[brassplayersrock²]

this thread is a dedication to the greatness of the railroad.






post your favorite railroad pictures

[scaught]

[brassplayersrock²]

Railroader

[Kevin]

[badidea]

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by badidea 

I nominate this for the best juxtaposition of a poster's name with a post's content.

[badidea]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

I nominate this for the best juxtaposition of a poster's name with a post's content.

I either misunderstand your post or you have never seen the movie "Station Agent" (which this picture is from)!
So the greatness is not in the picture itself but in what it stands for...

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by badidea 

I either misunderstand your post or you have never seen the movie "Station Agent" (which this picture is from)!
So the greatness is not in the picture itself but in what it stands for...

I have never seen the movie "Station Agent". Please enlighten me!

[badidea]

It's nothing special - just the movie itself! Watch it!

[brassplayersrock²]

online games involving trains:

The Cyberspace World Railroad - Railroad Jigsaw
The Cyberspace World Railroad - RailPuzzle

[Kevin]

So brass what is your sudden fascination with trains? We've never seen you mention them before.

[brassplayersrock²]

i watched "The Great Train Robbery" the other night and it got me wanting to get to know a bit more about trains. it's only 10 minutes long, but it's entertaining.

[besson3c]

Thomas kicked ass

[richwig83]

Overly large image removed
In Jasper, Canada

Another overly large image removed
Whistler, Canada

[Doofy]

If you look really hard, after about half an hour you'll see some items related to trains.

[Mastrap]

Now we're talking.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by scaught 

What's with the rendering?

It's not like anything had to be faked:

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by analogika 

What's with the rendering?

It's not like anything had to be faked...

Possibly a picture of a model railroad.

-t

[olePigeon]

YouTube - Japanese Maglev, 581km/h

[brassplayersrock²]

wow. that's a cool video. i've been on a couple of bullet trains, and they were probably the smoothest type of train i've ridden.

[sknapp351]

My father-in-law and I often go out shooting photos on Sundays. He is really into trains. Here are some I took in Clifton Forge, Va.
SAm

[Timo]

Did my undergraduate thesis on a railway station in Paris. Really cool stuff.

[brassplayersrock²]

and to fancy this thread up a bit. I present you with Claude Monet's "Train Station"

[brassplayersrock²]

from the blu-ray/hd thread:

[64stang06]

[dav]

kuranda scenic railway

[besson3c]

At any rate, has anybody here ever taken a train across Canada through the prairies and mountains? Is this worth doing? I always thought that this would be a fun trip...

[brassplayersrock²]

edit:
"Night Train to Melbourne
for Moonyeen

By Lee Meitzen Grue

All journeys combine into the journey through time.
I lost a day coming to you,
gain a day going home.
On this train, a shadowy world of sleeping figures

scarcely known, the broken seat our touchstone,
a thought hurtles by
on other tracks,
the acrid smell of bush fire pervades.

Lights distant, stars uppermost,
pinnacles and way stations,
syllables of the disappeared:
Liverpool, Mittagong, Yass, Wagga Wagga

heavy on my foreign tongue. Reflected
in the window our skeletal mass passes
funerary trees, markers
of the lives we’ve touched

rocking on
somewhere between the buffet
and the last car,
Awake but near sleep

hastening."

Night Train to Melbourne

[Dork.]

[brassplayersrock²]

[Kevin Moon]

I guess I will take the blame for the thread title. I was showing bpr some pictures of old railroads that I have been looking at. I have been helping someone else with research into old railroads and have many many pictures of them. One of the more intersting is in Missouri, the Lexington, Lake and Gulf. Money was raised, most of the initial run was graded, and then only 200 yards of track were ever laid. If I get motivated I may post pictures of the train station at Kelso, CA.

I don't know if this was an attempt to irritate someone or if maybe he found some of the stuff I was looking into interesting. It is a good topic and lets move on.

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

from the blu-ray/hd thread:

That made my day.

[brassplayersrock²]

i really like this shot

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon 

I guess I will take the blame for the thread title. I was showing bpr some pictures of old railroads that I have been looking at. I have been helping someone else with research into old railroads and have many many pictures of them. One of the more intersting is in Missouri, the Lexington, Lake and Gulf. Money was raised, most of the initial run was graded, and then only 200 yards of track were ever laid. If I get motivated I may post pictures of the train station at Kelso, CA.

