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Showing results for tags 'trains'.
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During the time Bionicle 2015 images were being leaked and into the official announcement of Bionicle 2015 on Lego's Facebook page, I made these... Bionicle Hype Train #1 (Made after the color stand leak and before the preliminary set images were leaked.) Bionicle Hype Train #2 (Made after the cached version of lego.com/bionicle was found.) I assume leaked confidential images of the Bionicle sets are allowed now? Considering the official set images have been revealed and Lego showed a preliminary image of the Tahu set at NYCC I'd think it would be ok. Also, bonus pictures: BIONICLE: IT'S BACK FROM THE DEAD BIONICLE IS BACK PARTY!!! (Everything is awesome, everything is cool when Bionicle's back. Too bad I wasn't able to put Rocking Rahkshi & Singing Squid in there.) WHAT IS THIS?!? (Made in boredom to add emphasis to saying those words. Feel free to use this whenever you like. ) Feel free to comment & criticize!
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Nearly 2 years ago now, I said that I had heard what sounded like the horn of a steam train after I arrived at the train station near my home following a trip to Sandringham. I now know what that sound was, and yes it was a steam train! On December 4 2011, a steam tour went from the city to the end of the train line I live on! For security reasons, I cannot post links or pictures that may reveal where I live, but I can say that I'm SPEWING that I missed it, more so because I was out on a train-related adventure that day!
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So I've started a new series of stories on my [Removed. Please do not mention sites with forums.-Nukaya], called Victorian Railways. It's a fact-based fiction about the railways of regional Victoria, and the trains that run on them, set from 1986, eventually leading up to now. Each story will be told from the point of view of the trains themselves. Some stories will even be about real-life events. The first episode has been published, and a second is in progress now.
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A Haiku best describes my latest job application
Makuta_of_Oz posted a blog entry in blogs_blog_1719
The website you seek Cannot be located, but countless more exist. It's a Haiku I learned in high school, which I have interpreted to mean "The way you want to do something can't always be done, but there are other ways to do it." In this case, it's for a job at V/Line. I recently applied to become a fill-in Customer Communications Officer for them. The position won't get me on a V/Line train, but it nonetheless gets me a job. V/Line is a very flexible company that approves of people moving between jobs in the business, so if I play my cards right I might be able to become a conductor (even if it'll pay less), or better, a shunter. If I play my cards PERFECTLY, I could even be a conductor and a Customer Communications Officer at the same time! Applications close Wednesday afternoon. Wish me luck! -
Decided to add a new category tag: trains! I'll update some of my older train-related entries with it shortly. When I move out, I might build a small model railway in or under my house, using HO scale models of V/Line trains. At this stage, I'm considering using a few A-class locomotives (which look like the N-class I have pics of in past entries, only with bulldog-nosed cabs instead of square cabs) hauling carriages, and Y-class locomotives (again, no image available) shunting. DERM and VLocity railmotors are also tempting. Sadly, there are no models of the Sprinter, my favourite train. Otherwise I'd use them without hesitation.
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Here are the pictures from the railtour, as promised! Front view of the DERM at Geelong Back view of the DERM at Geelong The damaged radiator after the DERM was hit by a tree The broken driver's window Inside a DERM N-class Locomotive N747, named City Of Traralgon, comes to the rescue City Of Traralgon couples onto the DERM. After all these years, the couplings are still the same!
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So, there was a vintage train called a DERM (Diesel Electric Rail Motor) doing a railtour from Melbourne's Southern Cross station yesterday, bound for Colac. Needless to say I couldn't resist participating! During the trip we watched the surprised faces of people we went past. Never got old! I also fell in love with the DERM's high-pitched whistle! Then there was trouble. CRUNCH! #MichaelAngelis Between Marshall and Winchelsea, just past Geelong, the wind picked up. A tree was blown onto the track, and the DERM crashed into it! The driver's window was broken (imagine the fright he got!), and the radiator was punctured. We managed to limp into Winchelsea station, but with the radiator leaking we could go no further. We had to wait for 3 hours for an N-class locomotive to come and rescue us. Was obviously a dramatic day and I did get home late, but I still had a lot of fun! Pics coming soon.
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V/Line has redesigned their conductor talent pool vacancies, allowing me to apply with them once again! I've also started applying for work at smaller places in my local area.
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My application to become a train driver for Metro just got rejected. I am now reduced to looking for part-time work at fast food restaurants.
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My application process at V/Line is over. They rejected my application after the latest test. Now i just have to worry about the position at Metro, which I should hear about in 3-4 weeks.
