Comments on: A-POWERED TRAINS IN GLASS TUBES

By: mickey

mickey — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:42:03 +0000

precisely curved and airtight glass would be nigh imposible to make in such large sizes, not to mention the perils of transporting it to the construction site.

By: Toronto

Toronto — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:55:03 +0000

Rick – something similar happened on a German mag-lev train a while ago – fortunately, the ’squeegee guy’ was a small robotic train, but the regular train didn’t take ramming into it very well.

By: David Moisan

David Moisan — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:38:14 +0000

Right. Molten sodium can’t possibly do anything when it gets out of a broken pipe. Really, it can’t! How do they handle broken-down trains? Evacuations? Do we get to find out about the products of combustion in an enclosed space?

By: Rick

Rick — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:13:19 +0000

What I’d like to know is how they would keep the glass tubes clean, particularly on the inside. I can see it now . . . the guy with the squeegie in there just finishing the job on his section and looking down the tube and yelling “Oh noooooooo!”

By: Rick Auricchio

Rick Auricchio — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:25:10 +0000

Sponsored by the glass industry, no doubt!

By: rsterling78

rsterling78 — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:28:32 +0000

“They see the day fast approaching when the pressure of increasing world population will lead to the erection of entire glass cities in desert and arctic regions—cities constructed on glass columns, enclosed in glass domes, heated and air conditioned by atomic power.”

And then a few years later the birth control pill came out and made cool overpopulation solutions like domed Arctic cities and space colonies obsolete.

By: John M. Hanna

John M. Hanna — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:29:59 +0000

Logan’s Run!

By: Al Bear

Al Bear — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:04:34 +0000

Futurama!

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:04:43 +0000

Hmm… looks like the “atomic pile” is directly below the stoves in the kitchen. Shouldn’t be any problem getting a HOT meal.

By: Neil Russell

Neil Russell — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:00:08 +0000

They may have to change the name on the side. The “Crystal-Met” would mainly be popular with the bumpkin set, but you might have people trying to smoke the trains

By: Stephen Edwards

Stephen Edwards — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:59:06 +0000

Did I read that right? At one point, they say, essentially, “compressed air sucks”?

By: Eamon

Eamon — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:07:26 +0000

This was in a Gumby cartoon once. I don’t know why I remember that.