Bizarre Rail Skate Boards

[wallyworld]

I could'nt resist posting this-my apologies. One can only hope this doesnt catch on. 

 

 

/ Train : urban structure for aesthetic personal transportation Helen Evans, Heiko Hansen
Personal rail service between Zilina and the Stanica art centre, Slovakia, 2007   proposal for Valenciennes 2007   SURF, personal tram transport system in real west cost style, August 2006, Interactive City residence ISEA San Jose, 2006   Tapis Volant installed during the VROOM workshop which took place within Istanbul Fragmented in 21-25 September, in Istanbul Turkey. Istanbul Fragmented will take place as a parallel event to 9th Istanbul Contemporary Art Biennial.   TapisVolant Movie, OuickTime, 7.68 MB, progessive download   read more in depth text: TRAINS, Flying Carpets and Reverse Cultural Engineering   Istiklal, Istanbul, 2005   Tapis Volant, photo HEHE   Tapis Volant, photo HEHE   Tapis flotant, Saint-denis, Basilique, 2005, France, photo HEHE     "It is a bit like a trip to the house where the man has been building hovercraft. The idea of moving away escaping something yet creating new forms and better structures. Useful multitransport systems that can only work at the moment of testing."[5]   Train Underlying Train is the critical role of traffic and its industry for our society. Traffic has an impact for everybody; locally or remotely. The transportation industry and its economic power have a direct effect on pollution, large-scale urban planning schemes, political decision-making and the distribution of wealth. On a more semantic level, the car industry has successfully blurred the boundary between real functional needs and transportation dreams made possible through the acquisition of automobile artifacts. On the other hand many big research programmes seeking for alternative forms of public transport, for example Personal Rapid Transit systems carried out internationally could in most cases not offer a viable solution[1]. French sociologist, Bruno Latour reflected on the failure of France's most ambitious attempt to develop a working Personal Rapid Transit system and published the work as 'Aramis. Or, the Love of Technology'. Between urbanism, vehicle design and automation the project Train is a research into the aesthetics of movement and travel. To locate the work we are using real, existing past, present and future, abandoned or at times unused railroad transportation systems; This idea was originally inspired by the Paris railway track 'La Petite Ceinture'[2], which stopped its service in 1934 and the new tramway, which is partly completed. Both transportation systems are encompassing the city centre of Paris and are running parallel to the main traffic artery of Paris, the Periphérique, which is the circular city motorway that defines Paris and its Banlieu (the suburbs). It is this discrete line that splits the city into inside and outside. The Periphérique itself is pure automobile infrastructure and at peak times the traffic moves at walking speed. Technological process feathers at its periphery. Similar to a fractal image an innovation is followed by other innovations, based on the original one. In a recursive environment like this we would like to go back to the origin, the innovation of railway and propose a different solution, here an individual perpetuated vehicle. In this way artistic process starts by going backwards - to reverse cultural engineer a process - to propose utilitarian design scenarios. The Train project is a speculation into the language and aesthetics of transportation, particularly those that have become so ubiquitous and unquestionable for us. By proposing different real installations which would work within active or abandoned public transport structures and a series of conceptual designs a dialogue should be raised that engages in questions about the reality and "real fiction" of traffic.     The fiction on this side of the world is the reality somewhere else - the Bamboo trains in Cambodia:   see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5110236.stm     A vehicule for the Petite Ceinture in Paris !!!!!! Train for the Petite Ceinture, two metro stations   Train for the Petite Ceinture, two metro stations, on the bridge Ourc   Train for the Petite Ceinture, two metro stations, Bridge Ourc - station Fleche d Or   The Petite Ceinture encompassing Paris   First structural test with electro motor on the Petite Ceinture at Porte de Saint Ouen towards Clichy, based on the design of the Dresine (below)   Early design for a bicycle carrier on the Petite Ceinture near Parc des Buttes-Chaumont   Early design for a solar carrier on the Petite Ceinture under Parc des Buttes-Chaumont   Solar observational robot capsule for the Petite Ceinture   Readings / References: Bruno Latours book about the french PRT research project ARAMIS: "Aramis is a very high tech automated subway that was developped in France during the eighties; after its sudden demise, an investigation has been requested in the reasons of this failure; the book is the scenography of this enquiry that aims at understanding what happened to Aramis, at training readers in the booming field of technology studies and at experimenting in the many new literary forms that are necessary to handle mechanisms and automatisms without using the belief that they are mechanical nor automatic." [3] The PENTACYCLE by Raphael Zarka et Vincent Lamouroux Cecline Babiole's mobile "plato cave" [4]       [REFERENCES] [1] J. Edward Anderson, Some Lessons from the History of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), http://www.advancedtransit.org/historyofprt.htm [2] http://petiteceintureparis.free.fr/ [3] http://www.ensmp.fr/~latour/livres/livres.html [4] http://www.babiole.net/article.php3?id_article=11 [5] Liam Gillick, Fifth cousin remouved, in Metronome 7, London 2001, edited by Clementine Deliss

