Dream Train
By Kenneth Hoffman

It's six thirty in the morning in a little town in Austria. A lightening eastern sky promises another beautiful day, as a cool ground mist starts to burn off. A chugging sound in the distance speeds up your heart in anticipation of the steam train as it approaches the grade. Here it comes! The sounds of steam rushing through massive cylinders reach your ears before the massive snout suddenly appears as it rounds the rough cut in the mountain. Faithfully, the two block-long row of cars tag along. You imagine yourself riding the last car, enjoying the cool breeze as the landscape flows past. On the hills above you sheep graze peacefully, seemingly oblivious to the plunging antics of a German shepherd as he tries to keep his charges from straying. Up ahead the clanging at an intersection warns of danger as one hundred tons of diesel freight wait patiently for your train to pass. You wave pleasantly to the conductor who casually acknowledges with a raised hand.

Coming into the station, you notice that the lights are still on in the ticket office, dozens of commuters standing in groups ready to board. On the long down-grade out of town, the train picks up speed, the engine roaring to the task of traveling at one hundred miles per hour. The above imagined scenario and many others like it took place every time I turned the switch on the transformer of my 220 : 1 ratio scale (Z scale) model train replica.
Dream Train Continued

Costs in Carbon Nanotube Sheet Manufacturing Hurting Safety
By Lance Winslow

The incredible properties of carbon nanotube technology means light weight material, transparency and strengths 50-250 times that of steel. This means added safety to aircraft, cars, buses and trains. It also means tremendous efficiencies in fuel.

Indeed such material maybe used to build houses, bridges and buildings in the path of potential storm surges from Super Hurricanes or over Earthquake faults. Since it can be very flexible it maybe the perfect material.

Unfortunately the costs to produce a single carbon nanotube sheet is presently so expensive that any material made will be immediately allotted to the very most important uses. For instance Space Ships, Presidential Limousine, military aircraft, bulletproof vests or testing its properties in labs. Therefore it will be a long time until we have large amounts of the material to make trucks, school buses and passenger cars with it, although that will surely come in time.
Costs in Carbon Nanotube Sheet Manufacturing Hurting Safety Continued

Trains and the Flow of Fuel
By Lance Winslow

Fuel costs seem to rank high in surveys of US citizens most grave concerns. Rates up there at the top, doesn't it?

Who are some heavy users of fuel that are not as often thought of? For surface transportation there are many indeed; cars, trucks, buses, etc. While we are talking about surface transportation, let's talk about trains. The railroad has always been a big part and played an even larger part in the flow of fuel even before the locomotives used fuel. Even back when the trains were steam driven from coal. The Flow of Fuel is very important and no one can argue that, better than Rockefeller. As you know he was a master of the flow, all the way down to controlling his cost and his competitors costs on the rail lines.
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Rail Breaks - Why Many People are Turning Their Backs on Flying
By Richard Green

According to statistics supplied by Great Rail Journeys (GRJ) - one of the UK's premier holiday companies that specialise in rail - an amazing 40,000 Britons are taking package rail holidays every year. These figures would have been hard to believe some five to ten years ago when the phrase "British Rail" was synonymous with poor service and unreliable transport. However, as we will learn taking a holiday via train has become increasing popular amongst persons who prefer a more comfortable and yet adventurous way of travelling.

Traditional railway holidays were very much the norm in 50's Britain. Be it short breaks to cities such as London, York or Edinburgh or exciting trips across continental Europe many Briton's grew up with the rail package holiday
Rail Breaks - Why Many People are Turning Their Backs on Flying Continued