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If anyone is wondering why Topo was sad in the picture, rather than showing any form of disgust at the sprouty emissions, it is because Topo always dreamed of being a 150/2. The sideways glance to Rab stems from jealousy about his gangway. Topo always dreamed of such a shiny gangway on his front.
If anyone is wondering why Topo was sad in the picture, rather than showing any form of disgust at the sprouty emissions, it is because Topo always dreamed of being a 150/2. The sideways glance to Rab stems from jealousy about his gangway. Topo always dreamed of such a shiny gangway on his front.
Now and again we get threads asking "What if the nationalised railway specified a universal type of rolling stock to be rolled out across all routes"? Here's Nano Banana 2's take on OVS Bulleid's unique vision for this brief.
Now and again we get threads asking "What if the nationalised railway specified a universal type of rolling stock to be rolled out across all routes"? Here's Nano Banana 2's take on OVS Bulleid's unique vision for this brief.
Now and again we get threads asking "What if the nationalised railway specified a universal type of rolling stock to be rolled out across all routes"? Here's Nano Banana 2's take on OVS Bulleid's unique vision for this brief.
I have not been drinking for years and I can see a perspective trick in the livery. One minute I think that the sign for the tavern will foul the loading gauge. Next minute I realise that it is painted on. I would not want to see that coming along the platform towards me when I was on my way back from a few scoops in The Sprouty Cow.
I hope the design has been submitted to the Project Churchward precurement call @JohnElliott . Those would be ideal for Bristol Metro.
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Rhys the 197 is now available. However, it took so many attempts to find a good picture of Rhys that there is no chance to get him into the story until tomorrow night. He is on his way.
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In trying to understand why Oxford did not allow the GWR to build through the centre of the city, I tasked the young academic couple to do some research. They failed, and headed off to the pub to argue about whether the em-dash or semicolon is a better gramattical tool in paper writing. This picture of the couple heading between the Floreat Ventus and the Victoria Pullulat shows they could have worked a bit harder. Just paying attention to the world around them would have revealed the awkward juxtaposition of the safety parapets on the bridge and the requisite yellow lines.
Brticity Ril is another of the failed branding exercises that were conducted by British Rail in their quest to crush Intercity. A secondary attempt is in the real images thread.
Oxford's Bridge of Sighs and Gasps and Soft Moans had to be demolished at some point. Given its history, it was a bit of an anticlimax.
Those two lads have done really well to complete their "build A4 Mallard out of used earbuds" partwork magazine series. A non-working model for only a few hundred pounds; deal.
Rhys is a brilliant addition to the new series by Over-Revved Tawdry*. TfW has far more ground to cover than Sodor and my mind is filled with many Rhys, each running on their own separate route. Rhys's pieces, if you will.
* Some might say "showy but cheap" could apply to several 21st century trains in the UK.
Rhys is new to the railway, a young cousin for Noel the 195 and Dudley the 196. The Civity family have been a godsend for the Sprouty Controller since joining from Spain. The other DMUs are less sure about this team of upstarts pushing in at every turn. Rhys was not disturbed and could often be seen trundling along the Marches taking important customers to their agricultural dates.
One sunny morning Rhys had been up in Chester feeling cramped in the depot as he waited his turn to get his Standard Plus stickers polished. Rhys was very proud of having Standard Plus despite his small size. He often boasted to his cousins that he had the posher seats on board. Dudley used to tease him, because Dudley was longer. Noel was non-plussed as the elder of the family. This day was to be a big one for Rhys. He was ordered to go to the big city.
The big city was exciting for a young civity. Rhys was proud that he was substituting for Wayne the Class 67 and his troublesome coaches, Jose, Igor, Arne, Pep and Big Fat Sam. Arne had a door issue and Big Fat Sam could not get the brakes on. So the Sprouty Controller said Rhys could go and get the passengers. Rhys sped out of the station delighted to be ensuring that Topological and his ilk would be safely, if cosily, on time on their way home.
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Rhys was enjoying his run. He was out ont he mainline without a care in the world. Victoria the Voyager was not happy at being looped. Verity had a new pantograph and was thinking she was a real princess with her new operation. When Rhys went speeding past her she was not pleased. Verity glanced disapprovingly and the little interloper. Rhys had a massive smile. The hikers were suitably impressed by the efforts of Rhys, but they were also know stars of InstabookX and could not keep focus on Rhys when there was a camera to be waved at. Verity had no time for InstabookX or the insufferable Elon Zuckerberg.