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In an earlier entry, I revealed that the Australian suburban rail company Metro opened up vacancies for the next generation of train drivers, and I applied for the position. I discovered that an old friend from high school had also applied for the job, making the process much more interesting! Last night, over two weeks after applications closed, he said on social media that his application was accepted. I hadn't heard anything from them at all, so I feared I had been rejected. However, when I got home from nan's today, I got an e-mail. It was from Metro. It said that I too was accepted! HUGE relief! This process will apparently be much quicker than V/Line's, and could see me at work within a couple of months if all goes well. I have to do an online psychometric test, and if I pass that, I attend an Assessment Centre, which I believe will be a job interview. On the downside, I've heard that I need a full driver's licence to get the job, and I only have a probationary licence, so the rest of the process will be shaky unless that gets proven wrong.
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I just got an e-mail out of the blue a few hours ago from V/Line, who I applied for work with a couple months ago. I passed the aptitude test! Next in the application process is surprisingly not a half-day interview, but an online work style profile and safety questionnaire. In other news, applications for the train driver position at Metro expired less than an hour ago.
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Metro, a company in charge of electric trains within the Melbourne metropolitan area, has begun hiring trainee train drivers! Now I'm torn between applying for this position, and sticking with my conductor role at V/Line! What if I apply for this, and then get both!? I'm still studying a dual award, so it's gonna be hard to juggle 2 jobs and 2 courses at the same time!
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An Update Regarding My Job Application In The Rail Industry
Makuta_of_Oz posted a blog entry in blogs_blog_1719
In entries past I expressed my interest in working in the rail industry. Something I didn't mention (I haven't got a clue why) is that I applied online for a position as conductor at V/Line a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I got an e-mail saying my application was accepted! THAT made my day! Today, for the next part of my application process, I had to do an aptitude test, which was divided into a verbal test, a numeric test and an error checking test. I had to answer a series of questions in a VERY small time limit! Aside from a tiny, almost negligible hiccup in the numeric test, I think I did very well. Sadly, I don't get to find out how I went for over a month. Stay tuned for more updates! -
So, today I explored the train lines to the east of Melbourne. Since there were a lot of stops, I'll divide this entry into paragraphs for each trip. Richmond-Box Hill The train was an express service, and quite empty. A spiritual healer was on board playing a small guitar. He later started chatting with another passenger. At Box Hill I had an early lunch of McDonalds. I also went to a gaming shop called EBGames to buy some Pokemon cards, but the store didn't have the booster I was looking for. Box Hill-Camberwell Another express service, NO stops in between. Could not ask for a faster trip! Stopped at Camberwell and connected with an Alamein train. Camberwell-Alamein Outside of peak times, trains on the very small Alamein line only go between Camberwell and Alamein, and not all the way into the city. For this reason, the train was only 3 carriages long instead of the usual 6, a rarity in these times (they're even talking of making trains 9 carriages long!) There was a tram square (an area where the train line goes over a tram line) between Riversdale and Willison, the first I'd seen other than the usual one at Glenhuntly. When we reached Alamein station, I found it was tiny! Too small for a 6-carriage train! Beyond it was a footpath that appeared to be decorated with the same "archways", for lack of a better word, as you get over electric train lines. I followed the footpath until I could see the Glen Waverley line up ahead, which I knew was close to Alamein. Alamein-Camberwell I then returned and met a lovely old lady who I chatted with. I told her about my love of trains, and she told me a few stories about Alamein station: When Jeff Kennett was premier, he saved Alamein station from being closed down many years ago. Alamein was going to connect with the Glen Waverly line at East Malvern, but the project was cancelled when war came (for your information regarding "don't mention the war to old people, you'll never hear the end of it", she was the one who mentioned the war first, not me!). Ever since, talks to connect the lines continued on and off to this day. It was during this conversation that I realised that trains were my true calling. I was never this passionate and curious about animation or game development or anything like that! If only I had realised this sooner, I could've saved SO MUCH time and expense... Camberwell-Burnley Had to change trains at Camberwell for the aforementioned reason. Stopped off at Burnley to connect to a train to Glen Waverley. Nothing to report. It was not the first time I had stopped at that station. Once I stopped there and walked to Channel 9's headquarters in an ill-fated attempt to audition for a game show. Burnley-Glen Iris-Darling-East Malvern-Glen Waverley While travelling down the Glen Waverley line, I stopped off at Glen Iris, Darling and East Malvern along the way to look at the signs outside them, visible from the Monash Freeway, which ran parallel with the line at those stations. This was for nostalgia reasons because I had passed these signs many times on the Monash Freeway but never had the chance to go down the line. When I got to Glen Waverley, I went to the nearby shopping centre and bought the last Next Destinies Pokemon card booster pack in stock (Next Destinies was what I was looking for at Box Hill). Sadly, it was a dud: the only half-decent pull was a Prism Energy. Then I took the long trek home. At my home station, I tried to apply for work, but was told I HAD to do it online. I then asked who was in charge of the Stony Point line, which was run by a V/Line diesel train (A Sprinter) in Metro territory. It turns out Metro runs the line AND the diesel train, prompting me to wonder, why not give it its own livery...? When I got home, I looked up vacancies for both Metro and V/Line, and found a position for a train conductor! I decided to apply for it despite my lack of work experience, hoping my volunteer work in Scouts is enough to get me at least into consideration.
