Akihabara Station » prototype

Keifuku Randen

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:27:02 +0000

Our apartment in Kyoto isn’t very convenient for getting around by train, but we are situated quite close to a terminus of Keifuku Electric Railroad Company’s Randen tram line. And I am smitten. The Kitano Line is a single-track tram that runs through the quant back alleys of western Kyoto. I’ve spent a lot [...]

Trams in Budapest 2

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:02:00 +0000

Playing catch-up with the blog posts! In addition to the old Communist-era Ganz trams rolling around (which I find to be delightfully charming), Budapest also offers several imported trams.

Tatra T5C5 on Line 14 service, Lehel tér

One older type is the Tatra T5C5, imported from Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. These are wider [...]

A Chance Encounter with Greatness

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:59:16 +0000

Our daily routine brings us past Nyugati pályaudvar (Western Station) on a near daily basis. Most days, the station is full of V43s and standard MÁV coaches. Today, while walking past, I caught a glimpse of something different, something that, to my surprise, I recognized.

Gold leaf and…I believe that is my knee?

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Trams in Budapest 1

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:07:37 +0000

Budapest has something like 30 tram lines. Today, I rode one for the first time, one of the nearly overwhelming Combina Supra types. And yet, despite living mere blocks from this impressive tram, I cannot manage to take a decent photo of it.

Instead, I share with you today a delightfully ironic tram, a [...]

Railfanning in Hungary

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:32:58 +0000

I’m back! The dissertation is done, the apartment is packed up, and now I’m in Budapest. Right next to a major train station. Nice.

I’m quite new to Hungarian railroading, so I don’t really know what anything I’m seeing is. Here’s an electric locomotive I found today at [...]

DIY DCC Command Station and Throttle

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:28:02 +0000

I’ve been hiding. I’m pretty good at the hiding. But I haven’t been idle, no: I’ve been working on a prototype DCC system. This first prototype is very rough, very rough, but I aim to spend the next year or so making a usable user interface, reworking the hardware for manufacture, and commercializing it.

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Detailed Photographs of Akihabara Station

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:50:08 +0000

gmat of JNSForum has a job that requires him to travel all over Tokyo (lucky git!); he also has an eye for great trackside detail photography. He recently passed by Akihabara Station, and took some amazing detail shots for me. And he’s got plans to take more. Thank you Grant!

The Return of Shōgatsu

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:06:30 +0000

The New Year's Festival has Already Begun

Up from the inky depths of the basement comes Shōgatsu, my family’s Christmas New Year’s layout! In the intervening months, we’ve collected a couple of TomyTec buildings. I’ve also managed to assemble and decal the various little festival stalls we bought last year. Finally, we’ve added [...]

KUMORONEHAFUwhat? Japanese Rail Car Nomenclature

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:34:55 +0000

クモハE230? ホキ800? オロネフ24? Japanese rail cars are classified using a katakana coding system. The following two links will help you crack that code: Wikipedia’s guide to the katakana and Plaza Japan’s excellent guide to rail car nomenclature.

A Bird’s Eye View

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:00:08 +0000

David Smith recently posted an article demonstrating several prototype research methods available on the Internet.

Many of us know about Google Maps, and the Street View feature.

Bird's eye view of Akihabara Station

I had no idea about Microsoft’s Live Maps Bird’s Eye View feature, however: Satellite imagery taken at an oblique angle [...]