Hydrail versus the Tower of Babel

by guest blogger Stan Thompson Thank you, Bill Vantuono, for your Railway Age, November 15, 2019, introduction to a long overdue American first:  San Bernardino’s history-making, Stadler-built hydrogen multiple unit or “HMU”.  It’s a bittersweet debut for those of us who worked for years—beginning in 2003—to add hydrail to Kitty Hawk as a North Carolina transportation […]

Continue Reading

From Russia to Charlotte and back: a hydrail odyssey

by guest blogger Stan Thompson Everything seems to have a Ukraine connection these days. Why not hydrail (H2 fuel cell rail traction)? Per Wikipedia, in 1880, several years before Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, a Ukrainian engineer named Pyotr Pirotsky introduced the world’s first electric “tram” (European for “streetcar”) in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  Soon Pirotsky connected […]

Continue Reading