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Double Decker

Double decker

]] A double-decker is a bus, aeroplane, train, tram, ferry or any public transit vehicle that has two levels for passengers, one deck above the other. The term can also refer to a sandwich with three layers of bread and two fillings.

Bus

sandwich] Double-decker buses are taller than other buses. They are extensively used in the United Kingdom, where perhaps the most famous is the Routemaster used in London, which is now being phased out (as of 2005). Elsewhere in Europe, double-deckers are used throughout the Dublin Bus network and some Bus Éireann routes in Ireland, where they are making a comeback on the streets of Cork in a Park & Ride system. Most of the buses in Hong Kong and about half in Singapore are double-deckers as well. The only area in North America that uses double-decker buses for its public transport is the western Canadian province of British Columbia. The city of Victoria, BC as well as a couple others use Dennis Tridents. A few are also used as tour buses, especially in New York and Paris. Double deckers are also present in Mumbai operating since 1937. In Brazil, where buses are sometimes the only available transportation device for interstate routes, some companies use Double Decker buses(Like the ones that Viação Cometa uses in the route between the cities of Campinas and Rio de Janeiro) . Although, considering that double deckers are not a good option for use outside speedways(Most of the tracks available in Brazil are in very poor conditions), it´s use is being disencouraged by transportation authorities. Some double-decker buses have an open upper deck, with no roof and shallow sides. These are popular for sightseeing tours.

Airplane

Many early seaplane airliners, such as the Boeing 314 Clipper and Short Sandringham, had two decks for passengers. Following World War II, a double-decked derivative of the B-29 Superfortress called the Stratocruiser became popular with airlines around the world. For years the most popular – and only – double-deck airliner in service was the Boeing 747, though the top deck is smaller than the main level. The new Airbus A380, however, has two decks extending the full length of the airplane.

Train

Because of the standard height of tunnels and overhead power wires, many double-deck trains set the bottom deck lower down between the trucks (bogies in UK parlance). At the entrance doors of the train there is just a single deck, above the bogies. From there one can go upstairs or downstairs. For example, for the DD-IRM (see below) it is one step up from the station platform to the entrance platform, and from there seven steps up or four steps down. France runs double-deck cars on heavily loaded high-speed TGV services and commuter lines such as the Paris suburban RER. The French loading gauge dictates that the double-deck cars are realy split level with a maximom height of 4200 mm or 13'-9.35". Compare that to the north eastern US and to Sydney, Australia mentioned below. RER RER RER Other double-deck railcars do not have a full upper deck but on the left and on the right a gallery, each with a row of single seats. An example is the bilevel cars provided and leased in the U.S. by Midwest Transportation & Development Corporation of Chicago. They are of a design proven in service and steadily refined since their introduction in the 1950s. (Midwest Transportation & Development's website is [http://www.cl.ais.net/~dbehr]). These cars, known as "bilevel gallery cars", are among the most successful designs developed, and are currently in daily use in Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal. They provide high capacity (155 to 169 passengers each) and use standard, off-the-shelf components, without relying on proprietary, expensive and hard-to-get replacement parts. Chicago's commuter rail system Metra is currently receiving new versions of these cars and CalTrain, the San Francisco area commuter rail authority, has recently overhauled its fleet of bilevel gallery cars. Another advantage of bilevel gallery cars is the relatively low first step of the vestibule entrance to the car, which is 14 5/8" above the head of the rail. The advantage of this design feature is that commuter rail operators do not have to spend scarce funds on building high-level platforms; rather, a low-level platform is all that is necessary, at a far lower cost. Other designs, including rolling stock made by Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, Budd, Pullman-Standard, Bombardier and others, house the entrance on the lower deck rather than an intermediate level. Amtrak Superliners are double-decker cars of this variety, housing the entrance about a step or so up from the lowest station platform level, or at the level of slightly higher platforms, and allowing passage from car to car through the upper corridors of the train. (Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, responsible for constructing the Princess cars on the Alaska Railroad, can be located online at [http://www.coloradorailcar.com/].) In some countries such as the United Kingdom, the railway system can not accommodate double-deck trains. The north eastern US can only accommodate split level (double deck) cars provided that these cars are no higher than 14'-6" or 4420 mm. These double deckers run on the Long Island Rail Road: [http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/lirr/]: and on New Jersey Transit: [http://www.njtransit.com/]: (contact Bombardier Transport: [http://www.bombardiertranport.com/]) because the loading gauge is too small (i.e. bridges, tunnels, etc. are too low). An intermediate form of two-level seating arrangement has been tried in Britain (the Southern Railway's 4DD class electric multiple units), where the bottoms of the upper seats are above the heads of the people on the lower level, but the feet of the people above are not, see [http://members.tripod.com/~dart75/bddscut.htm]. Double-deck trains often have curved windows upstairs. In the evening and in tunnels children love this for the distorting mirror effect. In India, the Indian Railways operates intercitiy trains between Mumbai and Surat, and Mumbai and Pune (has latter service stopped?). In the Netherlands, there are two types of double-deck trains, the DDM and the DD-IRM, also called Regiorunner: see Trains in the Netherlands. In Spain several lines of Cercanías (Renfe's commuter rail service) use double-deck trains. All electric commuter trains in Sydney are double deck. They all have two doors per side per carriage, with a vestibule at each end at platform height. Well-known examples of these trains are the Tangara and Millennium trains. The Sydney double deck commuter trains are 14'-4.5" or 4380 mm high. In intermodal freight transport, many modern types of container cars are designed to accommodate "double-stacking."

Cable Car (Aerial Tramway)

Main article: Aerial tramway The double-deck Vanoise Express cable car carries 200 people in each cabin at a height of 380 m (1250') over the Ponturin gorge.

Tram

There are also double-deck trams. Hong Kong Tramways is the only tram company that operates double-deck trams exclusively. As with the buses and trolleybuses, double-deck versions are almost twice as tall as the others. Until the 1950s double-deck trams were very common in the United Kingdom. Some can still be seen at the National Tramway Museum. They are also in some places, aimed at tourists, e.g in Blackpool. From 1910 to 1964, double decker trams were in use in Mumbai.

Bridge

The term double-decker is also used for bridges with two road levels, for example the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Tsing Ma Bridge and Kap Shui Mun Bridge have six lanes on the upper decks. On the lower decks there are two lanes and a pair of tracks for trains (the MTR metro).

Tunnel

Some tunnels are double-deck, for example the Eastern Harbour Crossing in Hong Kong, where roads and rails (the MTR metro) occupy different decks of the tunnel. The first double-decked tunnel ever built with both decks for motor vehicles is the Fuxing Road Tunnel in Shanghai, China. Cars travel on the two-laned upper deck and heavier vehicles on the single-lane lower.

Trailer

A double decker trailer is a two level trailer with living quarters in it. When travelling the trailer is only as high as a regular trailer, but when setup it increases in height to two full levels. Built by Jexcar and others. Image:JexcarDoubleDecker.jpg

Elevator

A double-deck elevator is an elevator with two elevator cars attached on top of each other. This increases passenger capacity while occupying less building core space.

Other Meanings

A "double-decker", in the American party scene, can also refer to having a bowel movement into the top tank on a toilet. This often proves quite humorous for the host or hostess, who normally do not realize the act has taken place until the following morning. Double Decker is also a brand of chocolate bar from Cadbury UK.

