News (well, as usual, with some lag)! The first ever High Speed Train has entered service in Poland! This marks the official entry in the world high speed ranks and I think it's quite an historical week in Polish history.
Is it just me or does it look a little sad from this angle...?
So what does the Polish High Speed Train look like? Well, it's actually quite a familiar one, the Pendolino. This Pendolino looks the same as many other Pendolinos used across Europe actually. She's based on the New Pendolino platform, with somewhat of an identical exterior to the Italian ETR-600. But similiar to the Chinese CRH5, the ED250 (oh btw this is what this Polish Pendolino is called) doesn't tilt. And guess what, this ED250 has set the speed record both for Poland and for Pendolinos this year with a very respectable 293 km/h or 182 mph. Anyway, the link in the paragraph below will have some more info on the ED250 as well.
I think I'm really digging the color scheme
The progress of achieving High Speed have been somewhat of a turmoil in Poland apparently. I won't bore you with history, politics, or anything of that nature. In term, I'll use my reliable old friend Wikipedia and this stuff is all linked here.
As usual, thank you, Wikipedia and users, thank you, Google (YouTube) and users for your stuff.
Oh and this is the last Friday of the year now isn't it. Thank you for all your support for another year. Have a happy holiday season and all the best in 2015!
The ES44AC (successor of the AC4400CW) is a member of the family of GE's latest and greatest diesel-electric freight locomotives, the Evolution Series . Other locomotives in the Evolution Series include ES40DC, ES44DC, ES44C4 for the domestic market and ES44ACi (Kazakhstan), ES59ACi (China), and ES44DCi (Australia) for export. The direct competitor of the ES44AC is the SD70ACe developed by Electro Motive Diesel (EMD). The name ES44AC can be simply decoded as E volution S eries 4 , 4 00 horsepower AC traction (this naming scheme does not apply to EMD products or the ES59ACi which actually outputs 6,250 horsepower). However, unlike electric locomotives, the rated power of diesel-electric locomotives are measured at the prime mover (i.e. the diesel engine), not at the traction motors. The Evolution Series were developed to meet the stricter EPA Tier 2 emission standards. These locomotives use the GEVO prime movers instead of the FDL prime movers used on th...
The train of this week is a locomotive unveiled in 2009 by the BNSF Railway. Instead of using conventional diesel fuel, it is powered by hydrogen fuel cells (I have very limited knowledge in this area, so please feel free to comment on this post if you are interested in and familiar with the topic of hydrogen fuel cells). It is called the HH20B, a hydrogen-hybrid switcher locmotive based on the GG20B Green Goat diesel-hybrid switcher built by Railpower Technologies Corp. of Brossard, Quebec (acquired by R.J. Corman Railroad Group of Nicholasville, Kentucky in 2009). The GG20B is powered by a 300 hp 4-stroke Caterpillar diesel-engine and a battery pack with a combined tractive output of 2,000 hp. On the HH20B, diesel engine is replaced by hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen storage is in a set of tanks installed on top of the long hood of the locomotive in a heavily vented enclosure, above the batteries. The BNSF Railway displaying its low- and ul...
What makes most trains, trains, is the fact that locomotives and cars are interconnected by some mechanism (of course they no longer had to be since the introduction of the rail diesel car) that allow them to move along the railroad tracks simultaneously. Before I go further, I wish to introduce, very briefly, buff and draft forces. Two cars are in buff when they push against and are in draft when they pull against each other. A little bit on history: at the very beginning, this mechanism that connects cars together are made up of separate components that deal with buff and draft forces individually. The link and hook take care of draft forces, and buffers (they look like pancakes sticking out the ends of trains as seen in Thomas the Tank Engine) deal with buff forces. Although this system works well once the coupling is complete, which is why it is still in use in many parts of the world, there are many disadvantages to this primitive coupling system that make it unacceptable ...
The progress of achieving High Speed have been somewhat of a turmoil in Poland apparently. I won't bore you with history, politics, or anything of that nature. In term, I'll use my reliable old friend Wikipedia and this stuff is all linked here.
As usual, thank you, Wikipedia and users, thank you, Google (YouTube) and users for your stuff.
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