February 7, 2025 • 20 mins
How do trains work? We went to Union Station in Washington, DC to answer a whole wagonload of questions with Amtrak's Patrick Kidd.
A few years ago, we left our studio in Vermont to hop on the Amtrak Acela train that runs multiple trips per day between Washington, DC, New York City and Boston. But don't worry; we got off before the train departed! It was so much fun, we wanted to bring you that journey again!
Questions we're answering in this episode: How do trains work? What about electric trains? Steam trains? Bullet trains? Why do they have to go on tracks? How can trains go so fast even though they're so heavy? And why don’t trains have seat belts?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jane (00:21):
This is But Why
of the show, Jane Lindholm. Myjob is to help answer some of
the really terrific questionsyou send us from around the
world. Most of the time MelodyBodette and I do our research
and reporting from our homestate of Vermont, in the
northeastern part of the UnitedStates. But whenever one of us
travels somewhere else, we liketo take you with us. I had to go
(00:45):
to Washington, DC for work, andso I brought my microphone and
recording equipment with me,because Melody had found the
perfect person to help answersome questions you've been
sending us about trains. Maybeyou take underground trains
known as subways, or metros, orthe El, depending on what city
(01:05):
you live in, all the time. Orperhaps you've slept on a train
on an overnight trip tosomewhere far away. Or maybe,
like I did when I was a kid, youhave a spot where you like to
watch the trains full of allkinds of cargo rumble by, and
you count the cars one by oneuntil you lose track. There are
lots of kinds of trains allaround the world, but as I said,
(01:27):
today, we are taking yourquestions to the headquarters of
the US's main long distancepassenger rail service called
Amtrak.
Patrick (01:35):
My name is Patrick Kidd, and I'm a communications
lead at Amtrak, and also thein-house historian.
Jane (01:40):
In-house historian? So you know everything about trains?
Patrick (01:43):
Well, I'm trying to learn everything. I think it
would take a whole lifetime todo that.
Jane (01:46):
Can you describe where we are right now?
Patrick (01:48):
We're actually sitting on Acela Express, which is
Amtrak premium service. This isour fastest train that operates
between Washington and Bostonthrough New York, and at its top
speed, it goes 150 miles perhour.
Jane (02:00):
So how long would it take to go from Washington to New
York?
Patrick (02:06):
From Washington to New York, I believe it's about three
hours.
Jane (02:10):
And if I were driving, how long would it take me in the
car?
Patrick (02:13):
Well, you never know. It depends what traffic is like,
right? If it's really badtraffic, sometimes, you know.
It's funny, sometimes my mom andI will go up to New York to
visit my cousin. I'll take thetrain, and she takes the bus.
I'll get there two hours beforeshe does. You never know.
Jane (02:26):
Why does she take the bus when her son works for Amtrak?
Patrick (02:29):
Well, it's a good question. I didn't know that
too. Actually, the bus leavesclose from her house, so she
often hops on the bus instead ofcoming into town.
Jane (02:37):
All right, so our first questions are pretty basic.
Hannah (02:39):
My name is Hannah, and I'm three years old. I live in
Virginia, and my question is,how do trains work?
Killian (02:48):
I'm Killian. I'm five years old. I'm from Portland,
Oregon. How do trains work?
Max (02:56):
I am Max. I'm five years old, and I live in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, and my question is, howthe trains work?
Jane (03:11):
How do trains work?
Patrick (03:13):
Well, that is a good question. So I think if you look
at, if you ever seen a train, orif you look at pictures of
trains, you'll see that there'susually a locomotive on the
train, and then it has all thesecars behind it, right? So you
have two kinds of locomotives.The locomotives are what's
pulling all those cars, makingthat train move. You have a
diesel locomotive, and you havean electric locomotive. And in
different parts of the country,they use different types. So the
(03:35):
diesel locomotive uses dieselfuel, which is kind of like the
gas you might put in your car.Think of it as like a cousin,
and electricity is like theelectricity you use to power the
lights in your house.
Sam (03:45):
I'm Sam. I'm four years old. I live in Chicago,
Illinois, and my question is,how do electric trains go?
Patrick (03:56):
We have an electric locomotive. If you look at the
tracks, they'll have power linesup above them. We call them
catenary.
