I don't really care about the trains themselves, but I always thought this camera was interesting

http://www.nttfukushima.com/live/jr_aizu/Default.html

I live in Sydney and maintain a moderately healthy interest in the trains here.

I saw the upcoming Waratah rolling stock get test-run at Central station once, when I was coming home late fom uni (like it was 11pm or something). The train looked really clean. I was excited.

Sadly, the Cityrail train network here is really shit, its slow and most of the trains are 30 year old tin cans. I guess this is in part due to the extreme corruption that saps money for projects left right and center.

They're not bad.

My grandfather has a full basement HO-scale layout. Set in Maine, 1958. A very unique collection.

Still doesn't mean he accepts me collecting "dolls."

diesel hydraulic locomotives from 1960s and two diesel electric from 1970s and 1990s walking hand in hand
details (front to back)
- CC204 02 (ge u18c mmi, upgraded with PLC control)
- CC203 27 (ge u20c, wide cabin variant)
- BB301 xx (fried krupp, type unknown)
- D300 xx (fried krupp, type unknown)
note the missing multiple unit control socket in the ge u18c

1chan.net

>>7893
not a railfan per se but i like trains and keep some basic attention to new developments - like the aborted attempts to get high speed rail in the central US plain states.

Also I take commuter rail and (Way more often) light rail (el lines) both need to be improved and for the el lines stop being fucking loud

hmmm... I'm wondering why the coal train line in michigan doesn't get electrification... it's feeding a power plant and the line could easily take some electricity from the plant....
I used to adore diesel-electric, but now I've changed heart to pure electric locomotives

>>8410
I don't think pure-electric trains are strong enough to haul such heavy loads.

Then theres the problem of electrical infrastructure (need to build power poles, this gets expensive over large distances)

Why doesn't the U.S. have a decent rail system? All of our public transportation sucks ass.

I'm jealous of glorious nippon.

Because its mostly a waste of money to bother.

It would be nice for those who could use it, but overall its a money sink

Because the US is stuck in the mindset that if you don't have your own car, you are something of a failure, and why would they take a nice train when they can waste gas driving around doing nothing?

I love trains, if you couldn't tell. I think it would be a good thing in big cities, but in that case people usually walk, as things aren't spread around so much.

>>8412
Considering Japan is only the size of Montana, they benefit a hell of a lot more from railways.

>>8412
Rail becomes increasingly less cost effective the lower the population density becomes. Making all the infrastructure for rail is a lot more expensive than just making a road.

The same problem exists in Australia: its a big country and the population is somewhat spread out. In actual fact, the rural train system operates at a LOSS (although that might just be because they're incompetent or some shit.). Good train systems are only around in super high density cities, like Tokyo, Hong Kong and London.

The rail industry is alive and kicking but only for freight. Outside Europe, Asia/India, and the Middle East there is no real need for passenger rail anymore. It's cheaper to drive or even fly in most cases. I know here in Canada, I can fly coast to coast for as little as 150 dollars and this is the worlds second largest nation. On the other hand, a train ride costs you well over 1000 dollars and would take days upon days to get anywhere.

There have been a lot of research in the recent years on bringing high speed trains to the east coast of North America. They would probably run from Montreal, Toronto to New York, DC and whatever else is there. The problem is, companies like Airbus keep making these massive air planes that keep beating out the idea of rail. They actually just revealed a cool passenger jet with a transparent hull, like we live in 2200 or something.

Wouldn't call myself a railway-otaku, but I do like riding trains, at least for inner-city transportation. It's usually faster than taking a car, and I can read some manga or a VN instead of having to focus on driving.

To get to another place on the continent though, airplanes are the way to go for now. Until we have maglev trains driving through vacuum tubes at 8000km/h.

>>8417
>Good train systems are only around in super high density cities, like Tokyo, Hong Kong and London
Wut? Pretty much every European city I've been to had a decent train/metro network, and places like Prague and Hamburg really aren't all that densely populated.

>>8411
an electric locomotive can be as powerful as diesel, or even more powerful since it doesn't carry the weight of its power plant, the constraint for freight tonnage allowed at once is the electric power capacity of the transmission system (and the power houses). a diesel-hauled train can easily add more locomotive to the consist for more power.
>>8424
but to think that the railway transport is the most feasible choice for the less wealthy people, plus the fact that it could benefit from a centralized power generating plant - increased power efficiency at reduced emission, it still has a future.

>>8582
Electric motors supply maximum toque from start. an electric vehicle should theoretically have superior acceleration.

All the high-speed trains like TGV, ICE, Shinkansen and so on are purely electric. (With the maglev trains it's kinda obvious)

I used to take the trains between DC and Baltimore, and New Jersey. Riding the train can be relaxing, even these days when trains in the US suck. Besides, for those short distances (1-3 hours by land) it can be more trouble than it's worth to fly, you end up spending more time in the airports than on the plane.

I wouldn't recommend riding an Amtrak train for an extended period though.

NYC subway trains are the worst, I take them every day, rush hour~

I rode the subway in Prague once (SO CUTE!), Los Angeles several times, and the hard rail in Latvia (Jelgava-Riga-Jurmula) a couple of times. I was more impressed with their systems, but I'm not a big fan of the seating arrangement. It feels more neat and less invasive to have seats along the sides of the train rather than jutting out. I want to see the London/Moscow/Tokyo systems because they are supposed to be amazing.

Anyway, as to the conversation-- even the NE coast will not likely get a good rail system. If not cheap flights, cheap buses have everything covered. I would like to have a cross-country commuter rail though.

>>8605
I took a 3 day (each way) Amtrak trip.
It was very expensive, but I was comfortable the whole time. (I am not picky, and got lucky as I only had one person sit next to me for less than an hour.)

It gave me a lot of time to think and read, I much preferred it to flying. I can see why its not for everyone.

I got to see a lot of country side. Each place I would imagine living there. I never thought I'd want to live in Montana, but I do.