See also


- Passenger car
- Transport
- [http://www.double-decker-buses.com Double Decker Bus & Tours] Category:Transportation
- [http://www.busonline.ca/regions/vic/?p=1.txt British Columbia Transit]
- [http://www.jexcar.com/double-d.htm Jexcar] ja:2階建車両

Aeroplane

Fixed-wing aircraft is a term used to refer to what are more commonly known as airplanes in North American English and aeroplanes in Commonwealth English. An airplane is a heavier than air aircraft where any movement of the wings in relation to the aircraft is not used to generate lift. All aircraft wings flex and some aircraft have wings that can tilt, sweep back or fold but if none of these movements are used to generate lift the wing is considered to be a "fixed-wing". Fixed-wing aircraft include a large range of craft designed for many purposes from small trainers and recreational airplanes to large airliners and military cargo aircraft. Some aircraft use fixed wings to provide lift only part of the time and may or may not be referred to as fixed-wing. Airplanes have no ability to drive on the ground for extended time periods. cargo aircraft, an example of a fixed-wing aircraft]] The term also embraces a minority of aircraft with folding wings that are intended to fold when on the ground. This is usually in order to to ease stowage or facilitate transport on, for example, a vehicle trailer or the powered lift connecting the hangar deck of an aircraft carrier to its flight deck. It also embraces an even smaller number of aircraft, such as the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the Panavia Tornado, which can vary the sweep angle of their wings during flight. In the early days of their development, these were termed "variable geometry" aircraft. When the wings of these aircraft are fully swept, usually for high speed cruise, the trailing edges of their wings abut the leading edges of their tailplanes, giving an impression of a single delta wing if viewed from above or below. There are also rare examples of aircraft which can vary the angle of incidence of their wings in flight, such the F-8 Crusader, which are also considered to be "fixed-wing". Two characteristics common to all the airplanes are the necessity of constant air flow over the wings for lifting of the aircraft, and an open area free of obstacles where they can, with sufficient space, take off or land. The majority of airplanes, however, also need an airport with enough infrastructure to receive adequate maintenance, restocking, refueling and for the loading and unloading of crew, cargo and/or passengers, when these are present in sufficient amounts. While the vast majority of airplanes land and take off on land, some are capable of take off and landing on ice, snow and calm water. The airplane is currently the fastest method of civil and military transport on the planet. Commercial jet airplanes can reach up to 875 km/h, and cover one fourth of the terrestrial sphere in a matter of hours, and single-engine airplanes are easily capable of reaching 175 km/h or more at cruise speed. Supersonic airplanes, currently only military, research and a few private aircraft, can reach speeds that sometime surpass the speed of the sound.

Conventional airplanes

Conventional airplanes from small planes such as the Bumble Bee II and Cessna 140, to a gigantic Antonov 225, consist of a longitudinal fuselage, one or more front wings to provide the majority of lift, a tailplane for stability and a one or more vertical surfaces at the tail for stability.

Fixed parts


- Each wing is a single wing structure attached to or integrated into the fuselage of the aircraft. Sometimes the half of a wing on either side of the fuselage is referred to as a wing, e.g. left wing and right wing. Most airplanes are monoplanes having one wing structure for providing lift. Biplanes (two wings) or triplanes (three wing) have been popular in the past and some are still made for special purposes like aerobatics. The wing is also where it generally stores the fuel necessary for the engine(s) of the aircraft.
- The fuselage (or main body): in smaller aircraft, the necessary fuel for the engine(s) of the aircraft is stored in the main body.
- An engine (or engines): Also known as powerplants, engines serve to propel the aircraft on the ground and the air. Airplanes use a wide variety of engines, including turbine, reciprocating, and radial engines. The engines are usually located under or on the wings or attached to the fuselage. A few aircraft have engines attached to the vertical or horizontal stabilizer.
- The tailplane is a small wing that provides positive or negative lift to stabilize the aircraft in flight. Most often it is configured to provide negative lift. It may be a fixed horizontal stabilizer with a movable elevator or a stabilator that rotates on a shaft to change the angle of incidence.
- The vertical stabilizer is a small vertical wing that is usually attached to the rear of the fuselage but some aircraft have two vertical stabilizers attached to the horizontal stabilizer or boom structures. A rudder is attached to the vertical stabilizer.

Mobile parts


- Ailerons are located in the wing of the aircraft. They always act at the same time, but in inverse directions, so that the airplane can be turned along its longitudinal axis. This movement is called roll. Because roll changes the direction of lift of the wings it is the primary method of changing the direction of travel.
- Rudder is located on the vertical stabilizer and controls movement around the vertical axis called yaw.
- The elevators are located on the horizontal stabilizer to control the rotation around the lateral axis called pitch. The elevator and horizontal stabilizer may be combined into a stabilator.
- The landing gear that allows the airplane to take off and land. They retract during flight to reduce drag. (these are often fixed parts on smaller aircraft) Some aircraft are equipped with special landing gear, such as pontoons or skis to allow them to land on various surfaces.
- The Flaps which change the profile of the wing of the airplane, helping in the lift and the control of the speed of the aircraft in air, both in operations of low speed - especially important in the operations of landing and take-off.
- In the case of a propeller airplane: the propeller(s) Other common parts of aircraft include trim tabs, air brakes, spoilers, winglets and canards. Unconventional aircraft have been built in a variety of forms. For example: lifting body, canard, V-tail and flying wing.

Flight (lift)

An airplane flies due to the aerodynamic reactions that happen when air passes at high speed over the wing. When air passes over the wing, it is forced to pass underneath or over top of it. The length of the wing is larger on the top portion, so according to laws of aerodynamics, the air flow becomes faster, to compensate the larger distance to be travelled. This significantly diminishes the pressure of air on the wing; the difference of pressure under and over the wings creates the necessary lift for flight. Also they obey, on a smaller scale, the laws of inertia as formulated by Isaac Newton: a force acting in one given direction tends to be balanced by another force with same intensity, and of opposing direction. As the wings of the airplanes tend to make curve for low, a air flow is created in this direction and, as consequence, the airplane receives a push from same force in the opposing direction. Airplanes need a high speed so that the difference of the pressure of air under and over the wing is enough for lifting the aircraft. To reach these high speeds, an airplane needs to cover a certain distance on the ground, before reaching the speed needed for take-off. For larger and heavier aircraft it will generally require a longer runway to reach the necessary speed for the take-off, given the larger amount of energy needed.

Types of fixed-wing aircraft

Propeller aircraft

Isaac Newton Propeller airplanes make use of combustion engines, that in turn, turn a propeller, that creates the necessary force for the movement of the aircraft. They are relatively quiet, but they fly at lower speeds, and have lower load capacity compared to similar sized jet powered aircraft. However, they are significantly cheaper and much more economic than jets, and is the generally the best option for people who need to use an airplane in a smaller company to transport a few passengers and/or small amounts of cargo. They are also the aircraft of choice for pilots who wish to own their own aircraft.

Jet aircraft

combustion Jet airplanes make use of turbines for the creation of the necessary force for the movement of the aircraft. Jet airplanes generally have turbine engines that are much more powerful than their propeller driven cousins. As consequence, they have greater weight capacity and faster flight speeds than propeller driven aircraft. One drawback, however is the great amount of sound created for a turbine; this makes jet airplanes a source of noise pollution. They also require much larger amounts of maintenance compared to their propeller driven cousins. Huge widebodies ("wide bodies"), such as the Airbus A340 and Boeing 777, can carry hundreds of passengers and several tons of cargo, and are able to travel for distances of up to 13 thousand kilometers - a little more than one quarter of the circumference of the Earth. Jet airplanes possess high cruising speeds (700 to 900 km/h) and relatively high speeds for take-off and landing (150 to 250 km/h). Due to the high speeds needed for takeoff and landing, the jet airplane makes great use of flaps for the control of lift and speed, and has engine reversers (to direct the airflow frontward) on most engines for slowing down the aircraft upon landing to supplement the brakes.

