Arturs Dobrecovs

@arturs

Queer 22y/o working in a railway control room, and occasionally the voice of announcements. Views expressed here are entirely my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🇺🇦 he/they

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Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 21d

Wondering if anyone could help with some reference photos of SBB departure boards? I am in particular looking for how to represent services that: - Terminate short of, extend beyond, or divert away from their destination - Have additional/cancelled stops (I have this in French, but not in EN/DE/IT)

Partial screenshot of an official SBB departure board, showing an 07:05 IR90 service to Brig, with additional yellow text underneath that says "Arrêt à Leuk", translating to "Stops at Leuk".

Partial screenshot of another official SBB departure board, showing an 05:04 IR95 service to Brig, with additional yellow text underneath that says "Ne s'arrête pas à Leuk", translating to "Not stopping at Leuk".

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 26d

I love me some line numbers, but I must admit it is tricky for me to reverse-engineer them onto a timetable not built around them - but not for a lack of trying! 😅 (Not quite sure what's happened to the Heathrow Express label here - will investigate when I'm done with lunch)

Partial screenshot of cis.arturs.co.uk showing an SBB-style departure board at London Paddington. The different Elizabeth line routes are labelled S10/S11/S12 depending on their route, and Heathrow Express has a bright red italic "HEX" label, although the acronym is repeated twice for some reason.
Some of the station names are also translated into German-ish

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 26d

I should clarify that I have slightly modified the departure board for the benefit of non-railway nerds at EMF, which I'll roll back afterwards. Mostly the fact that it's showing company logos instead of train categories like S/R/RE/IR/IC (which are themselves still a work in progress)

Partial screenshot of cis.arturs.co.uk showing an SBB-style departure board for Leeds, showing various trains. On the left they have Swiss-style train categories labelled, such as R for local trains, IR for inter-regional trains, and IC for inter-city trains. Some of the destinations have also been given some German-style names, such as York Hauptbahnhof

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 26d

Hello! Yes probably at some point - I don't have a list that I'm working through, but rather just whatever I feel like/have the best reference photos for. I do however already have a PIS simulator for the ICEs! (Slightly oddly cropped due to me being on my mobile - sorry) cis.arturs.co.uk

Screenshot of cis.arturs.co.uk showing the DB ICE simulator, with information for East Midlands Railway service 1F16, and part of its calling pattern.

Screenshot of cis.arturs.co.uk showing the DB ICE simulator, with a map of the train between its origin at London St Pancras and its first stop at Market Harborough

Screenshot of cis.arturs.co.uk showing the DB ICE simulator, with the next stop of Market Harborough for this service, with an advert for EMF underneath it

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 26d

Another day at #EMF2026, another departure board design - this time from Switzerland's own SBB. Unfortunately the calling patterns from Ledbury are either only 1 station (Hereford), or too many to list on my computer monitor, so only Colwall makes the cut for screen size

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 27d

Today we are... *spins wheel* ...French! 🇫🇷🥖

Photo of the departure board monitor on display inside the welcome tent at Electromagnetic Field festival. It is modelled after SNCF's departure boards with blue background lines of alternating darkness, and the word "depárts" written vertically on the right-hand side.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· 27d

My little contribution to #EMF2026 - a lil departure board in the welcome tent, showing Ledbury train departures in the style of Nederlandse Spoorwegen

Photo of a computer monitor up on a stand inside a white tent. On the monitor is a departure board in the style of Dutch NS. Next 5 trains from Ledbury are shown in rows of alternating white and light blue backgrounds. At the bottom is a bright yellow section with a "Trains at Ledbury" title, and a warning about train running between Reading/Didcot Parkway and Oxford being delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Selfie of me wearing transparent glasses and a white Uniqlo TfL-branded T-shirt, stood in front of the departure board

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jun 17

Who needs generative AI when you can poorly slap 2 photos together using Instagram's story editor

Deliveroo promotional image showing a phone with a screenshot of the Deliveroo app, showing the progress of a delivery order. Next to the estimated arrival time is a small photo of Cher on a bicycle

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jun 10

Meanwhile my fatass getting annoyed at not being able to find the Nando's pin...

Screenshot of an email from Google Maps, saying that my updated location has had 10,000 total views, about the Greenford Nando's that I corrected on the 13th of March. A map shows 2 pins on the Greenford West Way shopping centre, with 1 where the pin was originally (the middle of the car park) and where I moved it to (the actual Nando's). A subtitle at the bottom says "Your update is helping in a big way"

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 20

While in the area, had a few rides on the Enoden Electric Railway too - particularly love the bit that runs along the Sagami Bay coast

Photo of an Enoden 1000-series train approaching the terminal station Fujisawa on the elevated single-track line that bends and curves around other buildings. The roof of the station building forms an arch over the track and casts a shadow on the platform, so the train and the buildings and trees around it really pop.

