SEFT-1 Railway Exploration Probe

[freebeard]

Anyone who likes Breer's work at Chrysler in the 30s will appreciate the rebody that was done on this pickup truck to explore the railways devastated by capitalism in Mexico.





This is interesting for a lot of reasons—from inter-modal transportation to archeology to art as a means to transform society.

Their website is:
S.E.F.T.-1

A video explainer:
SEFT-1 Abandoned Railways Exploration Probe on Vimeo

[aerohead]

It's a shade tree mechanics look at an actual 'light' rail system.
The probe,with parallel-hybrid drive,could be the locomotive for very light passenger railcars,festooned with photovoltaics,ganged together to feed the electric traction motor.
*Low mass
*Mass below the floor
*Low center of gravity (seating only,no standing)
*low frontal area
*1/10th rolling resistance if on steel wheels
*Low Cd
*Carries it's own 'fuel'
*'Modular'
*Regenerative braking
*Downhill coasting
*No idling
*Low-to-zero carbon
What would that cost to construct?
What would they have to invent?
What would that cost to operate?
Would tracks and wheels from a children's amusement park roller coaster system not be adequate?
What safe velocity could it operate at without risk to commuters?

[The Other Andy]

Very cool. Is there any reasoning for the body design besides making it an 'art car?'

Originally Posted by aerohead

It's a shade tree mechanics look at an actual 'light' rail system.
The probe,with parallel-hybrid drive,could be the locomotive for very light passenger railcars,festooned with photovoltaics,ganged together to feed the electric traction motor.
*Low mass
*Mass below the floor
*Low center of gravity (seating only,no standing)
*low frontal area
*1/10th rolling resistance if on steel wheels
*Low Cd
*Carries it's own 'fuel'
*'Modular'
*Regenerative braking
*Downhill coasting
*No idling
*Low-to-zero carbon
What would that cost to construct?
What would they have to invent?
What would that cost to operate?
Would tracks and wheels from a children's amusement park roller coaster system not be adequate?
What safe velocity could it operate at without risk to commuters?

Erm, would it not be more cost effective just to put train wheels on one of these:

and call it a day? We are talking about a passenger service discontinued due to losses (or at least, lack of large profits). I doubt designing a locomotive and passenger cars for said locomotive would be anywhere near as cost effective as a bus on rails. Heck, they already have triple-articulated busses too. Shouldn't be too difficult to daisy-chain center sections together and expand the bus/doodlebug as needed.

Plus, if done right, said bus/doodlebug could pull up the rail wheels and take surface streets where it needs to go when necessary. Something like what the Adelaide O-bahn is (with existing rail infrastructure instead of wacky concrete busway): O-Bahn Busway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[UltArc]

Making a car that goes on train tracks sounds familiar...

...I think it would be a better idea to make a high speed performance version, with a nice high performance car pulling a small group at high speeds.

This is kind of what I'm thinking-


On a serious note, if TG can do it, it should be feasible for a group trying to actually complete it and not just light things on fire for entertainment.

[freebeard]

aerohead -- makes you think, doesn't it.

Very cool. Is there any reasoning for the body design besides making it an 'art car?'

It's a car that makes Art. Like Ant Farm's Media Van. The reason I posted it in aerodynamics is that I'm so used to low-polygon computer graphics, I can look at that profile and mentally overlay The Template. Where the fit breaks down is in the quite reasonable recesses on the sides of the boattailed truck cab, and maybe the windshield header is a little high. But since it's an Observation Probe the high windshield is rational. Imagine it with pizza pans and coroplast.

We are talking about a passenger service discontinued due to.. predatory capalist corporations that have moved on and are now consuming Greece? Thanks for the O-bahn link.


Google says this image is here, but it's been removed. I hereby declare the whole thread, Vehicles on rails is on topic.

And... I hadn't thought of it, but my [current] profile picture is a train called the TALGO, which used cars that only had an axle at one end. The contemprary TALGO provided the rolling stock for Amtrak's Starlight Express.

UltArc -- We're crossposting, so I haven't had time to respond.

Edit: Maybe more like this FIAT railcar?



Or the Herkimer Battle Jitney?

[freebeard]

So I needed a rail road thread and this one is mine.

I was thinking about combining two emerging technologies: the Owl Monocab and the Ironlev magnetic suspension.

Monocab - Compact Autonomous Monorail Vehicle

This Tech Can Make ANY Train a MAGLEV!

The Monocab provides for two-way traffic on a gauge-independent basis. The Achilles Heel of the Ironlev system is that it can't navigated installed track switches and grade crossings.

A lot of rail is gone because it wasn't economically viable. An example is the Oregon Pacific and Eastern Railroad.

www.abandonedrails.com/cottage-grove-to-rujada

The Railroad Buster Keaton filmed The General on is now a bike path. That stymied the Cerro Gordo community that wanted to become a satellite of Cottage Grove, commuting by rail. I worked, and thought I might build there in the 1970s.,

https://www.cerrogordo.net/virtual-tour.html

The Monocab would be perfect for that scenario, on-demand two-way transportation on a dedicated right of way. Magnetic levitation just to keep up with the times.

[redpoint5]

I saw Youtube trying to get me to click that 2-bit link, thought of you, and avoided clicking it. There's no explanation of how it's passively levitating. He mentions "path of least resistance", which isn't an explanation of anything except how electricity and water (and humans) behave.

Autonomous vehicles will obsolete rail transportation for people due to the last mile problem (among others).

[freebeard]

Thanks for thinking of me.

My thinking is it might work but have practical limitations. If they were faking it would they design in a fatal flaw? You can see the clearance requirement in the thumbnail. Whatever effect isn't strong enough to center on the rail, so it needs centering or drive wheels.

It's incidental to repurposing obsolete lines for two-way traffic/

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by freebeard

My thinking is it might work but have practical limitations. If they were faking it would they design in a fatal flaw?

This is more appropriate for the SA thread, but he's recently been skeptical of quantum computing and is raising the same objections I have; that nobody has explained how it works.

For the same reasons, I'm doubtful of this levitation technique, because in the video there is a section titled "how it works" where 2-bit proceeds to not tell us how it works, and obfuscates with "electricity takes path of least resistance", and then shows some roller bearings that keep lateral play at bay, as if that was what needed explanation.

I'm on the doubtful end of the confidence spectrum for string theory and multiverse, quantum computing, backwards time travel (not time dilation), and whatever this undisclosed levitation technique is. Now that I've listed all that, I'm not so sure about quantum entanglement either, or at least our understanding of it.

[freebeard]

Rather than doubt, I searched: duckduckgo.com/?q=how+ironlev+works

I watched two videos, this was the better one:

Ironlev official promo
It appear that it relies on an inverted U-shape to capture the rail.

String theory is a dead end. Dark Matter will be, as it's accepted that time moves (faster/slower?) in the interstellar voids.

edit: Maybe this one?

Amazing Levitation Technology from Ironlev | Magnetic Games