BAGDContext CSM

I’ve already posted about the Japanese fast trains of the 1950s with their punchy paint-jobs and sleek body-work. Here are some pictures of the train in Tokyo Railway Museum.

1950s Streamlining • Japan + USA

We purchased a couple of these water bottles at Tokyo station before setting off.

Here’s an idea for an invisible train…

The Japanese are at the forefront of tryig to develop technologies of opticl disturbance…in Star Trek, these would be called cloaking devices. It is literally the stuff of science-fiction, at the moment.

In practical terms, their most successful efforts are based on reflective surfaces and stealth geometry.

This is a computer generated image of an invisible train.

I guess they would tidy up the interface between track and carriage. All those boxes need hiding.

Personally, I like looking at trains. Making them invisible seems a bit pointless.

Still it does look pretty cool.

I recently posted a diagram of the Tokyo metro system…here’s an improved (eg rationalised) version. Still pretty amazing.

Actually, the reality is pretty straightforward.

We’ve just returned from a trip to Japan…amazing. Needless to say, the trains were terrific. At the Railway Museum, Tokyo, we saw the original model Shinkansen (1964).

Here are three lovely posters for LNER services to the Yprkshire Moors…ideal for hiking.

One of the things I like about railways is the specific typography associated with transport networks.

I love it all: road signs, underground posters, and railway architecture. I especially like the traditions of hand-painted lettering on old steam trains. I quite life the fabric on old buses too.

BBCTV repeated a short film about the recent restoration of the Flying Scotsman engine. The film had a number of lovely sequences that showed the effort that goes into painting it just right.

For most of the film, the engine is in war paint from WW2; that’s matt black all over. The picture, above, shows a detail of the numbers, painted with shadows and shading.

Lovely work.

Here is a map of the Tokyo railway network…it’s fantastically mysterious. I can see the circular line which defines the central Tokyo area…and the bay, and the airport.

I like the map more for not being able to understand it! Indeed, my whole approach to our trip will to be, “lost in translation.”

I’m looking forward to exploring the multi-story stations and the different parts of the railway network. I have found two railway museums toi visit and, conveniently, they are at both ends of a high-speed  line. Perfect.

We have our Japan Rail passes ready. Let’s hit the rails.

Here is a “fast” looking railway poster from Switzerland; simple and dramatic. Very good.

The Amrican artist, Bill Morrison, has made a film from clips of historic British documentary films about trains. The film has a soundtrack of Steve Reich’s, Diferent Trains (1988).

The world premiere of this new film will be held at Edge Hill, Liverpool, later this year.

Morrison did something similar with film footage of the coal mining industry in Britain’s North East…the film is called, The Miners’ Hymns, and has music by Johann Johannson.

That was terrific. So, I have high-hopes for the new one.

Reich’s composition contrasts the railways of Europe and America during WW2. It’s a way of drawing attention to the terrible efficiency of the railway system and of how the timetable gave administrative and practical support to the extermination of millions.

Lars von Trier made a film about this same subject, called Europa (1991).