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Florida would actually be great for HSR considering how unbelievably terrible the toll higways are and the semi spread out nature of the cities, but not far enough to demand air. Not saying it makes political sense, but that whole map is a for-fun fantasy thing anyway.
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Feb 6, 2013 05:07
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Zeether posted:I just saw this picture on Tumblr with people saying "Oh my god, imagine how great this would be" and all I could think of was "This won't work at all and I can give a million reasons why": I saw that they bypassed SLC headed out to Green River and crossed the rockies that way. That's when I stopped even looking at the map and wondered if they had any loving clue what they where thinking.
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Feb 6, 2013 05:59
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InterceptorV8 posted:I saw that they bypassed SLC headed out to Green River and crossed the rockies that way. That's when I stopped even looking at the map and wondered if they had any loving clue what they where thinking. All of these maps are the result of people breaking out the Crayolas and drawing pretty lines all over the map. As much as a transcontinental HSR line would be nice, it just doesn't make any sense from any perspective; certainly not when you see a price tag of many-hundreds-of-billions of dollars. In fact I would bet that if they actually built all of those lines as they are on that map, it would literally cost a trillion dollars. MrChips fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Feb 6, 2013 |
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Feb 6, 2013 06:32
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MrChips posted:All of these maps are the result of people breaking out the Crayolas and drawing pretty lines all over the map. I found the source of the map image, and it is just concept art by an architect named Alfred Twu. Browsing his site should give you an idea of the thought behind the map.
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Feb 6, 2013 11:11
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MrChips posted:it would literally cost a trillion dollars.
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Feb 6, 2013 14:53
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Yeah, I don't get the hate. Ok, so its not perfect, and might cost a bit of money. Screw it! I'll just take my car or a plane, which will totally be viable for the foreseeable future, regardless of fuel prices and availability! Why is it such a bad idea to build redundant modes of transportation?
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Feb 6, 2013 15:45
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evil_bunnY posted:So like a year/year-and-half of armed forces money. Welcome to America. Do you even budget? It would be closer to two years of the complete defense budget period. Not including right-of-way and domain issues. It's like all the people screaming and yelling why doesn't America create more wind power like Spain, while completely ignoring the fact that we create 3x the amount of wind power of Spain, and in order to raise our percent as high as Spain we would have to even go over triple what we currently have in total and almost product 90% of the world's wind power up from 28%. While it being neat and cute and all, I can't see spending 50% of the total US budget on a project that would serve so little, while adding a massive amount of upkeep to a overburdened system. And why is loving Quincy IL so important it needs a spur?
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Feb 6, 2013 15:46
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:Yeah, I don't get the hate. Ok, so its not perfect, and might cost a bit of money. Screw it! I'll just take my car or a plane, which will totally be viable for the foreseeable future, regardless of fuel prices and availability! Because it would be cheaper to Greyhound?
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Feb 6, 2013 15:48
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OK OK, a simple trip from LA to Chicago is going to be about 4.5 hours by air and cost you $200 (round trip). How much would you be willing to pay for train travel from LA to Chicago taking 3 times as long?
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Feb 6, 2013 15:54
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How about in 30 years when the price of kerosene has quadrupled? Wouldn't it be nice if there was some other method of travel that didn't rely completely on fossil fuels?
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Feb 6, 2013 16:00
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:How about in 30 years when the price of kerosene has quadrupled? Wouldn't it be nice if there was some other method of travel that didn't rely completely on fossil fuels? http://youtu.be/ZfL4xKQeSfo http://youtu.be/nLCmcV4gC_0 I have my hat picked out and everything.
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Feb 6, 2013 16:08
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I fly like 100-140 segments a year and while airport security is annoying, I have never managed to experience one of these multihour horror stories. Wonder what I'm doing right? You don't fail the attitude test, I'm guessing. Making dumb/bored people angry by being openly defiant is a fast way to get the nitrile gloves out. Also since you're going for business I imagine you aren't bringing the entire contents of an Origins store with you or a camping stove (I've seen this at LHR) onto a goddamn airplane.