 

 

 

[edblysard]

How do you spell splat?

With one or two T's?

[Datafever]

Interesting post.  It leads one to imagine the possibilities that might exist for the uses of abandoned rail lines. 

[zardoz]

As if snowmobiles and ATV's weren't bad enough! 

 

For some reason, I keep picturing Will E. Coyote pushing himself along the tracks with the train just inches behind him, and the Roadrunner at the throttle.

[Railfan1]

Yeah, right. People couldn't handle that much resoponsibility. (Following signals etc.)

[wallyworld]

How about the patented Boynton Bicycle Railroad? If you look carefully, this thing had one rail on the bottom and two on top on a rig that looks like a clothes pole. "A mile every minute" Or, the Hotchkiss model. Way cool...

http://www.scripophily.net/boybicelrail.html

 

 

 

[penncentral2002]

Yeah, right. People couldn't handle that much resoponsibility. (Following signals etc.)

Yet we let them drive.  Would personal rail transport really be more dangerous?

[wallyworld]

 

 

[Datafever]

 

 

When I was a teenager, I often thought about building something like this.  Never got around to it though.

[wallyworld]

Mom and the kids go to soccer practice...

 

[wallyworld]

Datafever....Mom and the kids go to soccer practice...actually it's a pedal powered rail touring vehicle used in Europe.

 

[Railfan1]

Yeah, right. People couldn't handle that much resoponsibility. (Following signals etc.)

Yet we let them drive.  Would personal rail transport really be more dangerous?

Yes, what happens when you meet someone else or come up behind someone? There's only one way to go, right into 'em.

[penncentral2002]

Yeah, right. People couldn't handle that much resoponsibility. (Following signals etc.)

Yet we let them drive.  Would personal rail transport really be more dangerous?

Yes, what happens when you meet someone else or come up behind someone? There's only one way to go, right into 'em.

So its not too much different from driving in the Washington area!

[Datafever]

Just a thought -

What is the cost differential between building/maintaining a simple two-lane highway vs building/maintaining a "light rail" system capable of handling 2 to 5 ton vehicles?

[samfp1943]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5110236.stm

  This, and the warning:  "I'm here from the government,and i'm here to help you." 

  The future of AMTRAK right before our eyes,              

                                        SHHHHHHHHHHHEEEESH!

[rluke]

Where can I buy one?

[tomikawaTT]

How about the, "New Hampshire summertime luge?"

I recall hearing about a "sport" which developed at the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the 19th century.  Seems that some adventurous souls cobbled together little one-seat "sleds" that could slide down the cog rail (which is built with two angle bars separated by the pins engaged by the cogwheels on the rolling stock.)

Imagine sliding down a skinny steel slideway, on grades ranging from steep to horrendous, with no steering control and no brakes.  Fun - for people living out a death wish!

Chuck

[Anonymous]

I'd hate to be riding on that Tapis Volant "magic carpet" thing when he gets to a self-correcting frog over a turnout.  Do you think they use derails wherever it is that he comes from?  This thing can't be safe at anything above walking speed (especially without a roll cage or bumpers), so you might as well just walk.