Technology for Luddites
“We would be so much better off simply fixing up and reactivating the normal-speed track system that is sitting out there rusting in the rain — and save our more grandiose visions for a later time”. Read.
Previously: How eco-friendly is a high speed train? / The age of speed / Only idiots travel by train.
“Eurotunnel doesn’t take foot passengers, which is fair enough given you stay in the car on the journey. But if we hop up the road to the Eurostar passenger service from Ashford to Calais, the four of us will have to fork out at least £220. Different service, I know. But same tunnel. And more than three times as much. For not taking a car”. Fred Pearce again, on ferry and train fares. Previously: Only idiots travel by train / Life without airplanes.
Following kitesurfing, kite buggying, kite landboarding and snowkiting (no slope required); kiteboating:
Airplay Kitesailing, Kite For Sail, KiteCat, the pioneers.
Previously: kitesurfing for cargo vessels. Related: sailing at the touch of a button / Sailing Rockets.
26 vintage cars, high resolution. Previously: download, print, fold, paste. Related: can cars.
Maybe artists and fantasy are a better foothold for the future than engineers and high-tech. The pedal powered Hennepin Crawler is capable of both street and railroad track cruising and can seat four people. It is comprised of approximately 90% recycled materials and has a sex appeal that can rival that of a Porsche or a Land Rover. Via Make 17. Related: Cycle Chics. More on railcars. More low-tech cars.
In the 1850s and 60s transit companies used horses to pull railcars on San Francisco streets. When the beasts gave way to progress in the form of cable cars and electric streetcars, the companies sought to dump the obsolete rolling stock. The Market Street Railway Company even placed a newspaper advertisement offering horse cars for $20 (without seats only $10). The result: Carville & Carzonia.