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Rhys was having a wonderful time. Verity was not happy though and at the Hereford flat crossing Verity tried hard to push Rhys. She had slipped a coach at Stafford in a bid to gain a bit more speed in persuit. Rhys was too happy seeing all the apple pickers. Rhys did not have time to concern himself with Verity's vengance. Verity was disappointed having gone a long way out of her way to reach Hereford. She was on her way to Bournemouth and would be very late into Wolverhampton. Where Verity was humming that she wanted to be adored, Rhys just retorted that Verity was there to be ignored. The sprouty controller learned of Verity's antics and promoted the signaller who cleared the line.
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When Rhys reached the end of the line there was a big crowd waiting. The crowd were hoping to see Jose, but for those who Rhys had conveyed from the big city there was a real relief to be home. Rhys was so pleased with his work and had a massive smile as he faced the buffers. The Sprouty Controller placed another sprout into her mouth and wrote a note that Rhys should get back to the Chester queue.
Rhys was finally back in Chester and getting the flaps on his litter bins realigned. He could enjoy a well-earned 10-week rest from revenue-earning service. He had been a contributing Civity.
This one, I was trying to generate the Southern-liveried 319 (always thought they should have painted one of them in SR 'sunshine' malachite before they were sent away up North). But the station background is... special. Yes, two lines crossed at East Grinstead, but not on the level, and neither of them ran through the station building!
This one, I was trying to generate the Southern-liveried 319 (always thought they should have painted one of them in SR 'sunshine' malachite before they were sent away up North). But the station background is... special. Yes, two lines crossed at East Grinstead, but not on the level, and neither of them ran through the station building!
This one, I was trying to generate the Southern-liveried 319 (always thought they should have painted one of them in SR 'sunshine' malachite before they were sent away up North). But the station background is... special. Yes, two lines crossed at East Grinstead, but not on the level, and neither of them ran through the station building!
Do you remember Ash, Rab and Top in post 1198? Well then, let me tell you a story...
One sunny morning, Ash, Top and Rab are surprised to find a new addition to the yard. She looks tired and a little sad.
"Hello, who are you and why are you in our yard?" our three chums chorus.
"I'm Connie. Connie Lingus-o'Leary. Umm, I am - well, I was - a special train as I took people to Stansted Airport for the start of their holidays. Then, at their holiday's end, I took them back. Lovely to see so many people. But now I'm not wanted any more". Connie begins to cry.
"Please don't be sad", Ash soothes. Rab and Top concur. "We have a lovely little railway here and, even though we don't have an airport, you can run around all our railway network".
Connie continues to bawl. Ash looks confused. "Oh, what have I said wrong?"
Rab points to Connie's roof. "Look, she's got a pant thing."
"Pants on her head! "Ash exclaims. "What a weird woman."
Top corrects them: "It's her pantograph. That's how she gets all her food and energy."
Connie adds: "Exactly - without wires above me, I can't go anywhere. That's why I'm sad. And I was dragged here!" Connie starts to sob again.
"Oh, there must be a solution", Ash and Rab hopefully reply.
Top is quiet, a wry smile upon his face. "Of course! We three carry our food and energy around with us, in our fuel tanks. So I bet we could carry Connie!"
Ash seems doubtful. "I'm only a Pacer. I can barely move myself."
Top suggests. "Well, we can couple up together and all help. What do you think, Connie?"
Connie's face immediately brightens. "I would love that! Thank you so much!"
They all beam, pleased at their jolly good idea. Then Connie gestures towards an approaching person. "Who's that stout lady with top hat and the huge bag of Brussels?"
Rab explains: "Oh, that's our Controller - Fraulein Spraut-Fahrt. She joined after the Fat Co- I mean, Sir Topham Hatt, retired. She's much more demanding: wants us well fuelled, warm and polished first thing, ready to take her German holidaying tourists on their day-trips. 'Reisen Shine', she calls it."
