Study Guides | 2. motion | Trains

Study Guide: Trains

History

1. A train (from Old French trahiner, from Latin trahere, “to pull, to draw”) is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight.
2. Trains are an evolution of wheeled wagons running on stone wagonways, the earliest of which were built in Babylon around 2,200 BCE.
3. In the 1500’s, Europeans began using trains in coal mines. They ran on tracks and were powered by horses or pulled by cables.
4. James Watt invented the steam engine during the era of horse drawn carriages. At the time, this engine was more efficient than any other.
5. In 1802 James Watt invented the steam engine. Watt had trouble selling his new idea. At the time, people knew the power horses, but did not see the usefulness of his contraption. His solution was to directly compare steam power to horse power. He invented “Horsepower” as a new unit of power to help explain the advantages of his engine. Physicists still use this unit today.
6. In 1804 a steam locomotive built by British inventor Richard Trevithick powered the first ever steam train.
7. Steam-powered trains became an essential component of the English industrial revolution, and spread rapidly around the world during the era of European colonialism.
8. Steam-powered trains were essential to English colonial conquests in India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa.
9. Trains were/are essential to Russian control of the northern Eurasian continent, as well as their successful resistance to all European invasions, including Napoleonic France (1812), Western Allies (1918-1925), and Nazi Germany (1941).
10. Steam-powered trains were essential to the settler-colonial conquest of North America.
11. In 1879, German inventor Rudolf Diesel constructed the first diesel engine.
12. Between 1897 and 1903, tests of experimental electric locomotives on the Royal Prussian Military Railway in Germany demonstrated they were viable, setting speed records in excess of 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph).
13. Trains are currently key to Russia’s ability to resupply troops in the Ukraine war.
14. The straightest railway track in the world is in Australia.
15. The heaviest train in the world is in Australia.
16. In 1830, the first US-made locomotive lost in a race with a horse. The “Tom Thumb” locomotive was capable of reachig speeds of 18 mph. As it underwent testing near a railroad, a horse-drawn train pulled alongside and challenged it to a race. The Tom Thumb quickly pulled ahead but later broke a belt. This allowed the horse-drawn train to win.
17. In 1865, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a funeral train carried his body through 180 cities on its way to Lincoln’s home state. This made front-page news and inspired greater use of train travel around the world.
18. Trains aided in the victory of the North over the Confederacy during the US Civil War by enabling the efficient mass movement of troops and supplies.
19. The first underground railway was built in Europe. It failed due to problems with smoke from the steam engine.
20. The speed and distances covered by trains contributed to the need to develop a global time zone system.
21. The longest direct train route is in Russian, the Trans Siberian Railway.
22. The longest train ride in the world is between Portugal and Vietnam. This train trip is 10,056 miles long and takes approximately 12 days to complete.
23. Moscow trains have dog passengers. The dogs learned to ride trains into the city center to scavenge for food
24. The Berlin to Baghdad train route was a major cause of World War I.
25. The World Wars would not have lasted as long without trains.
26. The era of steam-powered trains came to an end in the 1940’s due to the development of more efficient diesel-powered trains.
27. During the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, bullet trains were able to perform at a constant speed of 130 mph.
28. The current world record of a train’s top speed is 357.2 mph.
29. Germany, France and Japan originally led the development of super fast bullet trains.
30. China currently lays more new track, builds more new trains, and builds the fastest trains in the world.
31. The fastest commercial mag-lev trains are in China.

Technology

1. Most trains operate on steel tracks with steel wheels, the low friction makes them more efficient than other forms of transport.
2. To reduce friction, there is a very small area of contact between train wheels and the rail.
3. Trains can run on six different forms of power: animals {horses, elephants, etc.), cables, steam, diesel, electricity and gravity.
4. The magnetic-levitation (mag-lev) train is currently the fastest form of train technology. It enables faster speeds because it reduces friction between the wheels and track.
5. “Bullet trains” can travel over 300 mph.
6. Ore trains can generate large amounts of usable power during downhill runs.

Wheel geometry:

1. The running surface of most train wheels is conical, which serves as the primary means of keeping the train aligned with the track while in motion.
2. The wheels are fixed on an axle, and when rounding a curve the mass of the train pushes the wheelset towards the outside of the track. The outside wheel rides up to contact the rail at a larger diameter, while the inside wheel drops down to contact its rail at a smaller diameter. The difference between the distances traveled by each wheel for each rotation of the axle causes the wheelset to follow the curve of the track.
3. Typical train wheels have a projection, called a flange, on one side to keep the wheels, and hence the train, running on the rails:
   1. when the limits of alignment are reached:
   2. when a bend is taken at appropriate speed,
   3. when there are strong side-winds, and
   4. to withstand rail and track bed defects and debris.
4. Some wheels do not have a conical profile and instead are cylindrical, such that the flanges are essential to keep the train on the track.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_wheel#Wheel_geometry_and_flange

Physics of Trains

1. College level slideshow: https://jrose.engr.uky.edu/sites/jrose/files/Track%20Design%20Introduction%20%28Uzarski%29.pdf