One of the best ways of spending your way out of a recession is to build large scale infrastructure. The outcome will be visible for years.

*cough*

[JamieLei]

As per the Empire State Building and the new tallest tower in the world in Dubai!

[noofnoof]

A photo from my travels. taken by me.

[JamieLei]

Ah Emirates Airline - it really is fantastic in Economy. I'd even go to say it's probably the best Economy class in the world.

[Kevo00]

Sure, but Sydney really needed the Harbour Bridge, it was split in two halves otherwise!

[John]

I was expecting someone to mention the Hoover Dam as an example of spending in a recession.

However, both the Empire State Building and the Burj Dubai Tower is that they were conceived and dreamt about in years of boom, construction started in the final years and construction finished in the mist of the following recession.

[noofnoof]

Ah Emirates Airline - it really is fantastic in Economy. I'd even go to say it's probably the best Economy class in the world.

it was allright except for when the inflight entertainment broke. but the food is always good and you get a selection.

Sure, but Sydney really needed the Harbour Bridge, it was split in two halves otherwise!

well there was bridges further up the inlet, and they had some pretty leet ferries at the time. trains ran from Sydney, heading north over a different bridge prior to it's construction.

[Kevo00]

Surely the next rail bridge up is the one at Ryde? Or was there another one further down in the old days?

Either way the Sydney Harbour Bridge is surely the sort of fixed link that would have been built eventually, impossible to imagine the size and frequency of ferries that would be needed to carry the traffic over there nowadays (especially when you consider the steep slopes on either side, especially the north side!). That said, when I was in Sydney I loved taking the ferries - simply couldn't get enough of the harbour. Awesome.

[JamieLei]

Ah Emirates Airline - it really is fantastic in Economy. I'd even go to say it's probably the best Economy class in the world.

it was allright except for when the inflight entertainment broke. but the food is always good and you get a selection.

Oddly, the same thing happened to me. The IFE broke, I told the cabin crew who were very apologetic, and 15 mins later after rebooting through BIOS is was all lovely and working again - but I suppose the more gizmos you put onto the IFE, the more room you have to go wrong (in Emirates' case, widescreen touchscreens in Economy!)

[noofnoof]

Oddly, the same thing happened to me. The IFE broke, I told the cabin crew who were very apologetic, and 15 mins later after rebooting through BIOS is was all lovely and working again - but I suppose the more gizmos you put onto the IFE, the more room you have to go wrong (in Emirates' case, widescreen touchscreens in Economy!)

well it was all the economy seats on the far left of the plane. they rebooted 4 or so times with no avail. the next plane was good.

[noofnoof]

on the topic of Emirates food, they gave us all proper metal knives. I tried and you can't draw blood, but you can with the toothpicks. so beware.

[doktorhonig]

I think we got metal knives on Austrian Airlines flights, too. I think it's better that way, since I broke a plastic spoon while trying to eat a not-so-fluffy cake on an Air France flight.

[John]

I think we got metal knives on Austrian Airlines flights, too. I think it's better that way, since I broke a plastic spoon while trying to eat a not-so-fluffy cake on an Air France flight.

And no doubt ended up with sharp jagged edges on the broken plastic?

I've never fully understood the whole plastic cutlery thing - we will take away your blunt metal ones, and give you blunt plastic ones which can be broken to have sharp edges instead....

[JamieLei]

I'd imagine that half of the reason was due to prominent "mysterious disappearances" of cutlery. At home, we seem to have quite a few spoons, forks and knives with ANA, SIA, Air France, JAL and MAS with their respective logos stamped into them! Of course, I don't know how they got there!

As far as I remember, Emirates don't have any stamped cutlery, probably to prevent that from happening when you can simply buy a new fork from ASDA for something like 20p.

[Kevo00]

Can imagine the use of plastic cutlery is probably also cheaper than metal, as there are presumably no dishwashers at 36,000 feet! Plus the logistics of taking them off and washing them at the airport etc.

[Railwaymodeler]

I read an article in Trains Magazine a long time ago about the sheer amount of organization that went into railroad commissaries. It was really amazing, in the days long before computers, how everything was kept track of and clean.

Pullman didn't have it any easier with sleeping cars. The sheets and blankets were always kept track of and clean. I don't remember the particulars, but they had a strange code system to keep track of inventory.

[audigex]

Hmmmm what can we expect in 2010 in the British Railway world? Off the top of my head I can think of:

- Introduction of Class 172s on London Midland Snow Hill, Chase and Bromsgrove Lines, replacing 150s.
- Introduction of Class 172s on London Overground, replacing 150s.
- Introduction of Class 172s on Chiltern Railways, replacing nothing and providing a net stock increase.
- Full introduction of Class 378s onto London Overground, replacing 313s
- Gradual introduction of Class 380s onto Scotrail Glasgow suburban?
- Gradual introduction of 2009 Stock on the London Underground Victoria Line (some late-night services are already operated by 2 sets)

I just spotted a class 380 car heading up the M6 yesterday on the back of a lorry. Seemed a bit superflous when I could see the west coast main line at the time... but what can you do?

[Dave]

Hmmmm what can we expect in 2010 in the British Railway world? Off the top of my head I can think of:

- Introduction of Class 172s on London Midland Snow Hill, Chase and Bromsgrove Lines, replacing 150s.
- Introduction of Class 172s on London Overground, replacing 150s.
- Introduction of Class 172s on Chiltern Railways, replacing nothing and providing a net stock increase.
- Full introduction of Class 378s onto London Overground, replacing 313s
- Gradual introduction of Class 380s onto Scotrail Glasgow suburban?
- Gradual introduction of 2009 Stock on the London Underground Victoria Line (some late-night services are already operated by 2 sets)

I just spotted a class 380 car heading up the M6 yesterday on the back of a lorry. Seemed a bit superflous when I could see the west coast main line at the time... but what can you do?

They won't be cleared for movement on the network, and may not even be cleared for use on the West Coast for other reasons - although the West Coast is built to the European Loading Gauge I believe, so it shouldn't really be an issue.

[Ameecher]

Pretty sure that the same happened with the initial desiro orders with the rest following via the tunnel.

[Dave]

Once the first one has been cleared at Motherwell or wherever it is they're going, I'm sure they'll travel via the WC. Although finding a spare path would be nice.