Neat Tram.

[magickmaker]

Thought I'd share this. Though classified as a Tram, this is actually a bus. That single rail is all it needs to guide it around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tCIss14N58

 

[paulzmay]

Interesting. I think there is a similar system in one of the French cities. I'm still not sure about it's advantages over a conventional tram - apart from increased adhesion on grades perhaps...

Paul

p.s. The Wikipedia article is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translohr. It claims that grades of up to 13% are possible (just short of the 13.5% of the Lisbon Tramway).

 

[Ronayne]

We need one of these for trainz... :udrool:

 

[pommie]

One big advantage I can think of is cost, only one rail and that is not load bearing, so no major road works to get it up and running.
A couple of other small advantages are if one breaks down they can just use a tow truck to tow it out of the way, possibly all the way to the repair shop. If the winters are freezing I cannot see a broken rail being a show stopper.

Cheers David

 

[paulzmay]

I think with this guide rail arrangement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TranslohrGuideRail.svg

...that the rail will become load bearing if there is deterioration of the road surface. There is also the fact that a rubber tyred vehicle needs more power to move it. It may well be cheaper to install in existing roadways, though, but I doubt if it's cheaper than ballasted reserved right of way...

Paul

 

[pommie]

I doubt that the V wheel arrangement would be load bearing, that would be for sideways movement, auto steering, therefore would be 'floating, think of a front pony truck of a steam loco :hehe:

A bit from your link "A diagram of the en:Translohr guide rail"

Cheers David

 

[paulzmay]

Probably - I looked up Bombardier's competing system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Guided_Light_Transit), that has the advantage that it can operate off-track, and they say the guide wheel on that is hydraulically loaded, so this is probably the same...

 

[Nevada40]

That is very interesting. Reminds me of the subway/ people-mover that runs underground at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, though I don't know if the thing between the concrete beams for the wheels is an actual rail...

 

[whistlehead]

It's probably easier to stop with rubber tyres. Especially in wet conditions such as those. That's a big plus on city streets.

 

[Johnk]

Fell asleep!

 

[paulzmay]

It's probably easier to stop with rubber tyres. Especially in wet conditions such as those. That's a big plus on city streets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_brake - trams equipped with track brakes may actually have shorter stopping distances than rubber-tyred vehicles.

Paul