Jane (04:02):
Catenary.
Patrick (04:03):
Catenary, that's the name for the wires that are
above the tracks that carry theelectric current. But they kind
of look like power lines if yousee them from far away. And the
electric locomotives, they havethis arm on the top of them
called a pantograph. And thepantograph is what draws
electricity from those wiresdown into the locomotive, and
that's what drives the engineand helps the train go forward.
(04:24):
So when you look at thosedifferent types of trains here
in the northeast, betweenWashington and Boston, most of
Amtrak's trains are electric.Outside of the Northeast, a lot
of them are diesel. So acrossthe country, every day, we're
running about 300 trains a daythat carry about 87,000 people
every day.
Jane (04:42):
Now, if you look at old movies or cartoons, they
shoveling coal into the train.So is that how they used to
power the trains?
Patrick (04:49):
That is how they used to power trains until about the
1940s, 1950s. That's when theystarted switching over to
diesel. Then, of course, theyhad electric two at that time,
by the 1930s.
Luke (05:00):
My name is Luke. I live in Sandwich, Massachusetts. I'm
five years old, and I want toknow how steam trains work.
Patrick (05:08):
The steam train, today you don't really see too many
steam trains around. Maybe yougo to a tourist railroad or you
see one in a museum, but if youever seen one in operation, or
seen video, it's really amazing,really powerful. You saw that
steam and that smoke come out.Of course, it's called a steam
engine. It runs on steam, so youhave to create steam. So those
old locomotives, they have whatwe call fireboxes, and so you
(05:29):
might, so it has a fire, right,either powered by coal or maybe
wood, and then all that heat isgoing to generate, of course,
heat that heats a boiler, andthe boiler has water, and just
like you might have, like a potof water on top of the stove is
going to generate steam, and allthat steam builds up, and that's
what drives the machinery thatturns the wheels for that
(05:49):
locomotive. So sometimes you'llsee, if it's in operation,
you'll see all the steam comingout from the locomotive, as well
as the smoke from the burning ofthe coal or the wood.
Jane (05:59):
All right, so that answers a lot of our questions about how
trains work. More specifically,there are a couple questions we
have about why and how they goon tracks. I mean, we all know
that cars don't have to go on atrack, and they're powered
sometimes by diesel, sometimesby gas, sometimes by
electricity. Why do trains haveto go on tracks, and how does
that work and help them.
Jason (06:21):
Hi, my name is Jason. I live in Stanford, Connecticut,
and I'm three. My question is,why do trains drive on the
track?
Jessie (06:34):
Hello. My name is Jessie. I'm five years old. Why
do trains have to go on tracks?
Patrick (06:40):
Well, if you are ever able to go up into a locomotive
or maybe see pictures of it,now, there's no steering wheel
like you have in a car, so youcan't steer a locomotive to go
in a certain direction. It's thetracks that are really guiding
that train. So the tracksthemselves are made up of two
rails, and that's what thewheels are on, and then those
two rails are tied together bywhat we call ties. They usually
(07:02):
wood or sometimes concrete, andthen that whole track sits in
the bed a crushed stone, whichwe call ballast, and that,
because of how wide it is, ithelps distribute the weight of
the train. Because the train isreally heavy. I mean, it's tons
and tons, right, the locomotiveand the cars, but it also guides
the train. So if the tracks gostraight, the train goes
straight at the tracks curve,the train curves. But it also
(07:24):
gives you the ability to makereally long trains too, right?
Because they can just guide orbe guided by those rails.
Jane (07:31):
a train?
Patrick (07:32):
Well, we have to remember almost 200 years ago,
when they first, you know,created trains, there were no
such thing as cars. They didn'texist yet for another 70-80
years, you really didn't haverubber wheels either. So you
have these really heavymachines, you have to figure out
(07:54):
how to get them to go over theground, and the track is one
way, again, to distribute allthat weight. And think too about
trains. If you've ever seen afreight train, a freight train
might carry like coal and graveland even orange juice, you know,
sand, you can put, like,hundreds of cars together. So
it's a lot cheaper to move allthose goods by all those cars.
(08:15):
And then you also have passengertrains too, like Amtrak that
carry people.
