The World's First All-Electric Locomotive
Photo: Norfolk Southern
Norfolk Southern’s NS 999 electric locomotive runs entirely on 1,080 12-volt batteries and produces 1,500 horsepower. From the company’s press release:
NS 999 is an entirely electric locomotive that uses a lead-acid energy storage system comprised of 1,080 12-volt batteries to operate in railroad switching applications without the use of a diesel engine and with zero exhaust emissions. The plug-in locomotive also can regenerate dynamic braking energy through a system provided by Brookville Equipment Company. The recovered dynamic braking energy continually replenishes the energy storage system, and uses this recovered energy for tractive effort in rail operations. The batteries are carefully monitored and controlled through an elaborate battery management system to assure safety and maximum battery life, and when fully charged NS 999 is able to operate three shifts before recharging is required.
Link via Popular Science
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Group Rope Jumping
Photo by Russos
No, not Double-Dutch, and not quite Bungee jumping. The kids these days and their fads- EnglishRussia has an interesting series of pictures of the group rope-jumping craze sweeping the country.
As illustrated above, a group simultaneously jumps from a bridge (as a train bears down on them), clinging to ropes that swing them up towards the other side. No details on what kind of injuries this involves, but the line tangles don’t look encouraging.
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15 High Speed Trains From Around The World
Oobject does it again with another brilliant list comprised of 15 of the world’s most magnificent (and FAST) high speed trains and railways. Simply a must see.
In America, we’re used to driving. In fact, we thrive on it. However, in other countries, high speed rail is a key factor in getting people where they need to be. Some trains in existence can cover an entire country in a matter of hours, while the best we have is Amtrak’s Acela Express, a service that the Japanese and French laugh at for hours on end. Explore the world of high speed railways with us and be sure to vote on your favorite.
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Two Trains Collide Head-On
[YouTube - Link]
At 5:54 AM on Wednesday June 14th, 2006 two Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains were involved in a head-on collision.
One of the locomotives had a camera on board that captured the incident. While no one was killed in the incident, the crews in the train with the camera on board were seriously injured.
If you look closely, you can see someone from the other train bailing out shortly before the collision (0:43 in the clip)
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VideoSift Clips of the Week
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How a Train Stays on a Track (not as simple as you thought)
Physicist Richard Feynman explains how a train stays on the tracks… From BBC TV ‘Fun to Imagine’ (1983) |
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The Amazing Camouflage of the Pootoo Bird
David Attenborough looks at how a potoo hides itself effectively when it senses danger. |
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Sand Drawing Taken to a Level Way Beyond Next
While Western audiences might not fully grasp the ‘1945′ context that she manages to encapsulate in this mind-blowing performance, rest assured the tears in the Ukrainian audience members’ eyes and the standing ovation were there for a reason. |
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Kite Fail
A man goes outside to fly a kite. Failure is imminent. |
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Top Gear: Bugatti Veyron vs. McLaren F1
The two fastest supercars ever created square off in a rip-roaring drag race to over 300 kmh. Which will reign supreme? |
For more the web’s most interesting videos, check out: VideoSift.
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Vienna to Pyongyang
Helmut from Austria and and Oliver from Switzerland took a train trip across Russia and into North Korea, without arranging their entrance point with the North Korean tourist agency. They took a route that was supposed to be “impossible” for tourists. In fact, the border personnel couldn’t remember the last time Europeans traveled through their station.
Our two “translators” (they were about 30-40 years old) then wanted to see our passports. They thoroughly checked our visas and asked for where we were going and for what purpose (I answered by pointing on the Korean word next to the words “Purpose of entry” on my visa…). They asked for our nationality and I had the impression that they initially didn’t exactly understand from what country I was from. I don’t know how Austria is said in Korean language, and they didn’t seem to know the Russian word “Avstriya”. I finally tried to explain by drawing a map and saying that “Avstriya” is “nedaleko” (close) to “Germaniya”…
They sat quite a while with us and asked us also what was our job, what we knew about North Korea, how our media is reporting abouth North Korea, how we think about the United States, whether we have been there or were planning to go there, what we were thinking about Kim Jong Il and so on…of course we answered diplomatically.
However, they were always friendly and we had the impression that they were also very interested to talk with Europeans. Maybe it was the first time in their life they could do that.
The entire site is fascinating for train enthusiasts. If you are only interested in the North Korean part, you can skip ahead. Pictured is the Demilitarized Zone, which they visited from the northern side. Link -via reddit
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Train Wrecks
The next time you think you can beat a train at a railroad crossing, remember looking through this roundup of train wreck photos at Dark Roasted Blend. Link
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No Kissing Zone
At Warrington Bank Quay Station in the UK there are designated places for travelers to kiss, and not to kiss. Taxi drivers complained about kissing couples taking too long in the drop-off zone, so Colin Daniels, the chief executive of the Warrington Chamber of Commerce suggested putting up No Kissing signs to prevent traffic congestion.
So now if you want to kiss, you have to go over to the Kissing Zone, several yards away from the drop-off area. You can see the BBC News video here.
“It was all a bit of fun. But now Virgin Trains have agreed to put them up as part of the refurbishment. They may seem frivolous but there is a serious message underneath.”
–Colin Daniels, Warrington Chamber of Commerce
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Awesome Japanese Train Decorations
Japan has painted a number of their trains with some really amazing anime art, including Pikachu, Doraemon and the Anpanman one above.
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Mona Lisa Created With Train Tickets
Employees at the Takashimaya department store in Osaka have created four reproductions of world-famous paintings using 320,000 old train tickets obtained from the nearby Nankai Namba station.
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