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Post new or old rail technologies that either failed or probably won't succeed....

 

Here's one....

 

http://www.hoistmagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2052627

 

PATENT

 

Container crane hoist and system

03 April 2009

 

Leonard D. Barry, of the Bi-Rail Company, Detroit, Michigan, US, is looking to sell the rights to US Patent 6,354,782, which outlines a container crane hoist and system, to a manufacturer of overhead lifting equipment.

 

The device has lift arms (42) with links (46, 46D) connected to ends of a loadspreader (40) or the links (46, 46D) are swivelly connected to the lift arms and aligned to hook special containers (20D).

 

++++++++++++++++

 

I don't know if this will work for cargo, but I'm pretty sure it won't work for people. Yet the inventor proposed a variation of this idea in which people would ride in containers that would be added to or removed from trains traveling at speed. My guess is that the few who would have survived severe centrifugal force trauma would probably have thrown up their spleens!

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Maybe you should rename this thread "Building a better mouse trap"?  :)

 

It could be done for people - You'd just have to have LARGE station areas so the containers can accelerate to speed, pick up the people and decelerate to stop.  Probably way to cost prohibitive.  You can't just have an arm to pick up a crate - talk about whip lash!

My favorite is the Wuppertal Schwebebahn in Germany.

 

Who wouldn't want this running through the middle of Over-the-Rhine? :)

 

Schweb02012006-008.JPG

  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a sham rail "technology" (there isn't even a working model of it because, well, it doesn't work) being pushed by a sham "newspaper" (it's citizen "journalism"), and reported by a sham reporter (the writer is the Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail "totally!")...

 

Emails show Ohio rail boss killed Tubular Rail high-speed trains while cheering for slow 3C train

March 7, 9:31 PM

Columbus Government Examiner

John Michael Spinelli

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - State emails sent among a group of Ohio rail officials and obtained in July 2009 following a request for public records made a month earlier reveal that while several rail and development officials thought the advanced "trackless" train technology patented by Tubular Rail Inc. (TRI) was both "visionary" and a "paradigm shift compared to anything in service today," Jolene Molitoris, Director of the Ohio Dept. of Transportation (ODOT), killed any effort to explore the innovative technology further by directing a top aid to exile information given to her personally to a file or location no agency spokesman can explain to date.

 

READ MORE AT (if you you mind wasting a few minutes of your precious life):

http://www.examiner.com/x-23537-Columbus-Government-Examiner~y2010m3d7-Ohio-emails-show-rail-boss-killed-Tubular-Rail-highspeed-trains-while-cheering-for-slow-3C-train

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

final-15%20copy.jpg

 

When riding the El, I have often lamented about the lack of towed gardens on the train.

weirdo.gif

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Is that Chicago trying to one-up the High Line?

That needs some park benches and a cart vendor selling hot dogs and soft drinks. :-D

You gotta love the weird hybrid bus/rail systems out there:

 

If they have to pay a bus driver to manuever into the stations, what's the benefit?

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

That looks a lot more like true BRT than some of the other stuff out there. It's running on a dedicated ROW that possibly cost less than rail, vehicles don't cost much more than street-only buses, speeds are fast compared with operating in traffic, and vehicles are interoperable between guideways for fast, longer-distance express and city streets for local connections.

 

Implement dual-mode buses, and they could run from catenary on the guideways and have diesel in street operation. Existing hybrid technology would drop right into that niche.

 

My only gripe with buses for local transit is that in major cities the routes are often underserved and the buses overcrowded and dirty, and there's no effort to eradicate the thugs and hooligans who tag, cut seats, scratch windows, and generally create an unpleasant and intimidating environment for respectable riders.

Post new or old rail technologies that either failed or probably won't succeed....

 

Here's one....

 

http://www.hoistmagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2052627

 

PATENT

 

Container crane hoist and system

03 April 2009

 

Leonard D. Barry, of the Bi-Rail Company, Detroit, Michigan, US, is looking to sell the rights to US Patent 6,354,782, which outlines a container crane hoist and system, to a manufacturer of overhead lifting equipment.

 

The device has lift arms (42) with links (46, 46D) connected to ends of a loadspreader (40) or the links (46, 46D) are swivelly connected to the lift arms and aligned to hook special containers (20D).

 

++++++++++++++++

 

I don't know if this will work for cargo, but I'm pretty sure it won't work for people. Yet the inventor proposed a variation of this idea in which people would ride in containers that would be added to or removed from trains traveling at speed. My guess is that the few who would have survived severe centrifugal force trauma would probably have thrown up their spleens!

