Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The experimental railway in London that never stopped

ianvisits.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 26 posts

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#11

Post by cpcallen »

xaetium wrote: post #10

I like when the nanny state is occasionally thwarted by its toddler citizens' wants: the New Routemasters in London are a great example. Rather than the agonising 20-metre, 10-minute wait to the stop, you can assess the road yourself and hop off (and on if you just miss it). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Routemaster Boris, the London mayor, re-introduced these. I look forward to his PMship after Cameron, mainly be…

> you can assess the road yourself and hop off (and on if you just miss it)

Unless it's evening, or there's a staff shortage, or it's being run on one of several routes which now never have a second staff member and hence always shut the door between stops.

Such a shame.

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#13

Post by jimmcslim »

svisser wrote: post #3

There is also this Chinese concept train that never stops at a station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Ig19gYP9o

And a European concept that is similar:

https://vimeo.com/25403519

Side-by-side instead of on-top. The Chinese concept has the benefit of using less space. I don't know if either could be engineered to be practical or safe.

At any rate, the most important question is... Did you NUGGET your boots this morning?

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#15

Post by m_mueller »

wmil wrote: post #14

Sadly constructing new public transit that isn't wheelchair accessible is impossible in 2015.

As long as we don't have bionic limbs for, let's say 80% of cases, and can pay taxis (self driving cars?) for the rest, I don't think we should be sad about this. One important aspect of a civilised society is to leave noone behind, or at least have that as a goal.

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#16

Post by Animats »

That's one of the more successful "fast in the middle, slow at the ends" conveyor-type systems for people. Several moving walkway systems have been built with similar properties.[1] None were very successful. There was a system where escalator-like plates made of twin combs expanded and contracted. There have been systems with belts moving at different speeds. There was a system which went from slow and wide to fast and narrow as it turned a corner. So far, none have been successful enough to be installed in any quantity.

The SF version, in Arthur C. Clarke's "The City and the Stars", used a material that was solid in the vertical dimension and liquid in horizontal, so it could be both used as a moving floor and pumped.

[1] http://www.liberation.fr/culture/2009/08/01/l-echec-au-bout-...

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#17

Post by Surio »

twelvechairs wrote: post #6

Same concept for elevators http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster Hint: they are dangerous Also like the old busses which had no doors so you could just jump on

+1 for mentioning them. I have used paternosters, and I don't consider these dangerous at all. Paternosters are G.R.E.A.T fun :)

I am very aware that this type of response is anecdotal, and has a tendency to degenerate quickly into "he said, she said" style of tangents, but can we please stop calling these things "dangerous" every time they are mentioned anywhere?

I have also used old school trams that you hop on and off of, and I was a wee little kid back then and had to hop in and out, holding my father's hands. Those experience always felt more fun to me than dangerous.

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#18

Post by teddyh »

Current HN title “The experimental railway in London that never stopped” implies that the railway is still operating. THe actual title “Wembley’s experimental “never stop” railway line” is much better, as it uses the actual name of the train – the “Never Stop Railway”.

Don’t we get enough clickbait titles here so we have to make the HN titles even worse?

Re: The experimental railway in London that never stopped

#19

Post by [deleted] »

Surio wrote: post #17
twelvechairs wrote: post #6

Same concept for elevators http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster Hint: they are dangerous Also like the old busses which had no doors so you could just jump on

+1 for mentioning them. I have used paternosters, and I don't consider these dangerous at all. Paternosters are G.R.E.A.T fun :) I am very aware that this type of response is anecdotal, and has a tendency to degenerate quickly into "he said, she said" style of tangents, but can we please stop calling these things "dangerous" every time they are mentioned anywhere? I have also used old school trams that you hop on and…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN