1959 De Soto station wagon

the new owners of Whitcoulls seem to be interested in books

The main reason for saying that is that Joan Mackenzie, the chief book manager at PaperPlus has been head-hunted to rejoin Whitcoulls (where she was the book manager previously before being let go by the Australian owners of REDgroup). 

There isn't much cause for excitement, however.  We found Ms MacKenzie competent and communicative in her days at Whitcoulls, but like most women had little interest in "male interest" subjects like transport and technology, and more significantly she has major challenges ahead of her if she going to make Whitcoulls once again a brandname that people will think of as having intelligent helpful staff with an excellent range of NZ titles on their shelves.

1930s Mack CT bus

Operated by the Manhattan & Queens Bus Corporation. (americaonwheels.org)

reissue of "Gwenda Turner's Christchurch"

With central Christchurch now looking like a German city at the end of WW2 and facing rebuilding in a modern look, Penguin has reissued the book Gwenda Turner's Christchurch published in 1999 which contains a blend of old photographs, mementos and original paintings. The history and famous landmarks of Christchurch have been recreated through wonderful panoramas: journey along the tram route to rediscover and remember the delights of the city as it was.

1937 Cadillac Fleetwood

Artwork promoting the Series 75 five-passenger formal sedan

calls from telescammers get worse

Last night's Fair Go program on TV One dealt with the issue that has now hit about 20% of households - telescammers based overseas, usually in the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. It is about a new twist on their hitherto hustling of dodgy offers; basically these people are out to control your computer and its sensitive data by installing key loggers and other spyware.  The Fair Go video item is here 

These people have probably called us too, but our practice is to hang up within a few seconds on telemarketers with Indian or Philipino accents, something we recommend everyone in A/NZ do.

the new Southern Spirit train, Australia

In yesterday's snail mail was this brochure about the new extra-long-distance cruise train being operated by the same people who operate the Ghan (Adelaide to Darwin) and the Indian Pacific (Sydney to Perth), which will travel Brisbane to Sydney to Melbourne / Adelaide.   It seems this won't be a constantly scheduled service, rather, dates it will run will be announced in advance and you need to book in advance.  It will cost more than the existing standard trains on these intercity routes, but you will get more too.  More details on their website.

the Gladstone Star in Sydney

The mv Gladstone Star arrives in Sydney in the early 1960s.  This year is 100 years since the foundation of the Blue Star company as Union Cold Storage in Liverpool with Vesteys, which led to a shipping fleet and the formation of Blue Star Line in 1920.  Another painting by Wallace Trickett.

orders for railway freight wagons in the US surge

Orders for freight cars (or as we call them, goods wagons) have spiked to the highest level in 13 years, seven times the levels of a year ago, Bloomberg reports. The rail car builders received orders for 36,903 cars in 2011’s first quarter, according to the Railway Supply institute.

“The industry is strong and is attracting investment dollars in both rail operations and rolling stock,” said Charles Clowdis, managing director of transportation advisory services at IHS Global Insight. “Investment in railroads and rail equipment as well is validated by the new railcar orders.”

Approximately one-third of the orders are coming from leasing company GATX Corporation, which operates a fleet of 132,000 cars worldwide.

For examples of types being built nowadays, here is the Freightcar America website

Steven Joyce says no to Auckland central rail loop

Blue lines are the existing, the red is the proposed new underground line.

Yesterday this press release from the Beehive stated that the report that Steven Joyce asked the Treasury and Ministry of Transport to produce on the Auckland City Council's proposed rail loop under the city from the Britomart terminal to Mt Eden supports his attitude that it won't get central government support--meaning that the Auckland City Council will have to pay for it itself.

As the Better Transport website says, Steven Joyce's answer to the ever increasing traffic in Auckland over the next 30 years seems to be to cater for 29,000 cars.

At the moment, of course, central government finances are more than stretched with the cost of the bail-out of dodgy finance companies and the cost of the Christchurch earthquakes, so one couldn't expect new projects to commence for a couple of years.  But the Government has also cancelled the planned increased in petrol tax which could have contributed to this project. Something that increases the country's railway network capacity is ideologically unpalatable to Mr Joyce.

Update
The government subsequently did a U-turn on this subject.