AI-generated (not entirely realistic) railway images

[Sun Chariot]

Brilliance, @BeeBus sheer brilliance! You've even got the destination matrix font spot-on.
@Topological is, I'm sure, itching to comment once back on!

Those DLR cars are the original P86, P89 stock: with the "full window" each end, they made for a wonderful front-seat (and back seat!) ride.
They were retired at the start of the 1990s, due to a) inability to operate in multiple and b) a lack of tunnel-evacuation exit end-door - a regulatory necessity when the DlLR Bank branch was added to its network.
I'm so pleased they found a new life, converted to OHLE! You might even find yellowing old copies of The London Evening Standard wedged between their seat-backs.

DLR geek moment: the longest DLR train I've ever seen (and photo'd), whilst living in DLR land, was 20 carriages (10 sets) coupled. Solely to move vehicles, during a planned weekend of infrastructure replacement.

 

[Class15]

They might not manage to run trains to Zagreb or Skopje, but they go here now!

Srbija Voz 441-701 passes Harrow & Wealdstone working the 13:26 Birmingham New Street to Belgrade Center.

 

[BeeBus]

I'm a tad worried about the train that's not very far behind it, especially given the history of this location. However, I like the idea of the UK being fully connected to the mainland European network in a way that would allow conventional trains to run through. Fortunately, it looks like Serbia at least share the same loading gauge as the UK, which makes it a lot easier!

 

[Topological]

After the successful Mancunian demonstration run of DLR car 11 between Debdale Park and Reddish the vehicle design was adopted for Metrolink. Even with the later rebranding they retained the red and blue colours to keep faith with the two principal football clubs in the area - which I think were Oldham Athletic and Ashton United. What was surprising was the continued use of driverless control on the street sections, but the people of Manchester are quick learners and soon learnt to keep out of their way! I'm struggling to recognise the specific location in this picture I've found and I suspect the St. Peter's Square sign on the left is misleading. 1023 is a single unit working to Eccles whereas 1012 is at the rear of a double (or, it seems, a 1.75 unit) working from Altrincham to Piccadilly.

View attachment 209949

Looks like this is a special re-imagination to make the Londoners feel at home.

That is clearly the temporary Number 10 North in the background. St Peter's Square has become an underground stop, and a yellow box junction has been painted for no reason at all. There are even pedestrians obeying a red traffic light.

I do recognise all the buildings though. Hopefully they will put them back in their right places before I return to Manchester on Monday night.

 

[DiscoSteve]

Preston was a station I was at far too often. It may have been improved by having Crumlin viaduct passing through. It is sad to read the current thread about the station. The tale of the 222s/810s is a sad one too.

I actually really like the Voyagers. They have always been kind to me on my way in and out of Manchester. Tomorrow I will take one if the Cardiff-Birmingham I want to take is cancelled (as they too often are).

For this one I wanted to take aim at another much maligned but actually excellent train, the TfW 197.

View attachment 209718

I experienced a looooong ride in one of (a coupled pair) of these from Cardiff Central all the way to Stockport on Monday - and because of that I notice the big issue with this AI generated image - every flaming sentence has to be written twice, once in English and once in Welsh!!!!!!

 

[Sun Chariot]

1970s icons. Paisley shirts, coudrouy jackets, flares, hippie beads. Oh and a glimmer of a brave new world. Yes, 43 000 is being hauled dead-in-tow.

Before the red, white and blue. Recalling my 35mm photos of these class 119 and 121 units.

 

[BeeBus]

My early days involved some trips to York in the days of steam and, later, green Deltics. Several things stick in your memory and one of these was the Newcastle to Poole train, an interesting service formed (presumably in one direction each day) of Southern Region green coaches which certainly stood out from everything else. South of York it went onto the GC route. This picture is an attempt to recreate those halcyon days, although it doesn't look very much like York, I'm afraid. The two boys have completely forgotten their lunch - a packet of Smiths crisps with the little blue bag of (damp) salt which can be seen to prove our memory that bags of crisps were bigger in those days. This is accompanied by a Lyons individual apple and blackcurrant fruit pie (as mentioned by Victoria Wood) which was certainly part of my diet from the refreshment rooms at York and also some milk in a carton from a vending machine. I really wanted to do a carton of Kia-Ora orange squash, the kind you got at by punching out a perforated circle in the top of the packet but Gemini wouldn't play ball. I'm not surprised, in fairness, as I couldn't find a picture of one on the internet either.

The boys are excited not just by the green coaches. They may have realised that 60873 is a namer - COLDSTREAMER - but also a very rare bird for this part of the world as it was a St. Margaret's engine and has presumably been grabbed following an overhaul at Darlington.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Wonderful backstory @BeeBus and I think I might tweak my prompt I used for post 1503, to give me a V2

My latest "fun" is stormclouds, as you might have seen on the other forum.

 

[BeeBus]

It's only subsequently I've realied that Gemini has actually given us an A3 with a V2 number - I did wonder why it was so keen to put a nameplate over a splasher for a class that was largely un-named. The survivor has the name plates on the side of the smokebox! I had a feeling all wasn't quite right - the two classes are after all quite similar, but then I spotted an extra set of wheels behind the pony truck In other words, a bogie! I wouldn't mind, but the concept would have worked just as well with an A3. The advantage with the V2 was that there was a much shorter list of names to chooose from and it avoided the somewhat dubious names such as Merry Hampton, Dick Turpin and Gay Crusader. Which then led me down the road to produce this:



Somehow I can't see this livery catching on!

