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Food Market On Tracks

by DoDo Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 08:13:44 AM EST

I have to share this. There are still special railway gems I haven't heard of before...

The fame of my rail photo location skills has spread in RL, so I got a "present" in the form of a riddle the other day: two photos showing a train passing through the middle of an open air food market!

Photos from Francesco Gusmeri of Cinema Sereno

The riddle was rather cruel, because I got it from someone in love with India – so, thinking these are self-made travel photos from there, and despite the not really Indian-looking woman on the first photo, I spent two hours checking the routes of metre-gauge railways into two dozen major cities in India...

Of course, I found nothing even remotely resembling the scene. Then, with some wild image Googling, I found a photo showing an identical diesel multiple unit – in Bangkok, Thailand...

It still took quite some effort to locate the two photos. For, they were made on the Mae Klong Railway, an isolated line of the State Railway of Thailand that is not featured even on that railway's official maps (nor on Google Maps). What's more, it is actually two isolated lines: cut in half by a river where passengers must cross by ferry. The market on tracks I had to find is just before the very end of the line, in Samut Songkhram.

The above was taken from a wonderful illustrated description/travel report at Richard Barrow's Bangkok Day Trips blog, Market on the Railway Tracks – go read it.


And now for the real spectacular stuff: videos!

This market aint's just right on the railway tracks: it makes way for the trains – and then closes again behind the train. First, a 40 second movie from the ground:

Second, a 1 minute 54 seconds video made from the back of a train arriving to Samut Songkhram (they reach the market 0:55 in):

:: :: :: :: ::

Check the Train Blogging index page for a (hopefully) complete list of ET diaries and stories related to railways and trains.

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Food Market On Tracks | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Seed comment (4.00 / 6)
Anyone seen this before? Apparently, YouTube is full of videos made at the scene (almost all mis-identifying the location as the other end of the line, Bangkok).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 08:15:05 AM EST
Re: Seed comment (4.00 / 3)
Yes, several times ... and, yes, often misidentified as Bangkok.

I saw it just this last week in some commentary thread somewhere along the lines of "here's some real commitment to TOD for you".


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 12:13:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Seed comment (4.00 / 2)
Found it ... its not in the commentary thread, its in the main article,
On a real-world note that is only marginally lighter, how's this for transit-oriented development?

... at the end of High Speed FAIL! on the California HSR blog.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 10:38:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Seed comment (none / 1)
Thanks! Reminded me to look at Montereyan's blog again. (Who is linking to this thread in the comments.)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 01:43:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Seed comment (none / 0)
Oh, three cheers for provisional ballot voters on the BART extension to San José -- which, I learn from Montereyan's blog, passed the necessary two thirds in the end!

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 02:05:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, it looked like 3 out of 4 in California ... (none / 1)
... for a long time, with Bart looking like it would "fail" with a mere 66.2%, but it came good in the end, so it ended up 4 out of 4.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 02:11:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Yes it looked like 3 out of 4 in California (none / 1)
I did check back to the official link Montereyan gave on his blog, every day for maybe ten days after the elections, and saw the figure climb higher and higher, but getting stuck around a maddening 66.5%. It was pretty annoying that the only figure they gave for the state of the counting was an unchanging "Completed Precincts 1,142 of 1,142"... so I gave up.

I love when direct democracy defends public transport while politicians would waver -- I wish we would have more such referenda as Californians and Swiss citizens have had.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 02:18:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Yes it looked like 3 out of 4 in California (4.00 / 4)
Unfortunately there's a lawsuit by BART opponents seeking a manual recount of the vote. Measure B in Santa Clara County was approved by 66.78% of voters, which would normally be a landslide win.

California however requires a 2/3 vote to approve a tax increase, put into place by conservatives in 1978 via Proposition 13, the far-right anti-tax, anti-government reform that is largely responsible for California's severe budget difficulties.

Still, your point is a good one - every passenger rail proposal on the ballot in California passed, many of them with nearly 70% support in a high-turnout election. One would hope that will send an unmistakable signal that passenger rail is VERY popular with voters, and therefore should be more popular with the politicians who want their votes.

And the world will live as one

by Montereyan (robert at calitics dot com) on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 07:36:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Yes it looked like 3 out of 4 in California (none / 1)
How much would it take to change the 2/3-rule?

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se
by A swedish kind of death on Mon Dec 1st, 2008 at 01:52:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Yes it looked like 3 out of 4 in California (none / 1)
Well, it would mean repealing part of Prop. 13, which was passed with a normal vote, so on the one hand, if no taxes are explicitly raised, it might mean a simple majority. On the other hand, it might be implicitly regarded as a tax increase, meaning 2/3. I suspect it will be up to  the courts to decide, something they already have to do when deciding what is a "special tax" for the purposes of Prop.13

Note that even in the case of repeal of Prop.13, tax increases still need a 2/3 vote in the legislature.

Does anybody know whether the status of civil unions is the same as marriage, for the purpose of local taxes in California? It would be fun to have Prop.8 repealed as a tax increase....

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Mon Dec 1st, 2008 at 05:40:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Food Market On Tracks (4.00 / 3)
Fantastic! And brilliant sleuthing ;-)


You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 08:22:46 AM EST
Re: Food Market On Tracks (4.00 / 4)
yay Dodo!

i never was into trains, now every time i see one i want to take a pic of it and bring it to Dodo's e-ttention...

looking for a better anorak, any tips?

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 10:09:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Food Market On Tracks (4.00 / 4)
I just returned from my semi-annual trip to Ohio by rail. This involves a bus ride to Denver, an overnight stay on the Amtrak "California Zephyr" to Chicago, an 8 hour rail hop to Cincinnati, and a rental car at the far end. All reversed on the return.

It takes two days--about 45 hours (40 returning due to shorter connections)--to make this trip, which is about 1400 miles. According to Google Maps it would take about 21 hours to drive the same route, or about 19 days to walk it...

The exciting news this time was that the trains ran on time! In the past the Zephyr has typically been four hours or so late getting from San Francisco to Denver, but with reduced freight traffic (and a recent lawsuit between Amtrak and the Union Pacific regarding shared use of the UP tracks), they seem to have reached a timetable that works.

by asdf on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 07:08:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Food Market On Tracks (4.00 / 2)
Where is the bus ride to Denver starting from, and would it be shortened if either of the corridors being studied by the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority were implemented?

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 09:48:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Food Market On Tracks (none / 0)
Colorado Springs, I guess -- see asdf's earlier mention of that rail project.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Dec 1st, 2008 at 02:49:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Food Market On Tracks (none / 0)
Ah, then, it would be. The N/S Rocky Mountain corridor and the Midwest Hub seems like it would trim a number of hours off that route ... it would be a semi-HSR service to Denver, the Zephyr would run faster if the Midwest Hub Chicago/KC is completed, and of course Chicago/Cincinnati would be a semi-HSR service.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Mon Dec 1st, 2008 at 07:08:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Mind boggles n/t (none / 1)


The Fates are kind.
by Gaianne on Wed Dec 3rd, 2008 at 06:51:45 PM EST
Food Market On Tracks | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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