DJ Dangerous

While analyzing failures fascinates me, I also enjoy apparent successes, like this one: Copying and pasting the video blurb: China’s $7.7 Billion Ship Lift – The Engineering Marvel That Defies Gravity What if ships could sail over mountains? China didn’t ask “what if” — they built it. In one of the most extreme landscapes on Earth, China has pulled off the unthinkable: a $7.7 billion-dollar vertical ship elevator that lifts 10,000-ton vessels nearly 200 meters straight into the sky. Welcome to the Goupitan Ship Lift — a project so massive, it compresses four days of river travel into just 2.5 hours. But this isn’t just about moving ships. It’s about rewriting the rules of engineering, economics, and even geopolitics. Built in Guizhou Province, one of China’s poorest and most isolated regions, this lift transformed a logistical dead zone into a thriving inland shipping hub. Shipping costs dropped by 67%. Foreign investment surged by 83%. Entire villages were reborn around this new inland “highway in the sky.” What You’ll Learn in This Video: The wild terrain that made traditional locks impossible How a floating steel chamber lifts ships the size of skyscrapers The precision systems that prevent 10,000 tons of mass from going off balance Why this project is part of China’s bigger plan to future-proof its economy The secret strategy behind China’s “internal circulation” model And how this could be a preview of the next generation of global infrastructure Why Does This Matter? While the world watches China build skyscrapers and bullet trains, it’s the hidden infrastructure — buried in mountains and rivers — that could shape the next century. Goupitan is more than a marvel. It’s a move in a larger economic chess game. Is this the future of freight transport? Or just a massive flex?

Ahem, cough cough, hint hint!

I’ll stick to my €200-ish per loco, thanks very much!

1970’s they would have gone brown. What’s the difference between fitted and un-fitted from an operational aspect? Did it determine what loco could haul them and what other stock they could run with?

On top of that, I’d assume that the new factory would need to maximise the utility of those happy Dubliners earning €2 per hour… You’d need to be swappping out toolings and machinery as soon as you finish one contract, having another contract ready to start on. It would need to be heavily subsidised for a long time, in order to reach that maximum utility point.

@Warbonnet covered the reasoning a couple of years back HERE: And, as you say, it’s difficult to estimate the consequences of an overly simplistic knee-jerk reaction. Also, how many of us would be buying models if they were three or four times the price and the quality was crap? To enjoy the current price vs. quality balance that we do, we need to exploit economic and societal differences.

Can’t go much smaller than Cement Bubbles… Unless you mean N Gauge?

To where, though? Keeping it largely to scale models and similar products.

Couple of SeaCo or SeaCell boxes in there, by the look of them!

Let the speculation begin, while I run off and look for my last wishlist post to copy from… Jumbo Tar Wagons, or some sort of fuel wagons, Ammonias, Class 80 railcars, AEC railcars, or even Project 47. Dun dun duuuunnnnnnn!

Mmmmmmmmmhhh, Burger Bites...

My cankles are finally something to be proud of.

You could sell the empty boxes, they’re so nice!

Dapol Class 68 on offer at Rails of Sheffield, down to £100 GBP from £180 GBP. Love that TransPenine livery.

It was @Sean posting HERE.

Somebody posted a few years back on the Das clay, and I think that they said that running an old credit card along the inside of the rails provided perfect clearance and straight lines.

I just did a quick search for Swedish Models, and I can now understand your dedication to that area.

How about a Spanish Railway Models subdivision? Renfe 319.2’s go for way too much on eBay!

Big green banner with white IRM branding would be very eye-catching… Probably cheaper than borrowing a 141 from Inchicore and trucking it to exhibitions!

That’s a whopper of a feature!!! What size is your room?

Short answer? Read the forum, and compare it to 2020 / 2021 / 2022. Look how many members have vanished and how many layouts have been abandoned, along with the increase with collections being sold off or downsized. Longer answer, search online for reputable sources publishing articles like this: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57425161 Here’s a quote from somebody who wrote about taking up chess during lockdowns: ”For the past few weeks, as the lockdown loosened, I’ve tried to spend more time hanging with friends and working on freelance writing projects. As a result, I’ve been stuck in the 800 range, with little to suggest that I’ll ever reach into the 900s, where the players are quite sharp. Something of a personal stalemate. No trouble, though. I thought it might be interesting to take some time away from chess.com, get out and interact with real people, maybe write something about those quarantined nights when chess enveloped me.” There are thousands of similar publications online, Source: https://dashofmind.com/2020/07/25/many-experimented-with-hobbies-during-lockdown-i-descended-into-chess-madness/

They fixed up the layout a few months ago. Agreed, it was awful trying to find stuff, but it’s now straightforward. 1. Click the three bars in the top left corner if on a mobile. 2. Click the “Irish” tab that appears. This is now prominently listed on the desktop version, not hidden. 3. Click the little upside-down arrow beside “Irish” and the headings appear. Sorry about the language in mine, the English version should appear on your device.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that any unsold 22000’s and Park Royals will be snapped up by the Irish market, so the A/S guys probably decided not to dedicate any space to them. On the flip side, unless the likes of Hunslets, 800’s and Bubbles are featured prominently, growing the Irish-outline / IRM part of A/S is not going to be easy. Maybe we’re at a point where Irish releases are going to slow down a little for a year or two while the post-Covid-19 market settles. There was an explosion in interest in Irish outline during and shortly after the pandemic, but that bubble has now burst and a lot of the Covid era modellers have vanished. As things get back to normal, and UK sales of Bubbles, Hunslets and 800’s mature, A/S will be better able to gauge future demand. That said, I hope to Hell that they had an A Class and Ballast wagons on display, because A/S wouldn’t even exist today without them!

25 x 914mm lengths of code 75 OO Gauge track for £80 GBP at Rails of Sheffield.

That’d cost you a free test-drive!