As far as Thomas goes, she has a point...

Me neither....
But converting the Island to electric? I mean, CMON!:(
Didn't the world learn anything from England recently? Most of their trains, which are ELECTRIC, froze, in one of their coldest winters. And Tornado, a rebuilt A1, rescued stranded passengers in Southern Britain.
What does this tell you?

I think Sir Topham Hatt has a fine idea of what's going on...

Doesn't this woman have better thing to nag on about? Seriously? It's a children's program! And probably most of the Trainzers here's childhood hero!

Sorry about the bitterness of this post, but, I'm just a bit sick of people today...
 
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Didn't the world learn anything from England recently? Most of their trains, which are ELECTRIC, froze, in one of their coldest winters. And Tornado, a rebuilt A1, rescued stranded passengers in Southern Britain.
What does this tell you?

4 or 5 out of a few thousand is not what I would call 'most'.

Mike.
 
My thoughts ,

If they covered the little island with cantenaries , overhead wires and/or electrified rails , she would be the first in line complaining about the dangers and how all the structures and wires had destroyed the beauty of the tiny island ?

--- ,DLR
 
I have to admit.....she has a very valid point

Are you people thick or what, it's a television show for children adapted from books written 60 odd years ago, it's not real life. She is just some looney who wrote on her blog that she could run a fictitous railway on an Island that doesn't exsist. We could all do a better job of running something that isn't there. If she is so concerned about the amount of accidents and the impact it will have on her children, then don't let them watch it.
This forum is going down hill fast.
 
Oh for the love of mike, its a joke mate!! Get a sense of humor and have a laugh, that's what the blog post was all about. She was making a joke while trying to sound serious!! My kind of comedy!
 
A well done piece of satire, but what some here seem to miss is that Thomas tales are aimed at teaching the "little ones" a lesson in life, usually play around when you shouldn't and you can get hurt or cause harm to others, she used one episode where Thomas and a friend were going backwards very fast and caused a lot of damage, how many time have you told a child not to run backwards?, and whenever Thomas (read child) runs off without his driver (read parent) he gets into trouble, of course it all ends in a nice way, don't all fairy tails :hehe:

Cheers David
 
The prose is very well written, but the point she makes proves how "thick" she is and how "thick" large chunks of the world's population are.

Electricity, unless produced by hydro-dams, wind or wave turbines, generates much more pollution than steam pr diesel locomotives through the conversion process. (A certain amount of energy will always be wasted in the energy conversion process.) Power stations either burn fossil fuels or use the energy stored in nuclear fuel rods - the spent uranium or plutoneum rods must then be disposed of.

The electric trains themselves may be clean (and in the large cities, that is a real bonus) but the place where the electricity is produced can be a living hell - until 2008 when work began to transform it, the smoke from Drax power station near Doncaster could be smelt from 50 miles away!

7-direct-injection-system.jpg
 
I'm old enough to have grown up with the books, and I can remember thinking that even though I was a huge fan of the stories, I'm not sure I wanted to actually ride on the trains. It did seem as if things were constantly going wrong.

Of course, when Thomas gets his train to the end of the line on time and without mishap it doesn't usually make it into a story, so selection bias must be allowed for as well.

Rob.
 
Me neither....

Didn't the world learn anything from England recently? Most of their trains, which are ELECTRIC, froze, in one of their coldest winters.

Only a small amount of the UK's railway network is electric, its something like 81% diesel and 19% electric roughly. And not all of the electric lines services were suspended.

In regards to the article, a couple of corrections as Sodor is (As far as I rember, last watched thomas 11 years ago), from the UK and this is how her proposals would be taken.

These are the most accident-prone trains I've ever seen in my life. Where's OSHA and the Federal Railroad Administration? OK, their British equivalents
In the UK, even a tiny little bump would mean the Amazon rainforest would be sacraficed out for a accident report and risk assesment report that has next to no purpose .

end up being late
Something that sets the series in the UK

Give Sir Topham Hatt's job to me.
If it was modern UK, the series would be, Bertie (think that's his name, can't remember) The Rail Replacment Bus, at least the trains run on TTTE. Also you would need to enter the franchise race when the current franchise (company who operates the lines) end.

Oh, and I'd convert them all to electricity, for a start. What's up with all the coal and diesel?
Because if it was modern, electric would requite a goverment report, advance planning, consultations that last for decades, every problem from someone dying, to a moth getting a small buzzing feeling near the line prevented and a couple of billion pounds of goverment investment be thought out. And then be cancelled.

With all those railways on this little island
Which would of been closed and replaced with single carrigeway roads or motorways, causing more pollution if it was real.

I'm sorry, but shouldn't someone be fired for making couplings that come apart so easily?
No, the manufacturer would be sued and trains taken out of service causing more disruption

I know the article is sarcastic, just this is what would happen if her ideas were implemented

Jamie
 
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What smoke?

...the smoke from Drax power station near Doncaster could be smelt from 50 miles away!

7-direct-injection-system.jpg

Mate, that is not smoke, that's steam emissions from cooling the hot water used...the smoke-jack is at the lower right...there are six outlets, no smoke.

The grey haze in front of the hills in the background is another story all together.

Smoke from a coal-fired power generator is nothing compared to the automobile/internal combustion engine usage in this valley.

Wikipedia has a picture of the Drax Power Station smoke-jack in action...very little emissions at best. The active cooling towers suggest it's close to peak production. Drax is one of the newest co-generators, most efficient, however it is the largest generator of carbon dioxide.

I bet that ladie's kids aren't near as well behaved as Thomas & Friends, but she probably says it's "not like it was in the fifties."
 
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You are all taking this blog far too seriously.....its meant to be a joke, to make people laugh, take it as such!
 
That has just made my day.

Thomas has been getting away with for too long. Is Sir Hat insane not to do something about the shambles of a railway he is running? Has he not bankrupted himself with all those new engines he has been buying? How can he afford all that coal? Even the most basic of locomotives would have some sense not to 'have a race' and waste lots of money?

At least someone shares my point of view... :hehe:
 
That has just made my day.

Thomas has been getting away with for too long. Is Sir Hat insane not to do something about the shambles of a railway he is running? Has he not bankrupted himself with all those new engines he has been buying? How can he afford all that coal? Even the most basic of locomotives would have some sense not to 'have a race' and waste lots of money?

Unfortunatly not, he is too busy visiting accidents, walking right past injured people who need urgent medical help, to just to go to the front of the train, and say, YOU HAVE BEEN A BAD ENGINE...:hehe:

How Sir Topham Hat hasn't been carried of to the funny farm is beyond me, if I was to stand on a platform talking to the engines, I'm sure I would get a visit by the police.

Joe Airtime
 
The prose is very well written, but the point she makes proves how "thick" she is and how "thick" large chunks of the world's population are.

Electricity, unless produced by hydro-dams, wind or wave turbines, generates much more pollution than steam pr diesel locomotives through the conversion process. (A certain amount of energy will always be wasted in the energy conversion process.) Power stations either burn fossil fuels or use the energy stored in nuclear fuel rods - the spent uranium or plutoneum rods must then be disposed of.
<snip>

Actually, this is simply not true. Power stations, electric motors and the transmission system are MUCH more efficient than Steam, Petrol or Electric engines, so there is a net energy and CO2 saving from electrification, even without renewable power. Switching any proportion of generation to renewables (or nuclear), or even gas, just adds to this margin. Also, electric trains can use regenerative braking, that gives them even more of an edge (especially on commuter routes).

It's also interesting to note that many of the Rev Awdry's original stories were actually based on real events and accidents.

Paul
 
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