iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 12/10/2026

schrödinger's princes street

A photo showing two next stop displays in an Airlink 100 bus to Edinburgh City Centre, one shows we'll call at Princes Street, one doesn't

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 04/08/2026

classic SNCF moment as they try and convince you to not travel by train and get a bus instead

A phone notification from SNCF Connect:
"Summer plans, sorted ☀️
Over 4,000 FlixBus destinations across France and Europe, from €2.99. Even last minute."

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 28/07/2026

and, of course, most of this loss is the council taking money from Edinburgh Trams to reimburse the construction costs

The firm is not making enough money to be financially profitable, bringing in £32.9m in revenue last year, an increase from 2024 (£28.8m) but suffering an overall loss of £9.3m.

Since 2018, the city council has charged Edinburgh Trams £8.5m annually “to reflect the additional borrowing costs associated with the cost overrun of the original line”. The local authority borrowed more than £200m in 2011 in a bid to finish the project, which was delivered years later and over budget.

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 08/07/2026

had been talking about this with some friends yesterday coincidentally, I used the 477 a couple of years ago when it was operated by Borders Buses with a larger vehicle and it had got to standing room only on the way back

A Borders Buses Optare Metrocity at Berwick-Upon-Tweed station, displaying route 477 to Holy Island

The same bus at the terminus on Holy Island, now showing Berwick as the destination, there's a crowd of passengers outside waiting to board

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 04/06/2026

and in a win for LNER's "simple fares" you can actually get this "cheapest LNER" for less by simply getting a ticket from Dalmeny instead, if that's not simple i don't know what is

A screenshot showing that booking from Dalmeny to London can cost as little as £97.50 using a super off-peak single

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 04/06/2026

in a promising turn for Britain's new joined up railway, LNER have changed their ticketing website so it no longer flags the cheapest train but the cheapest train *they* operate specifically 🙃

A screenshot of the LNER ticketing website for journeys between Edinburgh and London, two LNER trains are priced at £132.20 and flagged as "Cheapest LNER", while there is an option from Avanti at £129.50 and Lumo at £86.90, neither is flagged as "Cheapest"

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 06/05/2026

jet fuel prices have skyrocketed? lucky we live in such a time that you can do Edinburgh to Berlin entirely using electricity, then

A Caledonian Sleeper class 92 stands at Edinburgh Waverley platform 11

A Eurostar class 374 stands at St Pancras platform 10

A railpool traxx pulls into Paris Gare du Nord with the European Sleeper

The European Sleeper at Berlin Hauptbahnhof with a PKP Intercity train in the background being pulled by a vectron

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 08/04/2026

every development in the North-South line makes me want to scream can we please be serious for a second

screenshot from the Edinburgh Evening News "Edinburgh's SNP group has today said it would back a North-South tramline for the Capital, but did not believe either of the options for the northern section – Roseburn Path or Orchard Brae – offered the right solution."

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 01/04/2026

McGill's, 2026 vs McGill's 2025

A screenshot from a news article:
A Scottish bus company has said it is taking legal advice after its bid for funds to expand its electric bus fleet was rejected by Transport Scotland.

McGills Group, which is the largest independent bus operator in the UK, said it had sought £4.3 million from a Government scheme to buy 33 zero-emission vehicles from Falkirk-based bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL).

The company said the move would have boosted Scottish jobs and enabled it to remove more diesel vehicles from its fleet across Scotland.

A screenshot from a different news article:
THE owners of an Inverclyde bus firm say they opted to buy new vehicles from a Chinese manufacturer, rather than a UK builder, after identifying a number of quality issues with the rival company’s product.

The McGill's Group issued a statement after bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL) announced it was considering closing its manufacturing operation in Scotland and moving it to Scarborough in North Yorkshire, putting around 400 jobs at risk.

The Greenock-based group has ordered nearly 100 electric buses made by the Chinese firm Yutong since 2021 for its local services in the west of Scotland, many of which operate on routes across Inverclyde.

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 29/03/2026

From now on this is the only way i will travel

A Royal Mail Post Bus in the Postal Museum in London

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 29/03/2026

what am i even doing at this point

A Stagecoach Plaxton Elite turns onto Princes Street from Frederick Street

The inside of the coach showing the next stop display showing the X59 to St Andrews Bus Station

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 24/03/2026

there's a lot about these trains i'll miss, Not least the happy little *ding* from the cab when the doors are locked

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 24/03/2026

well, there's a chance I've made my last journey on a Metrocar

A view out the front window of a Tyne and Wear Metrocar crossing the Tyne on the QEII bridge

A zoomed out photo from the front seat showing the driver's cab

The Metrocar 4079 sitting at South Shields before returning to St James

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 21/03/2026

truly one of the graphs of all time

A bar chart saying "It's between Labour and the SNP in the new Edinburgh Northern" showing the 2024 General Election results for Edinburgh North and Leith, with an arrow vaguely pointing at the Lib Dems saying "17,000 votes behind Labour"

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 19/02/2026

finally used lumo for the first time, albeit only for a return journey to Glasgow

A lumo class 803 pulls into platform 2 at Edinburgh Waverley

A lumo class 803 sits at Glasgow Queen Street

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 07/02/2026

i mean, Hitachi *can* build trains, but on the other hand...

