Shipping.
 

We always have 3 alumni travel with us to nats., and they drive. From RI to FL, it's 19 hours. So east coast teams could do it pretty well, as well as a lot of the non-coastal eastern teams.

too bad we don't have those trains that they have in germany. they're really fast.

Amtrack is installing a highspeed rail service between Boston and Washington, DC. That happens to be about the only place in the country where they can do it because it happens to be one of the few sections of track Amtrack owns (much of the rest is owned by CSX, Conrail, etc.). And as far as bullet trains go, I know France has a good deal of them. They call it the KGV and Alstom (look over to the left ;) ) makes them.

Matt who's hoping France orders some more KGV's ;)

Amtrak's Acela trainsets are already running along some of the Northeast Corridor after months and months of problems during testing.

They were having issues with things like the 800 lb. coupler hood flying off at 100+ mph and stuff.

The Acela trainsets will only run on the Northeast Corridor right now because it's one of very few stretches of electrified mainline in the country. That is, it's wired to deliver electricity to the locomotives via an overhead catenary system.
Finally, the Acela trainsets are a bit different from their European and Japanese counterparts because of the way they're designed. In Europe and Japan, many of the rail lines are newer than those over here (The US has let rail service die, unfortunately). All of their curves are superelevated, or banked, which obviously allows trains to take them at higher speed (just like in racing). Acela trainsets actually use something that's a bit like a motion simulator base to tip the cabins over while the train goes through a curve. It's the only way Amtrak could maintain high speed service along the Northeast Corridor.

At any rate, passenger rail service in this country is dead as a doornail, and the Acela's probably won't take off.

And Matt, Conrail doesn't exist anymore :-) It's all owned by CSX or Norfolk Southern these days.

Yes it does:
http://www.conrail.com/

But it is owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern. It exists as much as Chevy does as a subsidiary of GM. :)

Matt

Well, cars are still being made with the word Chevy plastered on the side of them.

All of the old Conrail equipment was relettered for their new owners . . . sort of. They were actually relettered for the New York Central or the Baltimore and Ohio (I think). . . but, alas. . big blue graces the rails no more. At least, it's not supposed to. . .one day the lazy railroads will get around to repainting their equipment, too.

I've never been one to understand business and mergers and things, though, so I'm probably just talking out of my, uhm, well, you know.

And, Carolyn. . . I think you're referring to the Mag-Lev trains that have been tested in Germany and other places. Regular European rail lines share the same type and gauge rail that the US uses. The bullet trains (like the TGV, though that's older) use regular rail, not the mag-lev beamways. The Mag-Lev trains are capable of sustained speeds of ~ 300 mph, though, but the beamways are very, very, very expensive.

Not all of it: http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe...ain/index.html

TGV is just French for high speed train. So any high speed train in France is the TGV.

Matt

tgv=train de grande vitesse=very fast train

the midwest may be getting a high speed train system in a few years.

http://www.indystar.com/print/cityst.../trains25.html

Well-rounded. . .
 

You expect me to be able to build robots AND speak french? Come on people. . . I think that's asking just a bit much.

The only exposure I've ever had to the TGV was the little models I had years ago. They were orange and had TGV lettering on the side.

Me llamo Miguel. Yo hablo espanol.

Re: Well-rounded. . .
 

For some reason I was talking about with my friend who speaks French pretty well and she told me that. I had no clue until then. ;)

Matt