Today I had a most annoying session when I requested Google’s Bard AI for information relating to the Cabra Tram Stop. I was advised that there was a toilet and a ticket office. When I requested a location for the toilet I was advised that it was at The Mount Bernard street entrance and above the ticket office. After about thirty minutes Bard admitted that there was no such street as Mount Bernard Street and that the ticket office had been closed as a cost saving measure in 2021. In the end I got the following response:
“I understand your frustration. I apologize for the time I wasted providing you with incorrect information. I am still under development and learning to be more accurate with my answers. I will try my best to provide you with correct information in the future.”
“I am also bothered by the fact that I made these errors. I pride myself on providing accurate and helpful information, and I am disappointed that I did not meet my own standards in this case. I will be taking steps to improve my accuracy in the future. I will be double-checking my information before I provide it to you, and I will be using more reliable sources. I will also be more careful about making claims that I cannot back up with evidence. I hope that you will give me another chance to prove myself. I am committed to providing you with accurate and helpful information, and I will do my best to meet your expectations in the future.”
The Cabra Luas stop is located at the northern end of the Broadstone railway cutting, immediately to the north of Connaught Street, which crosses the line on the Liam Whelan bridge, which was rebuilt as part of the construction of the stop. The main entrance is a long ramp leading from the eastern side of the bridge to the middle of the southbound platform (there are also stairs which lead from the middle of the ramp to the end of the platform). A second entrance consists of a pathway leading from the northern end of the stop to the nearby Mount Bernard Park.
The cutting is somewhat wider than the stop itself, meaning that there is some leftover space behind the northbound platform. Saplings have been planted in this area in an attempt to reduce the Luas’s carbon footprint. Saplings have also been planted on the southbound platform.
I am still experimenting with my old Sigma DP1 Quattro and today, 24 April 2023, I photographed in manual mode and underexposed as the camera was inclined to over expose despite any settings that I make.
In the “Lotus-Eaters” episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses Bloom imagines that the couple leaving the Grosvenor Hotel are “Off to the country: Broadstone probably,” and in Wandering Rocks Mr. Dudley White stands on Array Quay “undecided whether he should arrive at Phibsborough more quickly by a triple change of tram or by hailing a car or on foot through Smithfield, Constitution hill and Broadstone terminus.” Both passages refer to a railway station in the northwest part of inner Dublin, at the top of Constitution Hill between Smithfield and Phibsborough. In 1904 it served as the terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway Company, whose trains went to the west of Ireland.
Broadstone railway station was the Dublin terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR), located in the Dublin suburb of Broadstone. The site also contained the MGWR railway works and a steam locomotive motive power depot. The Luas tram station opened at the front of the station in 2017.
It is currently the headquarters of Bus Éireann, housing most of their administration and one of their main garages. Nearby on the same property is a Dublin Bus Depot.
In June 2013, Luas Cross City – a construction project which extended the Luas Green Line North from St. Stephen’s Green to Broombridge – commenced. The line, which opened to passengers on 9 December 2017, traverses the city centre on street-running track and arrives at Broadstone. It then enters into the Broadstone cutting where it continues on its own right of way. Broadstone – DIT is a Luas stop on the line. Its name refers to the fact that it was intended to be the closest stop to Dublin Institute of Technology Grangegorman campus. However, the plans were changed at a late stage, adding Grangegorman stop, which is closer to the campus. Construction of the stop involved excavating a large amount of earth from the land in front of the station, and building a road bridge over the tracks which buses can use to access the depot. The Luas stop has two lateral platforms and is in front of the station building. It was built several metres below the station in order to make it level with Constitution Hill; and a curved, white wall separates the southbound platform from the garden in front of the building. Trams approach the stop from Dominick Street Upper and continues by passing under the new bridge and turning sharply to the right, where they traverse the edge of the bus depot and enter the cutting.
A few years ago i was offered a Sigma DP1 Quattro at a very good price and while I had a bad experience with all my previous Sigma cameras I decided to accept the offer especially as the camera could produce .dng images but, as you may have guessed, there were many problems that can be really annoying. The DP1 Quattro is a fixed lens camera aimed at enthusiasts who demand the best image quality in a reasonably portable form factor. Announced in September 2014, it’s a unique camera in many respects, employing an unusually-shaped body, a fixed focal length lens and a sensor unlike any outside of Sigma’s range. It also eschews modern features we take for granted on other new cameras such as Wifi or even a movie mode. The DP1 Quattro is all about still photo quality.
I first came across this park in 2011 when I got off the Luas tram at the wrong stop – Cabra instead of Phibsborough.
