BDeVitis.net

magnetic subway logo

Looking back at these sketches I am not really sure what inspired the idea, I was in middle school at the time. I have always had a fascination with magnets and levitation, but the inspiration behind this escapes me (it could have been maglev trains). The idea here was to levitate a subway train by coating both it and the tunnel in very strong opposing magnets. This was a bad idea for many reasons.

First of all, the magnetic field this would create would be huge. It would probably pull people to the walls of the subway, damage electronics, and completely block all radio waves and other signals. Not to mention how hard it would be to design a system to control the subway that would operate in the intense magnetic fields.

This sketch shows how seating would lay out, yes seating on a subway train. I also came up with a way for the train to choose one of two routes, through a switching door. The drawing also covers how different train cars would be interconnected.

This drawing explains my thoughts in early grade school style writing. Below is a copy of what is written in the diagram.

The train was to be moved by fans, one set would move it forward and another set backward (bottom right of sketch). Yes, fans can be run in reverse to create backwards thrust so I am not to sure why there needed to be two sets of fans. The right side of this sketch also covers how the trains will dock to let passengers in and out.

Exactly as written, letter for letter:

"This is a great idea for a low friction fuel efficient train. It will travel through a tunnel that is coated with north magnet on the inside. The train too will be coated with a north magnet thus causing it to stay centered in the tunnel and reduce the friction and fuel needed to get so far. it will travel at high speeds and in order to slow it will stick out brake pads which will grab the inner walls of the tunnel. The problem is that because it is round it could tend to loose balance and start turning round which could lead to serious injurys of the crew and passengers. So to fix that a solution would be to make the tunnel and train rectangles which will stop the roleing.

When the passengers want to get out and the train is stoped two arms about ten feet apart will come out of the tunnel wall with and opposite magnet on each arm so they stick to the train. Then the train door and a door on the tunnel will open between the arms and that is how people will exit the train. The lower arm will serve as the floor and the upper arm will serve as a ceiling. When the bottom arm comes out a rail will unfold with it so passengers don't fall off into the tunnel and get hurt"

It is fun to look at my thoughts in words, I don't have to many documents like this, and see how far I have come since then. While this may not have been a good idea, I am glad to see I considered peoples safety in the design.