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Discover will help regularly remove your personal invoke, like your name, address from ten popular people search websites that could sell your data and they'll do it for free, active in the discover, see terms and learn more at discovered, dotcom, slash, online privacy protection. This is ninety nine percent, invisible, I'm roman mars earlier this year caused calls to produce episode about trains, only trains and nothing but ants, featuring strange and amazing rail cars and routes from around the world, but he ran into a little bit of a problem. Fortunately it was the good kenneth problem. I we too many transfer fees for a single episode and not just ideas but also ideas sent in by fans, and it was pretty clear from all the tweets and emails that you beautiful, nerds would be down for a second round of train stories. So here it is train set.

track all born readings passengers. This is your conductor speaking. Our first up today will be well intended new zealand. This story starts not with a train, but with a photo of a train when working on our previous upset about trains, I found this wonderful picture of this cable car in wellington in added to use it as a lead image on our website when we release that episode. Yes, I remember that one of yours is really lovely trot. It's a red vernacular climbing up a hill in a city with mountains in the back You know the funny thing was. We didn't actually talk about that negatively new we didn't. I was just looking for it. You know the ultimate train picture, plus I figured its affinity killers, that's something you didn't joint yeah. Of course you know who didn't enjoy it: new zealand,

they were very polite about it, but it was clear that seen in image had gotten more than a few willing, tony and excited about their city being petered on the show. So I started chatting with it and who lives in willing and well I'll. Just let her set the scene one of the first things you notice, when you move to wellington as these funny little rails, going up hell as you drive along well. What the heck is is that that an elevator, that's my friend and de facto new zealand corresponded pepper, I'm pepper raccoon and I'm an artist from wellington. New zealand, Burning was better than I can see what you guys hit it off those rails that she's talking about they're, not just for that one main cable car- there are a bunch of smaller private trains around the city too. I think honestly, wellington is the best place to come for a tour of the best finicky lowers it's a yeah. It's a smorgasbord, really there's something

different ones, and they all a completely different in she explained to me that there are actually hundreds of local, vernaculars and wellington. They range from like a fiberglass pocket on a single rail to like effectively a beautiful little room, elevator that mimics the style of your home on a dual rio that gives it a much smoother and stable or ride so flame yeah, you can go real fancy so worked in, is now becoming the first three of my heart because it has tons of indicators which, as we all know, are the greatest form of transportation, oh yeah, but the question still remains: why are there so many for make it worse?. Right. It is not so much that the city itself as a public entity needs them. It's that all of these homeowners do

because wellington is the small coastal city in its crammed in between the water in all these craggy hills. In terms of the topography, it's just a nightmare of light crumbling cliffs, so it makes sense that we ran out of space, and so has this kind of ended up on the cliffs and on very steep hell's yeah. It's good. It's also like in the same place, though, because of the topography. So a lot of things don't make sense here. or rather they make sense here, but sound weird to everybody else, then so willing to is actually one of the most densely populated cities and new zealand, because

there's so little flat land to build on, and people have decided to move up and out of the densely packed city and live on these steep slopes which otherwise might not get built on, and this approach has upsides and it has downsides to those homes on the coast have incredible views, but unfortunately, moving into that means you have to hire a helicopter. So Heaven forbid you buy a new sofa like I couldn't imagine, buying new furniture after having moved in and being like. Well, I guess we have to call the helicopter Unlike that flax, but because most people, of course, camp hire helicopter every time we want to go to the supermarket and the only get up to some of those houses It was a set of stairs if you're lucky and for some houses, it's literally just the funicular, so you can get stuck there. Your particular can break down and you can just not be able to go anywhere and they do yeah and they do breakdown and they can be dangerous

One did die on due to a particular relate it before there was regulations around them, and so the government had to institute a warrant, a fitness on fauna killers. Why it's really expensive when the maintenance costs are so expensive and you have to keep the piles. You know a stable and higher inspectors, and all that and so that cause becomes a pretty big deal, because these trains are being run by the city there owned, operated and maintained by individuals or small groups of homeowners. Some people have teamed up, be three or four houses on the same connection, track as you just share it, and that seems really sensible and so a lot of people don't get fancy with their ridiculous either they just something to get them to from home safely something they can afford. But even the safety part is a little bit optional