 

This guy has pestered All Aboard Ohio for years....

  • 2 weeks later...

I was just reading Jeff Spicoli's, er, John Spinelli's latest rant in his catbox-lining "newspaper" when his name and totally tubular train (that exists only as an eigth-grader's Saturday detention project! :D) reminded me of Spicoli's greatest moments in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. My favorite is at 3:40....

 

Jeff Spicoli Tribute

 

All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz (plus a few billion dollars to prove my tubular rails don't work) and I'm fine!!

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

  • 4 months later...

Here's another one. This one is being supported by the mayor of the swanky Toledo suburb of Perrysburg as a way to replace "old" trains...

 

http://www.interstatetraveler.us/

 

Hydrogen sucks as an energy carrier. It's not even an energy source as a form of combustion is needed to catalyze the hydrogen. So you end up using more energy than you create. Plus hydrogen is extremely corrosive and explosive. And why create a whole 'nother infrastructure when we have a pretty good one already out there that works better than anything anyone else has come up with? I love ingenuity, and sometimes that means making better use of things we already have.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Here's another one. This one is being supported by the mayor of the swanky Toledo suburb of Perrysburg as a way to replace "old" trains...

 

http://www.interstatetraveler.us/

 

Hydrogen sucks as an energy carrier. It's not even an energy source as a form of combustion is needed to catalyze the hydrogen. So you end up using more energy than you create. Plus hydrogen is extremely corrosive and explosive. And why create a whole 'nother infrastructure when we have a pretty good one already out there that works better than anything anyone else has come up with? I love ingenuity, and sometimes that means making better use of things we already have.

 

Looks like something from the Hannah-Barbera School of Transportation design.  :roll: :roll:

 

..."Here's George Jetson....."

Are you talking about Perrysburg's Mayor Evans? I'm friends with his daughter and her husband (who live in Cincinnati) and I have met hit and (no offense to him), this seems like technology that is over his head...

  • 3 months later...

Here's another one. This one is being supported by the mayor of the swanky Toledo suburb of Perrysburg as a way to replace "old" trains...

 

http://www.interstatetraveler.us/

 

Hydrogen sucks as an energy carrier. It's not even an energy source as a form of combustion is needed to catalyze the hydrogen. So you end up using more energy than you create. Plus hydrogen is extremely corrosive and explosive. And why create a whole 'nother infrastructure when we have a pretty good one already out there that works better than anything anyone else has come up with? I love ingenuity, and sometimes that means making better use of things we already have.

 

OH GAWD!!!  :roll:

^ behold the only time you will see "swanky" and "perrysburg" tied together!  :laugh:

 

***

 

sounds like a recipe for disaster, but i have a soft spot for the non-stop chinese bullet train  :-o

 

^ LOL way too much friction for that ever to happen.

^Thats a great idea! I think that with the right design that is definitely a plausible design.

  • 2 years later...

Elon Musk to outline 'Hyperloop' idea

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

 

The SpaceX and Tesla founder has teased audiences with titbits of information about the rapid transit idea, which he claims could make the 380-mile (610km) journey in "about half an hour".

 

It seems to involve sending passengers through a tube in capsules.

 

Mr Musk says Hyperloop could be built for less than a conventional rail link.

 

The current proposed 130mph (210km/h) high-speed train connection between LA and San Francisco is unnecessarily expensive and underwhelming in ambition, he has complained.

 

"I originally started thinking about [Hyperloop] when I read about California's high-speed rail project which was somewhat disappointing," he told a Google Hangout with Richard Branson last week.

 

"It's actually worse than taking the plane. I get a little sad when things are not getting better in the future.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23666173

Plus hydrogen is extremely corrosive and explosive.

 

And water is extremely wet.

 

Hyrdogen of course was the fuel on board the Hindenburg.

Hydrogen on it's own isn't really all that explosive. It's hydrogen in the presence of Oxygen that is dangerously explosive. Hydrogen is merely a catalyst, while oxygen serves as the fuel.

 

/Science Lesson.

 

:)

And as hydrogen corrodes its containment system, it then comes into contact with the air....

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

hindenburg-wide.jpg

Great rock band.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

  • 2 weeks later...

Now there's techie genius Elon Musk calling for a 700 mph tube train to shoot people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes. Thru one of the most earthquake prone places on Earth. With unproven technology. He claims it will only cost $6 billion. Yeah. Right.

