I've been playing some more OpenTTD. I find designing transport networks soothing, and it helps me relax when other things fail. Recently, I've been playing with train sets based on British history. It's been quite good on many levels, although there are some surreal moments when a train comes into service that is in service now and it sounds ( Read more... )

There's been some debate about whether we in the UK need to spend money on a new high speed line, especially in a time of tightened finances. I personally think it's a good idea, but I've found explaining why is a bit esoteric, although really interesting. Why I think so generally comes out of playing the computer game OpenTTD, where I've had to ( Read more... )

For years there has been a question bugging me to do with railways: does a railway line have to make money to be viable and should railway lines that were not making money have been shut down ( Read more... )

About a decade age, there was this very simple but fantastically addictive game released called Transport Tycoon (followed closely by the definitive version Transport Tycoon Deluxe). The aim of the game is to dominate the map's transport infrastructure by becoming the largest and most profitable transport company on the map. That's the ( Read more... )

People hae, for whatever reason, been mentioning transport in the UK in the past month. It made me remember that, during the period before my dad became the Mayor, he would regularly come up to Birmingham to attend the official transport conference, after which, we'd meet for a meal and, over the course of the meal, dad would slowly fill me in on ( Read more... )

Yeah, I'm long overdue for an update, but mental stuff has been keeping me on my toes all week.

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