johnwhelan
Well-known member
Looking at Africa one thing that strikes me is it is big and that means transportation costs are important. Over any distance rail is uses less energy than road, assuming you choose the appropriate power source and load. ie don't expect a one pound package to be carried by large loco more cheaply than a small car.
The concept is solar panels on the top and electric motors to power the train. Solar power cars have been wandering round Australia for some time now. For a particular type of cargo the ISO container it should be simple enough to design a frame that accepts solar panels on top. If we put small motors on each wagon, much like an EMU we avoid a lot of the hassles involved with heavy locos, like they need really strong bridges and are expensive.
Since we are avoiding burning diesel someone somewhere should either support it because the concept is green or they'll buy the carbon credits.
Now one thing some satellites are good at is determining ground height, so can we identify a possible route preferably more than 500 kms long since the economics are better with longer distances with reasonable gradients and something that rail can carry in ISO containers? That sounds like a city at one end and a port at the other.
As I said its more a dream, it needs the EMU solar panel side sorting out, it needs someone to work out the requirements for the track, its Africa so a top speed of say 50 km/h and initially a lighter track than is sometimes used by US mainline heavy rail. It needs some one to work out the maximum gradient, and to work out if solar will supply the power required. It may come down to solar assist which would reduce the amount of diesel burnt but not eliminate it.
It needs GIS to figure out the cargo, population and markets, it needs maps, and it needs maps with heights. A python script to work out possible routes?
It needs costs.
Thoughts?
Cheerio John
The concept is solar panels on the top and electric motors to power the train. Solar power cars have been wandering round Australia for some time now. For a particular type of cargo the ISO container it should be simple enough to design a frame that accepts solar panels on top. If we put small motors on each wagon, much like an EMU we avoid a lot of the hassles involved with heavy locos, like they need really strong bridges and are expensive.
Since we are avoiding burning diesel someone somewhere should either support it because the concept is green or they'll buy the carbon credits.
Now one thing some satellites are good at is determining ground height, so can we identify a possible route preferably more than 500 kms long since the economics are better with longer distances with reasonable gradients and something that rail can carry in ISO containers? That sounds like a city at one end and a port at the other.
As I said its more a dream, it needs the EMU solar panel side sorting out, it needs someone to work out the requirements for the track, its Africa so a top speed of say 50 km/h and initially a lighter track than is sometimes used by US mainline heavy rail. It needs some one to work out the maximum gradient, and to work out if solar will supply the power required. It may come down to solar assist which would reduce the amount of diesel burnt but not eliminate it.
It needs GIS to figure out the cargo, population and markets, it needs maps, and it needs maps with heights. A python script to work out possible routes?
It needs costs.
Thoughts?
Cheerio John