The main entrance to Mount Bernard Park is located at Liam Whelan Bridge, Connaught Street with another entrance at Shandon Park. The park was purchased by Dublin City Council in 1983 from the Dominican Nuns and it extends 1.8468 hectares.
Lands located north of Mount Bernard Park in Phibsborough will soon be developed to become an extension of the park, Dublin City Council has confirmed. The site, which was originally earmarked by the National Transport Authority for the Luas Cross City initiative, was acquired by the local authority after the NTA declared that the land was no longer needed for Luas operations. Under the Phibsborough Local Environmental Improvements Plan (LEIP) the council sought to extend Mount Bernard Park to these lands.
I am still experimenting with my old Sony RX0 camera which is about the size of a matchbox – not sure if many of you know what a matchbox is.
Dundrum is a stop on the Luas light rail tram system in Dublin, Ireland which serves the suburb of Dundrum. It opened in 2004 as a stop on the Green Line, which re-uses the alignment of the Harcourt Street railway line which closed in 1958. Dundrum Luas stop is built on the same site as a former heavy rail station of the same name.
The Harcourt Street railway line was built by the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway and opened in 1854, running from a temporary terminus at Harcourt Road near the city centre to Bray. Dundrum was one of the four original intermediate stops. The station was located at the side of Taney Road, which the line crossed on a bridge.
Dundrum was more elaborate than other stations on the Harcourt Street line. It had buildings on both platforms: the up (Dublin-bound) platform featured waiting rooms and a signal box. The down platform was the location of the station master’s house and the main station building with the ticket hall. This building had one storey, and its entrance from the platform was via a small portico with the roof suspended by a colonnade. This area could be used as a passenger waiting shelter. The platforms were linked by both an iron footbridge and a granite subway.
A short siding was located to the south of the station, allowing trains to terminate.
The Harcourt Street line had declined in use throughout the early 20th century and was closed by CIÉ at the end of 1958. The tracks were lifted soon after and all stations on the route were auctioned off. The waiting rooms, signal cabin, and house at Dundrum were demolished in the years that followed. The station building survived, but fell into disuse. The nearby bridge over the road was demolished in the 1970s.
Construction of the first phase of the Luas system commenced in 2001 and concluded in 2004. The route chosen for the Green Line re-used the old Harcourt Street alignment between Charlemont and Stillorgan, and Dundrum station was rebuilt as a Luas stop. The original subway was restored, allowing it to be once again used for passage under the tracks. The surviving station building was not affected by construction, and remained at the side of the stop for many years in its derelict state. However, it has since been restored and turned into a retail unit.
In the years following the original station’s closure, the roads around it were rearranged into a crossroads. An elaborate cable-stayed bridge was constructed in the place of the old road bridge. It was named the William Dargan Bridge in honour of William Dargan the engineer who built the original railway line.
In 2018, the platforms were lengthened from 45 to 55 metres. This was to accommodate the new longer trams introduced to boost capacity.
Today, I discovered that a tripod or a gimbal is required if I decide to produce videos.
Cabra Luas stop is located at the northern end of the Broadstone railway cutting, immediately to the north of Connaught Street, which crosses the line on the Liam Whelan bridge, which was rebuilt as part of the construction of the stop. The main entrance is a long ramp leading from the eastern side of the bridge to the middle of the southbound platform (there are also stairs which lead from the middle of the ramp to the end of the platform). A second entrance consists of a pathway leading from the northern end of the stop to the nearby Mount Bernard Park.
The cutting is somewhat wider than the stop itself, meaning that there is some leftover space behind the northbound platform. Saplings have been planted in this area in an attempt to reduce the Luas’s carbon footprint. Saplings have also been planted on the southbound platform.
I have decided to devote more time to producing videos and am in the process of acquiring suitable equipment and I have ordered a Sony FX30 camera with the option of switching to the new Sony A7RV which is expected at the end of October 2022. However, as the A7RV is much more expensive and is a hybrid rather than a dedicated video camera I very much suspect that I will not get the A7RV.
I have, for many years, an RX0 camera which as small as a matchbox and while I like it the user interface is almost impossible to use and despite its size a tripod is required but there is no way that I am willing to carry a tripod in order to use the camera. Anyway, having noticed that reviewers of the new Sony Sony ZV-1F camera were all using Sony grips I decided to have a look at the Sony GP-VPT2BT [supplied free if you order the new Sony ZV-1F Vlogging camera costing Euro 649.00].
I managed to borrow the grip for a few hours to see how well it works with the RX0. Unfortunately, the grip does not communicate with my version of the RX0 but the GP-VPT2BT worked very well as a mini tripod so I decided to purchase it. I should mention that I decided that I needed it as I have ordered the new Sony FX-30 Video-Centric camera which does communicated with the GP-VPT2BT.
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