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Boring endeavours

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ReformedCharacter
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Re: Boring endeavours

#140121

Postby ReformedCharacter » May 20th, 2018, 8:25 am

odysseus2000 wrote:
There is too much focus on manufacturers claims & too little practical work....

Comparing what we have witnessed to what Musk has done with the boring company is the difference between innovation & decay.

Regards,


How many kilometers of tunnel have the Boring Co tunnelled so far? Or doesn't that really matter?

RC

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Re: Boring endeavours

#140125

Postby odysseus2000 » May 20th, 2018, 9:02 am



How many kilometers of tunnel have the Boring Co tunnelled so far? Or doesn't that really matter?

RC


Are we are comparing a mature 185 year old industry to one that is in its infancy?

One could ask how many trains have run on the multi million pound North West electrification in the years that the project has been running. Answer: None!

We might also ask how many weekend trains have been cancelled because of the overhead lines work. Answer: Many!

Whether one believes in electrification of the railways or not, the practical implication of the project has set almost everyone I meet against the process even people who originally welcomed it are in revolt.

We have seen one contractor go bust, the work transferred to another who agreed to let existing work proceed, then to another that has stopped all work & is demanded complete re-costing. Part completed work has been left, in one case with threaded rods sticking through a bride, the overhead gantry that was supposed to fit here is either unmade or in storage along with the large 90 degree bracket to support it, 3 other support brackets are in place. The site that had mobile toilets, canteen, perimeter fencing, drive on support matting, a bridge over the river etc has been completely returned to how it was. If the work is to restart it may be possible to hang the brackets from the rail, but otherwise the whole site will have to be re-created & two Scots lads hoping it will be the latter as it would be good for their take home.

It is as badly a managed business as I have ever seen.

Regards,

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Re: Boring endeavours

#140127

Postby ReformedCharacter » May 20th, 2018, 9:20 am

odysseus2000 wrote:


How many kilometers of tunnel have the Boring Co tunnelled so far? Or doesn't that really matter?

RC


Are we are comparing a mature 185 year old industry to one that is in its infancy?

Regards,


You would know presumably, because it was your comment that you are now questioning.

RC

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Re: Boring endeavours

#140137

Postby tjh290633 » May 20th, 2018, 10:11 am

Thanks. That thesis is obviously a major inspiration for Roger Ford's column.

I assumed that anyone wishing to read the article might be able to browse in WHSmith or a similar establishment.

TJH

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Re: Boring endeavours

#140149

Postby odysseus2000 » May 20th, 2018, 12:07 pm

TJH
Thanks. That thesis is obviously a major inspiration for Roger Ford's column.

I assumed that anyone wishing to read the article might be able to browse in WHSmith or a similar establishment.



The problem with this kind of dissertation is that it is based on literature data which in this case is out of date in several areas & on pre themes in the Rail industry.

It is very like the stuff that GM, Ford etc used to justify their focus on hydrocarbon & hybrid propulsion units.

Then along came Tesla saying our experiments show battery traction is practical & cheaper. Most of the motor manufacturers ignore Tesla & then suddenly they find they have serious competition.

This kind of complacency is found every where & often leads to disasters. As I have mentioned before the UK world war 1 tactics of infantry against machine guns was based on infantry having worked for decades & the generals assuming it would carry on working.

All organisations have this inbuilt tendency for complacent action & often it works, but when it doesn't we have Kodak type moments.

As I see the UK rail industry it is in such a state & it has convinced politicians that what it proposes is the only way & the politicians have funded it leading to the situation that I have observed. The politicians may well just give them more money based on the existing spending needing some result & currently there is no viable competitor, but hopefully this changes & the UK gets a 21st century rail or other solution that is useful & low cost for users not a very expensive 1950's one.

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Re: Boring endeavours

#140157

Postby ReformedCharacter » May 20th, 2018, 1:06 pm

odysseus2000 wrote:
TJH
Thanks. That thesis is obviously a major inspiration for Roger Ford's column.

I assumed that anyone wishing to read the article might be able to browse in WHSmith or a similar establishment.



As I have mentioned before the UK world war 1 tactics of infantry against machine guns was based on infantry having worked for decades & the generals assuming it would carry on working.

Regards,


I don't think comments like that help to understand WW1 history, nor does it do justice to some of the generals. Of course the 'Lions lead by Donkeys' phrase has become popular for those looking for an easy, often class based, target for the horrendous carnage. The generals were not so much complacent but ignorant of how to win a type of war of which they had no experience. One of the major reasons that the Central Powers were defeated on the Western Front was due to the incredible development of artillery in both hardware and technique. At the beginning of the war a munitions shell was something that could just about have been made by a village blacksmith and 4 years later represented the 'state of the art' of the technology of the time. These developments were hardly acts of the complacent.

RC

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Re: Boring endeavours

#140158

Postby odysseus2000 » May 20th, 2018, 1:35 pm

RC


I don't think comments like that help to understand WW1 history, nor does it do justice to some of the generals. Of course the 'Lions lead by Donkeys' phrase has become popular for those looking for an easy, often class based, target for the horrendous carnage. The generals were not so much complacent but ignorant of how to win a type of war of which they had no experience. One of the major reasons that the Central Powers were defeated on the Western Front was due to the incredible development of artillery in both hardware and technique. At the beginning of the war a munitions shell was something that could just about have been made by a village blacksmith and 4 years later represented the 'state of the art' of the technology of the time. These developments were hardly acts of the complacent.

RC


Yes, this is all true & one can include all manner of other inventions & technologies developed by the uk including tanks, hand grenades, the huge Devil's Porrage munitions factory on the west coast of Scotland,...

But there are also accounts of the mind sets of the generals. Dan Snow gave an account based on the war diaries of one of his ancestors which was extraordinarily informative as to how this man & the uK military establishment thought about how to win the war. Snow quotes from his ancestors diaries about just needing another push, soon be over etc... He then became horrified at the results & requested to be retired home. Meanwhile one can not ignore the execution of soldiers who it was deemed had led to the loss of battles, the failure to take objectives etc. Meanwhile the military & treasury refused to sanction spending on guns, artilliary etc. Whether it was PM Lloyd George who really said when asked how many artilliary pieces were needed per unit, said that they should "Double the army request of 1, square it & multiply by 3" giving 12, I don't know, but there was a sea change in UK military spending that led to final victory, Lloyd George later described Kitchener as "Brilliant to the top of his boots"

So yes there are many explanations & thesis one can write about the way organisations operate, but to first order complacency is a serious issue that always needs considering and in my own life I can often trace bad events to me getting complacent & thinking I had everything under control.

Regards,

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Re: Boring endeavours

#145859

Postby odysseus2000 » June 15th, 2018, 2:29 pm

Chicago to O'Hare in 12 minutes with not a penny from the tax payers, kind of interesting:

https://youtu.be/y6G2TUYe3eg

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Re: Boring endeavours

#146009

Postby odysseus2000 » June 15th, 2018, 10:29 pm

Some question if the Boring Company can do it for $1 billion:

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2 ... ssion=true

Regards,


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