Railplanes

[McColm]

Thanks,
got a few ideas to play with

[Jschmus]

Just saw this on io9:

http://io9.com/#!5783126/the-never+was-1000-mph-transcontinental-railroad-from-new-york-to-los-angeles

[McColm]

got some pics for you,
Something Gruman had a go at.

[McColm]

and another Whiff
Is it a bird? Is it a train? Is it a plane? No its a trainplane...

[McColm]

Another trainplane

[McColm]

Yes I know there not real, try this instead

[Mossie]

That United Pacific one reminds me of a transforming toy my brother had, think it could be a train, spaceship & robot.  It wasn't a Transformer, pretty sure it wasn't in the Gobot line either.

[Rheged]

Another railplane that looks like whiff but wasn't!

http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r069.html

[deathjester]

That United Pacific one reminds me of a transforming toy my brother had, think it could be a train, spaceship & robot.  It wasn't a Transformer, pretty sure it wasn't in the Gobot line either.

Are you sure that wasn't the Decepticon, Astrotrain?  Featured in 'Transformers - The Movie'  That's exactly what he transformed into (technically a 'Triple Changer')
Was it grey and purple?

[PR19_Kit]

got some pics for you,
Something Gruman had a go at.

That looks like it was a tracked hovercraft, you can see the hover-pads where the bogies (trucks....) would normally go, and it seems to have lateral guidance pads as well.

Never seen that one before, are you sure it's Grumman? It doesn't have folding wings or an arrestor hook........ 

That UP DD40 would have been more believable if they'd have started with a Big Blow Turbine instead, at least they realy DID have jet engines!

[jcf]

The Grumman and Rohr aerotrains are both hovering machines aka TACV (tracked air cushion vehicle).
Decent page on aerotrains that concentrates on the Rohr version (tech licensed from Bertin) but does have a little bit on the Grumman and the Garrett vehicles:
http://www.shonner.com/aerotrain/index.htm


The Tracked ACV sections of Jane's Surface Skimmers 1972-73 and Jane's Surface Skimmers 1976-77
have good worldwide coverage of the various projects of the period.

[MiB]

Yes I know there not real, try this instead

I remeber this...on pages of Popular Mechanics or Omni Magazine, I think....

[McColm]

Seems to me that this is the way forward, we have the knowhow. Money is always the stumbling block.

[Mossie]

That United Pacific one reminds me of a transforming toy my brother had, think it could be a train, spaceship & robot.  It wasn't a Transformer, pretty sure it wasn't in the Gobot line either.

Are you sure that wasn't the Decepticon, Astrotrain?  Featured in 'Transformers - The Movie'  That's exactly what he transformed into (technically a 'Triple Changer')
Was it grey and purple?

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the one, it was a deep blue if I remember & quite different to the usual Transformers.  I think it was a one off, not part of a range or at least I never saw any others that I remember.

[PR19_Kit]

That lack of money was exactly why Britain's Tracked Hovercraft project foundered in 1973.

The test vehicle existed, the test track had been built and it had run at over 100 mph on a ONE MILE test track! It used Linear Induction Motors for power rather than a set of turbines on the roof however.

As usual it was deemed that the UK couldn't afford to back two or more projects all aimed at similar targets, and the APT got the nod. That was lucky for me as I was working on the APT at the time, but it must have been galling for the guys at THL. They'd actually run at over 100 with their machine whereas we had made one run at a maximum of 45 mph and then been 'blacked' by ASLEF!

Some of the THL people came to Derby later on and their advanced control system that made the THL LIMs work so well was later adapted to operate the APT-P tilt system too.