Post your ride

[Amaris]

Thanks! I loves her.

 

[thestrangequark]

When I was a kid in Seattle we had electric buses that ran on cables like that, though they were definitely buses, not trams, and could go off the cables as well. I adored those buses as a child -- I'm not sure if they still have them though, it's been a long time since I lived there.

Ah, a quick google shows me they are called trolly buses and I think they're terrific.

These? They do still use em, these particular buses (made by Italian company Breda) were originally dual-mode - capable of running off of either trolley wire-fed electricity or an onboard diesel engine, and have since been converted to electric-only. Seattle also has standard trolleybuses, as well, in the form of old Gillig Phantoms, and they are slated to get some shiny new trolleys from New Flyer sometime this year. Trolleys are not run in the Downtown Transit Tunnel anymore since the light rail began running, so they are used on surface street electrified lines instead. The Bredas always had a lot of reliability issues, but I agree that trolley buses in general are a great thing. We have tons of em in San Francisco, partly for the same reason that there are so many in Seattle: hills. No other transit vehicle can compete with an electric trolleybus when it comes to zipping up a hill with ease.

Those are the ones! Though my memories are from before that color-scheme, which was instituted when I was a young teen. The one's I remember were white with brown and orange stripes. There was something I just loved about how they clung to the cables! The light rail is a long-awaited godsend for Seattle...or at least I think it will be eventually, once it's expanded to more locations and people get use to riding it. It's miserable growing up in a city with shit public transportation.

Especially as it doesn't even show the continuation of the old Great Western main line southwest from Bristol to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Of course that line was a wee bit damaged at Dawlish during the recent storms.

Wow, that's really a shame. It looks like it's a beautiful line, though!

 

[Mary Ann]

If you do a quick google of "railway at Dawlish" you'll come up with a gazillion photos. It's been one of the best places, if not the best, for trainspotting photos since trainspotters started taking photos in the UK. The south Devon coastline is beautiful, and Dawlish a mere 15 minutes by train (when they're running) from my local station. The track has always been at the mercy of the weather and exceptionally high tides, but the line's engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, nixed moving the line further inland as the county of Devon is very hilly, and the engineering works such as tunnels and viaducts would have been too expensive. The problem is that nowadays this is the only rail line south of Exeter into the rest of Devon and all of Cornwall, so there is now talk of opening (or, in the case if the old Southern Railway route through north Devon, reopening) an alternative route away from the coast as the existing track is so vulnerable.

 

[Pingfah]

That Brunel, he shoulda stuck to bridges.

 

[Mary Ann]

Most other people in Cornwall would disagree.

 

[Pingfah]

Oh come now, it's not like they ever use it.

 

[Mary Ann]

As have I. The Tamar railway bridge is something to behold, but my favourite Brunel creation is the Bristol Suspension Bridge.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

This was my sweet ride today, isn't she a beauty?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^

 

[Sector 7]

+ our trams

When I was a kid in Seattle we had electric buses that ran on cables like that, though they were definitely buses, not trams, and could go off the cables as well. I adored those buses as a child -- I'm not sure if they still have them though, it's been a long time since I lived there.

Ah, a quick google shows me they are called trolly buses and I think they're terrific.

This is the kind of trolley bus I rode in Dayton, Ohio in the 1970s.

Where I live, in rural North Carolina, we have no public transportation available. Standard transportation here is the pick-up truck or SUV. Mine looks like this:

 

[UUS Contrarian]

Do you live in a major city?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Where I live, in rural North Carolina,...

Do you live in a major city?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjnZO5ZgWE8[/yt]

 

[2takesfrakes]

My trusty steed: "Black Beauty."

 

[Pingfah]

This is what it looked like until a few weeks ago. It has new wavy front brake discs and LED indicators now, and a big dent in the tank.

 

[Markas]

I don't actually have a good picture of my ride, but here's one that looks exactly like it. A chocolate brown Mini Cooper Clubman, with black roof and black stripes:

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Had a few rides today..

 

[Mary Ann]

This is what it looked like until a few weeks ago. It has new wavy front brake discs and LED indicators now, and a big dent in the tank.

Is your bike back on the road yet?

 

[Pingfah]

Yes, it took 2 weeks to get all the parts but it is now mostly fixed and back on the road.

There's a few bits I didn't bother with as I only wanted to get it roadworthy and i'll replace the few other cosmetically damaged bits as and when decently priced ones come up on ebay.

 

[SPCTRE]

^ Glad your bike is roadworthy Pingfah, it's a really awesome ride!

A morning well spent. Admittedly, the amount of fun I'm having spending a couple of hours at the carwash is kinda weird. Well, what can I do, I'm German, and we all know what Germans love to do when the weather is awesome like that.