Tech Columnist Andy Ihnatko takes us along for the ride. For a recent trip from Kingston, RI to the East Village, Ihnatko set up a Nikon Coolpix 6000 to take a picture every 30 seconds - out the train window, then around his neck. The result is a great time lapse journey.
posted by pupdog on Nov 10, 2008 - 30 comments

On a traditional steam locomotive the pistons drive the wheels directly via cranks. An unusual looking series of variants, the geared locomotives, took a different approach - using gears and driveshafts, giving them an advantage in traction at the cost of speed, making them ideal for steap grades and tight curves of logging railroads. The most common was the Shay Locomotive (video), with it's vertical pistons. Other variant included the Climax (video, seen at the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad) and the Heisler, which had it's pistons in a V-formation (video). Many examples of the geared locomotive can be found at the Northwest Railway Museum.
posted by Artw on Nov 8, 2008 - 18 comments

The Subway Sun and The Elevated Express &reswere posters used to inform passengers travelling on the IRT. A couple that tickled my fancy - the unlikely to happen Sociability Limit and an Obnoxious Custom. [via]
posted by tellurian on Nov 5, 2008 - 15 comments

Seventy years ago today a world land speed record was set that has never been broken... on July 3, 1938 LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard reached the giddy speed of 126mph. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jul 3, 2008 - 22 comments

There's just something so pleasing about watching a mixed freight train go by. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jun 30, 2008 - 64 comments

Trainrider : How to surf on a train - at 330 km/h.
posted by GuyZero on Jun 8, 2008 - 20 comments

RFK Funeral Train A moving audio and photo account of photographer Paul Fusco's experience on the RFK funeral train to Washington DC. {via NYTimes Magazine}
posted by doug3505 on Jun 2, 2008 - 7 comments

Train tracker.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Jan 21, 2008 - 27 comments

Railway TV. Live video from the front of a train in Japan. [more inside]
posted by brownpau on Dec 10, 2007 - 14 comments

A window to the world by car or train. Passingby: Videos uploaded to Youtube, showing various parts of the world, from the vantage point of someone just passing by. (Flash, video, youtube link)
posted by zabuni on Nov 26, 2007 - 7 comments

Paging asavage, congratulations are in order. Thanks to quick thinking and an episode of Mythbusters, 14-year-old Julian Shaw saves a man from death by train. "[As the train roared past] the noise pierced your ears and there was a suction that pulled us in… I'd seen that on MythBusters, so I stayed right back and pulled Mark back towards me."
posted by micketymoc on Nov 8, 2007 - 60 comments

Throw the tourist from the train. Ejected from a train for refusing to stop taking pictures from the train. Well, for not stopping anyway; the refusing part is unclear. The nation is now secure.
posted by Bovine Love on Nov 8, 2007 - 73 comments

Dead Road - Museum of Communism in the Open. "It was one of the most ambitious projects of the Stalin era, known as the 'railway of bones'. At least 10 people a day died during the four years of its construction [actually 1947-1953], but unlike most of Uncle Joe's grand designs it was never completed and now sits unfinished in the tundra, an icy road to nowhere." The transpolar railway was built by labour camps^ 501 and 503 and construction was stopped after the amnesty following Stalin's death in 1953; 800km, about half, was built. Some sections are currently in operation, but much is abandoned: depot and locomotives in Dolgoe, Dolgoe itself, labour camps, more spectacular decay. (Previously: Norilsk, which was supposed to see an extension of the line.)
posted by parudox on Aug 27, 2007 - 13 comments

“Why the hell the train?” and other questions answered “The real terror is the Three+ Sheltered Old Men, because they don’t sleep and they don’t have normal conversations. They’re completely sporadic: An observation is made, perhaps it is agreed on, then anywhere from two to 45 minutes pass before the next one. That’s the random non-rhythm your brain will feed on... and you’re never going to relax or get any sleep.” As for “train love”? “Ask yourself, do you really want this? Your potential train buddy is travelling by train. What the hell is wrong with this person? After two days on the train... [y]ou’re not at your Personal Best™”
posted by joeclark on May 13, 2007 - 20 comments

I hope STS-117 isn't delayed by this train wreck like it was from that hailstorm last March.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on May 3, 2007 - 24 comments

There and Back Again: The Soul of the Commuter How long is your commute? Is it worth the personal and social cost? Nick Paumgarten in this week's New Yorker on the bargains Americans strike between their work lives and home lives.
posted by Miko on Apr 13, 2007 - 84 comments

One fast motherf#%*^@$ train warning: video and in french
posted by Stynxno on Apr 3, 2007 - 88 comments

While the Queen was in New Zealand on Christmas Eve 1953 a lahar destroyed a rail bridge in Tangiwai. When the Wellington to Auckland Express tried to cross the bridge, the resulting accident killed 151 people. On behalf of her mother, Prince Andrew is currently in New Zealand, commemorating a hero, and another lahar has errupted, from the same volcano. The death toll is zero.
posted by Samuel Farrow on Mar 18, 2007 - 13 comments

Trainrider rides on German bullet trains. This video on youtube, about a 21 year old who rode outside on a German bullet train. The rider who filmed himself died of leukemia a year after the videos. Couldn't find much information except for a blurb inwikipedia, trainrider.net and youtube trainsurfing video collection.
posted by IronWolve on Jan 7, 2007 - 26 comments

Chinese On The Train Wang Fuchun's exhibition at the 798 Photo Gallery. Some good stuff in their archives too.
posted by Abiezer on Dec 31, 2006 - 4 comments

Hisakyu's Railway Guide
posted by hama7 on Dec 7, 2006 - 21 comments

Steam Train Maury caught the Westbound home. The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind and you won't find no policemen there.
posted by orthogonality on Nov 21, 2006 - 38 comments

