From Rocket to Bullet - The amazing world of trains
Lionel Wijesiri
RAILWAYS: In 1803, an Englishman named Samuel Homfray decided
to fund the development of a steam-powered vehicle to run on wagonways.
(Roads of rails called wagonways were being used in Germany as early as
1550. These primitive railed roads consisted of wooden rails over which
horse-drawn wagons moved with greater ease than over dirt roads.)
The first railway engine in 1829
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Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) built that vehicle, the first steam
engine tramway locomotive. On February 22, 1804, the locomotive hauled a
load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five extra wagons the nine miles
which took about two hours.
In 1829 another company - Liverpool and Manchester Railway - decided
to build a new line between Liverpool and Manchester. A competition was
held to test locomotives for the new line. The 500 pounds prize was
collected by George Stephenson, whose Rocket travelled the distance of
113 kilometres at an average speed of 24 kmph.
Its highest speed was 46 kmph. It was opened by the Duke of
Wellington in September 1830, and proved to be a great success.
With that the Railway fever had begun.
Eurostar connects London with Paris
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Things have changed in the past 175 years. Today we talk of special
kinds of trains running on corresponding special 'railways' such as
atmospheric railways, monorails, high-speed railways, Dinky Trains,
maglev, rubber-tired underground, funicular and cog railways.
From the 1920s onwards the transformation began to speed up. Steam
engines began to be replaced by less labour intensive and cleaner diesel
locomotives and electric locomotives, while at about the same time
self-propelled multiple unit vehicles of either power system became much
more common in passenger services.
Monorail system of train travel
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Most countries had replaced steam locomotives for day-to-day use by
the 1970s. A few countries still use steam locomotives, but this is
being gradually phased out.
Historic steam trains still run in many other countries for the
leisure and enthusiast market.
During this revolution a number of trains introduced have come to be
considered "legendary". We talk about five of them.
The Orient Express
The Orient Express first ran on October 1883, from Paris to Giurgiu
in Romania via Munich and Vienna. The 1930s saw the zenith of the Orient
Express services, with three parallel services running.
Shinkansen 500 Series at Kyoto Station, March 2005
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During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for
comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and
restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles,
diplomats, business people and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it.
The Super Chief
Super Chief was often referred to as "The Train of the Stars" because
of the many celebrities who traveled on the streamliner between Chicago,
Illinois and Los Angeles, California. It was the first diesel-powered,
all-Pullman sleeping car train in America.
A view of the Super Chief being serviced at the New Mexico depot
in March 1943
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It commenced its maiden run on May 12, 1936. Just over a year later,
on May 18, 1937 the much-improved Super Chief-2 traversed 3,584.5
kilometers from Los Angeles over upgraded tracks in just 39 hours and 49
minutes, often exceeding 100 miles-per-hour in the process.
Shinkansen
The Shinkansen is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan
operated by Japan Railways started in October 1964. The network has
expanded to link most major cities on the islands with running speeds of
up to 300 km/h, in an earthquake and typhoon prone environment.
Test run speeds have been in excess of 400 km/h for conventional
rail, and up to 580 km/h for maglev train sets. The popular English name
bullet train is a Western translation of the Japanese term.
The Indian Pacific
Indian Pacific runs between Perth and Sydney, Australia (4352 km)
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The Indian Pacific is a passenger rail service running between Perth
and Sydney, Australia. It was started in 1970 after the railway line
between Sydney and Perth had all been converted to standard gauge. It
covers 4352 kilometres, passes through three states and travels along
the world's longest straight stretch of railway track. The service
between Perth and Sydney takes about four days.
Eurostar
Eurostar connects London with Paris and Brussels. Trains cross the
English Channel via the Channel Tunnel. The first Eurostar trains ran in
November 1994.
This service has established a dominant share of the market on the
routes it serves - 68 percent for London-Paris and 63 percent for
London-Brussels, as of November 2004. The trains are 400 metres long,
weigh 800 tons and carry 750 passengers in 18 carriages - achieving a
maximum in-service speed of 300 km/h.
From Rocket to the Bullet: from 24 Km/h to 300 Km/h. That is today.
The future of railway technology will be an exciting one. Its beginnings
are becoming manifest in major cities in the world. Great inventions and
ideas are taking shape. Updates on the trials will continue to come. |