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PittTheElder posted:German and French railways should all be Standard Gauge, along with nearly all of Europe. Among the Europeans, it's notably the Spanish and Russians that use an alternate gauge. 
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Feb 15, 2014 10:17
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A Buttery Pastry posted:it's a bit more complicated than that, though generally correct. What're those squares? Minor routes within each country?
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Feb 15, 2014 10:25
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Kavak posted:What're those squares? Minor routes within each country?
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Feb 15, 2014 10:38
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What purpose does a railway whose rails are only 1' 11.6'' apart SERVE?
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Feb 15, 2014 10:49
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Redeye Flight posted:What purpose does a railway whose rails are only 1' 11.6'' apart SERVE?
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Feb 15, 2014 10:56
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Amusement park trains, WW1 trench trains, and industrial transport. I suspected it was something like that, but it still strikes me as almost comically small.
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Feb 15, 2014 10:57
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Redeye Flight posted:I suspected it was something like that, but it still strikes me as almost comically small. Though comically small, it was a cheap way to transport stuff to hard to reach places without needing much space.  This was built in order to construct a reservoir in the alps. I guess nowadays one would use a fleet of helicopters.
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Feb 15, 2014 11:10
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gipskrampf posted:Though comically small, it was a cheap way to transport stuff to hard to reach places without needing much space. It didn't actually occur to me that a smaller gauge might be because there'd be a smaller space it had to be built on. That's cool.
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Feb 15, 2014 11:46
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gipskrampf posted:Though comically small, it was a cheap way to transport stuff to hard to reach places without needing much space. It's so cute!! Look at that widdle itty baby thing. 
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Feb 15, 2014 16:04
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There's a railway in Vermont that has toothed wheels and rails and I'm pretty sure that thing is some funky rear end weird narrow gauge because it's going up a mountain, wish I remember what it was called.
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Feb 15, 2014 16:59
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rscott posted:There's a railway in Vermont that has toothed wheels and rails and I'm pretty sure that thing is some funky rear end weird narrow gauge because it's going up a mountain, wish I remember what it was called. It's new hampshire's mt. washington and it's called a cog railway.
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Feb 15, 2014 17:08
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Redeye Flight posted:No Wi-Fi, though, which baffles me. For whatever reason Amtrak has Wi-Fi available on only some of their routes, and sadly the Empire Builder is not included. Redeye Flight posted:It didn't actually occur to me that a smaller gauge might be because there'd be a smaller space it had to be built on. That's cool. This isn't always true. In South Africa, they use a smaller gauge than standard, Cape Gauge, which was originally chosen to be used in areas of Cape Colony with rougher terrain, but eventually became the standard across all of South Africa. (There is one high-speed line that's standard gauge, though.) You can also see here the broad gauge (on a mixed standard-broad track) used by the Great Western Railway in Britain before the 1890s, when it was finally torn up and replaced with standard gauge (due to a decision by the British government to have one gauge across the country): 
Farecoal fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 17:53
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Redeye Flight posted:It didn't actually occur to me that a smaller gauge might be because there'd be a smaller space it had to be built on. That's cool. Yep, small gauge can be pretty useful in the mountains. It's also where the idea for this in insanity comes from (it works way better than you'd think): http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_monorail
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Feb 15, 2014 18:20
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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Redeye Flight posted:What purpose does a railway whose rails are only 1' 11.6'' apart SERVE? You know who else hated narrow gauges? That's right, hitler
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Feb 15, 2014 18:29
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PittTheElder posted:Yep, small gauge can be pretty useful in the mountains. It's also where the idea for this in insanity comes from (it works way better than you'd think):   Physically, rationally, I understand the principle for why this would work. But I don't think I'd feel comfortable riding it!
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Feb 15, 2014 18:31
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Real hurthling! posted:It's new hampshire's mt. washington and it's called a cog railway. yep this is the thing, I rode it when I was a little kid once.
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Feb 15, 2014 19:00
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Freedom of the press 2014 (Reporters without borders) :namibia:
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Feb 15, 2014 20:28
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Why are Japan, RoKorea and Vietnam so bad?
