Martin Hoffmann / is on Nostr

Makes software for Internet infrastructure and maps.

Loves trains – both using them and understanding operation and engineering.

German living in the Netherlands. He/him.

NLnet Labs: https://nlnetlabs.nl/people/
Github: https://github.com/partim
Railway History Map: https://map.railwayhistory.org

Last Notes

2024-09-10 14:47:00

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I believe the narrative for both hydrogen railway projects in Germany is that they are using hydrogen that is a byproduct of unrelated chemical
manufacturing. But apparently, this isn’t quite as reliable as is claimed.

2024-09-10 13:52:49

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Nice tidbit from the article: The hydrogen for the trains is transported by lorry, presumably using diesel fuel. They want to make their own green hydrogen but that’s not yet a thing.

2024-09-04 06:33:23

Minor change of plans. Since I won’t finish Poland in the #RailwayHistoryMap before my grand journey, I uploaded the current state with Szczecin, Poznań, and Wrocław divisions done and the rest missing various abandoned lines.
https://map.railwayhistory.org/#overview@7/51.5646/18.51
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/113/077/878/764/929/759/original/75bd5df645ddea32.png

2024-09-03 08:14:01

Ever wondered why you have a million variations of Noto Sans on your system? OpenType font files are limited to 64k glyphs and Noto Sans trying to provide a complete Unicode font exceeds by, like, a lot.

2024-08-30 12:51:00

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How difficult is it to get to and from either port by public transport? I ended up going to Stranraer from Belfast because there is a bus line connecting directly to the terminal.

2024-08-30 07:42:23

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Did you take the Belfast to Liverpool ferry?

2024-06-15 08:13:11

DB couldn’t find a signaller for Remagen and the line on the left banks of the Rhine had to be closed last night and this morning. The right banks are closed due to construction.
Status if the night trains: 402 (Zurich to Amsterdam) cancelled from Frankfurt, 403 (A’dam to ZH) 3h30 late, 420 (Austria to A’dam) 2h30 late, 421 (A’dam to Austria) 1h30 late, 424 (Berlin/Vienna to Brussels) 4h late, will be cancelled from Welkenraedt.
I can’t in good conscience recommend these trains to people.

2024-04-12 12:18:29

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Stena’s boat from Cherbourg arrives in Rosslare at 12:00 with a train at 12:55. How realistic is that?

2024-04-12 12:09:03

Oh for fucks sake! Stena from Fishguard arrives in Rosslare at 17:30. The last train of the day leaves … 17:30. What’s wrong with you people?

2024-04-11 17:13:50

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The else case wiIll always be Martigny – Vallorcine for me.

2024-04-03 16:19:56

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I see now what you mean. But this is a good start. US Army series M761 is GSGS 4250 which turns up a few more maps.

2024-04-03 16:14:48

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This just doesn’t go anywhere for me: https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/france_50k

2024-04-03 16:08:26

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Oh! Nice find, thank you! I wonder if the 1:50,000 maps work from a US IP address. I shall find out.

2024-04-03 15:21:16

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I have a probably complete list from https://www.facs-patrimoine-ferroviaire.fr/histoire/les-chemins-de-fer-secondaires/liste/ and I can get stops from Timetable World, but want to have a course that is at least somewhat correct. Hence the topographical maps and the large-ish scale.

2024-04-03 13:08:52

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I’m probably doing something wrong but if I click on the images, it still basically gets me to the 1950 map?

2024-04-03 12:39:48

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Sorry, forget to mention: Ideally 1:50,000 or better but something like 1:100,000 might be enough to approximate in an overview map.

2024-04-03 08:29:35

Which reminds me: Does anyone perchance know an online source for French topographical maps from the first half of the 20th century? I still need to add the secondary lines to the #RailwayHistoryMap but quite a few are already missing on the 1950s maps that IGN has.