Super sonic aircraft

Earth Super sonic airplanes, such as military fighters and bombers, the Concorde and others, make use of special turbines (often utilizing afterburners), that generate the huge amounts of power for flight faster than the speed of the sound. Moreover, the design of the supersonic airplane has substantial differences from the design of sub-sonic airplanes, in order to make the transition to supersonic flight smoother and to make supersonic flight more efficient. Flight at super-sonic speed creates much more sound pollution than flight at sub-sonic speeds, due to the phenomena of sonic booms. This limits super-sonic flights to areas of minimal population density or open ocean. When they approach an area of heavier population density, super-sonic airplanes are obliged to fly at sub-sonic speed. Due to the high costs, limited areas of use and low demand there are no longer any super-sonic aircraft in use by any major airline, and the last Concorde flight was November 26, 2003. It appears that supersonic aircraft will remain in use almost exclusively by militaries around the world for the foreseeable future.

Rocket-powered aircraft

sonic booms sonic booms Experimental rocket powered aircraft were developed by the Germans as early as World War II, although they were never mass produced by any power during that war. The first fixed wing aircraft to break the sound barrier was the rocket powered Bell X-1. The later North American X-15 was another important rocket plane, that broke many speed and altitude records and laid much of the groundwork for later aircraft and spacecraft design. Rocket airplanes are not in common usage today, although rocket-assisted takeoffs are somewhat common for military aircraft. SpaceShipOne is the most famous current rocket airplane that is the testbed for developing a commercial sub-orbital passenger service.

Ramjet aircraft

SpaceShipOne SpaceShipOne Ramjet (and the Scramjet variant) aircraft are mostly in the experimental stage. The D-21 Tagboard was an unmanned Mach 3+ reconnaissance drone that was put into production in 1969 for spying, but due to the poor level of success and the development of better spy satellites, it was cancelled in 1971. The SR-71's Pratt & Whitney J58 engines act as ramjets at high-speeds (Mach 3.2). The last SR-71 flight was in October 1999. The Boeing X-43 is an experimental scramjet with a world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph. The X-43A set the record on Nov. 16, 2004.

History

The dream of flight goes back, for Man, to the days of pre-history. Many legends, beliefs and myths of antiquity involve flight, such as the legend of Icarus. Leonardo of the Vinci, among others visionary inventors, drew an airplane, in the 15th century. With the first flight made by man (Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes) in an aircraft lighter than air, a balloon, the biggest challenge became to create other craft, capable of controlled flight. Years of research by many eager people who dreamed of flight produced very slow, but continuous, progress. On August 28 of 1883, John J. Montgomery became the first person to make a controlled flight in a glider. Other aviators who had made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher and Octave Chanute. Sir George Cayley, the inventor of the science of aerodynamics, was building and flying models of fixed wing aircraft as early as 1803, and he built a successful passenger-carrying glider in 1853, but it is known the first practical self-powered aeroplanes were designed and constructed by Clément Ader. On October 9, 1890, Ader attempted to fly the Éole, which succeeded in taking off and flying a distance of approximately 50 meters before witnesses. In August 1892 the Avion II flew for a distance of 200 metres, and on October 14, 1897, Avion III flew a distance of more than 300 metres. On August 28, 1903 in Hanover, the German Karl Jatho made his first flight. The Wright Brothers made their first successful test flights in December 17, 1903 and by 1904 Flyer III was capable of fully-controllable stable flight for substantial periods. Strictly, its wings were not completely fixed, as it depended for stability on a flexing mechanism named wing warping. This was soon superseded by the competitive development of ailerons, attached to an otherwise rigid wing. In some countries today, particularly Brazil, Santos-Dumont is considered to be the "Father of Aviation", because of the official and of public character of the 14-bis flight and/or technical points such as the plane's integral landing gear and its ability to take off on open ground. The 14 Bis, was the first to take off, fly, and land without the use of catapults, high winds, or other external assistance. Most Brazilians, and many other admirers of Alberto Santos-Dumont consider him, instead of the Wright Brothers, to be the true inventor of the airplane, although the very concept of the invention of the first flying machine has substantial ambiguity. Wars in Europe, in particular, the First World War, served as initial tests for the use of the airplane as a weapon. First seen by generals and commanders as a "toy", the airplane proved to be a machine of war capable of causing serious casualties to enemy lines. In the first war, great aces appeared, of which the greatest was the German Red Baron. On the side of the allies, the ace with the biggest amount of downed aircraft was René Fonck, of France. After the First World War, airplanes gained innumerable technological advances. Charles Lindbergh became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in solo flight nonstop, on May 20, 1927. The first commercial flights took place between the United States and Canada, in 1919. The turbine or the jet engine was in development in the 1930's, military jet airplanes began operating in the 1940's. Airplanes played a primary role in the Second World War, having a presence, either major or minor, in all the known major battles of the war, especially in the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the battles of the Pacific and D-Day. They were also an essential part of several of the new military strategies of the time period, such as the German Blitzkrieg or the American and Japanese Aircraft carriers. In October of 1947, Chuck Yeager, in the Bell X-1, was the first person to exceed the speed of sound. The Boeing X-43 is an experimental scramjet with a world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph. Airplanes, in a civil military role, continued to feed and supply Berlin in 1948, when access to railroads and roads to the city, completely surrounded by Eastern Germany, were blocked, by order of the Soviet Union. The first commercial jet, the Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952, and the first successful commercial jet, the Boeing 707, is still in use 50 years later. Boeing 707 would develop into the later in Boeing 737. The Boeing 727 was another widely used passenger airplane, and the Boeing 747, was the biggest commercial airplane in the world up to 2005, when it was surpassed by the Airbus A380.

Designing and constructing an airplane

Small airplanes, for one or two passengers, can be designed and constructed at home, by aviators who possess sufficient knowledge in the areas of engineering, physics and aerodynamics. Other aviators with less knowledge make their airplanes using complete kits, with pre-manufactured parts, and assemble the aircraft themselves. Airplanes produced in this way, however, are a small minority. Given its complexity, most airplanes are constructed by companies with the objective of producing them in quantity for customers. The design and of planning process, including safety tests can last up to 4 years, for small turboprops, and up to 12 years in airplanes with the capacity of the A380. In this process, the objectives and design specifications of the aircraft are established. In the beginning the construction company uses a great number of drawings and equations, simulations, wind tunnel tests and experience to predict the behavior of the aircraft. Generally computers are used by companies to draw, plan and do initial simulations of the airplane. Small models and mockups of all or certain parts of the airplane are, then, tested in wind tunnels, to verify the aerodynamics of the aircraft. When the airplane has made it through this process, the company constructs a limited number of these airplanes, for testing as a whole in the ground. Special attention is given to the engines (or turbines) and to the wings. After passing the above-designated process, the construction company has a governing agency of aviation make a first flight. When the behavior of the aircraft does not present suspicion of imperfections, the flight-tests continue until the airplane has fulfilled all the necessary requirements. Then, the governing public agency of aviation of the country authorizes the company to begin production en masse of the aircraft. In the United States, this agency is Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and in the European Union, Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA). These two are the agency of regulation of most important aircraft of the world. In Canada, the prescribed the public agency in charge and authorizing the mass production of aircraft is the Department of Transport. In the case of the international trade of airplanes, a license of the public agency of aviation or transports of the country where the aircraft is also to be used is necessary. For example, aircraft from Airbus need to be certified by the FAA to be flown in the United States and vice versa, aircraft of Boeing need to be approved by the JAA to be flown in the European Union.