Jane (08:19):
So is it actually more efficient to use trains than to
use trucks to carry the orangejuice and sand you talk about?
Patrick (08:26):
It is more fuel efficient, and it's usually an
easier cost too, because you'reable to carry more at one time.
Sometimes you're waiting for thetrains to be put together,
because you might carry carsfrom one area and they put other
goods behind it. You assembleone big train that takes it
anywhere across the country. Youknow, for passenger trains, we
(08:47):
have lots of specialized carstoo. So we have cars like
coaches like we're in todayright now we're sitting as comfy
chairs we can sit in. You havecafe cars that have
refrigerators and microwaves andthat coach car you can also
work. There are tables so youcan get on your computer, or you
can read a book. Sometimes Ilike to take a nap. They also
have cars that have bedrooms, soand those ones it's really neat.
(09:11):
It kind of goes from day fromnight to day, or day to night.
You can take the chairs and theyfold down, and you put a
mattress on them. They become abed.
Jane (09:19):
People are trying to get on. And I think we're even
breaking the rules because we'rein the quiet car. But before we
get off the train and walk tothe end, I want to ask one other
question. This is actually fromSamara, but Samara is noticing
something that I'm noticingright now, which is that these
seats don't have any seat belts.
Samara (09:36):
I am four years old. I live in Arlington Heights,
Illinois. And my question is,why don't trains have any seat
belts?
Patrick (09:47):
That is a good question. And actually, if you
look at trains around the world,most of them don't have seat
belts. That's because the traincars themselves are really heavy
and strong, so if they do hitsomething, let's say, hit a
tree. Maybe there's a storm,you're really protected within
that car. But I think Amtrak andother railroads around the world
and across the US are alwaysinterested in continuing to look
(10:09):
at risk reduction and what mightbe safer. So you never know.
Jane (10:13):
I want to go back and double back on a question from
Noah, because you mentionedthis, that trains are really
heavy, and that's puzzling someof our listeners, including
Noah.
Noah (10:22):
I'm seven years old, and I live in Billerica,
Massachusetts. My question is,how can trains go so fast, even
though they're so heavy?
Patrick (10:34):
Well, this will be a good question one day when
you're in high school, you hadto take physics or in college,
but basically, right? You havethe locomotive that provides a
force, the energy to move thetrain cars ahead. So sometimes
in really long trains or heavytrains, you might see more than
one locomotive. It might havethree or four right to really
carry all these cars.
Jane (10:53):
And you're just talking about the engine cars, right?
Patrick (10:55):
The locomotives have the engines inside them, whether
Locomotives.
they're diesel or electric, butonce you get that train moving,
you have the momentum of thatmovement. So you have that all
those cars moving at high speed.If you try to stop the train, it
won't just stop right away. It'snot even like a car, right? If
you stop a car, it takes alittle while for it to really
come to a complete stop. Sowhenever you are on a passenger
(11:16):
train, you start coming intostation. You'll see the train
has to start slowing down waybefore it gets to the station to
make sure it can come to acomplete stop. And that's one
thing to talk about, safetyaround railroad tracks. You
know, you should always becausetrains come at those high speeds
and they can't stop right away,you should always look for a
designated crossing. If youcross railroad tracks, remember
(11:37):
to look both ways, becausetrains can come in either
direction, and the electric onescan be pretty quiet too. You
might not hear them. And I thinkone good reminder is that if you
see tracks, think of trains. Soalways take a minute to look
around your surroundings andmake sure you're being safe.
Jane (11:51):
As I was talking to Patrick Kidd about trains, the
passengers were starting to comeonto the train, and to be
honest, they were looking at usa little funny, like, who are
you two people doing aninterview on this train, and
this is the quiet car whereyou're not supposed to talk. So
I hope you guys don't talk thewhole way to New York and
Boston. So we decided to get offthe train before the doors
(12:13):
closed and we'd be stuck all theway to New York. When we come
back, we'll talk about bullettrains that go really fast, and
we'll discover a little bit ofthe history of train travel in
the United States.
