21–30 of 92 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So if you want to move around Switzerland undetected, commission a train with 256 axles and bam! You're invisible :P
Haha one can imagine this will be rapidly bred out of the species since it's such a significant maladaptation. Like dressing in Vantablack and running on a rural expressway.
I'm not sure why they're even counting past 2 (the minimum number of axles to indicate a railcar is present, at least until someone delivers self-balancing single-axle railcars) for train detection. Unless it's to estimate track wear, or for revenue collection?
I'm not sure why they're even counting past 2 (the minimum number of axles to indicate a railcar is present, at least until someone delivers self-balancing single-axle railcars) for train detection. Unless it's to estimate track wear, or for revenue collection?
TIL: Per the article, this 256 limitation also applies to number of users in WhatsApp conversations and the maximum block height of a Minecraft world.
(Max value in java, even though the game is non longer written in Java)
I'm not sure why they're even counting past 2 (the minimum number of axles to indicate a railcar is present, at least until someone delivers self-balancing single-axle railcars) for train detection. Unless it's to estimate track wear, or for revenue collection?
Trains are typically made up of multiple carriages. The axle counters ensure that all the carriages which enter a section of track leave that section of track, and that none have detached and been left behind for the next train to run into.
So while the train is within that segment, the value of the counter is non-zero. Once they exit, all the axles should get counted again in the opposite direction and reset the count to zero.
The problem with 256 is that the count would be at zero while you were in the track segment.
From personal experience people there seem to follow the rules very meticulously.