Connie ponders: "Is that those holiday posters at this yard's entrance? For Spraut-Fahrt's Reisen? I bet I carried some of those people to and from the airport. People like that, bring lots of heavy luggage! Some folk are as big as whales!"
"Wales!" Ash exclaims: "That's amazing. We have a friend, he comes from Wales. He is called Rhys. You must meet him, Connie!"
Tremendous work. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Though it is a while since I studied German, it is good to see travel-themed names making an appearance.
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With a week of sunshine ahead, I did start to wonder what life will be looking like in the valleys. Here we see a Class 66 in some freshly updated sidings. The palm trees in the savannah possibly depressed Tom Jones, who clearly felt that more watering was needed. His decision to sing about Delilah was entirely about the decision to buy these trees in the local garden centre. Had Delilah chosen to spend money on a few wysteria and an apple tree then history could have been very different. Some people stood around laughing about the decision to plant anything in a public location like this.
Is the truth about the lack of photos from the dark side of the moon by Artemis becuase the Slatley drivers have a no photography agreement?
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Almost a month ago, Anika and the Academic had set out on their long walk. We left them in a caravan. Their walk was long. They found the land where voyagers have capacity. A turnip was their prize.
But what had all this been about? What was the end of this tale. Clearly, they were not off to find a ring. There were no underground houses and the story did not spin out over 9 hours. If it had then they could just start of the video in Aberdeen and head for Plymouth in Class 220 comfort.
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The collection of ingredients on their quest had brought them to a magical place. The secret land in which the Wonder Woman Pasties are truly made. They had succeeded in their quest to add turnips to the recipe and now the world would realise it. More work was needed to get the staff trains to resemble 220s but could that drive the academic to become the pasty murderer? We saw hints back in January, but "The New Shadow" would never be written.
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Of course the film rights have been signed in the meantime. The Voyager had too expensive image rights.
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So we bid adieu to the Academic, to Anika and to the Wonder Woman Pasty. Did any exist? Are they random rearrangements of elements of someone's imagination? Probably.
Don't know where and don't know when. But I know that this was taken some sunny day.
Anyone who sees the tile map at Manchester Victoria will know that there is a branch down to Dover.
There was also a famous project by Folkestone Billionaire Tarquin Fitzhugh to build a replica of Bamburgh Castle atop the cliffs, which commenced in early 2016. Despite originally being conceived in celebration of Leicester City winning the Premier League, the castle became synonymous with the stop the ferries campaign at the 2024 election.
I do not know how many images of Fitzhugh Castle exist online. Someone should go capture one because it would give them their 15 minutes of fame as part of the current coverage of the Championship relegation battle. Better someone else gets a close up of the castle than I start appearing on TV everywhere with the long range shot I found.
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I think there is strong evidence it was the L&Y in the picture too. When building the railway they clearly gave themselves priority over the coastal path, sending the latter under a bridge and to the land side of the tracks.
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No trains in this image, but it is one that appeared in one of my talks yesterday. For those familiar with Manchester, they will recognise Debenhams as being what is now (and always was, if not known) the Rylands building. However, familiar people would also know that the real Rylands building does not have an angle which matches the construction in the image. The Starbucks on the corner of Tib Street obstructs the wall that goes to the right. Looking closer though there are other features of the image that do not match the real Rylands building. Next, note that the real Rylands building has Market Street Metrolink outside, but there is no evidence of that within the image I created. The command for this part of the image was "art-deco style department store with tall windows". It is impossible to know how many images Gemini sampled to construct the response to the request for the department store.
Likewise, I think i saw a similar-looking Primark on my travels to the store that is closing down on the right of the image. There are many buildings that have that brick structure with exposed girders painted grey. I am sure we can all see bits of some places within that part of the image. However, none of them are neighbours of Manchester's Rylands building. There is a Primark opposite the Rylands building, but that would be where the Old Ship Inn appears in this image.
We are making huge advances with explainable AI, but the ability to then trace back to all of the available inputs to this image is still well beyond anything we are capable of. A photo of Rylands would give a high probability, but is clearly distinct from the image posted here.
As academics we wrestle with this question of generative AI sourcing every day. Throughout history, it was expected that students would credit work that was not their own. That meant some would credit the lecture notes. I am sure many of us have done that. However, few of my lecture notes are truly mine*. I did not create addition, subtraction, algebraic manipulation, or game theory. I synthesise theories from many sources, a large of number of which are just my memory. The result is hopefully something which captures the content and encourages the students to go explore deeper. But given most of the sentences as they come out of my mouth do not appear in the original source(s), and that source(s) for most theories are not recorded, the best way to really proceed is unclear. We have accepted that students will never be able to cite the true originals (see also the debate around decolonising the curriculum in which there is evidence that we have credited western sources for theories that were actually found in other countries earlier)
Maybe we will get to a similar conclusion with AI. If something is demonstrably a particular image then the AI should credit that. Try putting in a watermarked image and asking the AI to add elements and you will see the watermark credit on the output. However, in most cases the AI is synthesising far more sources than we humans ever did in our relaying of stories. No one image, or indeed no 100 images, is the actual underpinning of the produced image.
In the meantime let us just enjoy AI slop for the fun that it gives and the opportunities to take our minds to worlds that we may never see.
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* I am actually one of the few academics who has been allowed to develop a module on their own research. Hence some of those lectures are based on papers that I wrote and therefore are me. The citation remains to the paper for the idea and not the lecture.
* I am actually one of the few academics who has been allowed to develop a module on their own research. Hence some of those lectures are based on papers that I wrote and therefore are me. The citation remains to the paper for the idea and not the lecture.
Please generate an image of a yorkshire cafe with outside seating. There should be 4 tables outside on the pavement. The table should be the round silver metal types with matching chairs. There should be young female engineers sat at all of the tables enjoying bowls of slop. The ladies should all have glasses of champagne on the tables. The cafe should be called "Another Indulgence" The logo of the cafe should be a small cat. A disappointed looking man should be carrying an order of two bowls of slop to one of the tables. There should be a poster in the window of the cafe saying "Slop Sundays - £1 per Bowl". The cafe should be at the foot of a railway viaduct. The viaduct should be built from stone. There should be a Class 66 crossing the viaduct, but we should only be able to see the locomotive in the picture. The class 66 should be painted in the Freightliner livery. There should be other stone buildings in the image. The overall feeling should be a yorkshire village in the sunshine
We have already seen the ability of generative AI to apply masks and formats to images that add to the viewing experience. Indeed, we may ask AI to draw on many inspirations and then place those within the context of an overall new image. I have often asked for specific images on the walls of the rooms in my pictures. Each image is then drawn with components from the wider web and then blended with the probability that it is what I have asked for. The design results can be of interest, but sometimes they are a little out of proportion.
Here, I wanted to create a "Here is what you could have won" in the style of Bullseye. However, I wanted the game to be themed on the Class 66 rather than a real TV show. There is to my knowledge no darts show in which contestants must hit the double 6.
Sadly, the contestants have thrown a bullseye. The large dart and board in the image are placed to help the audience at home see what has happened at the off camera end of the oche. Each of these realistic images of Class 66's would grace the home of any double 6 enthusiast. None of the images is correctly scaled. The sadness of the contestants is clear. These two have not appeared on any show and are not specified within the command. The host in a suit may be drawing on Bradley Walsh, but then the look is nothing like Bradley.
There is some evidence that Gemini is creating it's own humour in the fact that the dartboard is manufactured by a company called "Win it nau". That was not specified in the command for the image, but may reflect the fact that Gemini knows I like humorous content. The lit up Bullseye sign was something I did ask for to emphasise to the studio audience that the dart has been thrown to the wrong part of the board.
Collectively, the result is something plausible, but clearly not something which has ever existed. I leave it to others to determine whether ITV should actually commission Double 6. If they do then I will kick myself for not copyrighting the format
Another important point to remember here is that Gemini is not an image model. It is a language model. Each element of the image is actually converted into tokens that are placed next to other tokens according to the probability of the two being next to each other. The likelihood of larger chunks of a real image appearing next to each other is non-negligible, but the probability remains small. Multiply that across all the tokens in an image and then it is highly unlikely that any subset of pixels are actually a real picture directly copied. The effect is no more, or less, the effect of any of the large language models writing text based on the corpus that trains them and the users who continue to provide data.