 

[Sun Chariot]

Flyihg Pig / Mucky Duck / Ivatt 4 / 43000 class (yes, it was known by all the names) drifts across Barmouth Bridge.

 

[D6130]

Beautiful image! I wonder whether 'Flying Pigs' ever actually worked on the Cambrian lines - after the regional boundary adjustments in 1963? Maybe from Shrewsbury, Bangor or Llandudno Junction depots?

 

[BeeBus]

Flyihg Pig / Mucky Duck / Ivatt 4 / 43000 class (yes, it was known by all the names) drifts across Barmouth Bridge.

I'm not sure the driver saw the low bridge sign at Morfa Mawddach! I've had an issue with Gemini not getting things in the correct proportions as well. Shame, as it's an atmospheric shot.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I'm not sure the driver saw the low bridge sign at Morfa Mawddach! I've had an issue with Gemini not getting things in the correct proportions as well. Shame, as it's an atmospheric shot.

Oh yes, some of the relative sizes, train versus infrastructure, have been a swine; and this written composition took me 40 image cycles to get even what you see. Fun and frustration in equal measure!

Beautiful image! I wonder whether 'Flying Pigs' ever actually worked on the Cambrian lines - after the regional boundary adjustments in 1963? Maybe from Shrewsbury, Bangor or Llandudno Junction depots?

Thanks @D6130 I figured the Ivatt has a suitable weight; and, just in case it was rare, I added a group of trespassers locals and rail enthusiasts stood in the foreground by the trackside.

 

[BeeBus]

Beautiful image! I wonder whether 'Flying Pigs' ever actually worked on the Cambrian lines - after the regional boundary adjustments in 1963? Maybe from Shrewsbury, Bangor or Llandudno Junction depots?

I think it's probably unlikely but not impossible. A quick look in a contemporary WTT shows that tender locos with a 'Blue' route availability were permitted across the viaduct (except eight-coupled ones). From what I can gather the Flying Pigs would have been 'Yellow' with a lighter axle load, so permitted. The British Railways database shows none of these to have been allocated to Western Region sheds, albeit some were at Oxley when it had become an LMR shed. So one would have had to have gone quite a way out of its way to get to Barmouth. Given that they were an LMS design an awful lot of them ended up on the Eastern and North Eastern regions and they were noticeably absent from the Central Lines of the LMS and BR.

 

[Sun Chariot]

The "Spamcan slip". The flanges squeal, the driving wheels suddenly spin frantically, the exhaust's staccato stutter, the crew's curses. They can't wait for the new electric trains...

 

[BeeBus]

Nice. I see there's a bit of AI-generated heat distortion in the track. Fortunately it's only the third rail so perhaps the power's off so they need to use steam!

The coach formation seems realistic and prototypical. Did you tell it what coaches to put in or did it build the train itself?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Stephenson's Rocket Salad. Pop-up food stall. Eat-in seating available. Shame they didn't market this theme farther north.

Swallows and Amazons. When InterCity sector launched its Swallow brand in 1987, online shopping was still a distant dream in our daily lives. Sometimes, we need a little help.
So perhaps this one is "Angry Birds".

Nice. I see there's a bit of AI-generated heat distortion in the track. Fortunately it's only the third rail so perhaps the power's off so they need to use steam!

The coach formation seems realistic and prototypical. Did you tell it what coaches to put in or did it build the train itself?

Ah - that's actually the real-life conductor rail gap and thick insulated power-cable joining the adjacent lengths of rail.
I told Gemini to model track geometry on the modern-day spur between Portcreek Junction and Cosham Junction; I gave it a source in the form of a photo of my own.

The carriages I specified the varying "wear" of lined maroon.
The BSK / TSO / RMB / FO rake, I gave it a couple of random photos of my own (no Bulleid though) and I pronpted Gemini to make up the AI train using those.

Gemini capability definitely evolved - a few months ago, that level of accuracy wasn't achievable for me.

 

[D6130]

Stephenson's Rocket Salad. Pop-up food stall. Eat-in seating available. Shame they didn't market this theme farther north.

Swallows and Amazons. When InterCity sector launched its Swallow brand in 1987, online shopping was still a distant dream in our daily lives. Sometimes, we need a little help.
So perhaps this one is "Angry Birds".



Ah - that's actually the real-life conductor rail gap and thick insulated power-cable joining the adjacent lengths of rail.
I told Gemini to model track geometry on the modern-day spur between Portcreek Junction and Cosham Junction; I gave it a source in the form of a photo of my own.

The carriages I specified the varying "wear" of lined maroon.
The BSK / TSO / RMB / FO rake, I gave it a couple of random photos of my own (no Bulleid though) and I pronpted Gemini to make up the AI train using those.

Gemini capability definitely evolved - a few months ago, that level of accuracy wasn't achievable for me.

The woman in the red and white striped stockings looks very impressive....but what is she actually supposed to be doing?

 

[Sun Chariot]

"They've all gone." His melacholic memories of a once-proud workforce at a once-mighty company.

The woman in the red and white striped stockings looks very impressive....but what is she actually supposed to be doing?

A flying kick at the locker door which that poor senior chap is unable to fathom.
Woman's clothing and make-up inspired by a friend of my 24 year-old son. In my days, it was New Romantics glam, or The Smiths drab, or NWOBHM demin 'n' leather!