All the colors of spring, Elm Street

The overall roundaboutness

the route kinda sucks tbh though

Speed matched and MU'd a set of ICG/ex-GM&O power--a pair of GP-35s riding on Alco trucks (one with sound) and a really nice custom-painted SD-40.

BART saw significant ridership increases across the system from Friday through Sunday as sunny weather and a weekend-long closure of a stretch of Interstate 80 in San Francisco prompted thousands of people to turn to transit as a reliable alternative.

Thread⬇️

Bussey Brook Meadow, today

EPA is going to propose watering down Tier 4 emissions standards for light and medium duty vehicles soon
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eo...

Published a piece on Friday saying antisemitism is rising and the Israeli govt bears some (not all, but some) responsibility, and got dozens of angry emails since then, some calling me self-hating for criticizing Israel, others calling me a genocidal Zionist for talking about antisemitism at all.

My dream has always been to build a giant transportation museum (focused on trains of course) on the largely still vacant former coach yards south of Dearborn Station in Chicago. That land is being developed now--but Chicago *has* to be the right place for this, no?

Thinking about the 2021 BNSF train-barge collision where the post-accident interviewer was asking the train crew if they can steer the train

a map from 1918 showing the interurban network sprawling across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio

One side obsession from my research into the 1920s is the extensive network of ELECTRIC trains that used to connect cities and towns across the central Midwest called the Interurban. We had this more than a hundred years ago. The things we had and the things we lost.

Great example.

I would go further: learning history *accurately* is often easier as someone who moves. Being strongly rooted can lock you into highly mythologized narratives that are communally important but often only semi true!

Obviously this is partially a "New Yorkers call them bodegas" thing, but for the gazillionth time can you just @$$@$%$ imagine the media firestorm if a Dem said this?

I am admittedly also in the camp of those who like the trippy MCM access tunnel for purely aesthetic reasons (it needs lots of work)

$402 million upgrade of New Haven's train station will expand platforms, add atrium & canopy The atrium and canopy would protect travelers from the elements but allow light in through extensive windows, skylights & a glass end enclosure

Admittedly did not have "CTDOT wants to put a full canopy over New Haven Union Station" on my bingo card. Feels like more of a nice to have than a necessity, but I'm open to being won over.
www.nhregister.com/news/article...

Huh, TIL!

???

Suburban expansion costs increase to $465 per person per year in Ottawa | CBC News Infill development is known to be much cheaper for cities than adding new subdivisions, and City of Ottawa staff have shared estimates for how much the municipality saves — and spends — depending on w...

It costs the City of Ottawa $465/person each year to serve new low-density homes, over & above what it receives from property taxes/fees.

On the other hand, high-density infill such as apartment buildings pays for itself plus an extra $606/person each year.

Sprawl costs, infill saves. #UrbanTruth

8 months after the east coast long-distance RFP I wrote about, @amtrak.com has finally made public its intent to overhaul the nationwide long distance fleet. The design closely mirrors what what we saw here, with the addition of sleeper cars. Supplier selected end of 2027

youtu.be/6u5MiB4Ve80?...

Neighborhood scale upzonings increased housing production in many NYC neighborhoods

Upzoned block faces saw significant increases in housing unit permits in Philadelphia

How do upzonings impact housing supply?

In brand-new research published today @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, we show that big upzonings in New York City & Philadelphia had large, statistically significant effects on supply & permitting with several years of reforms.

www.urban.org/research/pub...

“Victoria’s free public transport may have helped at the margins, but it did not produce a markedly different outcome from states that did not intervene.” #Deutschlandticket

Also the old shells fit on the new DCC frames that Atlas put out

Oop, just saw a pair of MP PAs pop up on eBay. www.ebay.com/itm/16830879...

www.ebay.com/itm/16830879...

I'm not sure I've ever seen a MoPac E unit in N scale. Maybe Life-Like did one years ago? Those shells fit on a modern Kato chassis. Seems like something Midwest Model RR might do a special run of like they're doing KCS this time around.

oh, I need to get on the C&EI order. Soooo many good choices in this run of Es.

How do people judge where, when and how to cross a street?

The experts in walking are the walkers. Raida, Hosseini, Cárdenas, Mondschein, Heydarian, and Chen studied these experts’ street-crossing strategies, revealing inconsistencies between what authorities plan for and what pedestrians need.

“Houses are getting bigger” is one of those things everyone knows that just ain’t so. Per NAHB it has been decreasing for a decade.

(Cars, on the other hand, are very dumb and the $40k car guy [Adam Ozimek?] was right)

Hi all— I've recently decided to start selling prints! This is all transit photography, from around the US (main focus on Chicago, DC & New York). Take a look here!

pyzc.darkroom.com

It's spring in Boston