Industrialized production

There are relatively few companies that produce airplanes on a large scale. However, the production of an airplane for one company is a process that actually involves dozens, or even hundreds, of other companies and plants, that produce the parts that go into the aircraft. For example, one company can be responsible for the production of the landing gear, while another one is responsible for the radar. The production of such parts is not limited to the same city or country; in the case of large aircraft manufacturing companies, such parts can come from all over of the world. After being manufactured, the parts are sent to the main plant of the aircraft company, where the production line is located. The different parts are assembled with the others, eventually, producing the aircraft. In the case of large airplanes, lines of production are dedicated to the assembly of certain parts of the aircraft can exist, especially the wings and the fuselage. When complete, an airplane goes through a set of rigorous inspection, to search for imperfections and defects, and after being approved by the inspectors, the airplane is tested by a pilot, in a flight test, in order to assure that the controls of the aircraft are in working properly. With this final test, the airplane is ready to receive the "final touchups" (internal configuration, painting, etc), and is then ready to be sent to the customer.

Safety

Statistics show that the risk of an air accident is very small. You are more likely to have an accident going to the airport in your car than have one during your flight. Why then do many people have such a fear of flying? Perhaps it is because the risk of death in an aircraft accident, if you are in one, is extremely high. Furthermore, car crashes rarely feature outside local news whereas air crashes are reported internationally, making the risk seem greater. The majority of aircraft accidents occur due to human error, that is, an error of the pilot(s) or control tower. After human error, mechanical failure is the biggest cause of air accidents, which sometimes also can involve a human component (ie: negligence of the airline in carrying out proper maintenance). Adverse weather is the third largest cause of accidents. Icing of wings, downbursts and low visibility are often major contributors to weather related crashes.

See also


- Aircraft
- Airplane flight mechanics Category:Aircraft Category:Aviation ja:固定翼機 ko:비행기 ms:Kapal terbang bersayap tetap simple:Aircraft

Tram

:For other meanings of tram, see tram (disambiguation). tram (disambiguation), Finland]] Finland. It delivers parts to the Transparent Factory]] A tram (tramcar, trolley, or streetcar) is a railborne vehicle, lighter than a train, designed for the transport of passengers (and/or, very occasionally, freight) within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities. Trams are distinguished from other forms of railway systems in that they travel wholly or partly along tracks laid down in streets, usually on track reserved for the tram system. A cable car is a special type of tram. Tram systems are common throughout Europe and were common throughout the western world in the early 20th century. Although they disappeared from many cities for many years in the mid 20th century, in recent years they have made a comeback. The terms "tram" and "tramway" were originally Scots and Northern English words for the type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which these trucks ran — probably derived from a North Sea Germanic word of unknown origin meaning the "beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge", also "a barrow or truck body". The sense of "streetcar" is first recorded in 1860.

History

1860]] Appearing in the first half of the 19th century, trams were at first pulled by horses. 19th century The first trams, known as streetcars or horsecars, were built in the US, and developed from city stagecoach lines and omnibus lines that picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route and without the need to be pre-hired. These first lines operated in Baltimore, Maryland in 1828, in 1832 on the New York and Harlem Railroad in New York City, and in 1834 in New Orleans. At first the rails protruded above street level, causing accidents and major trouble for pedestrians. They were supplanted in 1852 by grooved rails, invented by Alphonse Loubat. The first tram in France was inaugurated in 1853 for the World's Fair, where a test line was presented along the Cours de la Reine, in the 8th arrondissement. Trams were first regularly used in Europe in Sarajevo, starting in 1885. These streetcars were an animal railway, usually using horses and sometimes mules to haul the cars, usually two as a team. Rarely other animals were tried, including humans in emergencies. One of the advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort. Problems included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with disposing of. Since a typical horse pulled a car for perhaps a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many system needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. New York City had the last regular horsecar lines in the U.S., closing in 1914. A mule-powered line in Celaya, Mexico operated until 1956. Horse-drawn trams still operate in Douglas, Isle of Man. Isle of Man in the United States]] The tram developed after that in numerous cities of Europe (London, Berlin, Paris, etc.). Faster and more comfortable than the omnibus, trams had a high cost of operation because they were pulled by horses. That is why mechanical drives were rapidly developed: with steam power in 1873, and electrical after 1881, when Siemens AG presented the electric drive at the International Electricity Exhibition in Paris. The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. The first electric tram opened in Berlin in 1881.

Cable pulled cars

Main article: Cable car (railway) The next type of streetcar was the cable car, which sought to reduce labor costs and the hardship on animals. Cable cars are pulled along a rail track by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed on which individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required. The power to move the cable is provided at a site away from the actual operation. The first cable car line in the United States was tested in San Francisco, California in 1873. Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since a vast and expensive system of cables, pulleys, stationary engines and vault structures between the rails had to be provided. They also require strength and skill to operate, to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be dropped at particular locations and the cars coast, for example when crossing another cable line. After the development of electrically-powered streetcars, the more costly cable car systems declined rapidly. Cable cars were especially useful in hilly cities, partially explaining their survival in San Francisco, though the most extensive cable system in the U.S. was in Chicago, Illinois, a flat city. The San Francisco cable cars continue to perform a regular transportation function, in addition to being a tourist attraction.

Electric trams (trolley cars)

San Francisco cable cars successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888]] Electric-powered trams (trolley cars, so called for the trolley pole used to gather power from an unshielded overhead wire), were first successfully tested in service in Richmond, Virginia in 1888, in an installation by Frank J. Sprague. There were earlier commercial installations of electric streetcars, including one in Berlin, Germany, as early as 1881 by Werner von Siemens and the company that still bears his name, and also one in St. Petersburg, Russia, invented and tested by Fiodor A. Pirotskiy in 1880. Another was by John Joseph Wright, brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright, in Toronto in 1883. The earlier installations, however, proved difficult and/or unreliable. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train setup, limiting the voltage that could be used, and providing unwanted excitement to people and animals crossing the tracks. Siemens later designed his own method of current collection, this time from an overhead wire, called the bow collector. Once this had been developed his cars became equal to, if not better, than any of Sprague's cars. Since Sprague's installation was the first to prove successful in all conditions, he is credited with being the inventor of the trolley car. A rare but significant variant of the trolley car was the conduit car, which drew its power from an underground third rail.

Golden Age

third rail]] Trams experienced a rapid expansion at the start of the 20th century until the period between the two world wars. There was a rapid increase in the number of lines and increase in the number of riders: indeed, it became the primary mode of urban transportation. Horse-drawn transport virtually disappeared in all European, American and Indian cities by 1910. Buses were still in a development phase at this time, gaining in mechanical reliability, but remaining behind compared to the benefits offered by trams; the automobile was still reserved for the well-to-do.

A temporary disappearance from many cities

In several countries the advent of personal motor vehicles caused the rapid disappearance of the tram from most western and Asian countries by the end of the 1950s. The technical progress of the bus rendered it more reliable, and it became a serious competitor to the tram because it did not require the construction of costly infrastructure. In many cases buses also provided a smoother ride and a faster journey than the older trams. For example, the tram network survived in Budapest but for a considerable period of time bus fares were higher to recognise the superior quality of the buses. Governments thus put investment principally into bus networks. Indeed, infrastructure for roads and highways meant for the automobile were perceived as a mark of progress. The priority given to roads is illustrated in the proposal of French president Georges Pompidou who declared in 1971 that "the city must adapt to the car". Tram networks were no longer maintained or modernized, a state of affairs that served to discredit them in the eyes of the public. Old lines, considered archaic, were then bit by bit replaced by buses. Tram networks disappeared almost completely from North America, France, the UK, India, Turkey, Spain and South Africa. On the other hand, they were maintained or modernized in Switzerland, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Finland, Romania, Austria, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Japan. In France and the UK, only the networks in Lille, Saint-Etienne, Marseille, and Blackpool survive from this period, but they are each reduced to a single line. Australian tram networks disappeared by the 1970s, with the exception of the extensive system in Melbourne and the Glenelg line in Adelaide.