London to Brighton in Two Minutes (2006) [HI Apple Quicktime, LO Adobe Flash] preceeded by London to Brighton in Three-and-a-Half Minutes (1983) [RealMedia, context] preceeded by London to Brighton in Four Minutes (1953) [RealMedia, context]
posted by riotgrrl69 on Oct 1, 2006 - 21 comments

A timetable of UK trains carrying nuclear waste. (PDF file). The related Greenpeace UK article. UK nuclear waste train route graphic. Mirror tabloid hack plants fake bomb on nuclear waste train. "The gate was open, there were no security guards. I walked up to the train and planted my bomb". The Guardian's take on the story.
posted by nthdegx on Jul 30, 2006 - 16 comments

The Narrow Gauge Circle hosts, among other fine features, the Ted Kierscey Collection -- page after page after page of historical photographs of Colorado's railroad and mining towns.
posted by Gator on Mar 23, 2006 - 7 comments

Riding the Maglev: The japanese super-train has been undergoing tests for a number of years (previous MeFi-post). The Shanghai Maglev Train is already in service. What is now just a run on the test track could become the second maglev route in service and perhaps eventually replace the famous Shinkansen bullet train? 500 km/h: from Tokyo to Osaka in an hour?
posted by bering on Jan 16, 2006 - 38 comments

Parasitic Subway Projector: High concept German art students cram a Mac mini and a projector into a suitcase and mount it to the side of a subway car with suction cups. The resulting images, projected onto the tunnel walls, make for a fascinating work of public art. [QuickTime] Link via: The Unofficial Mac Weblog
posted by aladfar on Nov 5, 2005 - 61 comments

A fire supreme. An all-too brief series of photographs demonstrates the disastrous after-effects of a coal train with an overheated wheel bearing stopping on a wooden bridge to investigate the cause of the smoke...
posted by jonson on Jun 11, 2005 - 37 comments

We Were All On That Train If any adventurous film festival directors happen to be reading, a Spanish production company called Docus Madrid has just released a fine documentary, comprising 24 short films, about the terrorist train attacks in March. The pressbook can be downloaded from the home page in MS Word, in English: otherwise, it's all in Spanish. Ticket money goes to relatives of the victims.
posted by Holly on Feb 2, 2005 - 14 comments

Cat Stevens on NatSec watchlist. "A London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when it was discovered passenger Yusuf Islam - formerly known as singer Cat Stevens - was on a government watch list and barred from entering the country, federal officials said... Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy identified the passenger as Islam. 'He was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on national security grounds,' Murphy said, and would be put on the first available flight out of the country Wednesday."
posted by mwhybark on Sep 21, 2004 - 79 comments

Pre- and post- explosion satellite images of the Ryongchon train station in North Korea.
posted by PenDevil on Apr 30, 2004 - 37 comments

Trains vs. Airplanes. Amtrak has reported record ridership levels for the Thanksgiving season. But the success of the rails is indebted to post 9/11 air-travel anxiety. Maybe, it would be better for travelers to stop fearing hijackings and resume flying planes instead of riding intercity trains out of fear. On the other hand, it could be a good thing that rail travel is getting a second look after years of decline.
posted by gregb1007 on Dec 3, 2003 - 51 comments

How much do you like your cell phone? (NY Times link - alternate here) Bronx resident reaches into train toilet to retrieve dropped phone, becomes trapped, is rescued by jaws of life.
posted by Aaorn on Oct 31, 2003 - 11 comments

Train Spotters rejoice! Rail Pictures has all sorts of locomotive shots.
posted by jasonspaceman on Oct 25, 2003 - 5 comments

A Disgusting Practice Vanishes With the Token "Officially, the crime is classified as theft of Transit Authority property. But among transit police officers it is more accurately and less delicately known as token sucking. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it is exactly what it sounds like." (Originally from NYT. More here.)
posted by Artifice_Eternity on Apr 28, 2003 - 18 comments

Train Oddities & Curiosities features stunning illustrations and articles from late 19th/early 20th century science magazines. Read about the Chase-Kirchner Aerodromic Railroad, the beautiful Meigs Elevated Railway, or the history of the "Rainmaking" car. Be sure to check out the other sections for more fascinating train lore.
posted by snez on Apr 19, 2003 - 6 comments

VandalSquad Always fancied yourself as a "Writer" but don't want to get covered in paint or arrested? This download allows you to deface a train wagon to your hearts content and then upload it to a gallery. Not the real thing but as close as most of us will ever get...
posted by jontyjago on Mar 28, 2003 - 1 comment

A man has a heart attack on commuter train. The train's crew arranges for paramedics to be at an accessible train station. The train makes two more regular stops before said train station! What was this crew thinking? Is the almighty buck more important than a guy's life?
posted by heybate on Aug 1, 2002 - 22 comments

Man who stopped train with his bare hands "was a longtime railroad man from an era when such boardings were routine.... Today, it is strictly against the rules -- sometimes a firing offense -- to step aboard moving locomotives or cars."
posted by dfowler on May 16, 2001 - 6 comments

Remember the movie Magnolia? One of the themes running through the movie was of amazing coincidences and chance. This story of a people getting hit by trains near San Francisco this week mentions one such coincidence. A man was hit by a train, and on that very train was the chairman of a "nonprofit group whose goal is to reduce the number of train-related collisions, deaths and injuries." The additional fact that this safety group leader was enroute to give a speech on grade-crossing safety makes it approach urban legend status, but it did indeed happen.
posted by mathowie on Jul 15, 2000 - 5 comments

2 kids were killed in a bus accident when it was hit by a train. Ouch! Didn't the driver see the tracks, or anything?
posted by Cavatica on Mar 28, 2000 - 0 comments