Questions tagged [trains]

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17 votes
8 answers
4k views

Is there a physical/structural upper-speed-limit to steam locomotives?

In my world (essentially playing in the late 1920's to early 30's, though with a bit of hand-waved technological and political progress), a rail line exists that spans Eurasia from Lisbon to Bangkok. ...
NimRad's user avatar
  • 898
3 votes
2 answers
193 views

Potentional ways to exploit track built for very fast & very *very* heavy trains when transitioning to high speed rail?

In this world a nation has built 2 railway networks, a smaller 3'6" gauge network & a heavier 4'8" railway network. The 4'8" network connects most of the major cities & has very ...
OT-64 SKOT's user avatar
  • 3,863
9 votes
7 answers
2k views

Super broad gauge railway vs double wide/multi track railway

So here's the scenario, a mad scientist has just managed to take over the continent on his campaign for world domination (which continent I will leave to your imagination but for simplicity lets say ...
Tyler Phelps's user avatar
3 votes
6 answers
3k views

How much time and distance would a maglev train take to accelerate to the top speed of 700 km/h?

So I have decided that in my story on Mars, I'll have magnetic levitation trains. Now I'm calculating travel times and, considering passenger comfort, the question is: How quickly could a passenger ...
Krišjānis Liepiņš's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
146 views

Magnetic levitation train vs ordinary train: which migh fare better in Martian environment?

I'm refining my previous question about magnetic levitation trains on Mars. In my story, set on Mars, two settlements are connected by a railway line. Currently, it is an ordinary train of the type ...
Krišjānis Liepiņš's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
480 views

Energy consumption of magnetic levitation train compared with ordinary train

I'm refining my previous question about magnetic levitation trains on Mars. In my story, set on Mars, two settlements are connected by a railway line. Currently, it is an ordinary train of the type ...
Krišjānis Liepiņš's user avatar
9 votes
12 answers
4k views

Is there any reason a society might use electric boilers and steam engines in their trains rather than electric motors?

In an area in my world, people have discovered how to turn their aural constructs (magic stuff) into electrical supercapacitors, allowing for relatively advanced electrical technology. Now that they ...
M S's user avatar
  • 1,912
3 votes
8 answers
159 views

Most effecient way to build a steam-electric bimodal locomotive?

A somewhat significantly sized city is faced with a problem. It currently wants to reduce the smoke from the steam locomotives in the city & build more efficient & compact stations, however it ...
OT-64 SKOT's user avatar
  • 3,863
9 votes
8 answers
3k views

Renewables on rail, balloons, ships etc.: science fiction or fantasy?

I was wondering whether it could be technically and economically sound to put renewable energy plants on rail wagons to deal with the intermittency of the sun and/or wind and/or... or to deal with ...
Vergilius's user avatar
  • 328
6 votes
1 answer
374 views

Are hexagonal based tiling cities still possible?

I’m glad I could find some other people on the internet that have these kind of ideas as well. I am also in no way qualified within the field of civil engineering just interested in this specific ...
Amibay's user avatar
  • 71
4 votes
4 answers
152 views

Really-High-Speed Train for Kids

In a country where a majority of the population is children (like, for example, Niger), and where the terrain is often mountainous, engineers build a very-high speed train (say, 500-1000 km/hr), with ...
Jshupac Future-Economics's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
725 views

Would a locomotive on ice (like in The Polar Express) move?

In the Polar Express film, there is a scene where the Polar Express runs off the tracks onto a frozen-over lake, which supports it and doesn't collapse even after the locomotive tilting and hitting ...
bigyihsuan's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
321 views

Would Armoured Trains be effective in a city with a extremely well developed rail network?

Would Armoured Trains be effective for direct combat in a city with a extremely well developed rail network? This city has a rail a mostly above ground network built around the concept that there ...
OT-64 SKOT's user avatar
  • 3,863
31 votes
10 answers
10k views

If I build a railroad around the edge of a supercontinent, will that kill the oceangoing shipping industry?

Suppose, for a moment, that there is a human inhabited supercontinent. The planet that this supercontinent is on does not have any large landmasses which are more than 10 KM from the primary continent ...
Globin347's user avatar
  • 5,787
13 votes
11 answers
4k views

Are steam locomotives more viable than diesel in a post-apocalypse?

So, context: This is some time after the apocalyptic event, and society has had a little time to re-build. The apocalyptic event in question physically destroyed a large number of cities, and killed ...
Globin347's user avatar
  • 5,787
5 votes
4 answers
489 views

What environmental conditions would result in Crude oil being far easier to access than coal?

So, A bit of a long winded explanation: I am designing a world that is meant to be both nostalgic and alien; A world that is familiar enough at first glance, but has many differences to ours. One ...
Globin347's user avatar
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