 

Oops. Just noticed he was mentioned above. Still a crazy idea.

  • 3 months later...

Now there's techie genius Elon Musk calling for a 700 mph tube train to shoot people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes. Thru one of the most earthquake prone places on Earth. With unproven technology. He claims it will only cost $6 billion. Yeah. Right.

 

Oops. Just noticed he was mentioned above. Still a crazy idea.

 

Got into a back-and-forth the other day with a supporter on Elon Musk's (a Musk Melon?) Hyperloop who was absolutely convinced that this idea was ready for prime time. Never mind that there isn't an operating prototype and that years of testing would be needed and that it would cost far more than the $6 billion Musk says. This guy was right and that's all there was to it, no matter what I said. Talk about blind to reality.

 

He finally got mad at me and accused me of "distorting the facts", that everything he said was true and that I was holding back progress. That's where the conversation ended.

 

Got into a back-and-forth the other day with a supporter on Elon Musk's (a Musk Melon?) Hyperloop who was absolutely convinced that this idea was ready for prime time. Never mind that there isn't an operating prototype and that years of testing would be needed and that it would cost far more than the $6 billion Musk says. This guy was right and that's all there was to it, no matter what I said. Talk about blind to reality.

 

He finally got mad at me and accused me of "distorting the facts", that everything he said was true and that I was holding back progress. That's where the conversation ended.

 

And that's X hours of your life you will never get back...

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

X-actly...

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Quantum Train, anyone?

 

Now the Musk-melons are trying to put a measure on the California ballot that would kill high speed rail in favor of Hyperloop:

 

http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059993099

Now there is also ET3, a sort of 4,000 mph pneumatic tube:

 

http://et3.com/

 

They are crawling out of the woodwork lately.

The only extreme high speed system that truly makes sense is the tubed Maglev in japan.

  • 5 months later...

hahaha that's amazing. I should build one of those for the Streetcar tracks!

So, yeah, check this out: https://vimeo.com/86508660

Have you got yours started yet?

 

OMG, I could so do this in front of my house!

  • 2 years later...

When you are denied seeing passenger rail and its everyday benefits in real-life, you become vulnerable to all kinds of kooky salespeople selling snake oil substitutes to the basic food groups of transportation....

_________

 

Columbus semi-finalist for futuristic, high-speed transportation system

Kimball Perry

Posted: 01/10/2017 6:17 AM

 

Pull up to most drive-thru banks or pharmacies and you probably have used a pneumatic tube to send your deposit or prescription to the clerk helping you.

 

A proposal submitted by a Columbus-based commission would use a similar concept to launch people from here to Chicago in 30 minutes or to Pittsburgh in 15 minutes at more than 700 mph. You could work eight hours every weekday in Columbus but live in Chicago or Pittsburgh and be home each night in time to walk the Magnificent Mile or chow down on the Steel City's Primanti Brothers sandwich topped with coleslaw and fries.

 

It sounds like science fiction, but the Chicago-to-Columbus-to-Pittsburgh route is one of 35 international semifinalists in the Hyperloop One Global Challenge. Hyperloop One, the California-based company holding the competition, aims to make the fast, easy shipment of people and goods via tube happen. The company says its transportation mode combines the speed of air with the reliability of rail.

 

"Columbus is the Midwest's fastest-growing area," said William Murdock, executive director of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. 

 

MORE:

http://mobile.dispatch.com/columdispatch/db_396582/contentdetail.htm?full=true&contentguid=caYzYKGg&pn=&ps=#display

 

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

  • 5 months later...

The lesson: here is what often happens when we ignore proven technology for moving people and go chasing after the "new, shiny thing".  Not saying we shouldn't pursue new transportation technology: only saying it is foolish to do so at the expense of committing funding to invest in moving people off of the street/highway grid by rail in dedicated corridors...

______

 

China's Elevated Bus Project Seemed Too Good To Be True — And It Was

July 6, 20179:30 AM ET

ANTHONY KUHN

 

"The idea was absurd, childish," said a longtime critic. Still, investors pumped more than a half-billion dollars into the project, after being promised returns of 12 percent.

 

MORE:

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/07/06/535625957/chinas-elevated-bus-project-seemed-too-good-to-be-true-and-it-was

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

  • 5 years later...
  • ColDayMan changed the title to Strange Rail Technologies
  • 10 months later...

It was never alive in the first place, just another con by that sociopath. As credible as his mini-sub.

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