World's first solar powered train...

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Shannow

Shannow

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Internet spheres that I mingle in, and media are a bit abuzz at Byron Bay building the world's first "fully" solar powered train. http://byronbaytrain.com.au/sustainability/ BTW, my nephew went to a music festival up there this weekend...24/7 drugs and music, and feral behaviour (that's Byron Bay)...as an MMA fighter in great shape and continuous training, he wasn't the happiest camper...
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
At least trains have some sort of electrical infrastructure history. wink
We caught a series of electric trains home from the cruise last week...they are great
 
I might have mentioned before, this city used to have electric trams and electric buses, both which were being phased out when I was a kid. They started to pave over the tracks then. A couple decades later, they wanted to redo some of the roads, and found a very unpleasant surprise when digging down, and finding railroad tracks. wink
 
The reason that this town got power was that we were the inland end of the electrified railway...got the first power station proper in the 50s. Just like the Byron Bay solar train, they "use the grid like a bank account".
 
Can't run it 'cos I'm (supposedx to be) working in the library without headphones, but that looks like quite a <span style="font-style: italic">big</span> loco with quite <span style="font-style: italic">small</span> solar panels on it.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Can't run it 'cos I'm (supposedx to be) working in the library without headphones, but that looks like quite a big loco with quite small solar panels on it.
 
That's pretty cool. I like the use of "heritage" coaches. People hanging out the windows reminds me of the old electric commuter trains we had in our area when I was young. In our area, all the commuter lines running to Philadelphia were electrified during the depression. Sometime, when I take a train, I wonder how the men who built the system would feel about it still working strong some 80 years on. You should see some of the old transformers, God knows what they have in them for cooling oil (maybe PCBs). They're modernizing in fits and starts.
 
"Everything" is going lightweight. It'll be interesting to see which materials will be used to build such trains in the future . The trains here are already aluminum (not the material the entire industry used) but likely built with a large "safety margin". Carbon fiber coaches, anyone??? Why not? All the electronic safeties will make collisions a thing of the past. "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." (robot at the '64 World's Fair)
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
"Everything" is going lightweight. It'll be interesting to see which materials will be used to build such trains in the future . The trains here are already aluminum (not the material the entire industry used) but likely built with a large "safety margin". Carbon fiber coaches, anyone??? Why not? All the electronic safeties will make collisions a thing of the past. "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." (robot at the '64 World's Fair)
You can still listen to that robot sing at Disney World.
 
Given the cost of running overhead lines, I had heard that solar/battery trains were of high interest in many areas. It was really just to get from point A to B though, using grid (plus battery regen) as much as possible.
 
There is a story about my grandfather my Dad told me. About 1900, Granpa traveled from Providence RI to Boston on a series of street railways. It wasn't perfect. Somewhere in the 50 mile journey there was a gap of a mile or so. A series of private companies sprouting up in the gap between the horse and reliable autos. There are dozens of "short lines" in the US still moving freight. There used to be many more PS, the only reason I'm a motorhead is because locomotivehead wasn't open. grin2
 
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Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Can't run it 'cos I'm (supposedx to be) working in the library without headphones, but that looks like quite a big loco with quite small solar panels on it.
So, it is a battery train with solar panel top off along the way.
 
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Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
People hanging out the windows reminds me of the old electric commuter trains we had in our area when I was young.
Oh no, that will definitely be taboo. People hanging out windows will create additional drag, that will negatively impact the eMPG rating of the electric trains and ruin their CAFE efficiencies. We can't be having that when we're trying to fluff the numbers for the sake of numbers! /sarcasm smile
 
Just from that it sounds "solar-supplemented" rather than "solar". In particular, "one diesel engine is replaced" sounds like its got others, so it would then be a plug-in hybrid. Nothing wrong with that, but it'd be nice if it wasn't misrepresented.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
"Everything" is going lightweight. It'll be interesting to see which materials will be used to build such trains in the future . The trains here are already aluminum (not the material the entire industry used) but likely built with a large "safety margin". Carbon fiber coaches, anyone??? Why not? All the electronic safeties will make collisions a thing of the past. "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." (robot at the '64 World's Fair)
IIRC you need a certain amount of weight to get enough traction with steel wheels on steel rails, hence rail-going car conversions often need to be ballasted. I suppose you might be able to address that with more sophisticated wheel materials and all-wheel-drive, though there might be a rail wear penalty with the former.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
"It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." (robot at the '64 World's Fair)
Probably seemed plausible in '64, at least if you were a robot, or hadn't been paying attention.
 
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Originally Posted By: Ducked
Just from that it sounds "solar-supplemented" rather than "solar". In particular, "one diesel engine is replaced" sounds like its got others, so it would then be a plug-in hybrid. Nothing wrong with that, but it'd be nice if it wasn't misrepresented.
Not quite, the diesel IS there, but it's last resort...and the people who built it, I would guarantee that it's last ditch, passengers walk the 2 mile trip themselves in pouring rain. The train has solar panels, 6.5KW of (lets call them horizontal to be nice) panels. So there's about 40KWh available there. Seasonal Variance give or take. It takes 4KWh per one way trip according to information provided. Batteries are 77KWh. There's 30Kw panels at the main platform, which charge the train while it's there, but "store" the energy in the grid when it's not, and withdraw when it's plugged in (like a bank balance they say). Honestly, this is so much better green wise than them having put a battery there to store the power. The energy that they withdraw is guaranteed 100% green by their contracted energy company. 300+KWh available there. Initial timetable is one return trip every hour, and they advertise it as day/night...it's a touristy place, pick 6-midnight like SF cable cars, that's 18 round trips, 32 total trips at 4KWh per trip...128KWh per day required. So it's well doable with the grid bank acoount. Apparently they are seeking to do up to 100 (single) trips per day...that's borderline... and weather dependent, thus the diesel backup. Honestly, I'd be happy with them being a battery powered electric train, charged either on grid, or with the bank account concept and panels on the buildings. (*) The "solar powered train - look at the panels on the roof" reminds my of some other conversations that have been had lately. (*)...when a now defunct local tourist railway wasn't operating steam, it ran these old rail motors.
Now I love the old commer "knockers" in them, but this is scarcely what you'd put in in Byron Bay...soot doesn't fit with all that ice (crstal meth) that's so popular up there.
 
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