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Feb 15, 2014 20:36
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Koramei posted:Why are Japan, RoKorea and Vietnam so bad? Reporters Without Borders have a website. From a cursory reading, seems Japan suppresses reporting on Fukushima, some jokers in South Korea got sanctioned for mocking their President's family, and in Vietnam, "Independent news providers are subject to enhanced Internet surveillance, draconian directives, waves of arrests and sham trials. Vietnam continues to be the world’s second largest prison for bloggers and netizens.".
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Feb 15, 2014 20:52
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Farecoal posted:You can also see here the broad gauge (on a mixed standard-broad track) used by the Great Western Railway in Britain before the 1890s, when it was finally torn up and replaced with standard gauge (due to a decision by the British government to have one gauge across the country): The broader gauge would have been quite beneficial to passenger traffic. The narrower gauge means that cars need to sit above the wheels, which limits the diameter of the wheels and increases the ride height of the passenger compartment. With a broad enough gauge you could have the car in between the wheels, which would allow for larger diameter wheels and a lowered passenger compartment. Both of these factors would result in a smoother ride. This would have been more important historically as both suspension systems and rail quality have increased significantly, but it would still be beneficial.
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Feb 15, 2014 21:27
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Kennel posted:Freedom of the press 2014 (Reporters without borders) Interesting that infrastructure was part of the grading. While it makes sense in a way, I wonder how the map would look like if that did not fit in to the rankings.
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Feb 15, 2014 21:35
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Koramei posted:Why are Japan, RoKorea and Vietnam so bad? Vietnam is a one-party state.
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Feb 15, 2014 22:48
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South Korea is still reeling from being a dictatorship.
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Feb 15, 2014 22:55
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Kassad posted:Vietnam is a one-party state. Technically you could have freedom of the press and a one party state.Not sure if that has ever existed though.
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Feb 15, 2014 22:58
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Bensa posted:The broader gauge would have been quite beneficial to passenger traffic. The narrower gauge means that cars need to sit above the wheels, which limits the diameter of the wheels and increases the ride height of the passenger compartment. With a broad enough gauge you could have the car in between the wheels, which would allow for larger diameter wheels and a lowered passenger compartment. Both of these factors would result in a smoother ride. This would have been more important historically as both suspension systems and rail quality have increased significantly, but it would still be beneficial. True, but in Britain at least, standard gauge took up less space, and another advantage of broad gauge, more powerful locomotives, was becoming irrelevant by the late 19th century as technology improved. Also, more railroads were already using standard gauge than broad. Kennel posted:Freedom of the press 2014 (Reporters without borders) I like how Eritrea has a lower rating than North Korea, somehow
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Feb 15, 2014 23:02
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Farecoal posted:True, but in Britain at least, standard gauge took up less space, and another advantage of broad gauge, more powerful locomotives, was becoming irrelevant by the late 19th century as technology improved. Also, more railroads were already using standard gauge than broad. They're both black, though. I think you were looking at South Korea, possibly.
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Feb 16, 2014 00:34
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DrSunshine posted:They're both black, though. I think you were looking at South Korea, possibly. whoops http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index I meant in general, not just referring to the map.
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Feb 16, 2014 00:41
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Farecoal posted:whoops Geez, wow! Now that's something, isn't it? It's hard to imagine how a country could be more unfree than North Korea, though.
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Feb 16, 2014 00:43
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DrSunshine posted:Geez, wow! Now that's something, isn't it? It's hard to imagine how a country could be more unfree than North Korea, though. Eritrea is a one-party dictatorship with no independent media too.
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Feb 16, 2014 00:59
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Ras Het posted:Eritrea is a one-party dictatorship with no independent media too. The banning of independent media only happened about a decade ago so they have a lot of journalists still in prison which probably puts them lower than North Korea. I have a friend who visited Asmara once. There's still a lot of old Italian architecture there that is the main reason to visit the place but he said the city was creepily quiet during the day and completely abandoned at night. It's near impossible for foreigners to get a permit to leave the capital and all roads out are monitored by military checkpoints. It sounded pretty weird.