This is But Why? And today,we're in Washington, DC, at a
big train station in the citycalled Union Station. At Union
(12:35):
Station, people are alwayscoming and going, rushing to
catch the commuter rail or geton the subway. It's called the
Metro in Washington. Or to takea train all the way up or down
the east coast. The person we'retalking to today, Patrick Kidd,
works for Amtrak. Amtrak wascreated by the US government in
1970 to make sure there waspassenger rail service in the
(12:57):
country. Passenger rail servicejust means trains that are
designed for people, not forfreight like car parts or orange
juice or sand. These are trainsthat carry people all over the
country. The federal governmentowns the majority of stock in
Amtrak, which basically meansthe government kind of owns a
lot of the company. But Amtrakis not really part of the
(13:18):
government. It's a privatecompany. Patrick and I were
talking on a train that goesfrom Washington, DC up to New
York City and then on to Boston.Most of the time this train goes
about the speed of a car on ahighway, but it doesn't have to
stop for red lights like carsdo, and in certain places it
goes much faster. We stepped offthe train to watch it depart,
(13:41):
and Patrick told me a little bitmore about this train and other
trains. Okay, so now we'rewalking on the train platform,
right? Do I have that term,right?
Patrick (13:48):
That's correct!
Jane (13:50):
And we're outside the train. Can you tell me anything
interesting about this Acela, asyou told me earlier from the
inside?
Patrick (13:56):
So if you ever see the Acela, it's the most kind of
streamlined train, because it'sour fastest train. Like I said
before, it can go up to 150miles per hour at its highest
part of the route, or thefastest part of the route
between New Haven, Connecticutand Boston. So if you live up
that way in New England, maybeyou'll see the train go by you
one day. They call these fixedconsists. So unlike another
(14:20):
train, where you could addanother car, you could take a
car off. These always operate asa set. So it has coaches and it
has a cafe car that alwaysoperate together, and it has
what we call power cars, whichare like locomotives. There's a
power car at each end of thetrain, so that way, when it gets
to the last station, you don'thave to turn the train around
(14:41):
and take time. You can simplyreverse it and it can go right
back out and come the otherdirection. So it makes it a
little bit faster to turn thetrain around and keep it
running.
Jane (14:51):
You mentioned that this is Amtrak's fastest train, but we
have a question from Riley abouteven faster trains.
Riley (14:56):
I'm seven years old. I live in Melbourne, Australia.
And my question is, why dobullet trains go so fast?
Jane (15:04):
Bullet trains are high speed trains that can whisk
passengers from one place toanother at speeds of more than
200 miles an hour. Most peopleassociate the phrase bullet
train with Japan, where theystarted operating more than 50
years ago. But these days, a lotof countries have high speed
trains. China has the fastestones. The Shanghai Maglev Train
(15:27):
goes as fast as 268 miles perhour on one part of its daily
service. Some high speed trainsin testing have reached nearly
400 miles an hour, but none gothat fast, carrying passengers
on a daily basis. Patrick hadsome information about how these
trains typically go so fast.
Patrick (15:46):
Those high speed trains, the bullet trains, what
really makes them fast is that,number one, they use electric
power, like the a Acela Expressdoes. They're also really
streamlined. If you look atthem, they're really smooth and
rounded, so they can go rightthrough really quickly. They
don't have all the air hittingthem. That's keeping them we're
making them go a little bitslower. You also see, when they
build high speed trains likethat, they either will build a
(16:09):
whole new track just for thehigh speed train, or if it's an
older track, they'll try andsmooth out any of the old
curves. They want to make it asstraight as possible so that
train doesn't have to slow downand start back up again, and
then if there any road crossing,so try to close off the road
crossings. Again, just they wantto keep that train moving as
fast as possible. You know, atall times we can get to this
(16:30):
destination.
Jane (16:32):
Why don't you have bullet trains?
Patrick (16:35):
Why don't we have bullet trains? Well, I think
we're working on it. You know,if we have a next generation of
a Acela Express that's coming ina couple years. They're actually
building the cars right now.That'll be our new flagship
line. But again, we're alwayslooking to improve the service
that we provide to the Americanpeople.
Jane (16:51):
Can you tell me the difference between a locomotive,
passenger car and a caboose?Because we haven't even talked
about the caboose yet, really,at least by name, and that's the
most fun one to say.