Return to grace

The priority given to personal vehicles and notably to the automobile led to a loss in quality of life, particularly in large cities where smog, traffic congestion, sound pollution and parking became problematic. Acknowledging this, some authorities saw fit to redefine their transport policies. The bus had shown its limits on account of its low capacity and its difficult coexistence with automobile traffic, which made it slow both on the road and commercially. Subways required a heavy investment and presented problems in terms of subterranean spaces that required constant security. For subways, the investment was mainly in underground construction, which made it impossible in some cities (with underground water reserves, archaeological remains, etc.). Subway construction thus was not a universal panacea. The advantages of the tram thus became more visible. At the end of the 1970s, some governments studied, and then built new tram lines. In France, Nantes and Grenoble lead the way in terms of the modern tram, and new systems were inaugurated in 1985 and 1988. In 1994 Strasbourg opened a system with novel British-built trams, specified by the city, with the goal of breaking with the archaic conceptual image that was held by the public. The public, who realized with each installation of tram lines their benefits in urban flexibility and redistribution and the reduction in downtown automobile traffic, encouraged numerous city governments to so equip their streets. Many cities already equipped with trams have extended their lines and built new ones. A great example of this shift in ideology is the city of Munich, which began replacing its tram network with a rapid transit a few years before the 1972 Summer Olympics. When the metro network was finished in the 1990s the city began to tear out the tram network (which had become rather old and decrepit), but now faced opposition from many citizens who enjoyed the enhanced mobility of the mixed network - the metro lines deviate from the tram lines to a significant degree. New rolling stock was purchased and the system was modernized, and a new line was proposed in 2003.

Technical developments

Later, cable cars were attached to a moving cable underneath the road. The cable would be pulled by a steam engine at a powerhouse. The Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, have some of the appearance of trams, but are more accurately funiculars. Modern trams generally use overhead electric cables, from which they draw current through a pantograph, a bow collector (less commonly) or the now-rare trolley pole (the first is most common and used on most new tram designs). The first operational electric street railway was started in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but the first large-scale electric street railway system was built in Richmond, Virginia in January, 1888. By 1890 over 100 such systems had been begun or were planned. There are other methods of powering electric trams, sometimes preferred for aesthetic reasons since poles and overhead wires are not required. The old tram systems in London, Manhattan (New York City), and Washington D.C. used live rails, like those on third-rail electrified railways, but in a conduit underneath the road, from which they drew power through a plough. Washington's was the last of these to close, in 1962. Today, no commercial tramway uses this system. More recently, a modern equivalent has been developed which allows for the safe installation of a third rail on city streets, which is known as surface current collection or ground level power supply; the main example of this is the new tramway in Bordeaux. In narrow situations double-track tram lines sometimes reduce to single track, or, to avoid switches, have the tracks interlaced, e.g. in the Leidsestraat in Amsterdam on three short stretches (see [http://adres.asp4all.nl/asp/get.asp?map_width=474&map_height=396&view=&laag=AmsterdamLite_Alleen_Kaart.mwf&xdl=Stadsplattegrond&xsl=Layout&straat=DAM&huisnummer=1&postcode_n=1012&postcode_a=JS&x_coord=121399&y_coord=487379&panning=true&point=&minx=120658.02971199994&maxx=120741.37028799993&miny=486378.4868480003&maxy=486448.11315200035&zoom=333 map detail]); this is known as interlaced or gauntlet track. Traditionally trams had high floors, requiring passengers to climb several steps in order to board, but since the 1990s this design has been largely replaced by low-floor trams, or occasionally by high-floor trams with level boarding platforms, as in Manchester's Metrolink and some parts of Cologne's network, which allow passengers in wheelchairs or with perambulators to access vehicles more easily. perambulator]]

Tram-train

Tram-train operation uses vehicles such as the Flexity Link and Regio-Citadis which are suited for use on urban tram lines, but also meet the necessary indication, power, and resistance requirements to be certified for operation on main line railways. This allows passengers to travel from suburban areas into city-centre destinations without having to change from a train to a tram when they arrive at the central station. It has been primarily developed in Germanic countries, in particular Germany and Switzerland. Karlsruhe is a notable pioneer of the tram-train. This system should be brought into service in the Paris area in 2005.

Pros and cons of tram systems

Advantages


- The initial investment is high, but it remains affordable for a medium-sized city. A kilometre of tram generally costs only a third of the investment for a kilometre of underground metro line, since no boring is needed, but the public roads must be rebuilt to incorporate the rails and also cable lines must be installed.
- Elevated systems such as the monorail and the light metro require a special urbanism with large avenues and buildings in which to integrate the stations. It is also very difficult to compare their prices.
- The infrastructure needed by the trams usually requires an extension of the pedestrian sectors.
- Unlike buses, but like trolleybuses, (electric) trams give off no exhaust emissions at point of use.

Disadvantages

trolleybus
- The initial cost is larger when compared with the bus, which is usually preferred by smaller cities
- Average speed is lower than in metros (but stops are more frequent than metro stations), unless long lengths of reserved track are involved (if most of the route is off-street then it is called light rail) (maximum around 7,000 passengers/hour, compared to 12,000 passengers/hour for the metro)
- Trams can dangerous for the cyclists, because they share the same roadway with the trams, however this and problems with parked cars are avoided by building tracks and platforms in the middle of the road.
- occupies urban space above ground and it needs modifications to traffic flow

Regional variations

Western Europe

metro, Spain]] In the Netherlands many local railways were referred to as trams, even where the steam locomotives did not have enclosed motion. In Belgium an extensive system of tram-like local railways called Vicinal or Buurtspoor lines had a greater route kilometre length than the main-line railway system. The only survivors of the Vicinal system are the Kusttram (which almost reaches France at one end and the Netherlands at the other - it's the longest line in the world) and two lines near Charleroi. Regular tram networks exists in Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels, and are very popular. France has several tram networks in major cities: in Paris suburban, in Lyon, in Nantes (Nantes has the largest French network). Recently the tram has seen a huge revival with many experiments like trolleybuses masquerading as trams in Nancy or hidden wires as in Bordeaux as the municipalities find it a quick fix to the traffic problems. In the United Kingdom, tram systems were widely dismantled in the 1950s, and after the closure of Glasgow's extensive network in 1962 only Blackpool's survived (see Blackpool tramway), although a funicular line continued to operate up the Great Orme in Llandudno. However in recent years new light rail lines have been opened in Manchester (Metrolink), Sheffield (Supertram), the West Midlands (Midland Metro), Croydon (Tramlink) and Nottingham (NET), with several others under consideration (including the proposed three-line Edinburgh Tram Network) and extensions planned for many existing systems. The Irish capital Dublin recently opened the first two lines of a new tram system known as Luas, the Irish-language word for "speed". The Norwegian capital Oslo has an extensive network, as does the Swedish city of Gothenburg. In Finland, there have been three cities with trams: Helsinki, Turku and Viipuri. Of these, only Helsinki still has trams. In Italy electric trams have run from the last years of 19th century (the first horse-drawn line opened between Milan and Monza in the 1840s). The first electric line was opened in Milan in 1893. Today Milan has 21 tramlines totalling 286.8 km. Rome (7 lines), Turin (10 lines), Naples (2 lines), Messina (1 line), Florence (3 line), Trieste (1 line), and L'Aquila (1 line) also have tramways. Other cities are building new tramlines: Bergamo (1 line of 12.6 km), Cagliari (1 line of 7 km), Modena (2 lines of 16.5 km), Palermo (3 lines of 16.6 km), Sassari (1 line of 7 km) and Verona (1 line of 11.3 km).

