| The RTV 31 hovertrain - British rail invention could have changed the world Posted by matth1j at 17:35, 22nd December 2025 |     |
Daily Telegraph piece: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/abeeee0bff94895b
... What looks like a theme park monorail car sits next to the river Nene, surrounded by miniature railways, old locomotives and a landscaped wildlife haven with ponds and waterfalls. But this relic is more than just a transport curio. It could have transformed the way we travel ...
... “It used so much power they needed special permission to switch it on” ...
... The RTV 31 hit 100mph in testing, but was expected to reach at least 300mph on a longer track ...
... Silver believes that with proper funding there could have been hovertrains zipping from London to Birmingham in 20 minutes, or to Scotland in 90 minutes. He even claims there were plans to export the idea and build lines in North America and Africa ...
... “It used so much power they needed special permission to switch it on” ...
... The RTV 31 hit 100mph in testing, but was expected to reach at least 300mph on a longer track ...
... Silver believes that with proper funding there could have been hovertrains zipping from London to Birmingham in 20 minutes, or to Scotland in 90 minutes. He even claims there were plans to export the idea and build lines in North America and Africa ...
| Re: The RTV 31 hovertrain - British rail invention could have changed the world Posted by matth1j at 17:40, 22nd December 2025 | |
Of course there's also an informative Wiki entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracked_Hovercraft
| Re: The RTV 31 hovertrain - British rail invention could have changed the world Posted by Mark A at 18:25, 22nd December 2025 | |
Not travelled extensively in mainland Europe, several years back, on a Paris to Toulouse train colloquially known at the 'POLT', a puzzling structure across the fields on the east side of the train that ran on, unbroken, for some tens of kilometres.
I couldn't work out what it was but of course it was the inverted 'T' section test track for the experimental french suspended-on-air passenger service, built in such a location that it could be of utility should the principle have been adopted as a transport system.
Mark
| Re: The RTV 31 hovertrain - British rail invention could have changed the world Posted by stuving at 19:37, 22nd December 2025 | |
Not travelled extensively in mainland Europe, several years back, on a Paris to Toulouse train colloquially known at the 'POLT', a puzzling structure across the fields on the east side of the train that ran on, unbroken, for some tens of kilometres.
I couldn't work out what it was but of course it was the inverted 'T' section test track for the experimental french suspended-on-air passenger service, built in such a location that it could be of utility should the principle have been adopted as a transport system.
Mark
I couldn't work out what it was but of course it was the inverted 'T' section test track for the experimental french suspended-on-air passenger service, built in such a location that it could be of utility should the principle have been adopted as a transport system.
Mark
Called Aérotrain, if you want to look it up.