Patrick (17:03):
So the locomotive is what really pulls the train,
right? It has the engines insideof it, whether that's diesel or
electric or steam, like we hadtalked about, the passenger cars
are actually all the differentkinds of cars that hold people.
So whether that's a coach or adining car or a sleeping car,
and then the caboose, thecaboose. The Caboose is really
used on freight trains, buttoday we don't really use them.
(17:24):
They would have been at the backof the train, and that's where
the crews would have sat. Youcould do paperwork, you know,
have your meal there. But today,a lot of those functions are no
longer needed on day to daytrains. They also, the caboose
would have had the marker lightsfor the end of the train to let
people the train behind it knowthat it was there. That's all
been automated today, so nolonger. But if you look at a
(17:46):
caboose museum, you see one in amuseum, you see probably had a
stove in a bathroom, usually hada bunk where somebody could
sleep, and maybe a desk thatsomebody could work at. It's
just a changing nature of therailroad industry today.
Jane (17:58):
Well, you said you were a historian, a train historian and
an Amtrak historian. So tell usabout the role that trains
played in in expanding Americaand our territory, especially
out west.
Patrick (18:12):
Well, they played a really important role. We just
had a big anniversary about amonth ago for the first
transcontinentalrailroad.
Jane (18:19):
You have to explain trans-continental, sure.
Patrick (18:22):
So the transcontinental, if we look at
trans and continental, thatmeans going across the
continent. And maybe that's alittle bit of a misnomer,
because it really went aboutacross two-thirds of the
continent, but it finally gaveyou a route where you could go
from the east coast all the wayto the west coast. And that was
a big improvement, because thinkif you had to take a ship from
the east coast and go all theway around South America. That's
before the Panama Canal wasbuilt.
Jane (18:44):
That would take a year.
Patrick (18:45):
Take a year, it would take months to get there right.
A train might only take youmaybe a week, depending on how
fast it's going, how many stopsyou're making, etc. So it really
helped to link the countrytogether. Of course, we don't
really have good roads at thattime either. We really don't get
the highways we see today untilthe 1950s, 1960s the highway
system. So the trains were themain connection for getting
(19:07):
people to and from family andbusiness and friends and kind of
adventure. I always say trainsare more than just about
carrying people or carryinggoods, but it's also carrying
ideas, right? It's taking newideas and news out to other
places. Now you think about thedepot back in those 100 years
ago, if you're the newspapermight come in on the train. So
(19:29):
that's where you're getting allthe news about what's going on
in the bigger cities somewhereelse. And that's really a center
of learning and kind of seeingwhat's going on in the world.
Jane (19:37):
And with that, the train we were watching left the
station.
Patrick (19:43):
The conductors, they're at the end doing one final
check, making sure everybody goton. He's just looking down the platform.
Jane (19:49):
on its way north to New York and then on to Boston, and
that's where we'll get offtoday. There is much more to
learn about trains, and ifyou're interested, there may be
train museums near where youlive. Thanks to Patrick Kidd and
Kimberly Wood from Amtrak forteaching us about trains at
(20:09):
Union Station in Washington, DC,and thanks to Mike Koenig for
the train horn sound. If youhave a question that you want
But Why to answer, send it tous. You can have an adult record
you on a smartphone using one ofthe free recording apps that
come with the phone. Tell usyour first name, where you live,
and how old you are, and thentell us what you're wondering
about. Send your questions toquestions@ButWhyKids.org. But
(20:34):
Why is produced by MelodyBodette and me, Jane Lindholm at
Vermont Public Radio. Our thememusic is by Luke Reynolds. We'll
be back in two weeks with an allnew episode. Until then, stay
curious.
This is But Why
of the show, Jane Lindholm. Myjob is to help answer some of
the really terrific questionsyou send us from around the
world. Most of the time MelodyBodette and I do our research
and reporting from our homestate of Vermont, in the
northeastern part of the UnitedStates. But whenever one of us
travels somewhere else, we liketo take you with us. I had to go
(00:45):
to Washington, DC for work, andso I brought my microphone and
recording equipment with me,because Melody had found the
perfect person to help answersome questions you've been
sending us about trains. Maybeyou take underground trains
known as subways, or metros, orthe El, depending on what city
(01:05):
you live in, all the time. Orperhaps you've slept on a train
on an overnight trip tosomewhere far away. Or maybe,
like I did when I was a kid, youhave a spot where you like to
watch the trains full of allkinds of cargo rumble by, and
you count the cars one by oneuntil you lose track. There are
lots of kinds of trains allaround the world, but as I said,
(01:27):
today, we are taking yourquestions to the headquarters of
the US's main long distancepassenger rail service called
Amtrak.
