MetaFilter posts tagged with train and trains

I thought the Train would never come -- How slow the whistle sang --

ocherdraco — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:38:29 -0800

"There is at least one technology in America, however, that is worse now than it was in the early 20th century: the train." Why trains run slower now than they did in the 1920s.

The Forbidden Railway - a train trip to Pyongyang

dunkadunc — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:56:35 -0800

In September of 2008, two Austrians traveled 13,000km by rail from Vienna to Pyongyang - without asking permission and going through the official Koran travel agency. Travelling via Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia, they chatted up North Korean border officials, were invited to eat lunch by North Koreans on the train, spent 36 hours without a guide, reaching areas not normally accessible to tourists. Travelogue with photos: Vienna-Moscow : Moscow-Barnaul : Barnaul-Irkutsk : Irkutsk-Skovorodino Skovorodino-Khabarovsk : Russia-DPRK : Tumangan Kilchu-Pyongyang 1 : Kilchu-Pyongyang 2 : Pyongyang & Mt. Myohyang Arirang Games, &c. : The Demilitarized Zone

Geared Steam

Artw — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:41:33 -0800

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.

This enormous red circular carriage will never fit onto the tracks!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:57:51 -0800

Train tracker.

London to Brighton. Are our attention spans getting shorter?

riotgrrl69 — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 08:02:37 -0800

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]

The Ted Kierscey Collection

Gator — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 11:15:33 -0800

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.

dfowler — Wed, 16 May 2001 06:42:29 -0800

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."