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There's a great museum in Green Bay that has tons of trains of all styles, including the Big Boy and the Aerotrain shown earlier, as well as one of those curvy ones from England named after Dwight D. Eisenhower. Pictures can't do them justice, they're crazy huge and really impressive in person. And here's to all you Europeans with your real high speed Pendolino trains that actually go high speeds and are comfortable, affordable and on time. To those of you that haven't had the pleasure, it's as smooth as flying, but with more leg room and less security.
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Mar 13, 2011 00:29
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B4Ctom1 posted:I saw a thing and brought it to you. Discuss. OK, I'll bite. How does a locomotive engine run for 2 solid years without having to stop for maintenance? Oil changes? Replace broken parts? I know they're built for reliability, but honestly, not a single part needed adjustment/cleaning/replacement while driving around the world 13 times? Please tell me that, in fact, locomotives can't go that long without maintenance, and that there's gnarly pictures of a large ruined engine over in the "Horrible Mechanical Failures" thread.
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Sep 4, 2011 22:15
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Cygni posted:Have a gratuitous Big Boy picture There's one in a rail museum in Green Bay. It's impossible to get a side-view because you can't stand back far enough.   
Bow TIE Fighter fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Aug 29, 2012 |
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Aug 29, 2012 18:27
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Re: advantages of distributed power I heard it was to reduce the strain on the couplers, especially on heavy trains that need to climb steep grades. If the locomotives are just at the front of the train, the couplers on the first car have to be strong enough to drag all the cars up the steepest grade they encounter. By putting a locomotive in the middle or at the end, it's now pushing some of the cars and each locomotive is pulling fewer cars, basically two short trains coupled together.
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Sep 7, 2012 11:50
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Disgruntled Bovine posted:Incidentally I have to wonder why no one has tried the locomotive model in a car. You basically described a Prius, the electric motor does most of the propulsion, while the gas engine is a generator and can assist when accelerating. There's s few types of hybrids, most locomotives are "series" where only the electric motor propels the vehicle and the gas engine is just a generator, while the Prius is "parallel" where both motors are used as needed. I'm sure by now someone has made a diesel hybrid car, I know European car makers have very efficient diesel motors in their small cars, so the technology is out there.
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Nov 6, 2012 03:38
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Empty gatorage bottles
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May 18, 2013 03:04
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Veins McGee posted:I don't really understand the enthusiasm for passenger rail. Right now, its not significantly cheaper or faster than driving AND it has the added bonus of not having a car when you get to where you're going. I guess its probably statistically safer than driving and less of a hassle than air travel. Trains have many of the same advantages as buses: it frees you up from having to take a car (and pay for insurance, parking, maintenance, etc), reduces congestion, gives you time to do something else on your commute, and you can ride even if you're drunk/handicapped/blind/underage. It works great if the cities are built around the stations and everything is within walking distance, or there's lots of local taxis, buses, etc. to help passengers cover the "last mile". Basically, passenger trains are feasible only in densely populated areas, near big cities, Europe, etc, but it's difficult to put them in because the land is already in use and is really expensive. Conversely, where the land is cheap, there aren't enough potential riders to make it financially viable. In the absence of trains, everything is designed with the assumption that everyone has a car and is willing to drive everywhere, and then that becomes the default, and makes it very difficult to convince passengers, designers, and politicians that there is another option.
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Aug 17, 2013 14:13
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Phy posted:Are you talking commuter rail or inter-city? I was talking about commuting by rail in general. I thought McGee was bashing commuter rail, and wanted to show what I had learned in my rail transit class. But he said "passenger" not "commuter, so I think he was talking about Amtrak, and I agree with his post. Sure, it has some benefits for commuters, but really sucks for long distance travel.
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Aug 21, 2013 00:15
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