A switchback railway
From Wikipedia:
The original Switchback Railway at Coney Island was the first roller coaster designed as an amusement ride in America. It was designed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson in 1881 and constructed in 1884.[1] It appears Thompson based his design, at least in part, on the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway which was a coal-mining train that had started carrying passengers as a thrill ride in 1827.
For five cents, riders would climb a tower to board the large bench-like car and were pushed off to coast 600 ft (183 m) down the track to another tower. The car went just over 6 mph (9.7 km/h). At the top of the other tower the vehicle was switched to a return track or “switched back” (hence the name.) [...]
[via The Retronaut]
Italian Frecciarossa restyling
4 kinds of seats offer (Executive, Business, Premium, Standard), new comfort, new interiors and new services on the last restyling of Trenitalia Frecciarossa trains (ETR 500 trains). More in the press release, in Italian.
Moscow-Berlin-Paris service starting on 12/12
Nice infographic of RIA Novosti on the new service Moscow to Paris via Minsk, Warsaw and Berlin, starting from December 12th.
Engineering gold for Siemens [video from CNN]
Could a Russia-US rail tunnel be built?
Sub City: New York and Paris
Redglass Pictures has produced a short film series about that moment when you emerge from the Paris and New York subways and find yourself in a new and sometimes unexpected world.
Enjoy the emerging moment!
How a NYC subway car is built [video]
The TGV project in Morocco
“It’s great to be alive!”, vintage safety manual with trains
More on How to be a retronaut.
Russian gas turbine locomotive sets 16,000- ton record
From RIA NOVOSTI:
A new world record was set at Shcherbinka outside Moscow on September 7 as the world’s latest experimental gas turbine locomotives, the GT-1, hauled 170 freight cars weighing a total of 16,000 metric tons. This milestone took place at the All Russia Railway Research Institute’s experimental ring. Spectators included visitors from the III International Rail Salon EXPO 1520 that kicked off earlier in the day.
[via La Vagoneta]