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Feb 16, 2014 01:13
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Boiled Water posted:South Korea is still reeling from being a dictatorship. And the libel laws here are so broad that you can be prosecuted for saying anything negative about anyone, even if it's 100% verifiably true. Also all the journalism makes Fox News seem like a bastion of good sense and reason in comparison.
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Feb 16, 2014 02:28
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Grand Fromage posted:And the libel laws here are so broad that you can be prosecuted for saying anything negative about anyone, even if it's 100% verifiably true. The ultimate hugbox?
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Feb 16, 2014 03:39
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Farecoal posted:The ultimate hugbox? It's insane. For example, say you get a job somewhere and the boss decides to not pay you (which happens semi-frequently here). If you go online and post "Hey, don't work at X, the boss didn't pay me" they can now sue you. And they will win, even with proof that the boss did not pay you. One of the many factors that suppresses any real journalism here.
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Feb 16, 2014 03:43
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Grand Fromage posted:It's insane. For example, say you get a job somewhere and the boss decides to not pay you (which happens semi-frequently here).  Grand Fromage posted:If you go online and post "Hey, don't work at X, the boss didn't pay me" they can now sue you. And they will win, even with proof that the boss did not pay you. 
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Feb 16, 2014 03:52
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Jesus poo poo.
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Feb 16, 2014 03:59
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Well by sharing the information that they didn't pay you you've harmed their reputation and may damage them by people not wanting to work for them or do business. Yes it's true but by saying the truth you hurt the reputation of someone and reputation is everything.
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Feb 16, 2014 04:03
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Baronjutter posted:Well by sharing the information that they didn't pay you you've harmed their reputation and may damage them by people not wanting to work for them or do business. Yes it's true but by saying the truth you hurt the reputation of someone and reputation is everything. Yep. You made them lose face. After all, how can they get more employees to not pay if you tell everyone that they don't pay their employees? This is the same legal system where someone rear-ends you at a red light and you have to pay partial damages because if you hadn't stopped at the red light, you wouldn't have been in the guy's way so he couldn't have rear ended you. Or if a taxi gets in a wreck the passenger is responsible, not the driver.
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Feb 16, 2014 04:11
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Grand Fromage posted:It's insane. For example, say you get a job somewhere and the boss decides to not pay you (which happens semi-frequently here). If you go online and post "Hey, don't work at X, the boss didn't pay me" they can now sue you. And they will win, even with proof that the boss did not pay you. The flip side of this coin is India apparently; our company opened an office out there, and we had lots of issues because you would interview people, offer them a job, they'd accept and they'd have a set date to start working1, and then they just didn't show up. If you contacted them they'd confirm that they just didn't actually want to work there, but I guess it's not customary to inform your potential employer of that. 1Also that date would be like 2-3 months later or something ridiculous, because you were expected to give your current employer that much notice.
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Feb 16, 2014 04:19
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Grand Fromage posted:Yep. You made them lose face. After all, how can they get more employees to not pay if you tell everyone that they don't pay their employees? So how are you expected to live if you work at a job that refuses to pay you? Get a second job and hope that they're not a scumbag too? I recently learned that being a draftee in South Korea doesn't even pay $100 a month, but I'm under the impression that you get provided with an awful lot of things.
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Feb 16, 2014 04:52
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Star Man posted:So how are you expected to live if you work at a job that refuses to pay you? Get a second job and hope that they're not a scumbag too? Quit and find a new job and hope they'll pay you. There are also labor boards you can go to and make a fuss to get your back pay, which works sometimes. The key being that is private so it doesn't trigger the libel laws. I've been lucky so far but it's common enough that "Does your boss pay you?" is a standard question you ask if you get to talk to whoever you're replacing/someone else who works there. And there is a much larger segment of places that will pay you, but either try to skim off some of your salary or pay late all the time. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 05:07
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