A different kind of train

Ophiolite,

You are probably European (British, based on the use of pounds for currency). Facial, I believe, is in California. His opinion is reflective of our North American rail system.

In most urban areas it is not well developed or terriby efficient and is expensive to use. By contrast gasoline was (still is) pretty cheap reletive to European prices.

You're right with the safety stats but train wrecks are like airplane crashes. They may happen very infrequently but when they do, it's carnage and many people die. (It's not rational based on statistics vs. highway traffic accidents but people still have the perception of danger)

 

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Flunch, you are absolutley correct - I live in Scotland. I have some knowledge of the North American rail system and the differences of economy that pertain there. My rather acerbic response to Facial was intended to startle him into the recognition that conditions are different around the world: India wouldn't be India without its trains.
One can make a strong case for the notion that the railways made America at the end of the 19th century. I think they could play a very much larger role than they do today. A massive investment would be necessary, but the long terms benefits could be huge. I worry that where there is investment it is being made in commuter railways as a politically correct means of removing cars from the freeways. These are rarely profitable. Long distance, high speed trains are perfect for a continent spanning country. But, oh that track condition!

 

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That makes too much sence Ophiolite! George W. has already put in on public record that "The American Way of Life is not On Trial". i.e. Give us more 330 HP V-8 engines to power out 5000 lb Cadallic Escalades that get 5 miles per gallon!

High speed trains that are on time and affordable would be SWEET (especially up here in Canada where we are very sparsely populated). However, hitting a moose on the tracks at 300 km/h would not be very fun. There aren't 1500 lb animals wandering the wilds in places where high speed trains run.

 

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You are correct. I live in Los Angeles, the most freeway-clogged city in the US.

 

There are three power sources that are renewable and give back more energy than we put into them. Those are hemp oil, wood, and wind power. Solar is a bit more complex and takes longer for the energy payback.

The one thing that would make a hydrogen economy work is if the hydrogen is generated by renewable enery sources. I think it's a crock of shit, really, because biodiesel in your tank works with much simpler and cheaper technology. With hydrogen there are a lot of problems to solve and hardware to invent. With biodiesel, particularly hemp, there are no problems to solve and no hardware to invent. You can even dispense with the sulfur substitute that some diesel engines need to operate.

Like it would kill us to receive our freight at 30-40 miles per hour instead of 70 mph. I guess the cost of nasty accidents is somehow less than the loss of volume in shipping. I'm still aghast at the thought, though, that they stack so much crap so high on a set of rails only 4 feet apart. That's an accident waiting to happen, people. This arrangement is very easy to tip over compared to wider tracks. It also works the rails into the ground a lot harder, creating the voids under the ties that eventually allow the rails to jump up and down and buck the train off. When you see the cars swaying rythmically, and the rail moving up and down in rythm, be nervous and be elsewhere.

Yes, yes, I realize that it is "impossible" to change now.

 

Yup. It's about time we legalize :m:

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I'm an advocate of broad gauge and faster speeds. But here in North America, we almost always use the international British standard gauge. Stupid tradition.