A train that never stops. An idea from Taiwan

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/0DfDOlUXEBo&hl=en_US&fs=1&

For anyone who’s ever chosen an express train over a local the logic of this design is obvious: making stops slows you down. For mass rapid transit trains throughout Europe and Asia each stop may only take a few minutes, but this adds up to hours lost everyday. Bullet trains can reach peak speeds in excess of 200 Km/h, but a great average speed is less than half that. With non-stop trains we could save both time and energy that is wasted with every acceleration. I have no idea if a shuttle system as seen in the video would really work. I can imagine docking to be quite an engineering concern. Still, I congratulate Jianjun (or Yu-lun) on his concept. Hopefully we’ll one day use such a system to make transportation more efficient, but even if we don’t, it still looks pretty amazing.

http://singularityhub.com/2010/04/20/the-train-that-never-stops-still-seems-appealing-video/

[Cliffs_Daughter]

Kind of like the anti-rollback lift chain devices on roller coasters, or a tail hook mechanism to 'catch' the train as it passes by?

I wonder what happens when it misses? 

[Lunican]

Then the incoming and outgoing cars collide with each other...

[Ocklawaha]

Kind of like the anti-rollback lift chain devices on roller coasters, or a tail hook mechanism to 'catch' the train as it passes by?

I wonder what happens when it misses? 

Uh? That device would be a "Murphy Brake" which uses a system of ratchets and produces the familiar clack, clack, clack sound on a roller coaster.  These were applied to automobiles and truck emergency brakes in a few test cases back around 1970, but I don't think they ever went into production.

As for the train device? Forget it. Won't happen. Like High Speed Rail there is much ado about nothing. From 1890-1950's, passenger trains regularly reached 100 MPH or faster.  I had the privilege of rocketing through a snowy Wisconsin one fine sunny February day aboard the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific's famous HIAWATHA. I thought I was going snow blind (being from Florida I really didn't know what this was) because it was becoming very hard to focus on the scenery near the train. The old Milwaukee Road Conductor already knew I was a railroader and suggested we meet at the end of the car and stand in the open dutch door for fresh air. (remember people used to smoke EVERYWHERE) With bright sun, lots of snowy hills and forests, the thermomiter hovering at about 17 degrees, I realized we were kicking up quite a little blizzard ourselves... "How fast are we going?" I asked.  (big smile) "Oh this, well we had to slow down back there so um, (calls engineer on his two way and without missing a beat) 109 MPH, back when this was better track you should have seen us then!" he replied.

Today the magnificent Milwaukee Road, last of America's transcontinentals is gone. It's tracks through Deer Lodge and Harlowton, Montana, Avery and St. Joe, Idaho all the way to the pacific are now useless scars upon the land. The eastern 1/3 of the old railroad were sold off to a Canadian company. It's great station in Milwaukee and Minneapolis, abandoned. The Hiawatha itself scrapped, some of it's last full length dome cars served on the Auto-Train for awhile.

I've got an idea! Let's build High Speed Rail!

We'll get the Chinese to show us how, and sell us the trains...   That would be the same Chinese that at the end of WWII were running freight trains with locomotives and tenders lettered "ERIE" and "MILWAUKEE ROAD".

This country has lost it's mind. 

Yeah, quite right!

OCKLAWAHA

[Lunican]

I agree Ock. Having the Chinese show us how to run trains is the silliest thing I've heard in a long time. Especially since they had major problems with the construction of their high speed track. Crumbling ties and brittle rail cause they built it out of paper mâché.

Here is your high speed rail...

[Cliffs_Daughter]

What is ^^THAT^^?

Looks like a Flash Gordon prop!

[LPBrennan]

A Flash Gordon prop? Closer to the truth than you realize!

That is a New York Central Hudson-class locomotive (a 4-6-4 in railroad lingo) with a streamlined shroud applied to a number of these engines for service on the Twentieth Century Limited, back in the day when that storied train rolled the 960 miles between Grand Central Terminal in New York and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago in 960 minutes. Yes- 16 hours. A mile a minute for the trip, so you know they were pushing 90 or better for many of those miles to allow for slow running in the terminal areas. And that was including a change from electric to steam at Harmon, New York. Steam was not allowed in the tunnels in NYC.

Streamlining was all the rage in the 1930s. Inspired by the early diesel-powered trains like the Zephyr, railroads hired great industrial designers like Dreyfuss to transform the plain black steamers into slick, smooth, and colorful modernity. This engine is contemporary with Flash Gordon, indeed.

Streamlining did little to help the efficiency of the train, but it sure made it look good in the 1930s. Trains are long, and more subject to more quartering winds than head-on; most streamlining aggravated the problem of smoke drifting back along the train, obscuring the crews' vision. The Grand Trunk had wind-tunnel tests done to their designs to actually create turbulence around the front of their locomotives that would lift the smoke!

[Ocklawaha]

I agree Ock. Having the Chinese show us how to run trains is the silliest thing I've heard in a long time. Especially since they had major problems with the construction of their high speed track. Crumbling ties and brittle rail cause they built it out of paper mâché.

Here is your high speed rail...

Thanks Lunican, but THIS is my high speed rail, though the only thing that had changed by the time I rode it was the locomotives. They regularly hit 120 MPH, and though the 20Th Century Limited was probably the best train ever on American Rails (the engine you posted), the Hiawatha had to rank high in the group.

DID I LOVE HER? OH YEAH!


Photos around Snoqualmie Pass

OCKLAWAHA