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Tomorrow I do a train trip to Box Hill, and the Alamein and Glen Waverley train lines. I'll also take the opportunity to apply for work at Metro, the company in charge of electric trains within Melbourne. Sadly, they recently axed a lot of jobs so I'll probably fall flat on my face, so I have a lot of backup plans ready: other places not involving trains where I could apply for work. To this day I have never worked for money despite my age, and I fear I've become too old for part-time work, and too inexperienced for full-time work, and therefore unemployable.
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Once again, I am at a loss for what I truly want to do for a living. I'm the kind of guy who is a jack of all trades, master of none. I'm good at a lot of things and I have a wide variety of interests, but I'm not GREAT at anything. I could continue my current pursuit of game development, which has interested me on and off for a while. My recently-developed love of reading (courtesy of Greg Farshtey, obviously) has inspired me to try and get back into writing stories, and I can tell the stories I make using my toys are improving. I'm a pretty good actor with a bit of experience, plus I've been inspired quite a bit with cartoons, so I would like to give voice acting a go one day, see how I like that. Animation, especially 2D animation, was something else I majorly considered, and I REALLY enjoyed studying traditional animation in 2010, so I could try that. I have a life-long love of trains that has recently respawned, so working in that industry, maybe even as a train driver, could be my true calling. I'll be applying for such work later this week, at least to get work experience.
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So, I bought a ticket at Southern Cross and asked about getting a job at V/Line, and the rep just said to go to the V/Line website, which I had already tried. I should've asked if there were any other ways to apply, other than via the website, especially starting at the bottom. I then waited for an hour and a half for the train to leave, during which time I watched the XPT CountryLink train leave for Sydney. The diesel I went on was an N-class diesel with N-class carriages (see pic below). When the trip started, there was a very loud crying baby on the other side of the carriage. I think he was afraid of being on the train. Then I found out I accidentally got a one-way ticket to Shepparton! When I got to Shepparton, I got another ticket, and no doubt the cashier thought I was strange (I took a trip to Shepparton and I already want a trip back). Also the train left almost straight away, so I couldn't explore Shepparton or have lunch there. At least the seats were comfy! So, of the three diesels running within Victoria, I'd say the Sprinter is my favourite to travel on, followed by the VLocity, followed by the diesel engines. Sprinter: VLocity: A-Class diesel engine: N-Class diesel engine (a.k.a Dog Bones):
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Tomorrow I go on a diesel train trip to Shepparton. That's when I'll do the job application at V/Line. My dad printed two resumes yesterday, so I guess I could use the second resume to apply at Metro too. Metro is in charge of train services within the Melbourne Metropolitan area.
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There are still a few train trips I plan to take at some point this year, which I could try and do during the coming TAFE holidays. I plan to travel up the Upfield line and visit Macaulay station, which is, correct me if I'm wrong, an underground station. I also plan to visit Box Hill for the same reason, and travel down the Alamein and Glen Waverly lines on the same day. I also plan to travel up to Shepparton via a diesel train. I'm also considering getting a job at V/Line, the company in charge of diesel trains and buses (called coaches) outside Melbourne's Metropolitan area. I don't know where, but hopefully I can find out where I might fit.
