Robert Pence

Or sailing ships? Bulk cargo might be moved satisfactorily using wind power on water, with auxiliary steam, diesel or electric power as an alternative when the wind dies, and for maneuvering in and out of ports more easily than the old-time sailing ships. As in other transport modes, sensors and microprocessors could be used to maintain the most efficient trim on sails for best speeds. However it plays out, the decline in oil carries the potential for chaos and conflict. People have used oil to build and sustain population levels far beyond the pre- and post-oil carrying capacity of the planet, and one way or another there probably will be large declines in population levels that may not come through ordinary attrition. Some people now living may encounter the four horsemen of the apocalypse (conquest, war, famine and death).

Ironic, ain't it! The young whippersnappers are the ones who are techno savvy, and old guys are the ones who need the speed to make up for how slowly we move. I'm thinkin' about buying a really fast car to compensate for my slow reflexes! :-o

:clap: Faaaaabulous Thread! Excellent photos, big, beautifully diverse turnout, and it looks like people were having fun! Thank for showing this event!

The steam locomotive could return, but it probably wouldn't be in the form of the smoke-belching, piston-driven machines that older folks remember, often fondly. Uh-oh! I feel a lecture coming on! < :speech: >The last mainline steam locomotives in the U.S. were built within a few years after the end of World War II, and although China continued to build them until just a few years ago, their technology wasn't different from the locomotives built in the 1940s. Spurred by the oil shortages and price spikes of the late 1970s, a consortium of railroads, coal companies and other interested parties ran some tests using a conventional steam locomotive enhanced with sensors and microprocessors to determine whether the efficiency and environmental impact of coal-burning steam power could be improved significantly. Early test results were fairly promising, but the easing of the oil crisis led to major sponsors withdrawing from the consortium, and the project ended. Coal-hauler Norfolk & Western (now Norfolk Southern) was the last of the major U.S. railroads to build new steam locomotives and to finally give up on steam. In the 1950s they built and tested a coal-fired steam turbine locomotive. It was largely successful, with some problems that probably could have been worked out with more development, but because of fairly cheap diesel fuel and proven diesel locomotive technology, the railroad couldn't justify spending more time and money on it. A steam locomotive of the future, if it is ever built, might involve one or more steam turbines driving generators to provide power for traction motors mounted on the axles, much as modern locomotives use diesel engines to drive generators. The boiler would probably be very high pressure, compared with the 250 psi or thereabouts that was common in the later series of piston-engine locomotives. The boiler might be heated by burning pulverized coal along with pulverized limestone in a fluidized-bed firebox, where the limestone would capture and bind sulfur and other acidic products of combustion to reduce toxic and corrosive emissions. The supply of fuel and air to the firebox probably would be controlled by sensors and microprocessors to assure sustained maximum efficiency for load conditions and to almost completely eliminate smoke from the exhaust. Water probably would be recovered by passing the turbines' exhaust steam through a condenser, enabling the locomotive to travel for long distances without the water-replenishing stops required by traditional steam locomotives every 100-150 miles. Modern metallurgy and microprocessor technology could be used to create a coal-burning steam locomotive to compete strongly against modern oil-burning diesels. Still, I think the best power source for modern high-volume mainlines would be ordinary electrification via catenary and/or third rail, with power supplied from stationary power plants that can use a variety of energy sources, realize economies of scale, and implement emission control systems too cumbersome to use on a mobile piece of equipment. </ :speech:> Sorry 'bout that :-P

Yes :-D

Switzerland was a pioneer in railway electrification, and I read somewhere that it was a geopolitical situation that provided the impetus. Like everyone else, the Swiss used steam locomotives; the coal they burned came from Germany. The Nazis cut off coal exports and reserved their coal for their own wartime industries and railroads. The Swiss had abundant hydroelectric power, and topography that lent itself to even more of that, so they electrified their railroads. I've seen a couple of interesting photos showing an improvisation they made because they still needed the brute power of their steam locomotives to move their heaviest trains on severe mountain grades; they put pantographs on top of the locomotives and put huge electric heating elements inside the boilers, effectively converting them to oversized electric water heaters. It was terribly inefficient, but the electricity was abundant and relatively cheap, and it worked.

It's Verizon's name for their fiber optic internet connection. They finished running lines throughout the city last year, and they've been promoting it heavily. They offered a first-year price that's less than I was paying for DSL, for 5mbps download / 2mbps upload, with free installation and free wireless router. In the future they'll be making DirecTV available, too. I could have paid $5/month more and gotten 15mbps downloads, but don't need that much speed just now. It's about 3x faster than my DSL was, enabling me to access the spam in my inbox much more quickly and waste time on internet forums more efficiently. My basement is beginning to look industrial.