I don't know if this was an attempt to irritate someone or if maybe he found some of the stuff I was looking into interesting. It is a good topic and lets move on.

I should be the one to apologize here Kevin, I was having a conversation with bpr about how the trains used to haul coal from city to city back before the industrial revolution and how this shaped our urban infrastructure and modern transportation system.

Anyway, I agree, we should move on... I like trains, and that video about the 500+ kph trains was bad ass! I wish we could build up our train infrastructure in this country... Maybe some day it will be cost effective to do so, whadaya think?

[Kevin Moon]

I took these with my phone so they aren't great. Both were taken in Kelso, CA which is within the Mojave National Preserve. The NPS restored the station and are now working on restoring some of the building within town.

[Kevin Moon]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I should be the one to apologize here Kevin, I was having a conversation with bpr about how the trains used to haul coal from city to city back before the industrial revolution and how this shaped our urban infrastructure and modern transportation system.

Anyway, I agree, we should move on... I like trains, and that video about the 500+ kph trains was bad ass! I wish we could build up our train infrastructure in this country... Maybe some day it will be cost effective to do so, whadaya think?

Nevada and California would like to have a maglev running between Las Vegas and LA. The maglev would stop at the new and old airport then interconnect with the casino route. It is still very preliminary but the maglev was picked based on mainly on speed. I think these types of systems will become cash flow positive due to the cost of oil rising. The Maglev and TGV run on electric for a reason.

A Maglev and even a TGV has the potential to compete with air travel if they didn't stop at every small town along the way. The trains will have to only stop in metro areas. I was discussing this a few days ago how a high speed link between Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City would be very busy. The stops outside those three major areas would be in Springfield, IL, Jefferson City or Columbia (depends on routing but columbia would be better due to the college), and Warrensburg, MO. The college towns tend to boost ridership and that is why I added the small town of Warrensburg.

I do prefer the maglev as it has the potential to be a great system with high speeds. The big problem is cost. Freight is fine on the older tracks but the way Amtrack has done high-speed rail shows that a drastic change is needed to keep the fast trains away from freight trains. If Amtrack did high-speed they have already said they would make it so they can run on existing track and dedicated track. To me that seems a bad move as freight and people should not have to compete on the overcrowded rail network.

I see coal trains all the time and wish something could be done about all the soot those engines throw in the air. Some regulations are in the pipe for the industry so hopefully that will help. On a different topic the same thing is happening with barges. I think they have to switch to cleaner fuel next year or the near future. At least someone is noticing that the soot they pump out isn't good for people.

[Lateralus]

[Kevin Moon]

That stock quote really shows the viability of rail transportation. They also tend to have delays in getting stuff where it needs to go right now as not much has been done to improve the rail system in many years. The trains are limited to 79 MPH in many areas just so collision avoidance systems don't have to be installed. This is a huge expense after many years of neglect from the general downturn they had suffered which is also the are reluctant to implement such a system. Such a system would have prevented the recent Chicago Amtrack collision even though the driver ignored the speed limit he was given.

[Lateralus]

Yeah, the rails really are an excellent long-term investment. After years of being ignored, they're extremely undervalued. And they behave like a growth stock should; slow and steady, with very few knee jerk sell offs or spikes.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon 

Nevada and California would like to have a maglev running between Las Vegas and LA. The maglev would stop at the new and old airport then interconnect with the casino route. It is still very preliminary but the maglev was picked based on mainly on speed. I think these types of systems will become cash flow positive due to the cost of oil rising. The Maglev and TGV run on electric for a reason.

A Maglev and even a TGV has the potential to compete with air travel if they didn't stop at every small town along the way. The trains will have to only stop in metro areas. I was discussing this a few days ago how a high speed link between Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City would be very busy. The stops outside those three major areas would be in Springfield, IL, Jefferson City or Columbia (depends on routing but columbia would be better due to the college), and Warrensburg, MO. The college towns tend to boost ridership and that is why I added the small town of Warrensburg.

I do prefer the maglev as it has the potential to be a great system with high speeds. The big problem is cost. Freight is fine on the older tracks but the way Amtrack has done high-speed rail shows that a drastic change is needed to keep the fast trains away from freight trains. If Amtrack did high-speed they have already said they would make it so they can run on existing track and dedicated track. To me that seems a bad move as freight and people should not have to compete on the overcrowded rail network.