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So, I decided to take another leisurely train trip, this time to the lines in the northeast of Melbourne; the Epping and Hurstbridge lines. Throughout my trip (except up and down my own line) I went on the kind of electric train that doesn't run on my line. I went to Epping first and had a look around, but was quickly met by a begger, so I gave up some of my money, which proved to be a problem later. He said he'd repay me, but I'm positive I'll never see him again. I then tried to follow the line beyond Epping, but the roads didn't do me any favours. There WAS a footpath running parallel to the line, but it was still under construction, and I felt I'd be trespassing if I tried to use it. As I returned to the station, I passed a bus that had the route number and destination of my home town in the south! I was VERY surprised to see a southeast-bound bus in the north! Next I went back down the line, and stopped off at Bell for lunch. While I was at the fast food restaurant where I had it, a group of four people about my age entered, and to my shock, I RECOGNISED one of them! He was a fellow member of Pokemon Melbourne, the friendliest Pokemon group on the Internet! After my meeting with him, I went back down to Clifton Hill, and took a train up the Hurstbridge line. It turns out not all trains go that far: some of them terminate at Eltham and come back. As I went past there, I almost figured out why: it seemed very much to be an old diesel line of old! The stations were far apart, there was only one track because of how few trains went up there, and Hurstbridge itself was very much a country town! When I arrived there I decided to buy some water and an ice cream because the next train wasn't gonna come for ages. Because of the begger I encountered in Epping, I was forced to withdraw money at an ATM and get charged for it because it wasn't of my bank. I then bought the money and awaited the next train. When it arrived, a group of students, also my age, got off and took some photos. They then returned to the same train and started playing Monopoly. On a train! Then I made my way back home. I got on the train JUST before it left. Then, while we were waiting at a station, an express train passed us! I ended up getting home later by taking an earlier train!
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Okay, so I was wrong. Turns out my dad brought his laptop and wireless Internet on holidays with us! Okay, so yesterday dad and I walked to the nearby station and took it to Southern Cross station, which took about an hour. The train trip was quick because it was the biggest express on the line, bypassing 10 stations, and not taking the City Loop! When we arrived at Southern Cross, the diesel train that would take us to Sydney was already there, on the platform on the other side of the station! It was about 8:30am when we left, and it would be 8pm when we would arrive at Central station in Sydney. However, it didn't quite work out that way! At about midday, not long after we had passed Albury station and were nearing Culcain, the next station, the train stopped. Apparently the front passenger carriage and the carriage with the buffet had lost power, and before long, so did the whole train! In other words, IT BROKE DOWN! It was an hour and a half before it was deemed too dangerous to continue its journey, so everyone had to get out into the heat of Culcairn station after the barely-running train was able to limp there, and await a series of chaches (buses that carry luggage) to pick us up. Three were express coaches straight to Sydney, which took us straight there. Dad and I took the first coach that arrived, and made it at 9:30pm, after taking a dinner break along the way. We then got lost in the city trying to find our hotel in the night, and I was constantly afraid we'd get mugged (as I do). Eventually, about half an hour later, we finally found it and settled in for the night. We have to use a card to access the venue, the lift (we can't go up without using the card, for security reasons) and our room. Our room in particular is a pain to get into because we can't use the handle to get in like we're supposed to. We have to push the door when we scan the card, and even then it's difficult. BTW, if you think this non-fiction story is gonna be as dramatic as Taming A Street Teenager, then you're going to be disappointed.
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So, I took the train to Southern Cross and bought my V/Line ticket, explaining exactly where I was headed. Sadly, there is still no passenger service between Geelong and Ballarat, so I had to take the bus instead. On the bright side that made the tickets cheaper! During my half-hour wait for the start of the next stage of my journey, I explored the other side of Southern Cross station, where I had gotten my tickets. This side was full of diesel train routes, and I was surprised to see that they comprised the lowest numbered platforms. All diesel trains end their journeys in Southern Cross station. When my journey started, we went down the Weribee line, and I quickly regretted not having my camera: at one point we had to stop and wait for another train in front of us. At that point I looked out the window and saw a rabbit outside! Rarely do we see wild rabbits in the Melbourne metropolitan area! Eventually we arrived in Geelong, and I explored the station and surrounding area for half an hour. Didn't see any restaurants so I couldn't have lunch, which I guess was just as well. At last the bus arrived, and we hopped on. During the trip, we listened to the Cricket on the radio. India was bowled out for two-eighty-something runs. The driver was surprisingly social, and chatted with a few of the passengers, including myself. I guess it's the kind of place where everyone knows everyone. At one point he even talked on the phone and told a story of picking up fare evaders from a foster home who had claimed someone was trying to abduct them. When we finally arrived at Ballarat, I was planning on having lunch there. However, surprisingly, the next train back to Southern Cross was already waiting! So I got on it and returned to southern cross, passing Bacchus Marsh, where my grandmother and her celebrity family were brought up as kids long ago. When I arrived at Southern Cross I got the next train to my hometown, where I had lunch (at 4pm) and bought a birthday present for my mother, who's birthday is tomorrow. And, uhh, yeah! That was my day!
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I looked up train ticket fares for tomorrow's trip, and discovered I have to pay for separate tickets each trip! This means I'll have to pay almost $30 AUD for fares alone!
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There are three public transport ticketing systems in Victoria: Myki, Metcards and V/Line tickets. From January 1, all three will have their prices increased by 8.6%. This means I'll have to take the train trip this Wednesday, so I can get the tickets for cheaper.
