I stumbled on this video due to my history of looking at railroad videos.
This was a bankrupt short line railroad with 62 miles of track that was carrying a few cars a week between Lometa Texas where it connects with the BNSF to Brady The 100 year old track was so bad it is limited to 10 mph. The FRA had ordered the Gulf, Colorado and San Saba railroad to stop using a crossing on a 4 lane highway because the crossing signals had no electrical power.
Then a funny thing happened – the best, cheapest fracking sand in the country lies right along the railroad.
The bridge crosses the Colorado River – it had been burning since Sunday Afternoon and this video was from Monday.
Back in the days of Steam Locomotives, sparks used to cause fires like this. They’re almost impossible to put out, especially so in the middle of nowhere. Damage is estimated at $10 million. Note that this was a bridge made from wood – imagine the trees that were needed to make it in 1910
If you’re ever in North Western Pennsylvania, there is an enormous railroad bridge, http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/kinzuabridge/index.htm. When I was younger we could walk all the way across it was breath taking. I’m surprised that the commissar fun police haven’t had it melted down. We used to walk across then hike back through the gorge. Never knew how lucky I was. This country really has fallen into a liberal crap hole. I’ll be dead soon. That’s the good news.
It was a big deal at the time in 2003 when the tornado did it in – at the time I think I remember it operating as a museum, and that ended that.
It looks like that is America’s destiny – to be a museum, with the valuable stuff looted first.
We used to be able to make a bridge like that in less than a year from the moment it was conceived as necessary. Now you can’t do the environmental impact study in a year.
I wonder how things are progressing at the bay bridge. They hope it will last 100 years
Interesting update with cool pix on the new underground railroad
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/05/fa_tunnel/?pid=2708
Yes, that’s the one that might be finished in my lifetime. Note that the “new” grand central for LIRR will be about 15 stories underground. By being so deep, there are no utilities to worry about nor undermining foundations of existing buildings. Midtown has solid bedrock.
The story didn’t really point out that they’re using an existing tunnel under the East River – it was built with two levels but the original plans for the other level were abandoned.
The Second Avenue subway is the real boondoggle. It’s really necessary to get the UN workers to work from their upper east side homes. The hope is it will take pressure off the horribly overcrowded Lexington Avenue subway. The idea to build it goes back 100 years, but nobody could justify the cost until President Obama reworked the math
I’ve always been fascinated by tunnels. During the Cold War, I was fascinated by the barricades blocking the underground train lines between east and west Berlin.
During the drug wars, I was fascinated by 1920s era the underground storm drain tunnels connecting Juarez and El Passo.
Somehow I hit enter before I had finished that last post. The most fascinating proposed tunnel is this one that the Russians have been pushing so that they can be a toll collector on Sino-American commerce. There are a lot of stories on it, but VOA probably the one of the most trusted international news sources:
http://blogs.voanews.com/russia-watch/2012/04/28/join-russia-and-usa-by-rail-tunnels-under-the-bering-strait/
…and if you get that done under budget here is another old tunnel idea
http://www.infowars.com/l-a-to-n-y-in-half-an-hour-10000-plus-m-p-h-tunnel-train-used-for-underground-bases/
That’s amazing!
They’ll need rails on the roof too since the Earth is curved.
At say 3Gs of deceleration, how long / far would it take to slow from 10,000 mph to a complete stop?
You’re going 52,800,000 ft/second – 3Gs about 100 ft per second^2. After one second you’re going 52,799,900 ft/sec – at two seconds, 52,799,700. After 600 seconds, you’ve slowed down by 100 (600*600) ft/sec or 36 million ft/sec, so you’re down to only 16 million feet a second… Of course in 10 minutes you were slowing down, you travelled around 700 miles – and of course to get up to 10k mph would involve just as much distance and time
Call me a skeptic
It has been in the news. Elon Musk has been a master at getting government funding and helping the Obama administration rework the financial spreadsheets and he may actually get us to fund him. I personally am waiting for his TESLA company stock to rise a bit more before I buy some puts.
http://www.inc.com/business-insider/elon-musk-hyperloop-transit-system.html
BTW- We all know how much it hurts to get hit by a baseball thrown by a kid. A major league pitcher throws at 90+ mph, and a bad tornado might have 200 mph winds. That 10,000 mph train will need a sturdy roof to prevent the train from entering low earth orbit. 🙂
That should be 52 million ft/hr, not per second. Don’t do math when you’re tired.