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"Bring science home" all
Written by | Skin
Review | Ziv
National Day is approaching, did you buy (grab) a high-speed rail/train ticket? I believe that many people are now at work stations (school seats), but their hearts have already embarked on the travel/home train.
In order for you to take science home with you on the train, this time we will take you to see strange trains around the world. Trains are not only familiar to us – large carriages running on two rails – in many parts of the world, there are upside-down trains, boats and trains that can get on the road... What's going on? Train!
An inverted train capable of performing acrobatics
How can this train be upside down? It felt like turning the rails 180 degrees, because the GIF was so counterintuitive that I couldn't help but look at it several times.
After checking it, I learned that this railway is located in Wuppertal, Germany, and is a railway system called the suspension railway. The route in Germany has a long history and was opened as early as 1901. Originally, the railroad was built to connect several industrial towns along the Wupperr River Valley to transport coal and bricks. However, it gradually connected the entire city of Wuppertal, which is still used today and is an important basic means of transportation for citizens, with a daily passenger flow of more than 80,000 people. When the train travels through the river valley, passengers can enjoy the scenery on both sides of the river from the air and meander along the river, which must be a unique experience.
This train is not really upside down, but the rails are on top, which feels a bit similar to a cable car. At the top of the railway is a layer of steel beams for support, under which is the rails of the train, and the carriages are suspended from this rail, and driven by motors, turn the wheels forward.
It really looks like a handstand! ｜wiki
However, there are some outrageous news about this railway, such as the record that in 1950 someone loaded a baby elephant into a train, and the baby elephant crashed back and forth in the carriage and accidentally fell out and fell into the Wupper. After the baby elephant was rescued, it was named Tuffi (Italian for "diving").
And now, the mainland also has this kind of high-speed suspension train, in May this year, the mainland's first suspended aerial rail train, Optics Valley Empty Rail, departed in Wuhan! It's energy-efficient, doesn't take up space, and passengers can even enjoy beautiful scenery. I remember when I was a child, I fantasized about "a car running in the air", but now it has actually entered reality.
Can trains still run on the road?
Brainy inventors designed a car that could run on the road and follow the railroad tracks. This is the world's first dual-mode vehicle, the DMV in Japan. Today, it drives along Japan's seashores and countryside, and is designed to serve small towns with few people, so it can only seat 23 people in a car and cruise at a speed of only 60km/h.
When running on the road, the DMV looks like a normal bus, powered by a diesel engine. However, when he encounters the rails, the driver will press a "transform" button, so that the chassis in front of him extends two metal wheels, lifting the entire car and putting it on the rails. At this time, the metal wheels in front and the rear wheels of the car are on the railway and can travel like trains.
With a gentle lift, the bus becomes a train. ｜youtube
Obviously, this kind of car is designed according to the local traffic conditions and cost considerations, and it is said that the DMV in Japan is a simple means of transportation to see the scenery, which is easier to maintain and more fuel-efficient.
In other parts of the world where there are few others, this small, low-cost (and odd) means of transport also exhibits a kind of waste utilization (?). ）。 In Colombia and Bolivia in South America, there is a kind of "iron ba". It uses the old railroad used in the 19th and 20th centuries for mining, and then puts metal wheels under some old buses, which becomes a kind of rudimentary bus.
However, this kind of iron bar can be imagined, it is only a temporary means of transportation, passengers are not sitting steadily, and there are no special safety measures, it can only be said that you need to be cautious when riding in the car!
Ferrobus, Bolivia. ｜railsouthamerica.com
What a roller coaster
In a mountainous part of Switzerland, you'll experience a roller coaster train ride. The steepest slope in this section of the railway can reach 47 degrees, which is the steepest funicular railway in the world, a combination of railway and ropeway, this railway system can climb very steep hills, and the previous Chongqing Chaotianmen Pier also had one.
To accommodate steep slopes, its carriages are designed to be barrel-shaped and can rotate uphill, allowing passengers to remain level at all times and not to fall backwards.
Clever barrel carriage design. | References
Another "railway" that gives you a roller coaster ride is Sydney's Katoomba Railway, which has a steepest slope of 52 degrees and sits in a cliff with a rainforest landscape. It is not a cable, but a winch system that allows passengers to adjust the seat angle themselves while driving, making it more immersive to feel the feeling of descending on a cliff.
An immersive roller coaster on the Katoomba Railway. ｜wiki
How do trains cross the sea? Boat
Have you ever been to Hainan by train? It's a strange experience, and in order for the train to cross the sea, the train has to be boarded and transported by boat. This is the "train ferry".
The scheme of the mainland Guangdong-Hai Railway consists of "two lines and one ferry", the two lines are the Zhanhai Line in Guangdong, the West Ring Line in Hainan, and the "one ferry" is the train ferry. Somewhere, the train would be broken up into four sections for better boarding, and then one carriage would be pushed onto a large ferry with rails, spliced and secured by staff. I don't know what it's like to get on a seasick train and seasick...
The train ferry originated in 1833, when bridge technology was not enough to support huge bays, so people came up with this ingenious method. Over time, the problems of trains slipping and falling off on ships, as well as the loading capacity of ships, were also solved, and this mode of transportation gradually appeared around the world. Trains can go to more places, and now, we are also taking faster and faster trains with all kinds of black technology to go everywhere.
First train ferry. ｜wiki
What strange experience did you have while riding the train? Welcome to discuss in the comments section!
Resources:
[1]https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_12536104
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_ferry
[3]https://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/trains-that-go-to-sea.html
[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn
[6]https://ishare.ifeng.com/c/s/v006hT6sgv003SP29NL--L5hRyp6KXiakWlDjF5H-_WPHuuEU__?spss=np&channelId=
[7]https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/bus-or-train-worlds-first-dual-mode-vehicle-begin-operating-japan-2021