I heard the sounds of locomotion
and a whistle’s plaintive cry
of weakness, but the wheels were turning.
Steel on steel the sole reply.

The sounds of force accelerating
rhythmically as drums would play
recalled a light and tender time,
though made of steel the permanent way,

when near a depot long abandoned,
waiting for a passing train,
a child would sit alone for hours
just to hear the steel refrain.

I heard the sounds of locomotion
carrying a longing man
with freight and cargo to a place that
rails of steel alone could span.

“I looked out of the train,
And I suddenly saw the empty station
As we hurtled through, with a hollow roar . . .
‘Harviston End’ . . . It was dark and dead”

A quiet hymn to all that we’ve lost. It’s all here, the sights, sounds and smells of a country station about to close. I’ve searched my railway book shelves to see if Harviston End existed, but it appears not. But the word ‘end’ in the title goes much further than the white-pebbled station name.

I took a freight train to be my friend, O lord,
You know I hoboed, hoboed, hoboed,
Hoboed a long long way from home, O lord,

The Cincinnatian, Baltimore and Ohio steam locomotive 1956.

Belgium Atlantic Class steam locomotive, built 1939 Brussels to Ostend run.

The Mallard. World’s fastest steam locomotive timed at 125 miles per hour, Doncaster, England.

Virginia coal train

Durango Silverton line Colorado

Engineers in China have designed a novel new transportation method in the form of an enormous elevated bus which may make traffic jams a thing of the past.

The innovative vehicle, dubbed the ‘Transit Elevated Bus,’ would cruise along Chinese highways passing over cars and trucks that are driving below it.

Propelled via rails embedded in the road, the giant bus is designed to seat an incredible 1,200 passengers in its three massive carriages.

The engineer tasked with implementing the project contends that construction of the bus should cost a fraction of what it would take to build a new subway and accrue considerably less maintenance costs as well.

And, despite its futuristic appearance, the jaw dropping vehicle looks to be comparatively easy to construct as Chinese officials expect to begin testing the first ‘mega bus’ later this year.

Provided the trial period goes well, the Transit Elevated Bus could be in widespread use throughout Chinese cities sometime in the next year or two.

Whether the unique vehicle makes it way over to America in the future remains to be seen, but we’re hopeful that it does, because it looks like an incredibly fun way to travel and an awesome way to beat the traffic.

Traffic collisions in India are a major source of deaths, injuries and property damage every year. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2021 report states that there were 155,622 fatalities, highest since 2014, out of which 69,240 deaths were due to two-wheelers. A study by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, U.S. shows that the use of seat belts significantly reduces the risks and injuries from road accidents, and yet there is no enforcement on use of seat belts in cars. A study by IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Delhi points out that the national highways constitute only 2% of the length of roads in India, but they account for 30.3% of total road accidents and 36% of deaths.

According to the 2013 global survey of traffic collisions by the UN World Health Organization, India suffered a road fatality rate of 16.6 per 100,000 people in 2013. India’s average traffic collision fatality rate was similar to the world average rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 people, less than the low-income countries which averaged 24.1 deaths per 100,000, and higher than the high-income countries which reported the lowest average rate of 9.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2013.

Traffic in India consists of almost every conceivable type of motor vehicle, cars, trucks, buses, auto rickshaws, scooters and motorcycles. Add to this crazy eclectic mix bicycles, pedestrians and the odd cow the chaos becomes mind-boggling.

Where else? Houston, Texas of course.

When constructed during the 1960s, the I-10 Katy from Houston, known as the Katy Freeway, was built with six to eight lanes wide barring side lanes, being modest by Houston standards because existing traffic demand to the farming area of West Houston was relatively low. As the population and economic activity increased in the area vehicular traffic increased, reaching an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of 238,000 vehicles just west of the West Loop in 2001.

In 2000 increased traffic levels and congestion led to plans being approved for widening of the freeway to 16 lanes with a capacity for 200,000 cars per day. An old railway running along the north side of the freeway was demolished in 2002 in preparation for construction which began in 2004. The interior two lanes in each direction between SH 6 and west I-610, the Katy Freeway Managed Lanes or Katy Tollway, were built as high-occupancy toll lanes and are managed by the Harris County Toll Road Authority. The section just west of SH 6 to the Fort Bend–Harris county line opened in late June 2006. Two intersections were rebuilt (Beltway 8 and I-610), toll booths were added, together with landscaping as part of Houston’s Highway Beautification Project. Most of the section between Beltway 8 and SH 6 had been laid by September 2006 and work was completed in October 2008.

Tolls on the managed lanes vary by vehicle occupancy, axle count and time of day. High occupancy vehicles may travel for free at certain times.

Interstate 10 (I-10) is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the U.S. state of Texas, it runs east from Anthony, at the border with New Mexico, through El Paso, San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas. At just under 880 miles (1,420 km), the Texas segment of I-10, maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, is the longest continuous untolled freeway in North America that is operated by a single authority, a title formerly held by Ontario Highway 401. 

Go Train Toronto, Ontario

◊

Northeast United States

◊

Europe

◊

South-Central Asia

All Aboard!

Roof passengers ride for half price.

Safety Inspector says it’s good to go!

◊

Via Train approaching Churchill, Manitoba. Not a commuter train, but a tourist train.

After the passengers disembark from the train, they jump on the Tundra Buggy to check out the Polar Bears.