http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Orbit/1061/safege/bertin.html
This would be cheaper to run then Magnectic Levitation
Not interested. I’m more into flanged wheels and steel rails when it comes to surface transportation of bulk commodities (okay, and people, but really, come on now!) I don’t see either magnetic leviation or “hovertrains” as being particularly useful for interstate commerce.
I say we swipe the pneumatic tubes from my bank teller, make them big, and add linear magnets, like the roller coaster Superman, 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds…
Once up to speed, use one of the exhaust blowers from a railroad tunnel to blow in the air.
Stuff things in the shipping tube, pack it in styrofoam, and shoot them across the country…we could add the tubes to the interstate, fund it with their budget, and
DING
Make it open access for anyone who can buy a shipping tube!
Put UPS out of business in a day or two!
Of course, I though the Space Cannon was the Linear Railgun were good ideas too!
Ed[:D]
Debate hovercraft and mag/lev? Lets don’t and say we did.
[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Neither both require lots of electric power to the track. It is not bad per say. The problem is that the USA is far too vast to rebuild/convert a system. If it were discovered to reduce operating cost to make it profitable, all the railroads in the country would have to convert or only ship on their own system. What about freight cars would you just set them on the ground to be loaded or would you have to use power to keep them in the air? It most likely will never happen, unless you could use the existing railroad infrustructure.
It was hard but I tried to be serious.
James[C):-)]