One operating system for all that responds to voice commands
superwarp1 posted:One operating system for all that responds to voice commands
Already been done. LOL
What about building gyroscopic sensors into locomotives to increase/decrease laboring(steam) and rpm (diesel) automatically when the train traverses grades? I think that would be cool.
aussteve posted:The innovations I would like to see are: higher quality control, reliability, and lower price. After that maybe some of the above mentioned items.
mytrains posted:how about someone inventing quality control, I think whichever company can develop this will definitely corner the market!
Best ideas of the lot IMO ...
Ace posted:aussteve posted:The innovations I would like to see are: higher quality control, reliability, and lower price. After that maybe some of the above mentioned items.
mytrains posted:how about someone inventing quality control, I think whichever company can develop this will definitely corner the market!
Best ideas of the lot IMO ...
What he said ... and he said ... and ... (from someone who's about to pack up a brand new engine -- right of the box -- and ship it back for repairs).
Tomlinson Run RR
I like all of the above other then the black smoke idea. As Kazar stated above I doubt if this could ever be accomplished mechanically. But, it may someday, in the not to distant future be accomplished by use of a hologram projector. In that case it would be very cool.
What I would really like to expand on is Paul's above mentioned multiple camera view from the cab. I work with a friend who is working on this idea now.
My addition to the wish is a 3D helmet that would allow us to view what the engineer would see. There could also be a control panel that comes with it from where we could operate our engine. I would even have it interactive with a second user who can take the position of Firemen.
I know it sounds a bit far out but this is all here now. They have a helmet such as this where people can watch movies or play video games. I know video games was mentioned above but I did not take the view helmet as part of the assembly.
They also make control panels that mimic the panel inside an engine. All that needs to be done is interface all associated systems into one interactive projection on our helmet world. In fact, the black smoke idea could be implemented into the program with little software trouble.
Just think, the next time we go to visit the NJ HiRailers we could bring our helmet with us and if you can't be the engineer then firemen, or dispatcher, or even a passenger in a coach car or caboose could be the part we play and the perspective enjoyed.
Of course it would need to also have sound and smell production. Sound would be simple but smell would be a little more difficult, you would have to get into chemical blends and that could be a little tricky.
I still like the hologram idea.
Bob.
Dr. Jack posted:We can sum it up in two words, Black Smoke!
Jack
There were some old mechanical locomotives that used a rubber bladder and something like talcum powder. Apparently there was a mechanism to beat the bladder as the loco ran. Just put black soot in there and you would have black "smoke" with accompanying soot filth from your steam train. Authentic and realistic.
You don't want to be breathing anything in the air that is black and/or particulate, unless you have death wish. Sorry, but those are the facts. There's a reason steam locomotives were banned from Manhattan early the last century.
I second the above, we just got our city hall stone tower cleaned in Philadelphia from the era up to the thirties when the PRR station was across the street from it. I grew up thinking that they built a black tower, no it was soot residue from the steam engines.
Many steam operators came down with black lung disease because of that exhaust. Why we would wont to duplicate that in our train rooms boggles the imagination. Besides, an engine and it's engineer where considered smooth operators when they ran only white smoke.
On the MJM RR, we spend a lot of money training our operators and mechanics to make sure all of our prime movers operate with only white smoke. 
In fact we where running a Y6B with our Septa heavy weights and they are as clean as if we where running on lamp oil.
gg1man posted:Many steam operators came down with black lung disease because of that exhaust. Why we would wont to duplicate that in our train rooms boggles the imagination. Besides, an engine and it's engineer where considered smooth operators when they ran only white smoke.
On the MJM RR, we spend a lot of money training our operators and mechanics to make sure all of our prime movers operate with only white smoke.
In fact we where running a Y6B with our Septa heavy weights and they are as clean as if we where running on lamp oil.
Yes but your logic doesn't work for diesels, as white smoke out of a diesel always signals significant engine problems (doesn't it?).
Nobody is saying they want a product that will be dangerous to our health, but until this problem (opportunity?) is solved, o-gauge diesels with their smoke units turned on will look silly ( or unprototypical, or unrealistic, or whichever adjective you prefer)
Manufacturing a product that not only works properly out of the box, but also lasts long and having all of the latest features, without holding off and bringing a new gimmick out on the market a couple of years down the road, all within a reasonable price, as the Post War items had.
Ralph
Lower prices?
MDuppy posted:While I am happy with my all the trains I have now. I would like to see the next innovation in trains to work out of the box.
I am fairly certain that all of the train manufacturers are with you on this one.