Central and Eastern Europe

Verona.]] All countries of the former Soviet Bloc, excluding Lithuania, have extensive tram infrastructure. Industrial freight use of city tram lines was a widespread practice during the Communist era but has since mostly disappeared, as factories left the urban areas. Another factor is an increasing replacement of trams with trolleybuses as cities face a rapid increase in traffic and such replacement often allows to increase road size. One of the exceptions is Warsaw, Poland, where the last trolleybus line was closed in the year 1995 due to high maintenance costs, and replaced with more efficient trams. Czech ČKD Tatra and the Hungarian Ganz factories were notable manufacturers of trams. The busiest traditional city tram line in the world is still route 4/6 in Budapest, Hungary, where 50-meter long trains run at 60 to 90 second intervals at peak time and are usually packed with people. A part of this route is the same as where electric trams made their world first run in 1887. Most vehicles are still of high-floor type, in fact many of them are old ones. Low floor hi-tech trams are only starting to infiltrate Central European lines due to their high price and high maintenance costs.

North America

Low floor] Note that in North America, trams are generally known as streetcars, while the term tram is more likely to be understood as a rubber-tired mock streetcar, an aerial tramway or a people-mover. Many North American cities abandoned their streetcar systems in the mid-twentieth century, due to the popularity of the automobile and government policies favoring it. However, traditional systems survived in Boston (MBTA Green Line), Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia (Subway-Surface Lines, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto. This survival was aided by the introduction of the modern PCC car in the 1940s and 1950s in all these cities except New Orleans. New light rail systems have since opened in many other cities, starting with the ground-breaking system in San Diego, and now including Baltimore, Buffalo, Denver, Hoboken, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Ottawa, Portland, Sacramento, St Louis, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Vancouver. Additionally, all the surviving PCC operators have replaced their PCC cars with light rail vehicles, although restored vintage PCC cars are still in regular operation on San Francisco's F Market line, a line popular among tourists. This line recently underwent an expansion to the Fisherman's Wharf area and a second line along the Embarcadero to the east is in the planning stages. Another trend originating in North America is the introduction of newly built heritage streetcar lines using original or replica historic equipment, a trend which is now spreading elsewhere in the world. Examples in North America include San Pedro, California, Little Rock, Memphis, Tampa, Seattle, Charlotte, North Carolina, the new Canal Street line in New Orleans, and the reintroduction of the historic Girard Street line in Philadelphia.

Asia

Philadelphia Asia has had relatively few tram systems, with the notable exception of Japan. Many Japanese cities have tram systems. Among them are Sapporo and Hakodate in Hokkaido; Tokyo, Kamakura, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima on Honshu; Matsuyama and Kochi on Shikoku; and Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima on Kyushu. Some extend into neighboring communities. Hong Kong still possesses the Hong Kong Tramway, a traditional English-style double-decker tramway with street running, along the north shore of Hong Kong Island. More recently the KCRC Light Rail system has opened in the north west New Territories. Despite its name, the Peak Tram is actually a funicular railway. The Philippines once had a tram network in Manila, but it was destroyed during World War II. The system has been replaced with the LRT and MRT. In India, Kolkata (Calcutta) has a tram network. Chennai (Madras), Kanpur and Mumbai (Bombay) were the other three which had a network but were dismantled. The only cities in mainland China with a tram network are the seaside resort of Dalian in Liaoning, which as of 2003 had three working lines, Anshan in Liaoning and Changchun in Jilin. The last trams ran in Shanghai in the mid-1960s.

Australasia

In Australasia, trams are used extensively only in Melbourne, all other major cities having largely dismantled their networks by the mid 20th century.

Melbourne tram network

:Main article: Trams in Melbourne Melbourne has one of the world's most extensive tram systems. Trams in Melbourne In Melbourne, in addition to newer types of trams in use such as the Citadis and the Combino and the middle-aged A, B and Z class trams, older W-class trams remain in service and are a popular tourist attraction. W-class trams are used exclusively on the free City Circle tram route, and also in use on some regular routes. A total of 53 W-class trams remain in regular service, with the oldest in service tram dating from 1939.

Other cities with trams

Amongst other Australian cities, Sydney closed a once-extensive tram system in the 1950s but has since opened a new light rail line. Adelaide also closed its urban tram network, but has retained an express tram line linking the city centre with the seaside suburb of Glenelg. In 2005 there are plans to extend the line into North Adelaide and the main railway station. The smaller cities of Bendigo (Victoria) and Ballarat (Victoria) have retained small parts of their tramway operations. These have become major tourist attractions. Tourist trams also operate in Victor Harbor (South Australia) and Portland (Victoria) but have not had continuous service. Christchurch in New Zealand has recently constructed a new city-centre heritage line, using historic cars. Tram museums operate in many cities.

New tram proposals

Perth and Brisbane both have proposals to implement light rails systems in their respective CBDs. In Brisbane's case, several proposals have been made and each has been knocked back, but with the recent introduction of integrated ticketing under the TransLink scheme and expansive Queensland Government transport infrastructure plans, the most recent proposal may go ahead. Calls also are in place for the Gold Coast, just south of Brisbane, to solve their major traffic problems. Proposals also exist to extend the Sydney and Adelaide systems beyond one line each.

Historical facts

The Tasmanian city of Hobart was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to operate a successful electric tramway system, installed in 1893, and the only Australian city to use the European-style 'bow collector', instead of Frank Sprague's trolley pole system. Another first for Hobart was its use of electric double-decker trams, the first city outside Europe to do so.

Africa

Hobart Hobart Tram systems were and are less prevalent in Africa. However, in Egypt both Cairo and Alexandria have historic and still extant tram systems and in South Africa tram services existed in cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria. In Cairo, the urban tramway network is now defunct, but the express tramway linking it with Heliopolis is still in operation, as is the relatively new tram system in the satellite town of Helwan 25km to the south. In Alexandria, both the urban tramway network and the express tramway system serving the eastern suburbs are still in operation. The urban system operates yellow cars, included some acquired second-hand from Copenhagen, on largely street track. The express tramway operates 3-car trains of blue cars, including some double-deck cars, on largely reserved track.

Streetcars in North America

History

Copenhagen's Green Line in Boston]] In Canada, most cities once had a streetcar system, but today Toronto's TTC is the only traditional operator of streetcars, and maintains the most extensive system in North America (in terms of total track length, number of cars, and ridership). New systems have been built in Edmonton, Alberta and Calgary, Alberta. The first lines built in the United States (and indeed the world) were in 1832 from New York City to Harlem by the New York and Harlem Railroad, and in 1834 in New Orleans. Most U.S. streetcar systems were removed by the 1950s as a result of the popularity of the automobile and government policies in favor of it. Contrary to popular belief, there was no conspiracy between GM and other automobile interests in removing the streetcar systems. Who removed them were the streetcar companies who over time replaced their streetcars for buses due to economic reasons, and the alleged novelity of buses.

