August 29, 2009

Enjoy the Finest (Sep, 1958)

Filed under: Advertisements, Trains — @ 10:02 pm
Source: National Geographic ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1958
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Wow, I would totally take this train.

Enjoy the Finest

BETWEEN CHICAGO AND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

It costs no more!

“CITY OF PORTLAND”

This delightful Domeliner is the finest and fastest between Chicago and Portland, with through Pullman to Tacoma-Seattle.

It is the only train to Portland featuring three types of Astra Domes; a Dome Lounge, Dome Coach, and Dome Diner (exclusive on Union Pacific) with three exquisite dining areas—the Dome, and downstairs the main dining room, and the Gold Room for private parties.

Pullman and Coach equipment is the very latest in design, providing both relaxing comfort and convenience. And, of course, the money-saving Family Plan Fares apply on all Union Pacific trains.

• • •

Through Hertz Rent-a-Car service, we can have a car waiting for you at your destination.

UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD

July 6, 2009

Cars That Fly (Oct, 1958)

Filed under: Automotive, Aviation, Trains — @ 12:35 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1958
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Cars That Fly

YOUR car of the future may have no wheels. It may not even touch the road as it races along the turnpike at speeds well above 100 mph while you and your family sit back and enjoy the ride—without fear of accident or injury.

This revolutionary new mode of travel was recently unveiled by the Ford Motor Company in the form of the Glideair—a wheel-less vehicle that rides on a thin film of air a fraction of an inch above the road. Read the rest of this entry »

June 1, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO FIGHTS FOR ITS CABLE CARS (Aug, 1954)

Filed under: Trains — @ 6:27 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1954
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SAN FRANCISCO FIGHTS FOR ITS CABLE CARS

“Save our cable cars,” say Frisco’s citizens. But the City Hall boys have other ideas.

By Louis Hochman

SAN FRANCISCO shakes again! In 1906 it was Nature that rocked the infant town into a mass of ashes and rubble. Today it’s human nature that is giving this Golden Gate City the shakes with a wave of public sentiment that has spread far beyond the city’s own boundaries. Once again the people of San Francisco have gathered in force to go fight City Hall. It’s a battle between practicality and sentimentality and the object of this latest uprising is once again the dinky little cable car—that ding-dong relic of the Gay Nineties that continues to clang its merry way up and down the precipitous hills of San Francisco in blissful defiance of modern science and the forces of progress. Read the rest of this entry »

February 4, 2009

New German Air-Railway Car Speeds 100 Miles Per Hour (Feb, 1931)

Filed under: Trains — @ 11:50 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1931
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New German Air-Railway Car Speeds 100 Miles Per Hour

A NEW railway car resembling a zeppelin on wheels, which holds possibilities of a new era in railway transportation has recently been tested in Germany. Utilizing the principles of streamlining throughout, the long silver monster carrying 40 passengers attained a speed of more than 100 miles per hour on a straight stretch of track, getting up full speed in slightly more than a minute. Earlier secret trials are said to have resulted in a 114 m.p.h, speed.
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January 31, 2009

Jap Train Will Do 450 mph (They Say!) (Nov, 1959)

Filed under: Trains — @ 10:56 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1959
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Jap Train Will Do 450 mph (They Say!)

PROFESSOR Hisanojo Ozawa of Japan has designed a radically new type of train that he claims will do 450 mph, whizzing by jet propulsion between upper and lower rollers. Recently he tested a model, which did a modest 25 mph but functioned perfectly as a mechanically guided missile. A problem: how do you get around curves? Professor Ozawa has the answer: curve lines of no less than 2.48 miles radius. •

January 5, 2009

Rail Flyer to Set New Speed Marks (May, 1932)

Filed under: Aviation, Trains — @ 12:45 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1932
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Rail Flyer to Set New Speed Marks

THE rail flyer, the inventor has called this new space-consuming creation of engineering, and it has several very good reasons for its existence.

