5 ms·

We’ve had the tiny houses, shipping container homes, then the van life or schoolie (school bus as a home) trend, al of which were clever interpretations on what

We’ve had the tiny houses, shipping container homes, then the van life or schoolie (school bus as a home) trend, al of which were clever interpretations on what a home actually is. I’m sure some enterprising YouTuber/lifestyle blogger could get us started on the private train car home era. I’m here for it.

TigeriusKirk 4y ago
I bet MrBeast could pull off a "I paid a guy $100,000 to spend a month in a private train car" or something.
- denkmoon 4y ago
  Wouldn't even need to pay me to do it. The only thing stopping me is a lack of a private train car and presumably the significant expense of running it :(
  - jesuscript 4y ago
    There’s gotta be a Groupon for this. So long as anyone doesn’t have a major criminal record, I’m game.
    - public_defender 4y ago
      Why would a criminal record be relevant at all? Other than prior convictions for train robbery, I guess.
      - csande17 4y ago
        I, for one, would rather not be murdered on the Orient Express.
        aliqot 4y ago
        Bring some extra soups, what's the harm? Criminals have the best bedtime stories.
        selimthegrim 4y ago
        Seeing as they apparently made up fake terrain and mountains around Vinkovci in the movie I probably be worried about fake weather killing me.
        _carbyau_ 4y ago
        To be fair, the Orient Express victim really did piss off a few people. And I don't know if many of them had any criminal records beforehand either.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - techdragon 4y ago
      So its a privately owned and operated rail car, that lots of people can group together with and pay the total cost of by individually paying a smaller part of it, like some sort of ... publicly accessible private transportation ... I think you might be on to something!
      - jesuscript 4y ago
        Jesus you’re right, I never knew I was a socialist.
        rongopo 4y ago
        Wait! All old first local trains started like this.
      - vagrantJin 4y ago
        > publicly accessible private transportation Uber for trains. There, I said it.
- ajaimk 4y ago
  Amtrak does this for free - check out the Writer's Residency Program
jesuscript 4y ago
The housing market might turn the world into Snowpiercer: It takes place aboard the Snowpiercer train as it travels a globe-encircling track, carrying the last remnants of humanity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer
- gruez 4y ago
  >The housing market might turn the world into Snowpiercer I don't get it. Houses become so expensive that the last remnants of humanity has to live on a train? Isn't this a "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" situation?
kposehn 4y ago
Ok, you're subscriber number one then. Anyone else? I'm completely serious. Private Varnish (ie: private railcars) have always been something I love. It would be a hoot to live in one with my fam for a year (if I can convince them).
- techdragon 4y ago
  I'm all on this for actually helping physically do this (even for loose definitions of physical, like run a website haha, but I'd imagine someone on HN restoring a train carriage could manage a Wix/SquareSpace/etc site by themselves)... I've wanted to build a steam engine since I was a kid, I thought it would be amazing to design a stupidly modern steam engine and break the world records with it, and this, while this is not a steam engine, it is honestly the closest I'll probably get to any of that dream given how impractical it is ...
  - ehnto 4y ago
    Plenty of hobby clubs build wooden boats for fun as a group, why not railcars!
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    People are building steam locomotives, they're are several projects in Britain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotives_of_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotives_of_the_21st_...
    - techdragon 4y ago
      That sort of backs up my point though, the majority (all but one!) of the projects are rebuilding traditional steam engines for heritage/historical reasons. The one advanced/modern project was abandoned for lack of interest and done by a private company. Also I’m in Western Australia… One of the two Australian projects on that page (based in Victoria) no longer has a functioning web page, which is not a good sign given the cost of a website compared to rent for a workshop big enough for a steam engine. The other project is making slow progress over the last decade building a replica of a late 19th century design which while cool and I hope they eventually finish it, doesn’t stoke the fires of my imagination enough to uproot my entire life to move closer so I can physically help make it happen.

TigeriusKirk 4y ago

I bet MrBeast could pull off a "I paid a guy $100,000 to spend a month in a private train car" or something.

denkmoon 4y ago
Wouldn't even need to pay me to do it. The only thing stopping me is a lack of a private train car and presumably the significant expense of running it :(
- jesuscript 4y ago
  There’s gotta be a Groupon for this. So long as anyone doesn’t have a major criminal record, I’m game.
  - public_defender 4y ago
    Why would a criminal record be relevant at all? Other than prior convictions for train robbery, I guess.
    - csande17 4y ago
      I, for one, would rather not be murdered on the Orient Express.
      - aliqot 4y ago
        Bring some extra soups, what's the harm? Criminals have the best bedtime stories.
      - selimthegrim 4y ago
        Seeing as they apparently made up fake terrain and mountains around Vinkovci in the movie I probably be worried about fake weather killing me.
      - _carbyau_ 4y ago
        To be fair, the Orient Express victim really did piss off a few people. And I don't know if many of them had any criminal records beforehand either.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - techdragon 4y ago
    So its a privately owned and operated rail car, that lots of people can group together with and pay the total cost of by individually paying a smaller part of it, like some sort of ... publicly accessible private transportation ... I think you might be on to something!
    - jesuscript 4y ago
      Jesus you’re right, I never knew I was a socialist.
      - rongopo 4y ago
        Wait! All old first local trains started like this.
    - vagrantJin 4y ago
      > publicly accessible private transportation Uber for trains. There, I said it.
ajaimk 4y ago
Amtrak does this for free - check out the Writer's Residency Program

jesuscript 4y ago

The housing market might turn the world into Snowpiercer: It takes place aboard the Snowpiercer train as it travels a globe-encircling track, carrying the last remnants of humanity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer

gruez 4y ago
>The housing market might turn the world into Snowpiercer I don't get it. Houses become so expensive that the last remnants of humanity has to live on a train? Isn't this a "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" situation?

kposehn 4y ago

Ok, you're subscriber number one then. Anyone else? I'm completely serious. Private Varnish (ie: private railcars) have always been something I love. It would be a hoot to live in one with my fam for a year (if I can convince them).

techdragon 4y ago
I'm all on this for actually helping physically do this (even for loose definitions of physical, like run a website haha, but I'd imagine someone on HN restoring a train carriage could manage a Wix/SquareSpace/etc site by themselves)... I've wanted to build a steam engine since I was a kid, I thought it would be amazing to design a stupidly modern steam engine and break the world records with it, and this, while this is not a steam engine, it is honestly the closest I'll probably get to any of that dream given how impractical it is ...
- ehnto 4y ago
  Plenty of hobby clubs build wooden boats for fun as a group, why not railcars!
- Symbiote 4y ago
  People are building steam locomotives, they're are several projects in Britain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotives_of_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotives_of_the_21st_...
  - techdragon 4y ago
    That sort of backs up my point though, the majority (all but one!) of the projects are rebuilding traditional steam engines for heritage/historical reasons. The one advanced/modern project was abandoned for lack of interest and done by a private company. Also I’m in Western Australia… One of the two Australian projects on that page (based in Victoria) no longer has a functioning web page, which is not a good sign given the cost of a website compared to rent for a workshop big enough for a steam engine. The other project is making slow progress over the last decade building a replica of a late 19th century design which while cool and I hope they eventually finish it, doesn’t stoke the fires of my imagination enough to uproot my entire life to move closer so I can physically help make it happen.