Gravity railways have existed, mostly for hauling coal downhill in cable cars. The loaded coal cars would be heavy enough to bring the empties up on a cable car system. No power assiance neccessary.
I would think that in modern day this could be done electricaly as long as the train going up runs at the same time or quicker then the one going down with dynamic brake all the way.
440cuin wrote: I would think that in modern day this could be done electricaly as long as the train going up runs at the same time or quicker then the one going down with dynamic brake all the way.
And it was - GN.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
440cuin wrote: Gravity railways have existed, mostly for hauling coal downhill in cable cars. The loaded coal cars would be heavy enough to bring the empties up on a cable car system. No power assiance neccessary. I would think that in modern day this could be done electricaly as long as the train going up runs at the same time or quicker then the one going down with dynamic brake all the way.
I would think this would fall under the law of conservation, akin to a perpetual motion machine or "free energy". Although, there have been positive results with using the very same idea of momentum to utilise a flywheel which assists start up from a full stop. There is a private enterprise in England who is awaiting a team of scientists to independantly evaluate their claim that they have come up with a device that puts out more energy that is put in, but I have filed it away under the same catagory as cold fusion. I'll believe it when I see it.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
440cuin wrote:This isn't perpetual motion, it is gravity driven not momentum driven.
True. The "energy" used to drive the system is the weight of the coal loaded into the cars at the top.
Datafever wrote: 440cuin wrote:This isn't perpetual motion, it is gravity driven not momentum driven. True. The "energy" used to drive the system is the weight of the coal loaded into the cars at the top.
Sorry... I agree-I was referring to dynamic braking being used on a transit line to propel cars uphill...I should have been more specific. Gravity lines were also used for passenger service in rare instances. My apologies for the confusion.
....Our roller coaster example from above post: Energy {usually}, supplied by electricity propels coaster cars {weight}, to top of incline and then the cars have "potential energy"...{stored energy, if you will}, and as soon as they get the down side track that "energy" goes to work and the energy is released. But in the first place, if the supplied energy wasn't there to do the job....the coaster cars would not move an inch.
Quentin
dknelson wrote: Anyone else remember the article years ago in Model Railroad Craftsman about the rail line in Holland that carried passengers out over the dikes on a two axle flatcar with a SAIL on it? Now that is wind powered transit ....Dave Nelson
Anyone else remember the article years ago in Model Railroad Craftsman about the rail line in Holland that carried passengers out over the dikes on a two axle flatcar with a SAIL on it? Now that is wind powered transit ....
Dave Nelson
As a Dutchman I do not know if we ever had something like that, could have been when all the big dams, dikes and polders were made / reclaimed.
Your probably referring to the narrow gauge lines in the north of Germany, in an area called Nordfriesland. They are used to maintain small islands called Hallige and the people living on them have the right to use lorries to travel to the main land. The Hallige have no protecting dikes and homes are build on small manmade hills. Twice a day the tide covers all or part of the low lying areas.
See these websites (in German, but the first should not present to many problems):
http://www.karstenhansen.de/
http://www.halligen.de/halligen.phtml
http://www.nordstrandischmoor.de/indexframe.htm
greetings,
Marc Immeker
Modelcar wrote: .....I really can't fully understand why so many are against producing power from wind powered generators....They seem harmless enough to me and I've been right to their base and witnessed their operation several times.They make min. noise and what danger they create is lost on the way I see them.They stand there gracefully and their blades rotate and not much else happens as they do their work of producing power to feed into a grid system. Pollution free.
.....I really can't fully understand why so many are against producing power from wind powered generators....
They seem harmless enough to me and I've been right to their base and witnessed their operation several times.
They make min. noise and what danger they create is lost on the way I see them.
They stand there gracefully and their blades rotate and not much else happens as they do their work of producing power to feed into a grid system. Pollution free.
Words of encouragement are a-heading your way, spokyone. Catch them quickly!!!
Thanks for sharing.
....Spokyone: I find nothing disturbing about those in your video knowing they are producing power for someone here in America with the power of the wind....Not far east oil...!
The ones I'm familiar with back in my home area in Pennsylvania are supported on a 200' round metal tube with a housing about the size of a school bus at the top for the generator and it's equipment and the blades of the unit about 95' each in length. Everything painted white.
I believe they were made in Scandinavia.
spokyone wrote: While traveling to South Dakota recently, I shot this video with a cheap digital camera.Take a peek. Oh yeah. This is my first attempthttp://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/spokybob/?action=view¤t=MVI_1536.flv
While traveling to South Dakota recently, I shot this video with a cheap digital camera.Take a peek. Oh yeah. This is my first attempthttp://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/spokybob/?action=view¤t=MVI_1536.flv
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
These are what's in an existing wind farm near me:
I think they may have come from Viet Nam.
Murph. Along Hiway 3 between Cherokee and Pocahatas is the northern edge of the area. When returning along US 20, that is the southern edge. The farm has been there for a while, but in 2005 we saw them erecting more. I can not remember exactly where. I will find out more. The sound they make is a hypnotizing swish, swish, swish. The mic was picking up to much wind noise.
Edit: there must be over 100, maybe 250
Another edit: They were building along US 18, which would be the northern edge of the farm. It is called, "The Algona Project"
This is an eye opener. Go Greenies
Iowa has nearly 900 wind turbines capable of producing 836 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 226,000 average homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Planned projects -- besides the Franklin County farm -- would add 120 turbines capable of generating an additional 249 megawatts of electricity, the group said.
Texas leads the nation with 2,400 megawatts of wind energy installed and California has 2,323 megawatts.
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