Surviving systems

Not all streetcars systems were removed; the San Francisco cable cars are the most famous example in the United States. More conventional streetcar operations survived complete abandonment in Boston, Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco in the United States, together with Toronto in Canada. All of these systems have received new equipment. Some of these cities have also rehabilitated lines, and Newark, New Orleans, and San Francisco have added trackage in recent years. In Toronto, the city has added two new lines in recent years, and is activly upgrading its other lines. Further expansion is planned in combination with the city's plans for the rejuvenation of its waterfront. More recently a number of cities in North America have built new light rail systems which operate partially in the right-of-way of city streets. These systems could be called trams by Europeans and Australians but are generally not known by that name within the US, where the term light rail is generally applied. Edmonton, Alberta was the location of one of the earliest of these new systems, which substantially utilised European technology, and was soon followed by similar installations in San Diego, California and Calgary, Alberta (see Edmonton Transit System, San Diego Trolley, and C-Train). In 2001, Portland, Oregon became the first city in North America to build a new streetcar system since the heyday of the PCC. The Portland Streetcar serves as a downtown circulator between the central city core, the trendy Pearl District and Northwest Portland, Portland State University, and a new mixed-use development along the Willamette River shoreline.

Heritage streetcar systems

Willamette River still running in Oberbozen, South Tyrol, Italy.]] Heritage streetcar systems are used in public transit service, combining light rail efficiency with America's nostalgia interests. Proponents claim that using a simple, reliable form of transit from 50 or 100 years ago can bring history to life for 21st century Americans. Systems are operating successfully in over 20 U.S. cities,and are in planning or construction stages in 40 more. Heritage systems currently operate in Little Rock, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee, Tampa, Florida, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and New Orleans, Louisiana are among the larger. Vancouver, Canada also has a heritage streetcar system that will be expanded to cover the south downtown area. Over 50 years after the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway, the revival of streetcar operations in New Orleans is credited by many to the worldwide fame gained by the streetcars made by the Perley A. Thomas Car Works. These cars were operating on the system's Desire route in the 1947 play and later movie of the same name. Some of the original cars have been carefully restored locally and continue to operate in 2004.

See also


- General Motors streetcar conspiracy
- List of light-rail transit systems
- Light rail
- List of transport museums
- Eurotram
- EuskoTran
- ZET 2200
- Perley A. Thomas Car Works
- Silesian Interurbans
- Poznanski Szybki Tramwaj
- Sirio
- Streetcar suburb
- Thomas Built Buses, Inc.
- Tram stop
- Tram controls
- Ultra low floor
- Underground
- Overhead lines
- Conduit car
- Horsecar
- Trolleybus
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- Frank J. Sprague
- History of Richmond, Virginia
- Heritage streetcar system
- Soviet Tramcars LM-49 and MTV-82

External links


- [http://www.zeljeznice.net/galerija/categories.php?cat_id=89 Pictures of trams in Croatia] (HR)
- [http://www.lucajuventino.altervista.org/tram/ Trams in Turin] (IT)
- [http://www.geocities.com/alextracks/ Trams in Alexandria] (EG)
- [http://tramwaje-warszawskie.pol.pl/ Trams in Warsaw, Poland] (PL)
- [http://www.tram-ffo.de/ Tram of Frankfurt (Oder), Germany] (DE)
- [http://www.lrta.org/ Light Rail Transit Association] (GB)
- [http://lightrail.com/ Light Rail Central] (US/CA)
- [http://www.lightrailnow.org/ Light Rail Now advocacy] (US)
- [http://www.lightrail.nl/ Light Rail Netherlands] (NL)
- [http://www.xs4all.nl/%7erajvdb/lra/ Light Rail Atlas "Holland's Light Rail-pages for a world audience"] (NL) varying content in multiple languages
- [http://www.lostnewyorkcity.com/buildingphotos/Plate-51-b.html The Cable Building] Broadway Cable car line (US/NY)
- [http://villamosok.hu/ Trams in Hungary] (HU)
- [http://www.streetcar.org Market Street Railway] (US/CA)
- [http://public-transport.net Tram in Europe] (EU, Europe)
- [http://www.tramwajewcieszynie.prv.pl History of trams in Cieszyn, Poland] (PL)
- [http://www.dctrolley.org/ National Capital Trolley Museum] (US/MD)
- [http://www.heritagetrolley.org/existNewOrleans.htm APTA Heritage Trolley Systems New Orleans page]
- [http://www.wehmingen.de/ German National Tramway Collection, Hannover Tramway Museum Wehmingen](DE)
- [http://www.tramway.co.uk/ British National Tramway Museum, Crich](GB)
- [http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_072005_theelectrics.htm Reader's Companion to American History, Public Transportation: The Electric Streetcar]
- [http://www.tramways.freeserve.co.uk/ Tramway Information] Including TLRS and Festival of Model Tramways
- [http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/tramways/Articles/Compair.htm Compressed Air Trams]
- [http://www.mashke.org/kievtram/en/ In Memory of Kiev Trams]
- [http://www.mlyniec.gda.pl/~mach/index.html Trams in Poland; site in Polish and English] Category:Passenger equipment Category:Street railways Category:Electric railways Category:Electric vehicles ko:노면전차 ja:路面電車

Ferry

A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. Ferries have also been used to transport railroad cars and were once common in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels. A foot-passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, is sometimes called a waterbus or water taxi.

Notable ferry services

water taxi]] Longer-run ferries connect coastal islands with the mainland. A route of this type connects Great Britain with the rest of Europe across the English Channel, connecting mainly to French ports, such as Calais, Cherbourg and Le Havre. Large ferries also sail in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden. In many ways, these ferries are like cruise ships, but they can also carry hundreds of cars on car decks. In Britain, car-carrying ferries are sometimes referred to as RORO - "roll-on, roll-off" - for the ease by which vehicles can board and leave. In Australia, three Spirit of Tasmania ferries carry passengers and vehicles 300 km across the Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from the Australian mainland. These run overnight but also include additional day crossings in peak time. All three ferries are based in the northern Tasmanian port city of Devonport; two ferries travel the route to Melbourne, Victoria, and the third to Sydney, New South Wales. Hong Kong has the Star Ferry and the First Ferry. Due to the numbers of large freshwater lakes and length of shoreline in Canada, many provinces and territories have ferry services. BC Ferries, British Columbia, carries travellers between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland. It also services other islands including the Gulf Islands and the Queen Charlotte Islands. In Ontario, a popular ferry service that transports the public, as well as goods and services, is the Chi-Cheemaun. Toronto also has a ferry service that shuttles beach-goers, tourists and aircraft passengers between the downtown core and Toronto Island beach and airport. The island province of Newfoundland is accessible only by air or by Marine Atlantic ferries; Prince Edward Island was only connected to the mainland by ferries until the opening of the Confederation Bridge) in 1997. In the United States, Washington State Ferries operates the largest ferry system in the US with ten routes on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca serving terminals in Washington and Vancouver Island. In fiscal year 1999, Washington State Ferries carried 11 million vehicles and 26 million passengers.

Types of ferries

1999 Ferry designs depend on the length of the route, the passenger or vehicle capacity required, speed requirements and the water conditions the craft must deal with.

Hydrofoil

Hydrofoils have the advantage of higher cruising speeds, succeeding hovercraft on the some English Channel routes, where the ferries now compete against the Eurotunnel and Eurostar trains that use the Channel Tunnel. Hydrofoils also proved a practical, fast and relatively economical solution in the Canary Islands - their replacement by high-speed car ferries is seen by critics as a retrograde step given that the new vessels use much more fuel and foster the inappropriate use of cars [http://www.atan.org/en/costas/fast/milenium.htm 1] in islands already suffering from the impact of mass tourism.

Catamaran

Catamarans are normally associated with high-speed ferry services. Stena Line operates the largest catamarans in the world, the Stena HSS class, between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. These waterjet powered vessels, displacing 19,638 tonnes, are larger than most catamarans and can accommodate 375 passenger cars and 1,500 passengers.

Ro-ro

Roll on-roll off ferries (RORO) are large, conventional ferries named for the ease by which vehicles can board and leave.

