stuny Posted December 22, 2008 Share #1 Posted December 22, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Amtrack runs a "high speed" express train between Boston and Washington, DC, though by European or Japanese standards, it is quite slow -- The road bad is not good enough to support the speed that the train is capapble of achieving. This is in Union Station in Washington, DC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 22, 2008 Posted December 22, 2008 Hi stuny, Take a look here Acela. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Michael Hiles Posted December 22, 2008 Share #2 Posted December 22, 2008 Stuart, Very nice pictures. I am not clear why in North America we do not do trains they way the Europeans do (Eurostar etc.) or the Japanese (Shinkansen). Boston-New York-Washington and Quebec-Montreal-Toronto-Windsor and equivalent distances elsewhere make really good sense by train. It is more efficient in almost all ways than flying and driving. The story in Canada is quite similar - inadequate road beds, and sometimes less than perfectly reliable rolling stock. And attitude. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted December 22, 2008 Share #3 Posted December 22, 2008 Stuart, Very nice pictures. I am not clear why in North America we do not do trains they way the Europeans do (Eurostar etc.) or the Japanese (Shinkansen). Boston-New York-Washington and Quebec-Montreal-Toronto-Windsor and equivalent distances elsewhere make really good sense by train. It is more efficient in almost all ways than flying and driving. The story in Canada is quite similar - inadequate road beds, and sometimes less than perfectly reliable rolling stock. And attitude. Some years ago there was a fabulous TV documentary called "Last Train to Medicine Hat" which showed the story around the last Canadian Pacific coast to coast passenger service. Murray Sayle did a really good presentation (as always). Iirc much of the route is single track, which was used as an excuse for not being able to send a frequent enough fast passenger service over the rails. Possibly more profit in enormously long, slow, rumbling freight? Stuart, I had no idea that you had these fast (looking) trains in the US. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roguewave Posted December 23, 2008 Share #4 Posted December 23, 2008 Some years ago there was a fabulous TV documentary called "Last Train to Medicine Hat" which showed the story around the last Canadian Pacific coast to coast passenger service. Murray Sayle did a really good presentation (as always). Iirc much of the route is single track, which was used as an excuse for not being able to send a frequent enough fast passenger service over the rails. Possibly more profit in enormously long, slow, rumbling freight? Stuart, I had no idea that you had these fast (looking) trains in the US. Fast looking is about all they offer. I take them to upstate NY & they don't make much better time than Metro North, the local "electric trains". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdb Posted December 23, 2008 Share #5 Posted December 23, 2008 Love the B&W, #1 is my favorite. Great tonal range, looks sleek and fast. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted December 25, 2008 Author Share #6 Posted December 25, 2008 Michael - thank you. I think the reason why North America has such relatively sparse train service is partly due to how very spread-out we North Americans are compared to Europeans. Add to that two more things: Europeans have been comparatively crowded together far longer than we have, building first road and trade infrastructure and later rails. Second, instead we've build roads and have had a love affair with private automobile ownership. In the U.S. (and perhaps Canada, too) this has been aided by companies like GM that have actively worked to both diminish and halt rail activities, from light rail to freight. Pete – Yes, we’ve had them for a while, but the infrastructure holds top speed down to less than 200 KPH. Ben – Sadly true. Virgil – Thank you. That’s my favorite too, and the one I’ll get around to placing on our site. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeicaMSeattle Posted March 28, 2009 Share #7 Posted March 28, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) The problem with North American railroads is the numbers of grade crossings along the major corridors prohibiting trains from reaching any great speed. European and Asian countries with high speed bullet trains have trackage dedicated to the them where they can travel at any speed without concern for incursions with people and their driven vehicles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Henry Posted March 28, 2009 Share #8 Posted March 28, 2009 Amtrack runs a "high speed" express train between Boston and Washington, DC, though by European or Japanese standards, it is quite slow -- The road bad is not good enough to support the speed that the train is capapble of achieving. This is in Union Station in Washington, DC. Stuart Great thanks to post these pictures. Nice black and white pictures So you have High Speed Train too. At what speed runs this train? I do not know where is the project to make a French high speed train (HST) in Texas Acela looks like the French High Speed Train http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/technology-industry/80467-high-speed-train-hst.html Regards Henry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
George James Posted March 29, 2009 Share #9 Posted March 29, 2009 Stuart - Superb set of images, #1 is my favorite. The trains look very sleek and fast. George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted April 2, 2009 LMS & George - Thank you. Henri - Thank you. Not very fast. The fastest they are allowed to go is 162 KPH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Henry Posted April 3, 2009 Share #11 Posted April 3, 2009 "Henri - Thank you. Not very fast. The fastest they are allowed to go is 162 KPH" Merci Stuart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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