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Feb 6, 2013 16:56
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MrYenko posted:Any national plan like this would suffer the same problem the Florida High Speed rail project was facing: Every congressman/senator/mayor/city council/department of commerce on the entire right of way is going to want a stop in their podunk town, so that their citizens can ride the magical choo-choo full of low-carbon-emission ponies and bio-fueled rainbows all the way to Disney World. The Florida version was proposed at a 170-190mph operating speed, but probably would have had average speeds less than half of that. Politics indeed would be the real trouble. HSR would make sense in many areas as a regional transit option between metropolitan areas but getting that sausage made would be absolutely disgusting. For example a link or loop in Texas between Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston would really be a great alternative to driving or regional flights. But every single dinky town along the way would want a stop on every train because they would dream of being the next bedroom community or have some tourist attraction to sell (because everyone will flock to Buda for the weiner dog races), slowing even a supposed express limited stop train down to a crawl. Then the airport authorities will also try to kill it (or hobble it) because they saw what happened to the lucrative DC/NYC business travel money when the Acela got going. Eventually I think that we will have some form of high speed rail, but it will likely take a really nasty price shock to cause it. It will not be self sufficient via direct revenue, but what human transportation system is now?
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Feb 6, 2013 17:37
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Haha, we always send our junk power back to Chicago to get "fixed". Usually comes back just as useless and broken down as before... I honestly don't know. We don't have them here, our yard jobs are out on the main several times a shift.
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Feb 6, 2013 21:12
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9axle posted:I honestly don't know. We don't have them here, our yard jobs are out on the main several times a shift. Oh. We stick to lovely industrial leads. I put 2 engines on the ground yesterday... wide gauge track. Pretty awesome, the local managers came out, looked and go well, go pee in a cup then go home. Nothing like getting paid for a full day for only 3 hours worth of work.
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Feb 6, 2013 21:18
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MrChips posted:All of these maps are the result of people breaking out the Crayolas and drawing pretty lines all over the map. As much as a transcontinental HSR line would be nice, it just doesn't make any sense from any perspective; certainly not when you see a price tag of many-hundreds-of-billions of dollars. In fact I would bet that if they actually built all of those lines as they are on that map, it would literally cost a trillion dollars. I regularly wish that the high speed Ohio 3-C corridor would someday actually happen (it wont). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Hub It would make living near Cleveland remarkably less lovely having easy, reasonably inexpensive access to the two other meaningful cities in the state.
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Feb 6, 2013 22:07
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Youtube recommended this video to me this morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkUQ3rTfU4s It's about fire safety on the Pennsylvania railroad in the 50s.
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Feb 7, 2013 14:38
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:It's about fire safety on the Pennsylvania railroad in the 50s. I love the wooden acting in those old training films. The crews show no emotion whatsoever to their engines being on fire. Here's another old training film, a Second World War educational film on how to derail enemy trains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-8gV4DJZUw  "Wrecking trains is serious business."
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Feb 7, 2013 15:36
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"The locomotive heads towards the 20 inch gap. Something's gone wrong again." I never knew trying to derail a locomotive could be so boring!
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Feb 7, 2013 16:15
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Last Clear Chance will always be my favorite bad railroad safety film. "Why don't they look?" I remember seeing an old Operation Lifesaver video in elementary school where some dumb kids tried to derail a train on a trestle and end up being hit by it or something. I can't remember the exact thing but it was ridiculous.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:33
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:"The locomotive heads towards the 20 inch gap. Something's gone wrong again." Only if you worked in my yard. Last night some one derailed 8 cars in the yard after it picked a switch. Stacked em up accordion style. This whole dang no cell phone deal though and I can never get any good photos. And it all happens at slow speeds, less than 10mph.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:41
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Oh. We stick to lovely industrial leads. I put 2 engines on the ground yesterday... wide gauge track. Pretty awesome, the local managers came out, looked and go well, go pee in a cup then go home. Nothing like getting paid for a full day for only 3 hours worth of work. Like...you dropped through the track?
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Feb 7, 2013 20:44
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I was assuming either he ran off the end of a siding accidentally or the rails were too far apart from lack of maintenance and the train just dropped down between em.
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Feb 7, 2013 21:24
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Neither of you are correct. Actually broken rail, just snapped underneath the weight. When the rail broke, the flange picked between the broken pieces. And no it wasn't all that cold out, only 40 degree's or so. The track was to wide and simply fell in and poo poo just started piling up. But again, at 9400 ft long and 14,000 tons, its kind of a bitch to stop in a hurry. And very very very rarely do we go off the end of the track (unless your not back there to watch the movement). And some railroad knowledge  - A track with no way to get out on one end is called a Stub track. If you run out the end of one of these tracks, your looking at a nice 60 day unpaid vacation.
