More fail-proof trains

We herewith continue our tongue-in-cheek enumeration of what design parameters must be to create truly fail-proof trains. We left off with tracks or guideways last time.

3. Wheels must be of material equally hard and inflexible, yet light and non-polluting, as tracks or guideways. Ideally (my imaginary design computer tells me) wear will be limited to tracks and wheels will not wear (when made of this magic non-polluting stuff.) It's easier to inspect tracks for wear and tear than wheels. Again, like tracks, the wheels must be conductive of electricity to accommodate some kind of signalling system. We'll get to signals soon.

4. These mythical wheels will have to be mounted on bearings in the ultimately strong and lightweight trucks (or bogies for those of you with a European background) which bear the weight of the mechanisms carrying our freight or passengers without causing any damage to either. Whatsoever. Phew! That was a long sentence. A little background here. Trucks (bogies) have been evolving for years. European designs have been a little more advanced than those in North America, I think because the trains in Europe tend to be shorter, carry lighter loads...and in Europe there are Germans. If any single ethnicity on the planet can design an advanced precision piece of machinery that will function without failure for a kilometer or two, (that's 2.54/100,000 kilometers to the inch, 12 inches to the foot and 5,280 feet to the mile, figure it out American slacker) it would be the Audi- and Volkswagen-building Deutchlanders.

Here in we-the-peopleville, we're going to have to go back to wagon wheels on carts and build on that to advance to a stage where the regulatory darlings of FRA, FTA, and NTSB will approve our advanced designs for fail-proof trucks-bogies-whatevers. The testing time alone will give California enough time to actually build the high-speed train from LAX to SFO (think decades), trains which won't be fail-proof compliant but will speak six languages fluently and recognize eighteen genders.

Next time, and times to come: Stations, signals, and propulsion.