Zealanders also have this really dangerous and kind of entertaining seems whimsical, but also kind of terrible philosophy, called she'll be right, which is just build something don't worry too much about it shall be right. It's fine and, unfortunately, I think a lot of the figures that existed before the war and fit this might have been on that kind of spectrum, because often the killers in games until someone gets hurt, but despite this being done, in unpredictable. She absolutely wants to hide a private, particular. Ok. I've been on the table car. I have never been on a personal financial and the one person that I talk to you. It was willing to. Let me right on their particular. Their particular was broken.

which I have been told, is very common. Next stop will be go canyon. California, please be advised to track beyond. This point is abandoned. Good carrion is situated in a beautiful stretch of desert east of san, diego california, and it's a great place to ride the rails. The now we have to move away here again. So what am I looking at here? Basically like a real

low tech go card that runs on reels instead of roads. So it's this bare bones. Plywood platform. We had four wheels attached and a couple bucket seats in a motor and beyond that, just a cooler strap between them. beers and sandwiches. What now in this way, The video you got two brothers who are out there, one who built the thing and one whose recording their adventure and they're just taken these abandoned rails I believe, do so. Clearly. This is an abandoned set facts. So where are they going there heading up to see the goat indian trestle bridge, which was built nearly a hundred years ago, and it's the large would trestle bridge in the world air traffic,

So it's this massive and daunting structure that is around seven hundred and fifty feet. Long and two hundred feet high, but like if you're on rails and you're going twenty miles an hour and it's an abandoned track, and maybe some other dare devil is also going twenty miles an hour, but hopefully in the same direction, maybe not in the same direction. I mean like what happens right, so the good thing is these cards way a lot. So they don't have a term mass, which means they can stop relatively quickly if you see an obstacle plus who regularly by these stretches they know more or less what to expect people. I gave emerson tinkerer from Alaska, who is built a few real cards over the years in this video, I'm going to try to make a railroad, speeder or homemade real cart. I've had a couple of these in the past. If you see my prior videos, you may have seen the horrible antique metal one, and you have probably seen my horse

plastic one, the cap derailing constantly. My hope here is to make one that actually stays on the track and that I can take out to some abandoned railroads for a bit of fun and true to the title of his video channel, save it arts gave is using pieces. He's recycling from these previous builds, like pedal, powered rail bike than he built and peter those kind of like this one. But this time Didn't you motor and a gas pedal and, of course he does need a steering wheel, because it's on train tracks with no terms and in the end, this creation works more or less chain keeps they asked me like attention or something on here, actually lost, not from my finally finally engineer gearing system. So that's why the chain keeps popping off Jeez her come up. I guess so. These referring to here are these park. Cops who happened to be I think by it appears

the driving a little weird d. I why vehicle at slow speed down and abandoned set of railroad tracks isn't something there used to take it we gazed after that gabe reflected on his work and called it a day. This thing may not be fast, at least it's ugly? Are you allowed to do the owner? No no Well, yeah, I know, but there are some legal d. I Y rail riding options for people who want to you know, stay above board or just don't want to build their own carts. Okay, so so like one well there's this please, The northern california, for example, near fort bragg, called real breaks and they went out for wheeled to seat vehicles that use a combination of electricity and pet power for a long time. There is this forty mile active real ran between fort bragg and will it, but then about a decade ago, this He tunnel longer out collapsed and basically cut the line into so people on both sides.

I decided to split the shorter rail options like this to make the best of a bad situation where it makes sense. I mean there there there what why not use them if they can be used by trains, let's use them for something else. Right. So weird, the collapse happen. It's all wrong. All covered useless train tracks, but on the other side of that fairly narrow crisis, point our tracks that were actively maintained until quite recently making for a safer. and there's all this existing rail infrastructure already in place stuff like crossing gates and bell and signals for where the rails intersect, the roads and that it presents sure is now used to stop traffic, so rail links can crops. It's kind of funny when you go through the railroad crossings and all the gates come down, and these real bikes go past with us waving at the people in the cars that so

amazing and of course they vary in terms of legality, somebody in the less you leo than others. But honestly I would write any of them. as attention passengers for those interested in taking on the train of their own, their model dreams in our onboard gift, shop The

