Comments on: Friday afternoon late train blues

By: Robyn

Robyn — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:42:30 +0000

Don’t worry, Paul, the new trains will have space for you to hang your anorak.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:25:49 +0000

I suppose it had to happen one day, sterile ugly vapid modern ‘plastic’ trains here as well, as they now are in UK/Europe. The Wellington D/DM class EE’s have become iconic since the first batch appeared on the lines in the late 30s, and still do their job well. Now people will get barraged by a myriad of repeated electronic noises, it could be anywhere in the world, not the good old Kiwi Welly commuter system to J’ville etc. Just like the totally foolish decsion to scrap the worldly iconic Routemaster buses in London with glass and steel box on wheels double deckers, I refuse to visit that city anymore other than transit to from Heathrow when I visit England.

By: drinks-after-worker

drinks-after-worker — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:25:15 +0000

Growing up in Matangi, the official translation for the placename was something like “warm wind” or “gentle breeze”. It doesn’t seem like the right kind of wind that one would name a train system after.

… (3) swamp gas; (4) a wet, silent and delicate fart.

In the olden days, when we would get on the turps in town and then take the last train home, it took so long to get there that you’d inevitably have to piss. So, the conductor would let you go out the back of the second carriage, and relieve yourself out the back door. It was always so serene – the heady euphoria of an overdue urination combined with the picturesque-yet-slightly-dangerous experience of barreling along the foreshore beside the Hutt Motorway in the near-black; turbulent air rushing, waves crashing, rain pelting (it always seemed to be raining), and cars tooting.

By: Robyn

Robyn — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:56:53 +0000

Dilbert: I don’t think the Mataingi trains and Matangi, Waikato are related! I just think it’s hilarious that the new train system will share the same name as the miserable little Waikato hamlet where I grew up. It’s like if it was named the Shitville Express.

Growing up in Matangi, the official translation for the placename was something like “warm wind” or “gentle breeze”. It doesn’t seem like the right kind of wind that one would name a train system after.

And then there was the whole business with the Matangi P lab, so back when I read that the winner of the naming competition was ‘Matangi’, oh, how I laughed!

By: Poneke

Poneke — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:04:19 +0000

The regional council held a competition to find a generic name for these trains, rather than just call them by their manufacturer’s name (Rotem Mitsui).

The winner was Brian Bond of Linden who suggested “Matangi”
as it is te Reo for “wind” (as Dilbert says).

Said Mr Bond: “We’ve got lots of fresh air. And it’s a term that could relate well, and in a number of ways, to the new trains. They will be fast like the wind, and a breath of fresh air for our transport system.”

http://www.gw.govt.nz/story26548.cfm

The old trains are just known by their makers’ names — English Electrics (which date from 1949 to 1955) and Ganz Mavags (which are from the early 1980s). For what it’s worth, these trains are in railway-speak also called Ds (the EEs) and Es (the GMs) and the Matangis will be the Fs. These are the “class” of train.

By: Dilbert

Dilbert — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:44:57 +0000

Matangi means wind or breeze. Also a Hindu Goddess – “The Dark One”. Not sure how either of these relate to trains, or why you think it’s related to some place up North.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:19:30 +0000

Hurrah!

For some reason, the idea of making every single one of life’s little moments into a vignette is very appealing to me.

Unfortunately that isn’t very practical. But I salute and enjoy your attempts at doing just that :)

By: Jessie

Jessie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:48:06 +0000

Listening to someone else complain does wonders for putting things into perspective!