Massachusetts Bodged Transistor Authority

113 points by karagenit 10 months ago | 22 comments
  • quercusa 10 months ago
    Extra points for:

    In a way, it's more accurate to say that the signaling system can infer where trains are because it knows where they aren't.

    • bombcar 10 months ago
      Have to believe it is a reference to the missile copypasta.
    • throwaway201606 10 months ago
      ¿ Should it be "Massachusetts Bodged Transit Authority" and not "Massachusetts Bodged Transistor Authority"?

      I can't help but think that I am missing a really cool inside joke of some kind here.

      I get that it is an electronics project using a piece of transit authority electronic equipment so "transistor" make a ton of sense from that perspective but also get it that it is easy to go "transistor" when you mean "transit" especially if you work a lot with electronics.

      Can anyone help me out with a hint ( and not an answer ) if I am indeed missing something key all together.

      Either way, both article title and article content are dope.

      • breckenedge 10 months ago
        It’s in the article: “The transistors are backwards.”
        • colanderman 10 months ago
          I just read it as a nod toward electronics hacking.
          • jffry 10 months ago
            Hint: You should read the "Driving the indicator from a microcontroller" section again
            • throwaway201606 10 months ago
              THANK YOU!

              Makes perfect sense now.

              That is a really clever joke.

          • szvsw 10 months ago
            Not sure if this makes me more or less depressed about the state of the MBTA… will definitely be thinking about this on the red line tomorrow morning! Thanks for sharing.
            • willis936 10 months ago
              As someone who regularly takes the red line also: you'll have plenty of time to consider it.
            • pavel_lishin 10 months ago
              Re: the OpenStreetMap speed limit thing - is that why Google Maps also doesn't show me the speed limit of the current street I'm driving on, unless I'm following directions?
              • elric 10 months ago
                Tangent: I've never seen botched spelled with dg before. Is this a local spelling variation? Or is my brain on the fritz?

                English, the gift that keeps on giving.

                • ahazred8ta 10 months ago
                  “Just repair it,” she hissed. “Please?”

                  “What, make a bodge job?” said the dwarf, his pipe clattering to the floor.

                  “Yes.”

                  “Patch it up, you mean? Betray my training by doing half a job?”

                  “Yes,” said Granny. Her pupils were two little black holes.

                  “Oh,” said the dwarf. “Right, then.”

                  -- Discworld

                  • rcxdude 10 months ago
                    It's definitely a variation. I'm aware of people using botch like bodge but to me botch is specifically screwing something up, bodge is hacking something together.
                    • elric 10 months ago
                      Interesting, thanks, I was unaware of that distinction.
                    • sparselogic 10 months ago
                      I typically see “bodged” used more like “hacked”: fixed/made to work in a clumsy way, jury-rigged.

                      So I’d botch my attempt to build a shelf by cutting a board too short; I’d then bodge it into shape by screwing on a piece of scrap lumber.

                    • harshaw 10 months ago
                      Cool hack. Funny to see them drive onto RT 2 after alewife and have a 25 mph limit as everyone floors it. Also not sure where an mbta train ever hits 55.
                      • mrgoldenbrown 10 months ago
                        The normal top speed nowadays is 40mph and you would see that mostly south of the city. There is work being done to (optimistically) allow 50mph in some sections in the future.

                        https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/07/19/mbta-red-line-closure-b...

                        • dmd 10 months ago
                          55? It’s only recently the red line has gotten back above _5_ in some stretches.
                          • jmclnx 10 months ago
                            So True.

                            The only time I saw the MBTA go above 20 MPH (~30 KPM) was in the late 60s or maybe early 70s as a young kid when I lived in the area.

                            The driver passed out after he emptied his whiskey bottle, we could see it on the floor. The train was going extremely fast, not stopping at any stations. Me and my friends were banging on the locked door to wake him up.

                            Not long after a conductor came running and unlocked the door to stop the train.

                            For the MBTA that was just another day, no one got in trouble. There are still big issues based upon what my friends from then have told me. But seems things are starting to change, but very slowly.

                            Does the MBTA Trains in Boston even have Conductors now ?

                            • mrgoldenbrown 10 months ago
                              Nowadays the trains require positive control - it will stop if you pass out and let go of the controls.

                              Also if that happens again you can try yanking the emergency brake :)

                        • heartag 10 months ago
                          > Train. Honk honk(??)

                          Hi Tris!

                          • dheera 10 months ago
                            I would have probably just taken apart the mechanics and replaced it with an RC servo.