Trains

Trains have always been a fascination. The awesome power of heavy metal, dating back to the sixteen hundreds Britain, enabled the industrial revolution to kick in, thus put us where we are today. Rail, is safe, and fuel efficient, and even though I love aircraft, are a much nicer ride. Offering comfort, space and speed. We have come a long way, especially over the last fifty years. A new level of transit is on the horizon, with Elon Musk (Tesla Motor Company) promising to give us the Hyperloop. A train that travels in a vacuum through a tube. A technology that, in theory, could allow travel speeds in the thousands of miles per hour. Which will effectively make air travel obsolete. We already see China leaping ahead with mass rapid transit, to fulfill its population mobility issues. The Shanghai express MagLevP (Magnetic Levitation and Propulsion) travels above three hundred miles per hour at a fraction of the fuel cost of any other conventional vehicle.

Some of the other notable mentions on the tracks, are the French TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) currently holding the world speed record for conventional rail, at a staggering three hundred and fifty seven point two miles per hour. It is still the world's fastest passenger service network. All the Western countries have their HST (High Speed Train) fleets including the likes of Japan, with their bullet train. Japan has been working on MagLevP for years, with test speeds just below the speed of sound. USA, unfortunately, mainly due to big oil's influence on the general public, has not fared well with rail, especially on the passenger side. With only limited semi-high speed services found in the densely populated north-east corridor. Freight is better, mainly to move containers from coast to coast. It is cheaper to unload a ship, rail it to the other side of the US, then reload the ship for continued voyage, instead of traveling through the Panama canal. Steam, still is amazing to watch. With millions of people every year paying for the privilege to ride behind one. The last steam engine build by British Rail, The two-ten-zero configured Evening Star, is an amazing piece of engineering. It can be likened to a living dragon. Unfortunately, these beasts were so labor intensive, they could not match the push button world of Diesel and Electric. My all time favorite Engine, (first image) is British Rail's class 86 electric. It could be seen all over the British landscape during the seventies and eighties.

Other trains which have been included, are a British Rail DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) rail car, circa 1980. A mode of transport for five year while attending secondary school in England (High School, US). The "tube" shaped London Underground, without which, London would come to a standstill. A funicular, rail system. Which works basically like an elevator on an incline. With two units connected to each other by a cable. Where an elevator uses a counter weight to offset the elevator car's load, the funicular uses the other car. An image of our scale model, "Spooky Mountain". A one-eighty seven scale model of a mountain with a train line climbing up, as well as a Cable Car (Aerial Tramway). The Docklands Light Railway. Seen here in its blue livery. How we got connected to the main London Underground system during our time living in Docklands, London, during the nineties. It was a driverless system. However, it had a conductor, checking tickets and keeping things safe.

There are millions of mile of track around the world, offering all kinds of experiences. If you have never been on a train, jump on one, see what all the fuss is about.