I see coal trains all the time and wish something could be done about all the soot those engines throw in the air. Some regulations are in the pipe for the industry so hopefully that will help. On a different topic the same thing is happening with barges. I think they have to switch to cleaner fuel next year or the near future. At least someone is noticing that the soot they pump out isn't good for people.

Where is the bulk of the cost for the Maglev? The magnets on the track? The train itself? If the magnets on the track, will those perhaps come down in price when mass produced?

How could the Maglev possibly run on the same tracks as Amtrak's existing trains?

[Dork.]

I always thought that maglevs would never take off here, because America is so frickin' big. How fast to those things go? 300 mi/h? That's still over 10 hours cross-country, and more than likely the train would be slowing down to make at least a few stops. The only way I can see it working is if the airlines get so annoying to fly that people start looking at land travel as a viable alternative.

[Kevin Moon]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

I always thought that maglevs would never take off here, because America is so frickin' big. How fast to those things go? 300 mi/h? That's still over 10 hours cross-country, and more than likely the train would be slowing down to make at least a few stops. The only way I can see it working is if the airlines get so annoying to fly that people start looking at land travel as a viable alternative.

Right now the fastest a maglev has gone is in Japan, 361 mph. Maglevs are said to have the ability to go over 600 mph. I'm not sure what is preventing them from attaining that now other than being able to switch on and off magnets fast enough and power consumption. At first the systems would have to be regional to compete. A way also needs to be found to make the track cheaper. It would be expensive for any system built in the US as crossings would have to be eliminated.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon 

Right now the fastest a maglev has gone is in Japan, 361 mph. Maglevs are said to have the ability to go over 600 mph. I'm not sure what is preventing them from attaining that now other than being able to switch on and off magnets fast enough and power consumption. At first the systems would have to be regional to compete. A way also needs to be found to make the track cheaper. It would be expensive for any system built in the US as crossings would have to be eliminated.

The YouTube video that was posted said that the record speed for the Maglev (and in trains in general, I'm presuming) is 581 kph.

How fast does a plane travel?

[Kevin Moon]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

The YouTube video that was posted said that the record speed for the Maglev (and in trains in general, I'm presuming) is 581 kph.

How fast does a plane travel?

Depends on what kind of plane you are talking about. F22 mach 2.0+ (1,317 mph). The new boeing 787 will have a top speed 561 mph. Many airlines are slowing planes down in an effort to save fuel and reduce the fuel bill a little.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon 

Depends on what kind of plane you are talking about. F22 mach 2.0+ (1,317 mph). The new boeing 787 will have a top speed 561 mph. Many airlines are slowing planes down in an effort to save fuel and reduce the fuel bill a little.

Hmmm... well, maybe these trains will start to seem like attractive options in comparison to many of the 1 hour or so commuter flights that work domestically...

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon 

Right now the fastest a maglev has gone is in Japan, 361 mph. Maglevs are said to have the ability to go over 600 mph. I'm not sure what is preventing them from attaining that now other than being able to switch on and off magnets fast enough and power consumption. At first the systems would have to be regional to compete. A way also needs to be found to make the track cheaper. It would be expensive for any system built in the US as crossings would have to be eliminated.

Eliminating crossings is a big deal. Upgrading the infrastructure to support cross-country maglev is going to be a costly endeavor, even after doing regional stuff first, but it might get done if it is seen as an alternative to waiting 10 hours on the tarmac in a plane. At least if you're delayed on a train, you can get up and move around!

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I'm also curious about the availability of high-speed trains in colder areas, where something like frost heaving would be a concern. I remember a few years ago when some areas of Europe got cold weather and there were lots of train issues; here in Canada, -20 C or below is almost guaranteed at some points in the winter. I can only imagine that running at such high speeds would demand a very level track, no??

[ - snip - ]

greg

[brassplayersrock²]

YouTube - Train Crash
:

[besson3c]

That monkey kind of looks like me actually, except my skin is white, I have a beard, I'm taller, but I do wear clothes like that sometimes.


It's funny that all this came out of harmless pictures of trains.

[Arty50]

Originally Posted by badidea 

It's nothing special - just the movie itself! Watch it!

Awesome movie.