Photo of an Enoden 300-series train pulling out of Enoshima station heading towards Fujisawa, entering a level crossing over a road.

Photo of an Enoden line 1000-series train running on the line parallel to a road and the Sagami Bay, with pretty big waves crashing towards the beach shore, out of view behind the elevated road.

Photo of 2 Enoden line trains side by side in a passing loop, as most of the line is single-track. On the left is a 2000-series train travelling away from the camera with red tail-lights at the back, and on the right is a 20-series train stood still waiting for the signal to enter the single-track line, with a single big headlight illuminated at the front.
The line runs right next to a pedestrian pavement with only a small knee-height fence, although it starts to curve away from the path and behind some trees further from the camera.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 20

Look at these two adorable cuties 🇯🇵🚟🇩🇪

Close-up photo of the side of one of the Shōnan Monorail carriages in a platform. Stickered onto the side is an illustration of both a Shōnan Monorail car and a Wuppertal Schwebebahn car, anthropomorphised and shown to be smiling and holding hands.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 20

Had a little jolly on Wuppertal Schwebebahn's sister danglebahn today - the Shōnan Monorail!

Photo of Shōnan Monorail unit 5602 pulling into the terminal station Shōnan-Enoshima. The train is suspended above a background of green trees and shrubbery, with some of the platform visible at the bottom, which consists of a passenger platform on either side of a lowered gap where the train hovers. To either side is a dispatch mirror, and on one side the departing signal, currently showing a red aspect.
The train itself is silver, with black trim around the tall windows, and some pinkish-red highlights under and above the windows.

Selfie of me stood in front of the same train pulling into the same station, but now with the first carriage in the platform. I'm wearing a light grey t-shirt with dark green shoulders and a dark red collar, some sunglasses, and a vague attempt at a smile.

Photo of the same train earlier in the day, pulling into one of the intermediate stations. The track is suspended high above a road.
Crucially here you can see that the main part of the line (to the left, where the train is coming from) is single-track, splitting up into a passing loop at most stations to allow trains to travel in both directions. In this photo the front carriage of the train is passing through a switch crossing in the track above, going into the platform further away from the camera to the right, while the crossing is blocked for the platform closer to the camera.

Photo of train 5608 approaching another intermediate station on the Shōnan Monorail. This station is single-track with no crossings on either side, so trains in both directions use the same platform. This train is almost identical but has orange highlights instead of pinkish-red ones. On approach to the station, the train is passing above a residential road on a big sweeping curve, with everything expect the front carriage blocked from view by some large support columns.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 16

Good *evening*, Ben

Photo from inside one of JR Hokkaido's trains, looking over some seats and out of the windows, where the bright orange sun can be seen setting over the Uchiura Bay.

The sky is a beautiful blend of pink and orange, with the reflected light shimmering on the surface of the water as far as the eye can see. In the far distance on both sides you can see the silhouettes of some mountainous landmasses, one of which is the volcano 'Hokkaido Koma-ga-take'.

In the bottom left is a scandalous naked elbow of another passenger that happened to get into my shot, while they were taking the same photo.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 8

Meow

Selfie of me in front of a Hello Kitty statue inside car 2 of the train, wearing a blue uniform and her signature pink bow to the side of her hat.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 7

Obvs had to chase down both of the Super Mario Shinkansen trains while staying in Kyushu 🍄🐢⭐🚄

Photo of JR Kyushu's class N700S Shinkansen wrapped in a colourful Super Mario livery, in a platform at Takeo-Onsen preparing to take me to Nagasaki. The livery is mostly red with a thick blue stripe across the bottom, with lots of large Mario stickers of him in different poses.

Selfie of me in front of the same red Super Mario Shinkansen train, with some half-height platform edge doors between me and the train.

Photo of JR Kyushu's 800 series Shinkansen, also decorated with lots of Super Mario characters and items, but this time just stickers on a plain white background.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 5

3/10 the Shard is pointier

Photo of the Lotte World Tower in Seoul, poking out through trees both above and below. Behind the tower is a perfectly clear light blue sky.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· May 5

Spotted Croydon's trams and S&DR's Locomotion both featured in Korea's Railroad Museum 🚂👀

Photo of an information board in the outdoor tram area of Korea's Railroad Museum. The infographic is all in Korean, but prominently features photos of 4 trams in various European cities, with the top right being a red tram in Croydon, labelled in Korean simply as "UK". Also pictured are trams from Italy (top left), Germany (bottom left), and France (bottom right).

