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Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

sbbresale.ch

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Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#81

Post by extraduder_ire »

bluGill wrote: post #39
game_the0ry wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The central clock dependency is cool, but I wonder is there were any problems with latency -- like does the centralized electrical impulse reach a train station 10km away and another one at 20km at the same time? Did they factor that in?

The speed of light is copper wires is fast enough that you don't need to factor this in. At least not for human purposes.

Even if you did, I think the time it takes to move the second+minute hand from a stop is longer than the time it takes the signal to get there.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#82

Post by rsynnott »

panick21_ wrote: post #42
999900000999 wrote: post #36

If I was rich I’d go to a small town in a developing country and create a monorail. I’d buy up a 4km by 4km plot of land and create a car free city ( aside from emergency vehicles). Free public transport, bikes and shoes for everyone

Monorails suck and are properity garabage. Is a recepy for bad transit at increase cost.

This one seems to work... surprisingly well, considering how bonkers it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn

I've always wondered why they've been so generally unsuccessful; conventional elevated rail works fairly well, and at least in theory they should be much cheaper and less obtrusive.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#83

Post by extraduder_ire »

cybrox wrote: post #79
adityamwagh wrote: post #67

They are selling a bridge?? https://sbbresale.ch/offers/6a19702ea15ad61283c952ae

Why not? I'm pretty sure they know roundabout what it would cost to tear it down, so why not see if someone is willing to buy it because they think they can get the work done cheaper and make a profit off the raw material.

There's an idiom in US english, "and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you", meant to imply that someone is gullible. It's usually what's being referred to when someone is talking about selling a bridge, and is a source of humour when someone actually sells a bridge.

It's in reference to the criminal exploits of confidence man George C Parker.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#84

Post by adityamwagh »

cybrox wrote: post #79
adityamwagh wrote: post #67

They are selling a bridge?? https://sbbresale.ch/offers/6a19702ea15ad61283c952ae

Why not? I'm pretty sure they know roundabout what it would cost to tear it down, so why not see if someone is willing to buy it because they think they can get the work done cheaper and make a profit off the raw material.

I'm not against it. It's just that it's the first time seeing a bridge being sold in my life.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#85

Post by lynguist »

This makes me think of two things:

1: Everything can be bought and sold in this economy, and all the large and weird machines we pass by in our lives have whole production lifecycles where there are firms specialized in making them, and those that use them, and for money everything can be had.

2: In the 90s and 2000s in Switzerland the "warehouse sales" resulting from decommissioning companies and offices were rampant! There was a certain wealth and breadth and a minimum of equipment needed to do any work, and there was also a certain pride in using good equipment. The 90s/2000s switch to the neoliberal economy and getting by with less and less led to many mergers and obsoletions and the like and many beautiful products could be had. Some had also just ran their time. For example drawing tables from the pre CAD days. The world is grand and I'm nostalgic about the days of abundance and overengineering, but I don't mind they won't come back.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#86

Post by TylerE »

Stevvo wrote: post #71

The prices are really quite good for a country where everything is so expensive. Only 3000 for an aluminium rail car. Probably the scrap metal value is higher than 3000, although you could spend far more than 3000 transporting it to the scrap yard.

That last bit is the killer, from their website,machine translated:

"The buyer is responsible for organizing loading, transport, customs clearance, etc., as well as any associated costs. The vehicles are available immediately and are delivered uncleaned from the storage location (Bonfol train station). "

It's always the same deal with rail stuff. You can find old cars for cheap (locomotives not so much, they tend to be worth a lot more than scrap value in spares). The catch is always the transport. I've seen this more than a time or two on rail enthusiast forums. Somebody buys an old caboose or boxcar to just drop behind their house for a couple grand.... and then discovers it's gonna cost at least 3-4x that to move even a few miles. Usually need a heavy duty low boy trailer (https://heavyhaulers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/low...) and a fairly heavy duty crane at both ends.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#87

Post by s1artibartfast »

The Swiss Federal Railways is a really interesting organizational model. It is run as government owened private corporation. it can issue it's own bonds and the swiss states (cantons) enter purchase contract negotiations with it for service.

The federal goverment beurocrats provide arms length objectives, and the coorporation figures out how to acheive them.

SBB profits do not feed into the government general fund, but must be used by the corporation to pay down its debt or invest in future infrastructure and services.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#88

Post by s1artibartfast »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #87

The Swiss Federal Railways is a really interesting organizational model. It is run as government owened private corporation. it can issue it's own bonds and the swiss states (cantons) enter purchase contract negotiations with it for service. The federal goverment beurocrats provide arms length objectives, and the coorporation figures out how to acheive them. SBB profits do not feed into the government general fund, b…

This is different from the swiss air resuce and ambulence fleet Rega, which is entirely private. It is funded by volunatry insurance paid by the swiss citizens and the annual premium is about 40 CHF for coverage.

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#89

Post by toephu2 »

panick21_ wrote: post #42
999900000999 wrote: post #36

If I was rich I’d go to a small town in a developing country and create a monorail. I’d buy up a 4km by 4km plot of land and create a car free city ( aside from emergency vehicles). Free public transport, bikes and shoes for everyone

Monorails suck and are properity garabage. Is a recepy for bad transit at increase cost.

Japan has plenty of monorails and they work great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorails_in_Japan

Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway

#90

Post by Leherenn »

nairboon wrote: post #45
classified wrote: post #33

Holy fuck, they do have a bridge to sell you. Although it's only available from 2027-04-01. April fools?

It's available from 2027-04-01 to 2027-05-01, so basically deconstruction will be done during April. The bridge seems to be legit from 1876. Local news says they'd rather sell it to someone for cheap to support circular economy than throw it into the trash. https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sbb-verkauft-historische-brueck... You might be able to make a good deal here, buy a bridge for 100 bucks.

I love how they clarify that it is used.
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