I am learning more and more about the intricacies of the modelling process, but it is becoming clear that models are not directly taking the copyrighted materials of others to pass off as their own. One potential exception is where we ask for a representation of a fictional character (e.g. Bean), but even then the differences between the recreation in one Gemini image and another Gemini image are notable. These differences mean our eyes still see Bean, but we know that neither image is actually taken directly from a real Bean image.
Another way to think about this is if you try to generate a model for recognising single-digit numbers between 0 and 9 in handwriting. The model will get very good at predicting what is seeing and then giving an answer that it believes is like the number that went in. Text recognition would return the typed character, an image model would return an image similar to the character. The diversity of handwriting styles will ensure that there is a diversity of outputs. The image that the model returns of the number it thinks it has seen would not be the image that went in. Because the model produces a probabilistic representation, it will be weighting many of the inputs it learned were the same digit and then bringing those together in a format that looks right.
Now try sketching Van Gogh's Sunflowers. If anyone actually generates the correct picture from memory then there is a prize. Slop for two with a train load of women engineers (possibly not from Yorkshire)
Where are Luke (Francis Bourgeois) and Chris Harris...?
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Post 1,222 @Topological - great insight (para "As academics, we...") and I recall you gave a highly-informed view on thread "Will AI take your job?" too.
I recognise this thread (and the now-ceased "Show off your Realistic AI Railway Images" thread) merely splash around the paddling pool of AI game-changing capability.
I have seen twenty years of evolution: from Big Data, to Deep Mining, to Generative AI and, now, Agentic AI. I have seen AI's value add in the consistent accuracy of medical predictions, in a non-UK medical sector; and I'm seeing AI's efficiencies in legal-facing context (and, if Ai were untrustworthy, it wouldn't be used in a legal context, eh).
Back to your post: you explain how user prompt / descriptive input into AI does not "look for" someone else's image to "rip off", copyright or not. Instead, AI algorithms interrogate all accessible / available data sources for each and every data-point within the user's prompt; the generated result being a concatenation of those. Then AI self-validates the generated result (text or visual) for reasonableness / consistency with sourced content.
As example, two mages in this linked post were generated using the same inputs for scene, lighting, key objects. One I wrote a prompt for a pair of class 24s,.the other I specified class 25s - one of each bodyside variation. The former is shown below this link.
And then it was just our memory - do you remember walking between lines of railway vehicles on death row? It's the last chance to see them. As Marillion sang: "Do you remember? You never understood I had to go." These compositions are inspired from visiting Crewe Works, Swindon Works, MC...
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"A high-definition photorealistic image, a front three-quarter perspective and low ground viewpoint. This scene is beside a two-track railway line which follows a rocky coastline North Wales is similar to Penmaenwar. Sea and shoreline are all the left half of this scene. Railway is several metres higher than shoreline. The shoreline side of railway line is protected by a low concrete wall very weathered. Shoreline is small rocks and large pebbles. Small waves break over these rocks pebbles. Far distance and horizon is sea all grey-blue colour. In far distance, sun's rays shine through cloudy sky. The sun's rays cast dappled light on the sea. The right of this scene is undulating grassy land. Right of this scene is scattered deciduous trees and with drystone walls bordering each field on this undulating grassy land. Railway line is through the middle of this scene. The railway line curves gently right into far distance. Nearside of railway line, a wire-and-post fence parallel to railway line's perimeter border. On the right side middle distance, small white caravans in one field. People just visible walking out of this field towards a narrow stony lane parallel to railway line. On the near railway track in foreground, is a pair of Sulzer class 24 diesel locomotives are approaching. Both class 24 locomotive are painted British Rail blue livery. Both class 24 have full yellow cab front end. The leading class 24 has a small white number 24 023 positioned under its left cabside window. The other class 24 has a small white number 24 035 positioned under its left cabside's window. Both of these class 24 locomotives dirty grimy have oil streak dribble from roof gutter vertically down all the bodyside. These two class 24 locomotives have no roof headcode box. The two class 24 pull a passenger train of nine Mk1 carriages. All these Mk1 carriages painted British Rail blue grey livery scheme. First and second Mk1 carriages have thin yellow stripe on carriage bodyside above the bodyside windows. Three seagulls fly swoop low over sea on extreme left."
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