new young is best known for his music, but he also has a lesser known passion model train sets. He got his first one in each file. And throughout his ears touring as a world famous musician, he built up a collection of vintage. Lionel model train sets, meals, two sons, Zeke and then we're both born with cerebral palsy and bends case and rendered him quadriplegic and non verbal niels than wife peggy struggling to find good schools for children with disabilities founded the bridge school in nineteen. Eighty six and neil found a unique way to engage. Ben through trains. When I started building the railroad, I felt so that my son and I have something to do together. Meal extensive modified his vintage trains. Adapting the control

to suit bans abilities. I developed a model train control system for life. No and and the sound systems, because I basically made this from my kid, so he could do with Islam. which, for years, some kind of a mechanical electronic. In addition to being musically very nerdy rising, he holds seven patents for his train innovations. in remote control and more realistic sounds he worked closely with lionel, early nineteen nineties, and they incorporated his designs into. Train master command control. paralysing time lionel faced bankruptcy emil. Let a group of investors to bail them out Ben currently accompanies his dad on tour and these days with the help of modern speech, communication devices runs a successful organic exit. In recent years. Neo has begun to sell off his vast mile shrank collection in part. He wants others, Fine joy and connection through these vented sense, but he's all

doing it for a good cause, he's dominating the proceeds to the bridge school to help other kids like ban the It's always our next stop will be mecca. Saudi arabia, please note this. Fruit is only operational until end of the week, so there's this train line that for one week a year, has the highest reported capacity of intro system in the entire world, but there's a caveat. It only operates for one week a year: okay, I'm hooked. So why build a train that runs only one week?

here. The network is based in mecca and the reason it only operates for this short annual period is that it's designed for a single purpose leading muslims around the region during the hush. Ok, that make sense so pilgrims are travelling to mecca. They need between various wholly sites, It's only a short time of the year with substantial increases in the number pilgrims and vehicles carrying them the holy sites, the road network has become unable to accommodate pedestrians and vehicles simultaneously, so the whole region is notoriously crowded during wholly weak and people flooded in during the hottest, because one of the five points of islam is visiting mecca at least once in your lifetime, at least for those who are able entering this one narrow window of time.

each year, so I know millions of people make the pilgrimage each year and I have read that things get freddy I did and dangerous even deadly, because when you have that many people it can turn into a stampede yes easily. Absolutely the crowding has led to some really tragic deaths in the past, but there are other health to the region get super hot during hodge, so spending a lot of time outside travelling between sites can be risky. Physical safety is definitely part of what drove this project. The government of the custodian of the two haughty mosques decided to build a railway and the southern section of the holy sites The southern line- you'd Michel Ardan more good- this mitchell- will be the most effective solution to transport, the largest possible number of pilgrims, in the shortest possible time. So

could imagine back in the day these pilgrims are travelling by camel or on foot, and then, when these came along as any urbanists knows the ironically led to more congestion and not less especial With the rise of personal motor vehicles soon thousand nine. They started. Building this rail line and the project employed thought of engineers and even more construction workers who, in total, had to move nearly two hundred million cubic metres of earth, and, despite that, the whole thing was completed in just two years, which is incredibly fast. Did you think the scope, and then in two thousand and eleven it carried nearly for milk pilgrims around between these holy sites. While I mean that it is hard to imagine for a moment, he will be moved in a ragged, yes and believe you break it even further, it can carry seventy thousand people per hour, which I also have a hard time. Imagining because as trains

Every few minutes in in terms of what this offsets in terms of other traffic, they calculated that this train system replaces the need for over fifty thousand surface buses, which of course, helps reduce that congestion yeah, but why you know if they put all this effort into it? Why not just keep it open year round? Just because you know you know, I wasn't able to find a definitive official answer for that. My somewhat educated best guess is that it just isn't ass, the vision to operate it all the time and the route isn't really optimized for computers or other everyday uses. So it really, you know, only may since during the hodge in the harsh meanwhile brings in so much money. It has almost certainly already offset the billions of dollars that the project costs now just to put that in perspective, so this one doesn't run regularly, but is one optimized for commuting leg. Everyday metro system in the area will not yet, but they do have another network in the works that

both to serve the region more regularly and broadly, which, as I understand it, even link up to this one it'll just be a completely separate system and they'll be from everyday use, but this existing line is just going continue being a once a year affair attention. Passengers do not be alarmed as this train is about to take to the sky reach eighty eight miles per hour and take us back to ancient rome enjoy the ride. There's some old infrastructure lore about the reason why american rails have such specific spacing the persistent story, that american real gauges as in the distance between the metal rails can be directly traced all the way back The wheel spacing of ancient imperial roman chariots and the logic goes something like this american. Rules are spaced four feet: eight and a half inches apart, and that seemingly

