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Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

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Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#31

Post by moobsen »

tomcam wrote: post #19

What is it about guys and trains? I reflexively upvoted before even reading the article, and after reading the article, I realize it is a pretty standard narrow gauge railroad. Don’t care! Would vote again if I could!

I don't understand either how this got to the top of hn. I recently spent a weekend on the peninsula of Nordstrand and didn't even realize this was there... and it's nothing special in that area really. E.g. Sylt is connected to the mainland via a car train which I found much more exciting when I was younger (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autozugverkehr_Nieb%C3%BCll%E2...) [german]

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#32

Post by twic »

riazrizvi wrote: post #18

Can't this inspire the future of automated driving? Paint strips on the freeway optimized for visual-recognition systems, to serve as super cheap railway tracks. Super cheap because painted strips are far cheaper than laying tracks, and they would lower the cost of the visual recognition systems in cars. These automated driving sections would satisfy my principal pain point with driving, which is long commutes or dri…

MINITRAM!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfIZOElSgOE

(attention UK nerds of a certain age: this opens with the brilliant late '80s Tomorrow's World theme - despite the fact that this segment was on Tomorrow's World in 2003!)

EDIT: Oh, apparently they switched back to that version in 2002. Good.

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#33

Post by kposehn »

twic wrote: post #25
tomcam wrote: post #19

What is it about guys and trains? I reflexively upvoted before even reading the article, and after reading the article, I realize it is a pretty standard narrow gauge railroad. Don’t care! Would vote again if I could!

I think it's nerds and trains, rather than guys and trains. I know at least one woman who is pretty excited about trains too, and she is a colossal dork. EDIT: and what it is about nerds and trains is that trains are wicked sweet .

>I think it's nerds and trains, rather than guys and trains. I know at least one woman who is pretty excited about trains too, and she is a colossal dork.

>EDIT: and what it is about nerds and trains is that trains are wicked sweet.

I do believe you've hit the nail on the head with that question. Or, in this case, the rail.

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#34

Post by RandallBrown »

riazrizvi wrote: post #18

Can't this inspire the future of automated driving? Paint strips on the freeway optimized for visual-recognition systems, to serve as super cheap railway tracks. Super cheap because painted strips are far cheaper than laying tracks, and they would lower the cost of the visual recognition systems in cars. These automated driving sections would satisfy my principal pain point with driving, which is long commutes or dri…

They tried something like this in the 90s.

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/01/automobiles/a-smart-road-...

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#35

Post by yitchelle »

tomcam wrote: post #19

What is it about guys and trains? I reflexively upvoted before even reading the article, and after reading the article, I realize it is a pretty standard narrow gauge railroad. Don’t care! Would vote again if I could!

Could it be German and trains? I haven't known a country that is so into trains besides Germany. Actually, engineering in general is pretty high all the German guy's interest.

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#37

Post by vram22 »

This reminds me of the Ooty toy train. Despite the name, it's not a toy, but a meter gauge train that goes between the plains and the hill station of Ooty / Udhagamandalam, in Tamil Nadu, a state in South India. Moves quite slowly. Good fun riding it. I've been on it years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilgiri_Mountain_Railway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway

Images of it:

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=ooty+toy+train+images

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#38

Post by woodpanel »

Someone wrote: post #27
parliament32 wrote: post #15

Private train cars are the most interesting part. I wonder how signaling works? Does each house/"station" have its own fork in the tracks for getting their private train car home?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lüttmoorsiel-Nordstrandischm... has a schematic of the track. Looking at the map, it seems there are only two endpoints to the line on the island. On the other hand, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordstrandischmoor claims there are only 4 households on the island, so even assuming each has its separate fork, “each house” isn’t that much. I wonder what system they have to prevent the…

I've seen a couple of documentaries about how the inhabitants use that system. Though I forgot wether they have some signaling system, they do have passing loops (which they operate by driving there, getting out and manually perform the switch).

Also since the area is 100% flat eyesight should be enough.

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#39

Post by OrganicMSG »

tomcam wrote: post #19

What is it about guys and trains? I reflexively upvoted before even reading the article, and after reading the article, I realize it is a pretty standard narrow gauge railroad. Don’t care! Would vote again if I could!

>Each island house has its own wagon — some used to be wind-powered, using sails, but today they run on diesel.

Is that pretty standard?

Re: Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland

#40

Post by wazoox »

twic wrote: post #25
tomcam wrote: post #19

What is it about guys and trains? I reflexively upvoted before even reading the article, and after reading the article, I realize it is a pretty standard narrow gauge railroad. Don’t care! Would vote again if I could!

I think it's nerds and trains, rather than guys and trains. I know at least one woman who is pretty excited about trains too, and she is a colossal dork. EDIT: and what it is about nerds and trains is that trains are wicked sweet .

I went to several remote places just to ride a weird train. For instance the Pilatus Bahn in Switzerland is a must-see. Or "Le train à vapeur de la baie de Somme". If it's a steam locomotive, its appeal is greater; if it's ancient and weird, the draw is indomitable.
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