Trains

[Yai]

How are trains powered ? Are the actual rail tracks electric, and the train gets the electricity up through the metal wheels ?

[j2buttonsw]

Electric trains either have overhead power cables (eg Bedford to London Farringdon) or there is a third track which is live (London Farringdon to Brighton). In the first case there is a conductor (not a member of the railway staff) on the roof of the carriage which makes the circuit in the latter, there is a conductor at wheel level which makes the circuit. In both cases they ultimately earth through the normal track via the metal wheels. Diesel trains are powered by diesel engines.

[sddsddean]

Then of course, you have Diesel Electric trains, in which the diesel engine drives a generator that supplies electicity for the motors. Before that you had steam trains and even before that the first railways were horse drawn. When there was a penal colony in Australia, Tasmania even had a convict powered railway!

[j2buttonsw]

So Deano, I was pretty close to being right?

[answerbok]

apart from funicular railways where the train is pulled by a cable.. there's one in Wales [Snowdon]

[darth vader]

...then there is the wedding train which is pulled by the bride....

[blackfive]

Not quite right Answerbok - the Snowdon Mountain Railway is powered by a rack and pinion system where a gear on the loco engages with a rack in the middle of the track. Interestingly, the locos are not connected to the carriages! It's well worth a visit, as is the nearby Dinorwig "Electric Mountain".

[answerbok]

and the train of thought, which can go in several directions at once or get hijacked by serendipityl and lost 4ever.