Odd number comes from english spacing standards, and those standards in turn were based on in construction dimensions and those have been energized wagons could ride in existing rights and those rights were initially formed by the roman empire and reinforced by other vehicles. Ever since. There is some truth to this train of thought, but the lead itself, which has persisted for over a century, is mostly fanciful for one thing: ancient roman: Roads were built more foot traffic than for chariots, current gauges were far from inevitable for a long time there was no standard gauge and the united states and a variety were used ultimately relative similarity between modern rail line, gauges and ancient runways are tied more to design than history. times may have changed, but the physical constraints vehicles have remained relatively consistent. Axles need to span far enough to support the structure above them. But they can't be too wide or they might snap so much

gauges aren't really a product of imperial rum history. Rarely lets us trace such a direct line across such a long period. time. Still, it's also not entirely coincidental that rail spacing tends to fall into that. Certain range, because overall needs and limitations of ancient chariots and medieval wagons. And contemporary railroads are broadly more similar than they are different. Next, stop encourage alaska. If you wish to disembark before we arrived, please alert the conductor for a manual stop way up in alaska. There's this one particular train that works differently from probably any train you ever take it.

It operates on, what's known as a flag, stop basis, okay, trains and flags, alright, longhorn, okay, so what does it mean for a rail line to operate on a flagstar basis? What a flag stop train is is basically a train that stopped on demand, when somebody needs to get off or get up- and there are some train routes that use a form of higher tech flag, stop service like the only Down at the station, if somebody's book to take it from there in advance rate, in some parts of the world. There are these flagstaff fairies, where you have to like flick a light switch on and to get a boat's attention, but this kind of classic low tech flag, stop train where you literally wave a flag is very uncommon, and this road in alaska is one of the last of its kind in north America. So how does the actual flagging down work? What do people to stand alongside the tracks? Look in the dead of winter in Alaska it is wave,

white cloth around or maybe what you're scar for whatever they have. Basically, yes in the train operators are watching for those signals and stopping when they see them. So it's a little bit more, like ass, but even buses have bus stops, but what I dont get is you the whole thing that makes a train great is that it affects moves on rails and has inertia, and so how can you stop it to do these pick ups, when the pick ups are done, your kind of spontaneously right. I mean these things have a ton of mass, but, along this particular stretch, the trains are short. They only have. Locomotives to passenger cars and one baggage car, so small enough that they can start in south a lot faster than a normal yo, fulfilling full thing motive and still achieve

maximum speed of close to sixty miles an hour while so, if the trains are going up to sixty miles an hour, that means that it's a pretty rural area. So, if that's the case like who are they stopping for yeah. Well, a lot of them are just visitors who are heading out to hike or fish both areas for maybe even a couple weeks at time or their travelling to theirs. in all cabins, but the really also provides a vital service for those brave if souls who live way out here, in rule alaska along this stretch, has been really interesting to see how this railroad provides a lifeline for the forty or so people who live along here just hang out the flag and you want the train to stop and they stop and pick you up or they drop you off wherever you ask the conductor to stop so some folks use the train to get to and from their homes in the region.

And they also need this train to get supply drugs, but probably my favorite service. The offer is news, delivery, which doesn't actually require them to stop at all basically there's this rail workers who stands there in tosses out print newspapers or residents from the moving train. I even get the daily news, courtesy of Harry ross, people will come off, he'll, send a dog out to come and pick up the newspaper and the dog will bring it back to the We have more trains, more turkle stead and even more alaska. After this in music, the universal language bringing people from all over the world together, it's too bad. Three part harmony can get you to that the room in a foreign country whether you want to