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Feb 7, 2013 22:56
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BrokenKnucklez posted:And very very very rarely do we go off the end of the track.  :  Report here: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/train-services-on-cleveland-line-remain-stopped-20130202-2dqxm.html
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Feb 8, 2013 11:44
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Some guys uploaded a documentary called "Foamers" to Youtube and it's, well...serviceable I guess? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P0XGfANtnY I remember seeing a trailer for it a while back and thinking "wow, these guys look stupid" but it's kind of a mix of good and bad. It has some dumb meme stuff in it and quite a few moments of immature stuff like dancing on the railroad tracks while Safety Dance plays and air humping as a train passes by but I kind of like some of the footage they got and there's some cool bits of video from the Sumpter Valley Railway in Oregon, namely one of the locomotives being rerailed after a nasty trailing truck incident. Certainly not Sundance material with the way they talk about events and sometimes they abruptly cut to video footage. Also, all 3 of the guys in the video work for railroads, and one of them started at a pretty young age to boot. Zeether fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Feb 19, 2013 |
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Feb 18, 2013 23:49
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Google has a page where one can virtually ride the Trans-Siberian Railway its whole length in real time: Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey on Google Maps. I haven't watched it yet because holy poo poo.
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Feb 20, 2013 01:49
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Brother Jonathan posted:Google has a page where one can virtually ride the Trans-Siberian Railway its whole length in real time: Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey on Google Maps. I haven't watched it yet because holy poo poo. Edit: Holy poo poo, they also have a program that lets you make your own game with video footage 
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Feb 20, 2013 02:44
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Close call http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f8a_1361419141
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Feb 22, 2013 02:35
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The tow truck driver sure took his time getting out of his vehicle. I like this comment on the site: "He is wearing high visibility vest. He is safe."
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Feb 22, 2013 02:40
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Brother Jonathan posted:The tow truck driver sure took his time getting out of his vehicle. That is actually a railroad joke and the reason for making us all start wearing hi-viz vests.
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Feb 22, 2013 05:57
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B4Ctom1 posted:That is actually a railroad joke and the reason for making us all start wearing hi-viz vests. Military/AF joke, as well, from what I've seen. They're real big on high-visibility belts and vests.
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Feb 22, 2013 06:00
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kastein posted:Military/AF joke, as well, from what I've seen. They're real big on high-visibility belts and vests. For us they tell us the reason for the vest is so that the train will not hit you. I jokingly call them "train-proof-vests" and tell people that the train will just "bounce off" like a 22 bullet on a leather vest worn by a biker who is flexing his muscles.
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Feb 22, 2013 06:17
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B4Ctom1 posted:For us they tell us the reason for the vest is so that the train will not hit you. I jokingly call them "train-proof-vests" and tell people that the train will just "bounce off" like a 22 bullet on a leather vest worn by a biker who is flexing his muscles. Or the train can swerve and miss you at the last second when the engineer jerks the steering wheel, skidding the tires.
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Feb 22, 2013 06:36
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Brother Jonathan posted:Or the train can swerve and miss you at the last second when the engineer jerks the steering wheel, skidding the tires. Exactly
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Feb 22, 2013 06:37
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B4Ctom1 posted:That is actually a railroad joke and the reason for making us all start wearing hi-viz vests. I thought it was Top Gear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpD06P7kiI
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Feb 22, 2013 07:29
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kastein posted:Military/AF joke, as well, from what I've seen. They're real big on high-visibility belts and vests. The reflective belt has been responsible for several pivotal moments in American military history.
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Feb 22, 2013 08:51
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Zeether posted:
Yep. Here's a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxykqgRodTc
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Feb 22, 2013 13:50
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http://www.fireup611.org/main/index.php So they are doing a feasibility study of restoring the last remaining J-Class locomotive, No. 611, to operational status. I remember riding on this train when I was 4 years old back in the early 80's when it came through Fort Wayne, and it might by why I think it's still the most beautiful steam locomotive ever produced. Not to mention it was also probably the fastest ever built, achieving over 100 mph back in the 50's on the Fort Wayne racetrack spur.
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Feb 22, 2013 21:20
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Mordred posted:Yep. Here's a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxykqgRodTc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav 31" bore, 7-ton shell. 
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Feb 23, 2013 10:49
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Bad Angus! Bad!