The beginning of the end for Snapper on the Airport Flyer?

This is most likely the beginning of the end for Snapper.

I received an email from Snapper (Twice actually) with the subject "Changes here, there and everywhere"

I read the email and saw the usual gibberish. Bus route changes. Fares going up etc etc.

Then I got to a section and had to pause for a second...

Friday the 13th of July 2018 - Into the windy capital I go...

With camera in hand, I'll be riding as many buses as I can, before contracts change.

I Haven't actually ridden any GO Wellington bus from memory. Combine that with no knowledge of the routes, this day will be interesting. A lot of planning will be required just so I can get back to the damn train station!

This will most likely be the last time I'll be able to ride a MAN 11.190 (Unless I head to Auckland, even then it's not guaranteed I'll find one). Whilst I had planned for my trip to Upper Hutt to be the last time to ride one of those troopers, I still miss seeing them around, with musical ZF gearboxes and loud engines, wearing purple and orange...

I'll have to admit, being a Nui boy born and bred, I never really appreciated GO Wellington, as they never served any lines I took, so that's why I can appear to hold VF to a higher tier than GW (Everyone ought to know what the acronyms are right?)

With that said, I'll be looking forward to the experience!

Friday 15th June 2018 - The day I go and photograph and ride the crap out of the Valley Flyer fleet.

[UPDATE TO THE UPDATE - 18/06/2018]: I just went down to visit the Wainuiomata Bus Depot, Expecting to see lime green blue and yellow buses. What I saw was locked gates protecting what was left of the Wainuiomata Valley Flyer fleet. I will take my camera down on Wednesday and photograph as many buses as possible!


Another update: I saw a valley flyer bus leaving Wainuiomata so I could be too late as they might all be gone by tomorrow... We'll have to wait and see...
Yup, No buses left :( Although there was a bit of a purple rag, reminiscent of the purple buses that once were.

[UPDATE]: Lower Hutt Pictures have been posted. Ran out of time tonight to post the ones from Upper Hutt: https://www.flickr.com/photos/techladdie/

techladdie on Flickr!

I have had a Flickr account from way back in 2012, but only now have I put anything on it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/techladdie

 

You can also find the link by clicking "Flickr" on the menu bar of the website!

1st Quarter 2018 Update

It's a new year, but things haven't really changed...

Uploads are pretty much non-existent as I can't really be bothered with the slow upload speed we currently have...

I have two different videos from UPPE For all those who know what that means :) Captured around the end of 2017 that are yet to go up.

On a side not towards my other interest, buses, Valley Flyer has lost the contract to run the buses in the Hutt Valley (Not to mention how many routes Go Wellington has probably lost), there will be a new bus company operating in the hutt. Named Tranzurban, it's a subsidiary of Tranzit Coachlines (You know, the people who run Intercity after the railways sold it off in the 90's) will be bringing in some buses from the UK. These Optare Metrocity's are going to be between 10.5 and 10.9 Meters long and look rather weird with a hump at the front:

Year In Review: 2017

Another year has been and gone, so lets look back at 2017...

YouTube Channel

My YouTube channel hasn't really moved sadly
Lets have a squizz at how many train-related videos I uploaded last year:

Three videos... wow. The kicker is that I have two videos waiting to be processed/uploaded. Truth is I can't be bothered uploading them at this point in time due to file sizes and ISP upload speed restrictions at 2Mb/s. 1080p60fps videos are a larger file size than standard 1080p30fps and therefore require longer to upload. My last attempt took nearly 6 hours!

Rail In New Zealand

prepare for sarcasm in parts!

Rollin Rollin Rollin, Rollin Rollin Rollin RAILFREIGHT!!!!!

Found that old ad on YouTube and in the Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision's archives
totally don't have it as a ringtone lol. At least you know who's phones ringin!

Pity the rail industry doesn't operate like this any more.

Anyhoo, since some of you are probably here from my YouTube uploaded rail videos, I have planned to visit Upper Hutt this coming Friday (Tripod and camera with me, of course).

Thought it was time to get some different scenery, as Tawa is getting a slight bit stale.

Of course I will have a Day Rover or whatever Metlink call them now (I think they're still called that). So hopefully with that I can get some shots at multiple stations! Pity the Ganz sets don't run anymore. Would be awesome footage from the front of the train!
With that said, I may have sent an email to metlink regarding cab rides... (Cab+Camera=interesting footage)
[EDIT] I've been informed by Metlink that due to "safety and driver distraction" cab rides are a no-go. Kiwirail on the other hand only says nope if there are tunnels, because of Pike river.

Whilst I haven't been given an answer yet, at least I get a response about the 'ticket' from someone within 24 hours, unlike KiwiRail's useless online form...
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A RESPONSE FOR TEN MONTHS NOW YA HEAR ME KIWIRAIL?! AND THAT WAS JUST THE FIRST BLOODY FORM I FILLED. GOT ANOTHER TWO MORE WAITING FROM APRIL AND SEPTEMBER... UNHAPPY IS HOW I WOULD NICELY PUT IT... Trust me you don't want to know what I would REALLY want to write...

It gave me an error when I tried it yesterday. Maybe they've blocked me! XD

Rant over *breaths deeply and calmly* 

 So, thanks for viewing what is more a rant than whats to come and I hope you enjoy it when it comes out!

[WIP] Trainz HVL: Ava Station

Not much done with Ava station really. Just extended the line a bit. the line will be replaced once I have more accurate info on the curvatures?

The great wall of Woburn reminds me of what needs to go

Trainz HVL as of 20/09/2017

Track currently up to Naenae but nothing else. Currently focusing on Waterloo and Woburn down to Ava

Hutt Workshops from the fence - 15/07/2017

[EDIT]: Looks like someone from KiwRail either saw me on CCTV (HI!!!!) or saw these photos and decided to put up a fence on the bridge. They'll probably claim Health & Safety and that "it's private land" or "that's trespassing, you could die". Being completely honest here and with all due respect to KiwiRail, but the unions probably wouldn't let jack shit run on that rail. The last time the gracefield line operated was in 2002 and sure, since then it's probably been used to store a few things whilst some stuff was taken out of the workshops, but other than that, it's run down and the only H&S risk to people is rust :D

After finishing up filming trains (Just EMU units really, don't know when the freight comes), I decided on-route back home to stop and check out KiwiRail's Hutt Workshops.

So these are some of the images taken on a quiet Sunday evening, behind the fence of course!

Note: I didn't plan to visit here after filming. If I had I would have brought my actual camera, rather than the action cam I use to film trains.

What I would do just to hop in a Ganz one last time and appreciate the front view, and hop in a DC just to hear that 12-645 engine... obviously it would have to be legal, I don't really want to have to deal with the courts :)