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December 17 2009

SkyTrains — new and old out at the Edmonds depot. (Thanks for sharing, SkyTrainLady). I haven’t previously had the chance to see the new and old trains side-by-side like this, so it’s interesting to reflect on the little differences between these trains. Not on the level of the whiz-cool awesome new features in the new ones1, but purely on the level of aesthetics2. Those of you from out of town, here’s a bit of scene setting for you. See the colour of the sky in that picture? That’s pretty much the colour of the sky a good 40% of the time here. The rest of the time, it’s either that blessed 30% of blue sky with sunshine — very rare this time of year — or the dreaded 30% of the time that’s raining, in which the sky is slightly darker. Now imagine yourself walking down a street, with a stiff wind turning your umbrella inside out and light rain sprinkling on you. The sidewalk is soaked with water, so it’s safe to assume it’s a dark grey. If you’re in view of the SkyTrain (which has an elevated guideway on most parts), then it’s a… mostly grey thing towering over you about 40 ft in the air. Or maybe you are on a platform, chilly in your stylish yet affordable boots, waiting for the train to come in. (And it may or may not be packed to the gills with people, depending on the time of day it is.) Well? White with blue and yellow streaks, or charcoal with a big blue jaw? Which colour scheme in gloss conveys to you that, “Oh, my moving salvation,” feeling better? That said, seeing how they do like to shrinkwrap those Canada Line trains with paid promotional messages, it might not matter for very long what colour our marvelous conveyances come in, since they’ll have dyed their hair blue to tell the tales of snowboarding accessories and other wondrous items and services before long. (I do find it strange that advertisers are flocking to do it on the Canada Line particularly  — after all, they’re only really noticeable on the platform, and the trains aren’t above ground except out at Marine Drive and over in Richmond. Must be that international audience at the airport they’re after.) Anyway, I welcome our new grey and blue overlords. 1 …which will all be great once they get them all working! Maybe they waited until they all arrived to flip the switch on the backlit maps. 2 …and before anyone accuses me of it, yes, I’m aware my feelings on this might be because I’m a little bit racist. But everyone is, the Broadway musicals tell me so.

SkyTrains — new and old out at the Edmonds depot. (Thanks for sharing, SkyTrainLady).

I haven’t previously had the chance to see the new and old trains side-by-side like this, so it’s interesting to reflect on the little differences between these trains. Not on the level of the whiz-cool awesome new features in the new ones1, but purely on the level of aesthetics2.

Those of you from out of town, here’s a bit of scene setting for you. See the colour of the sky in that picture? That’s pretty much the colour of the sky a good 40% of the time here. The rest of the time, it’s either that blessed 30% of blue sky with sunshine — very rare this time of year — or the dreaded 30% of the time that’s raining, in which the sky is slightly darker.

Now imagine yourself walking down a street, with a stiff wind turning your umbrella inside out and light rain sprinkling on you. The sidewalk is soaked with water, so it’s safe to assume it’s a dark grey. If you’re in view of the SkyTrain (which has an elevated guideway on most parts), then it’s a… mostly grey thing towering over you about 40 ft in the air. Or maybe you are on a platform, chilly in your stylish yet affordable boots, waiting for the train to come in. (And it may or may not be packed to the gills with people, depending on the time of day it is.)

Well? White with blue and yellow streaks, or charcoal with a big blue jaw? Which colour scheme in gloss conveys to you that, “Oh, my moving salvation,” feeling better?

That said, seeing how they do like to shrinkwrap those Canada Line trains with paid promotional messages, it might not matter for very long what colour our marvelous conveyances come in, since they’ll have dyed their hair blue to tell the tales of snowboarding accessories and other wondrous items and services before long.

(I do find it strange that advertisers are flocking to do it on the Canada Line particularly  — after all, they’re only really noticeable on the platform, and the trains aren’t above ground except out at Marine Drive and over in Richmond. Must be that international audience at the airport they’re after.)

Anyway, I welcome our new grey and blue overlords.

1 …which will all be great once they get them all working! Maybe they waited until they all arrived to flip the switch on the backlit maps.

2 …and before anyone accuses me of it, yes, I’m aware my feelings on this might be because I’m a little bit racist. But everyone is, the Broadway musicals tell me so.

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