bellinghman: (Default)
bellinghman ([personal profile] bellinghman) wrote2009-12-23 03:49 pm

Old tech saves the day

As seen here: Passengers rescued by Tornado.

It's rather wonderful in its way that when the electric-driven trains were being disabled by ice and snow, a good old-fashioned A1 Pacific steam loco could carry the stranded passengers to London.

He said: "It was a nice way to finish for Christmas, though I think some of the rescued passengers didn't realise they'd even been travelling on a steam train until they got off."

Hmm. I wonder what they thought the plume flowing back along the train from the front was, then.

(Steam trains are wondrous things, but I wouldn't really want them back in bulk. Electrics can run in almost any weather, as the Swiss can demonstrate, and they don't have to run on hydrocarbons.)

[identity profile] happydisciple.livejournal.com 2009-12-23 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know if any trains (ie not metro systems or trams) use regenerative braking yet. I imagine it wouldn't be worth the trouble on long-distance high-speed trains, but might be worth it on commute trains.
The Dutch Railways' DD-IRM EMUs use regenerative braking (not mentioned in the English article, but it is in the Dutch one), as did the short-lived SM '90.