Cable ferry

Roll on-roll off Very short distances may be operated by a cable ferry, where the ferry is propelled and steered by cables connected to each shore. Sometimes the cable ferry is human powered by someone on the boat. Reaction ferries are cable ferries that use the perpendicular force of the current as a source of power. Chain ferries may be used in fast-flowing rivers across short distances. This type of ferry is also widely referred to in Australia as a 'punt'. Free ferries operate in some parts of the world, such as at Woolwich in London, England (across the River Thames), in Amsterdam, Netherlands (across the IJ waterway), and in New York Harbor, connecting Manhattan to Staten Island.

Docking

Ferry boats often dock at specialized facilities designed to position the boat for loading and unloading, called a ferry slip. If the ferry transports road vehicles or railcars there will usually be an adjustable ramp called an apron that is part of the slip. In other cases, the apron ramp will be a part of the ferry itself, acting as a wave guard when elevated and lowered to meet a fixed ramp at the terminus - a road segment that extends partially underwater.

First, shortest, largest

On 11 October 1811 inventor John Stevens' ship the Juliana, began operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service was between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey). Reputedly, the world's shortest regular ferry route runs 121 m across a shipping channel, connecting Toronto City Centre Airport to the mainland. The ferry between Bygdøy and Lille Herbern in Oslo is significantly shorter, but operates only between April and October. Oslo The oldest ferry service in continuous operation may be the Sundbåt ("Sound/Strait Boat") shuttle in Kristiansund. Started in 1876, the small motor ferry crosses the harbour from Kirklandet to Innlandet, then Nordlandet, Gomalandet, and back to Kirklandet, repeating the round trip in half-hour intervals morning to evening on weekdays. Another contender is the Mersey Ferries from Liverpool to Birkenhead. There is evidence that there has been a ferry service over the river for over 800 years. Liverpool's city charter in 1207 specifies rights of passage across the river payable by a toll. Two of the world's largest ferry systems are located in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada, and Puget Sound, Washington, United States of America. The BC Ferries operates 35 vessels, visiting 47 ports of call, while Washington State Ferries owns 28 vessels, travelling to 20 ports of call around Puget Sound. The Sydney Ferries Corporation operates 31 passenger ferries around locations on Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). It operates catamarans and other types of ferries on these routes, with the most famous likely being the Circular Quay-Manly route. This route, between 1938 and 1974, operated the South Steyne, billed at the time as the largest and fastest ferry of its type ever constructed until that date, even though the claim to speed was false. Metrolink Queensland operates 21 passenger ferries on behalf of Brisbane City Council, 12 being single-hulled ferries and 9 CityCats (catamarans), along the Brisbane River, from the University of Queensland through the city to Brett's Wharf.

Ferries in Antiquity

University of Queensland Crossing a river as a metaphor for transition is very old. The profession of the ferryman is embodied in Greek mythology as Charon. Speculation that a pair of oxen propelled a ship having a water wheel can be found in 4th century Roman literature “Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis”. Though impractical, there is no reason why it could not work and such a ferry, modified by using horses, was used in Lake Champlain in 19th century America. See, “When Horses Walked on Water: Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America" (Smithsonian Institution Press;Kevin Crisman, co-authored with Arthur Cohn, Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum).

See also


- Cable ferry
- RORO, "Roll On/Roll Off" a ferry that carries wheeled cargo
- Train ferry
- Water taxi Water taxi

List of ferry operators


- Alaska Marine Highway System (northwest US to Alaska)
- Bay Ferries (eastern Canada)
- BC Ferries (western Canada)
- Black Ball Transport (Olympic Peninsula to Vancouver Island)
- Caledonian MacBrayne (Scotland)
- Irish Ferries, (the Irish Sea)
- Lake Champlain Transportation Company (on Lake Champlain in the United States)
- Marine Atlantic (eastern Canada)
- MBTA boat (Boston)
- Northumberland Ferries (eastern Canada)
- NY Waterway (New York City)
- Oslo Sporveier (Oslo, Norway)
- P&O Ferries (London, United Kingdom)
- Penang Port Commission (Penang, Malaysia)
- Polferries (the Baltic Sea)
- Silja Line (the Baltic Sea)
- Smyril Blue Water (North Sea)
- SSTH Ocean Arrow
- Star Ferry (Victoria Harbour,Hong Kong)
- Staten Island Ferry (New York City)
- Stena Line (North Sea, Irish Sea, Baltic Sea)
- Superfast Ferries (Athens; Adriatic-, Baltic- and North Sea)
- Sydney Ferries (Sydney, Australia)
- Thames Clipper (London, United Kingdom)
- Tallink (the Baltic Sea)
- Toronto Island Ferry Services
- Viking Line (the Baltic Sea)
- Washington State Ferries (northwest US)

External links


- [http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/index.html Alaska Marine Highway System]
- [http://www.dover-to-calais.com. Ferry to France]
- [http://www.greekferries.gr Greek ferries]
- [http://www.interislander.co.nz/ Interislander: New Zealand's Ferries]
- [http://www.sydneyferries.info Sydney Ferries]
- [http://wsdot.wa.gov/ferries Washington State Ferry] Category:Boat types Category:Ship types
- ms:Feri ja:フェリー

Sandwich

The sandwich is a food item typically consisting of two slices of bread between which are laid one or more layers of meat, vegetable, cheese, or other fillings, together with optional or traditionally provided condiments, sauces, and other accompaniments. The bread is often either lightly buttered, covered in a flavoured oil when baked, or oil is added into the sandwich to enhance flavour. Sandwiches are commonly carried to work or school in lunchboxes or brown paper bags (sandwich bags) to be eaten as the midday meal, taken on picnics, hiking trips, or other outings. They are also served in many restaurants as entrées, and are sometimes eaten at home, either as a quick meal or as part of a larger meal. As part of a full meal sandwiches are traditionally accompanied with such side dishes as a serving of soup (soup-and-sandwich), a salad (salad-and-sandwich), or potato chips and a pickle or coleslaw.

Variations

The term "sandwich" has been expanded—especially in the United States—to include items made with other "breads" such as tortilla, rolls and focaccia. Thus hamburgers and "subs", for example, are called "sandwiches" in the United States, although not in the midwest, south or western states or most other English-speaking countries (since they are not made with slices of bread from a loaf). The nearest traditional Scandinavian equivalent is generally known elsewhere as an "open" or "open-face" sandwich, i.e. a single slice of bread with meat, fish, cheese, etc. as a topping, although the sandwich with two slices of bread has become more commonplace in recent times. This open-face variation is also prevalent in Russia, where it is known as a buterbrod (бутерброд, from the German word for "buttered bread"). In India, sandwiches are often vegetarian, the most common type being the vegetable sandwich. In the UK, particularly in the north of England they are known, informally, as 'butties' or 'sarnies'. This is particularly the case with sandwiches including freshly-cooked bacon and butter, though other forms of 'butty' use other ingredients and mayonnaise. A sandwich filled with chips (US: french fries) is known as a 'chip buttie' (also butty). In French countries you might see this referred to as un Belge: a Belgian (sandwich). In Scotland, sandwiches are called 'pieces'. One Australian slang term for sandwich is 'sanger'. In South Africa sandwiches are sometimes called 'sarmies'.

Origin

The sandwich was named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat, although it is unlikely to have been invented by him. It is said that Lord Sandwich was fond of this form of food because it allowed him to continue gambling at cribbage while eating. The name of the earldom comes from that of the English village of Sandwich in Kent—from the Old English Sandwic, meaning "sand place". Nowadays some types of sandwich are too unwieldy to be held in one hand, thus defeating Montagu's original purpose, and must be eaten with a