Railways Future, One,

Still in demand?

Trains are still as popular as they ever where, from vintage steam to modern high-speed electrics to the most common diesels. Todays railways are getting a literal track revolution with the introduction of new types of materials and closer concreted sleeper sections, almost like building a model railway,

This whole new process has been developed to cut cost and time and it can be laid, while the older track is being removed. Many urban environments are choosing this option over the traditional methods and this is no longer limited to the modern world.

Railways are big business for the movement of freight, goods, materials and food and every nation that has a railway has the potential for great profit and expansion.

Signalling is perhaps the second difficulty for many to update, especially across the developing world? But with limited points and track crossings this may not be as bad as first would seem, radio cab communication and some of the older methods actually work better with the weather conditions than do the dependency on electricity with most modern one?

Railways.

Trains.

In the recent months we have seen three major train accidents in France, Spain and Switzerland. Speed was one of the key factors, but there was also human failure and bad track maintenance involved. We have asked the question before is speed essential, people today do seem to want to get from A to Z quickly?

Railways since they were created have become an essential life line for all the nations around the world who have them. Locomotives, wither steam, diesel or electric do not matter as long as they work. But it is still human error and negligence over speed issues and will to repair tracks that are and will continue to lead to failure, leading to accidents and deaths sadly.

Half-Tracks.

The development and deployment of the half-track vehicle came to ahead during World-War-II (1939-45). This vehicle was rear end tracked and forward wheeled. 

We will look at three models, the German/Czech Skoda Sdfkz, which was developed into different roles from APC (armoured personnel carrier) to anti-aircraft gunnery. The U.S. M-42 and the Russian BTR-152. all of these vehicles were well suited to their uses on the battle-field, particularly off-road. Since 1945 it has been the Soviet BTR-152 which has seen the most extensive production and export world-wide.

All of these vehicles had a similar design and shape. The Czechs had the most protective body, similar in shape to the soviet T-34 tanks. This prevented the type from being destroyed by projectiles, but if a grenade was lobbed into the open top. Boom.

But is this form of vehicle still viable today? And what other ingenious forms of joint traction vehicles will be developed this century or not?