Video: Newcastle Tram Testing

[Newcastle Flyer]

IF it's testing the timetable, it stayed at the stop for about 40 seconds.

[boronia]

Video not available !!

[Newcastle Flyer]

Try it now.

[3805]

I've got nothing, not even a link.

[tonyp]

I've got nothing, not even a link.

I found two recent videos on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m125XKjq2Ck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN7zQldfRTI

The first one cuts out the stop dwell but the second shows a 45 second dwell at a stop. I wonder if they're trying to run at scheduled times because it's very slow indeed. Perhaps it's just practice at this stage. The stop dwell is a concern though as it's two to three times longer than necessary.

[3805]

Thank you tonyp, much appreciated.

[boronia]

Try it now.

Working today

[Newcastle Flyer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m125XKjq2Ck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN7zQldfRTI
The first one cuts out the stop dwell but the second shows a 45 second dwell at a stop.

Because why video something that's standing still for a while. It was about 45 seconds in total, and yes I believe they are now testing the "timetable". Looks like each stop will be around the 45 second mark.

[tonyp]

Thanks, that's about two to four times as long as a stop dwell should be.

I had to laugh at the question of why should one film something that's standing still. For several years I was evaluating tram and bus performance (including dwell times) using cab videos on Youtube that followed journeys in real time. Using the timer on the video frame and knowing exact distances I could make detailed calculations. This work has been inputted into tram projects here and also informs discussion of bus performance (when filmed on buses).

Most of the early research was based on transport in Czech Republic because they're very meticulous about recording such data and are also a high-performance jurisdiction and thus a good benchmark. However I was always looking for examples in other countries, but the uptake of forward-view video recording was a bit slower and less sophisticated in other places. I can tell you it always drove me ape when some photographer would stop the camera during stop dwells or edit them out, because it destroyed any prospect of data recording!

Eventually, such filming as an accurate exercise has since spread more widely and also to Australia, the best local ones being Richard Youl's tram recordings with meticulous annotations about timing, stops etc. Of course I appreciate that people like me are far from being the only audience for such films and I would have to agree that sitting with the same stationary view for 45 seconds is a different kettle of fish to waiting through a normal 10 to 20 second dwell. You don't want your audience leaving your video halfway through out of boredom! Richard has developed an excellent method for long dwells of cutting the film during the dwell but providing a subtitle of how long the dwell was in seconds. He also does that for traffic lights. You'll find him on Youtube under tressteleg1.