Going off track: How Britain invented the Maglev then let it slide

[nannal]

"Birmingham isn't like other British cities – it fetishises the technical and promotes the new."

That's one potentially contestable way to view Birmingham

[UK-AL]

Birmingham has a good history with technology. Look at the Lunar Society.

[UncleSlacky]

Here's Telly Savalas' point of view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHVO1eSMFc

[robk]

A hundred years ago maybe

[mangecoeur]

I know maglevs look cool and all, but there are quite practical reasons why they didn't pan out. One thing people tend to overlook is that regular rail lines are much more versatile. Regular rail can handle a variety of loads - the French high speed rail system also handles postal mail for instance. If you are building rail lines you already have a ton of kit that can use them - such as all the service machinery. Build a maglev and you can throw away all your expensive line maintenance vehicles.

[seanos]

MagLev did pan out though, just not in Britain. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train

[gniv]

The question of why it didn't take off is answered in the article, albeit in parentheses: "(Maglev is indisputably more expensive upfront than high-speed rail.)"

[m-i-l]

Also mentioned: "The first time it snowed, all hell broke loose!" Although later on, the article alludes to the ingenious solution to this problem which was devised elsewhere in the world - enclose it in a tunnel.

EDIT: Although according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev "Maglev trains are little affected by snow, ice, severe cold, rain or high winds".

[melling]

No mention of the low-speed maglev being built in Beijing:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-11/28/content_275...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_S1,_BCR

[kbutler]

Haven't read the article yet, but I admire the title.

[Etheryte]

The colorful intermediate text passages have so bad kerning that they're nigh impossible to read.

[mattkevan]

The UK has a proud history of doing things and then failing to capitalise on it. Examples:

• Black Arrow [0] - orbital satellite launcher, cancelled almost on the day of the first successful launch.

• Miles M.52 [1] - could have beaten the Bell-X1 to supersonic flight by a year, if it hadn't been cancelled.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M.52

[moonbug]

Whoever wrote that description of my home city evidently last visited in 1816.

[mattkevan]

I thought it was funny recently that people were pleased Spielberg chose Birmingham as the perfect post-apocalyptic wasteland for shooting Ready Player One.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/look-stev...

Not sure I would have been happy about that...

[beat]

It's maglev! It's not supposed to slide, it's supposed to float!

[DavidWanjiru]

It has to slide (more like roll along) before it can float, doesn't it? It doesn't take off like a chopper, you know?

[jlebrech]

M###ie T###cher