A British class 800 Azuma at Edinburgh Waverley

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 29/01/2026

i realise i've barely said anything this year, have an assortment of postal vehicles

A greenbat mail rail train in Royal Mail red livery

The green mail rail train at Mount Pleasant station

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 06/12/2025

please ignore the fact that trams have run along south bridge in the past

A quote from the article "And Edinburgh World Heritage (EWH), which opposed the proposal to run trams along South Bridge, warning the structure built in the 1780s might not be able to stand the strain, also suggested alternative routes had to be considered."

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 30/11/2025

it's cool how post privatisation the UK made one good high speed train then decided to never do it again

An Avanti class 390 Pendolino in platform 1 at London Euston

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 24/11/2025

welcome back to Scotland's premier intercity service (not an HST because they're ancient and broke down)

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 16/11/2025

happy(?) 69 years of buses on the 23

A Lothian Volvo BZL on Hanover Street running the 23 to Greenbank

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 19/10/2025

so i didn't actually have an unread DM. i do now. i shouldn't have drawn attention to this

The bluesky UI showing I have one unread DM

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

all good things come to an end, back to Edinburgh on the same type of seats as used on an NS sprinter (at least the livery is nice)

801226 (Together) in its pride livery at King's Cross

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

we reached peak train travel with currywurst in the ICE3neo bordrestaurant. that's it, train travel has achieved perfection (the train was even on time, shockingly)

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

Cologne, with some trams that look like things in Britain

A KVB K5000 tram (looks very similar to a Manchester M5000)

A KVB K4000 tram (looks almost identical to a Croydon CR4000)

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

meanwhile in Essen, here's some DLR trains that are now trams with proper driving cabs

A plaque reading:
Stadtbahnwagen P89 "Docklands"
Wagenbaulicher Teil:
British Rail Engineering Ltd. York 1989
(Lizenz Linke-Hofmann-Busch. Salzgitter)
Elektrische Ausrüstung
ADtranz Daimler Chrysler Rail Systems GmbH.
Mannheim 2000
Fahrmotoren:
GEC-Alsthom Traction. Manchester 1989
Umbau:
Essener Verkehrs-AG Essen 2000

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

there is famously no interesting transport in Wuppertal. although they seem to have got confused and installed their metro upside down. we all make mistakes.

A Wuppertal Schwebebahn vehicle going round the loop at Vohwinkel station

The view out the back of a train over a street

The view out the back of the train over the river Wupper

A train about to enter the loop at Oberbarmen

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

then headed to Germany via Venlo to try and catch the loco hauled Venlo-Wuppertal train. which we missed because NS fell over so got a FLIRT instead

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

various dutch trains including the endangered loco-hauled IC Berlin, the weird Valleilijn Protos, the lovely new ICNG and the endearing Koploper

An NS flow livery Vectron hauling some DB IC1 coaches next to an NS flow livery VIRM at Amsterdam Centraal

A Protos in Valleilijn livery at Amersfoort Centraal

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

stayed in Almere, which has a fascinating BRT network that runs entirely on its own right of way with the best traffic light priority i've ever seen, and incredibly long triaxle single decker buses. our local route was strangely infrequent though (20 minutes mon-fri, 30 sat, 60 sun)

Gooisekant Midden station on Almere bus line 322

An incredibly long R NET liveried triaxle single decker MAN bus, it has two doors and is operating route 322 towards Muiden P+R

Another triaxle but with three doors, this time on route M1 towards Station Centrum at Busstation t'Oor

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

my first time using the Eurostar Amsterdam route, and also my first time on NS. my review of the SNG is imagine if the Northern class 331 was good

A Nederlandse Spoorwegen Sprinter New Generation at Amsterdam Centraal

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 15/10/2025

good evening internet here's a thread of me briefly escaping the country with @coastwaywill.me

Two LNER liveried class 91/IC225 sets at London King's Cross

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 05/10/2025

"bendy buses could be better than trams" - the people who don't want aberdonians to realise they're getting a worse system to save a bit of money

An article from the Press and Journal: "Aberdeen Rapid Transit: Everything you need to know about tram-like bus plans as public talks start
Bosses say the new bus system could rival the Edinburgh trams."
then there's a poorly photoshopped image of a Belfast Glider bendy bus in Aberdeen

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 27/09/2025

spent railway200 looking at buses and the repair of a several month old 5km/h temporary speed restriction

Several eras of Lothian bus at Marine depot with crowds of people

A group of people in orange hi viz working on the crossover at West End tram stop

A tram in an Emirates advert using the York Place crossover eastbound

A tram at Haymarket, with an overhead wire isolating bar on the other line

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 07/09/2025

Oh, hello, I think I was the trainee guard on your train! (and kept doubting whether I recognised you or not)

BR Standard tank 80105 next to class 26 038 at Bo'ness station

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 21/08/2025

Finally got a ride behind 80105, BR Standard classes look beautiful

80105, a BR Standard Class 4, and 26038 double heading a train at Bo'ness station

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 12/08/2025

from the 8th September the N22, previously Lothian's most frequent nightbus, that served both the country's largest airport and one of its most densely populated areas will be fully withdrawn, having being cut back to a shadow of its former self

The current timetable for the N22, operating three buses per night between Princes Street and South Gyle Broadway

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Clara @pacerclara.insanity.tube · 05/08/2025

reminder that electric buses don't have to be significantly heavier, they just need overhead wires

A Solaris Trollino trolleybus in Salzburg

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