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I have one hundred dollars or more the next stop wales, alaska. This will be our final stop of the day, as the proposed tunnel that would take us to russia has yet to become it so curt we're still in alaska. Oh, yes, absolutely we're still in alaska, I mean it's a really really big state for your state, and things are pretty spread out, which makes sense that there would be trains between them but in this case it's not a real train, or at least not yet for over. Century there have been various proposals to connect eastern russia and alaska across the bering strait, the project that would have to spend a bit over fifty miles and with tide, north america to asia? In this unprecedented way, of course, in the current political climate

probably a pipe dream, but it would be a world changing feat of engineering such a tunnel. Would have major benefits. First of all, it would physically link in the north and south america to the old world. You could write by train from San francisco to beijing and a day and a half and try by land. All the way from cape town to miami a tall would provide a safer, cheaper and faster way to transport freight between asia and north America. Of course. Right now, russia is the aggressor in a needless in horrible war, but putting geopolitics aside at fifty plus miles. This sounds like a massive undertaking. I can imagine some pretty massive economic benefits. or international trade. You know if things forward work out new diplomatically, but are these just pie in the sky, ideas or people have really taken. This seriously will definitely something

have including some pretty serious folks who pitch plans for over a century For example, we have Josef strauss who, with design, something like four hundred bridges and was the project engineer for the golden gate bridge and he did his. undergrad thesis on a bearing street bridge, then in my If I have a more fully fleshed out plan, was all but approved, but got axed at the last minute I mean if they could build something as beautiful as the golden gate bridge, but fifty miles long. That would bring breaks down. You re only what what was the thing that kill the product back in nineteen o five well, but coming as it turned out, was terrible. The russian revolution was taking off so tsar nicholas. The second had bigger fish to try and do the next thing. You know everybody is caught up in what one and that bleeds into world war. Two and ten, These were just high throughout, so the idea kept getting shelled and then in the nineteen fifty people started to ramp up in pitch

is bridge and telephones again, but none of them pan out in part because of fees, it'll, be concerns, but also, of course, the cold. What I mean I can just imagine it being a tough cell because there's the engineering challenge of doing something that massive in any climate and then you think about what they are in the world and connecting the bearing straight? It's super cold. The waters are very turbulent and there's not

whole lot on either side of the things you know directly. Yeah there's basically nothing especially at the points that are closest to each other from like these nations and if they built a bridge, it would probably also have to be closed down for much of the year because it is so cold up there and if they went the train route, they'd need to figure out how to reconcile these different gauges for each country and if they went the tunnel route well, a fifty mile tunnel would be an incredible undertaking and would set a world record. So with all these obstacles, and all these really logical reasons why it doesn't exist- is there any realistic prospect of this happening. I mean I don't know for sure, but I was kind of stunned to find that about a decade ago, the kremlin approved a rail tunnel proposal since two thousand and seven the concept has advanced in two thousand and eight vladimir putin. The then prime minister of Russia approved the t km link. Then in august two thousand

eleven- the russian government approved the project. So honestly, it seems like a really cool project, but of course, this ongoing conflict between these two countries makes it really unlikely we're going to see any progress on this project. You know under the current russian regime anyway, but given how persist The idea has been to date. I would be shocked if it didn't resurface again someday. I would not be short of a reserve again and then, when you re out the five a visitor be a decades long logic to actually complete. It is hard to imagine political stability that would persists through the actual construct, Such projects really is it really is the getting getting that handshake to last for decades seems kind of like an impossible task, given the history between our countries by but my dears hoping it will be so cool to see if that would be a

Is it because I would drive all the way through Alaska just taken to the rich? I it well! Thank you curt. This was a great collection trains again turn roman? Then, if you don't round three I've got more ideas. Were these came. I know you do so good. Thank you. Thank you for riding with ninety nine percent interest. Ninety nine percent invisible was produced this week, but kirkwall stead, martine gonzalez and Jacob Maldonado Medina chris Ruby was our trusty conductor, music by director of sound swan react with yo burn on qatar and lapse deal for any hall is the senior editor there s. The team includes vivian leg and disturbed jason, Delia crisper johnson, launch madonna, Joe Rosenberg kelly problem. A vehicle oscar in turn, olivia green

and me roman mars. We are part of the nature and serious exam podcast family now headquarters, xbox north in the pandora building in beautiful uptown oakland in California, you can find the show and joint discussions about the show on facebook. You can't we didn't, At roman mars and the show at nine ip, I ordered it lasts for on instagram, read it and to talk to you can find links to other The jury shows my love as well as Every past episode of ninety nine p, I at nine p on daughter the the

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