Don't have a hissy-fit! I'm working on them. It's not like I have a life, or anything; that hasn't been the case in years. It's just that today I had to mow lawns to pacify the neighbors, and spent a considerable amount of time being available during the installation of my FIOS connection <<brag>>. I am eager to get them up, now. I want to see how much faster the upload goes.

Remember my computer? It just got a new friend! I signed up for Verizon FIOS 5-down/2-up service. They raised the price on my DSL, probably as an incentive to switch over; DSL had gone to $37.95, and the first-year price for upgrading to FIOS is $29.95 with free installation and a free router. Who knows what they'll do to me after the year runs out? :roll: Yesterday I installed a mounting panel in the basement with an electrical outlet and pulled Cat 5 cable from there to my workroom, and this afternoon the Verizon tech installed my service. The big box on the left is commonly installed on the outside of the house, but I thought that where I live, a conspicuous thing like that on the side of the house would be too intriguing to ne'er-do-well neighborhood punks with time on their hands and a couple beers under their belt. A speed test showed 5037 kbps down and 1847 kbps up. That's about three times what I typically experienced with my DSL; I think I'm about at the outer limit of distance from the switching station for DSL. It's noticeably faster when browsing web sites; even the ones where I often have to wait are quicker; I may have to wait for the site's server to respond, but when it does I get the data in bigger chunks and the page loads a lot more quickly. I'll be interested to see how much difference FIOS makes when uploading web pages to my host; with DSL that was sometimes an arduous process.

At risk of digressing, I think the rental car companies give their employees extensive training in bamboozling customers. I can't count the times that I've gone to the rental counter at my destination, having made a reservation for a compact car far in advance, and they've been "unable to find my paperwork" and then tried some confusing line of doubletalk to try to push something else off on me and scare/persuade me into paying for extras I don't need. An ex-bf taught me how to deal with that. Get to the counter as quickly as you can after your flight arrives, so that there are a lot of people in line behind you. Then, when they start to pull the snow job, make a loud, unpleasant scene and tell them to quit trying to bullshit you and tie everything up so that the other customers get impatient and the employees get frustrated. It's amazing how quickly they can find the "lost" paperwork and get you in the car you reserved. They count on most people not wanting to be confrontational or make a fuss.

The sky and the color of the light in that last one look like fall.

It's a mayfly cam. They use it to plan their attack.

Sunday (June 4), en route from Cleveland back to Fort Wayne, I saw the Chicago - Cleveland megabus sitting on the eastbound shoulder of the Turnpike, about 2 miles east of the Cedar Point exit (118?). It was just before noon. Either broken down, or out of fuel, maybe. I couldn't tell for sure, but it kind of looked like the driver was in his seat. I would have liked to have taken a picture, but I'm not very good at drive-by photography and I didn't see it until it was too late to grab my camera.

Toledo's art museum is first-rate, and the idea of a facility to display the glass collection is exciting. I was awed by some of the glass I saw there; intact Roman pieces that were quite beautiful.

Neat stuff! I like the comparison between contemporary and historic photos.

Pretty, and pretty upscale! Good tour.

Nice stuff! Toledo appears to be making a comeback, and I'm glad to see it. Union Station was quite outstanding when it was built. I wish they had done something more sensitive to the original design when they changed the windows. It's not beyond fixing, someday, though.

I'm not personally familiar with the area, but I dug out my Cincinnati map. From the angles in the photo, I'm inclined to make a wild-ass guess at Devou Park. That may be too far away, though, and I don't have any first-hand knowledge of what the terrain is like around the park. I dunno.

They got the concept right. I'd give them an "A" for content and not take off too much for spelling. A person doesn't have to be affluent or well-educated or live well, to have his heart in the right place. These folks aren't ashamed of their beliefs, and if they vote and maybe persuade a few neighbors & relatives to go along, that's a big part of what America should be about.

It was indeed a delightful experience. Thanks, all!

If I remember correctly, an article in this morning's (Sunday's) Plain Dealer conjectured that now it looks like no earlier than 2008. My comment at the time was, "Which do you think will come first, Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati passenger rail, or the ferry?"

Yup! (photo courtesy of RiverViewer)

I want one for my bike. Then, the car drivers will all be afraid to get too close to the crazy man, and my cycling will be safer and more pleasant.

:-o Scary!

Surprisingly, I've found very good coffee and friendly, accomodating employees in an attractively-decorated shop at a Brew-Ha franchise in the very small town of Ossian, mid-point on my frequent drive between Fort Wayne and Bluffton. Add to that Heyerly's Bakery, a popular long-time family business with the best baked-on-site goods in northeast Indiana, and little, quiet Ossian ain't so bad.