It is so constructed that it is able to overcome one of the great problems of rapid transportation; the problem of traction. Every vehicle has tractive power, the ability to move forward under applied force.
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December 19, 2008

A-POWERED TRAINS IN GLASS TUBES (Dec, 1956)

Filed under: Trains — @ 12:06 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1956
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A-POWERED TRAINS IN GLASS TUBES

They’ll give airliner speeds plus weather-free reliability.

By Frank Tinsley

THE train of the future, whipping passengers vast distances through continent-girdling tubes at speeds and in comfort far surpassing that of modern air travel, is no longer merely a dream in the minds of our more imaginative designers and engineers. This old idea (New York’s first working subway train was sucked through a tube) has been brought well within the realm of probability—and the hero of this advance is, as has so often been the case in the history of technology, a new material.
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December 18, 2008

Train Picks Up and Drops Passengers Without Stopping (May, 1932)

Filed under: Trains — @ 2:14 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1932
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Train Picks Up and Drops Passengers Without Stopping

IF RAILROADS generally adopt a plan suggested by Rupert Wales, a Buffalo, N. Y. inventor, passengers on non-stop express trains will be able to get off and on at small wayside stations while the train rushes past at top speed. This feat will be accomplished by the use of a mono-rail transfer car, according to Mr. Wales. Read the rest of this entry »

December 1, 2008

Train Robbers Routed by Science and Brawn (Jul, 1931)

Filed under: Crime and Police, Trains — @ 12:11 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1931
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Train Robbers Routed by Science and Brawn

ALL the world . loves detective stories. Here is one that deals with real men and tells the thrilling truth about their fight to save millions of dollars in stolen goods. Ten years ago American railroads were losing $13,000,000 a year to box car bandits. On one road, scientific methods and the careful training of road police have now cut off about ninety-nine percent of this loss. In this story you see how these men do their work.

By BOYDEN SPARKES

I LIKE detective stories. Best of all I like stories of real detectives. Consequently when Professor Charles P. Berkey, Columbia University geologist, told me that a pile of rocks on his table was a clue in a mysterious robbery I pleaded for details.

“I’m just a helper on this job,” said Professor Berkey. “The real detectives are members of the New York Central Railroad police force. I am not at liberty to tell you about this case, but if you see Carl Jellinghaus, the railroad’s superintendent of Property Protection, perhaps you can get the whole story.” Read the rest of this entry »

November 24, 2008

Due This Year: Trains That Can Go 150 M.P.H. (Jan, 1966)

Filed under: Trains — @ 1:27 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1966
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Due This Year: Trains That Can Go 150 M.P.H.

Electric cars will soon cut travel time between New York and Washington, in a bold U. S. program to speed travel by rail

By ALDEN P. ARMAGNAC
DRAWINGS BY HENRY B. COMSTOCK

All a-BOARD! Psshhh-the doors slide closed. The silvery train leaps forward. Back into your seat cushion you go, as if in an airplane taking off. No nonsense about it, this train’s really going to ride—in just 150 seconds it will accelerate to 125 m.p.h., more than two miles a minute. For it aims to get you to your destination in a travel time matching that by air—maybe less.
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November 11, 2008

Fast Polish “Torpedo Car” Powered by Diesel Engine (Jun, 1936)

Filed under: Trains — @ 9:13 pm
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1936
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Fast Polish “Torpedo Car” Powered by Diesel Engine

Poland’s “torpedo train,” a streamline rail car that travels ninety-three miles an hour, bears the reputation of being one of Europe’s speediest trains. It is driven by a Diesel motor with automatic clutch, operating on an extremely economical basis. The car, one of several in service on Polish railroads, carries eighty-six passengers. The engineer’s cab is set back from the low, protruding radiator.

September 17, 2008

Mobile Power Plant (Sep, 1948)

Filed under: Trains, Useful — @ 10:10 pm
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1948
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Mobile Power Plant
GAS-TURBINE power plants on rails have been conceived by Allis-Chalmers engineers as emergency units to be used when power plants fail or disaster disables transmission lines. Still in the blueprint stage, the turbine generators mounted on railway trucks for rapid movement will be built in 3000 and 6000-kilowatt units, to operate as a sole source of electric power or to be synchronized with an existing power system. Read the rest of this entry »

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