Photo from inside the main exhibition building of the Korean Railroad Museum, in the section about the global history of railways. One of the items on display is a small model of Locomotion No. 1, the first passenger steam locomotive of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in the UK.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Mar 19

VY in Norway 😆

Photo of a VY FLIRT train 75555 pulling into platform 1 at Movatn station. In the background you can see the wooden platform 2, and behind that a frozen lake surrounded by a forest.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Mar 19

That's certainly one way to keep a carriage door open ☕

Photo inside a VY FLIRT train carriage, looking at the top of a door between carriages. At the very top is a stack of 55 single-use hot drink cups, jammed horizontally between the 2 doors to force them to stay open.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Feb 25

Now this is super exciting! Did have a bit of a fright today when I got an email saying that our ICN 1959 was cancelled, but fortunately it was simply re-numbered and re-timed to be IC 37069 instead (whoever put the schedule in seemingly forgot to label it a night train) bsky.app/profile/simo...

Photo of a Trenitalia E.464 class electric locomotive stood on track 12 at Roma Termini station, with passengers on the platform walking towards the InterCity Notte carriages in the distance. The platform departure board advertises this as the InterCity 37069 train to Palermo Centrale, scheduled to depart at 23:25, expected to be 5 minutes late.

Photo inside our cabin on the InterCity Notte train. There are 2 beds folded down, with a third at the top folded up and away.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Feb 24

Dragging Simon off for a not-so-little (despite his claims 😆) jaunt down onto the continent 🚆

Selfie of myself and Simon in front of an e320 Eurostar train on the platforms at London St Pancras, with a still very dark sky in the background.

Selfie of myself in front of an SNCF TGV Neo Duplex on a platform at Paris Gare de Lyon station.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jan 27

Came up north for a few hours in 🇩🇰 Helsingør... Then saw how quick, cheap, and convenient the ferry over to 🇸🇪 Helsingborg is, and have unexpectedly ended up on my way to Sweden... 😆

Photo of Oresundslinjen's "Hamlet" ferry docked in Helsingør, taken through a window of the pedestrian boarding bridge.

Photo onboard Hamlet, looking through the window out over the water.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jan 26

Love this silly little metro station in Copenhagen that has a bunch of platform furniture littered all over the walls and ceiling 😆

Photo taken from the platform at Havneholmen metro station looking up towards the mezzanine concourse and the ticket hall. On the walls and ceilings are various clocks, departure boards, wayfinding signs, bins, benches, and smartcard validators hanging sideways or upside down. The departure boards actually show real arrival information, mimicking the screens on the platforms themselves. The clocks are all spinning quickly showing different random times.

Selfie of me on an escalator at Havneholmen station, going down from the ticket hall to a mezzanine concourse, and again there are various bits of platform furniture littered across the walls behind me. I am wearing a white t-shirt, dark blue jumper, dark blue coat, and a dark cyan beanie hat.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jan 26

Where can I get myself one of these 🤔

Photo of a track trolley in the Danish Railway Museum. This particular one looks a bit like a bicycle, with two wheels, pedals, a seat and handlebars all above the right-hand rail, and a bar extending off to the left for one wheel on the left-hand rail. A dressed up mannequin sits on top of the trolley. In the background is an old train carriage with the letters DSB on the side.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jan 26

Ticked off another railway museum, this time in Denmark 🇩🇰 140kr for adults, but there's plenty to see and read about - with most signage in both Danish and English, plus a bit of German. You can go inside most vehicles including various cabs and carriages, and there's a whole exhibit on Interrail!

Photo of my hand holding a leaflet from the Danish Railway Museum. In the background is a replica of the first railway locomotive in Denmark, with the original having been scrapped centuries ago.

Photo of the entrance to an exhibit on Interrail in the Danish Railway Museum. Projected onto the wall is a map of Denmark with all the railway lines highlighted, and to the left is an introduction to the exhibit titled "Inexpensive train travel for the young generation" with lots of photos of young people travelling by train.

Photo of a red DSB diesel locomotive and a black steam engine, side-by-side. In the background you can see part of a brown freight trailer carriage.

Selfie of me inside the cab of the diesel engine from the previous photo. Projected onto the windows is a view of a station with passengers waiting to board this train.

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jan 25

Hehe 💨

Photo taken out of a train window of a platform with a sign post showing the station's name: "Middelfart"

Arturs Dobrecovs@arturs· Jan 25

Quirky interchange at Lindaunis bridge in northern Germany: the main bridge is being rebuilt, with a temporary bridge only open to pedestrians. The Kiel-Flensburg railway line has been severed, with temporary stations constructed on either side to allow people to connect between the north and south