Patrick (01:35):
My name is Patrick Kidd, and I'm a communications
lead at Amtrak, and also thein-house historian.
Jane (01:40):
In-house historian? So you know everything about trains?
Patrick (01:43):
Well, I'm trying to learn everything. I think it
would take a whole lifetime todo that.
Jane (01:46):
Can you describe where we are right now?
Patrick (01:48):
We're actually sitting on Acela Express, which is
Amtrak premium service. This isour fastest train that operates
between Washington and Bostonthrough New York, and at its top
speed, it goes 150 miles perhour.
Jane (02:00):
So how long would it take to go from Washington to New
York?
Patrick (02:06):
From Washington to New York, I believe it's about three
hours.
Jane (02:10):
And if I were driving, how long would it take me in the
car?
Patrick (02:13):
Well, you never know. It depends what traffic is like,
right? If it's really badtraffic, sometimes, you know.
It's funny, sometimes my mom andI will go up to New York to
visit my cousin. I'll take thetrain, and she takes the bus.
I'll get there two hours beforeshe does. You never know.
Jane (02:26):
Why does she take the bus when her son works for Amtrak?
Patrick (02:29):
Well, it's a good question. I didn't know that
too. Actually, the bus leavesclose from her house, so she
often hops on the bus instead ofcoming into town.
Jane (02:37):
All right, so our first questions are pretty basic.
Hannah (02:39):
My name is Hannah, and I'm three years old. I live in
Virginia, and my question is,how do trains work?
Killian (02:48):
I'm Killian. I'm five years old. I'm from Portland,
Oregon. How do trains work?
Max (02:56):
I am Max. I'm five years old, and I live in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, and my question is, howthe trains work?
Jane (03:11):
How do trains work?
Patrick (03:13):
Well, that is a good question. So I think if you look
at, if you ever seen a train, orif you look at pictures of
trains, you'll see that there'susually a locomotive on the
train, and then it has all thesecars behind it, right? So you
have two kinds of locomotives.The locomotives are what's
pulling all those cars, makingthat train move. You have a
diesel locomotive, and you havean electric locomotive. And in
different parts of the country,they use different types. So the
(03:35):
diesel locomotive uses dieselfuel, which is kind of like the
gas you might put in your car.Think of it as like a cousin,
and electricity is like theelectricity you use to power the
lights in your house.
Sam (03:45):
I'm Sam. I'm four years old. I live in Chicago,
Illinois, and my question is,how do electric trains go?
Patrick (03:56):
We have an electric locomotive. If you look at the
tracks, they'll have power linesup above them. We call them
catenary.
Jane (04:02):
Catenary.
Patrick (04:03):
Catenary, that's the name for the wires that are
above the tracks that carry theelectric current. But they kind
of look like power lines if yousee them from far away. And the
electric locomotives, they havethis arm on the top of them
called a pantograph. And thepantograph is what draws
electricity from those wiresdown into the locomotive, and
that's what drives the engineand helps the train go forward.
(04:24):
So when you look at thosedifferent types of trains here
in the northeast, betweenWashington and Boston, most of
Amtrak's trains are electric.Outside of the Northeast, a lot
of them are diesel. So acrossthe country, every day, we're
running about 300 trains a daythat carry about 87,000 people
every day.
Jane (04:42):
Now, if you look at old movies or cartoons, they
shoveling coal into the train.So is that how they used to
power the trains?
Patrick (04:49):
That is how they used to power trains until about the
1940s, 1950s. That's when theystarted switching over to
diesel. Then, of course, theyhad electric two at that time,
by the 1930s.
Luke (05:00):
My name is Luke. I live in Sandwich, Massachusetts. I'm
five years old, and I want toknow how steam trains work.
Patrick (05:08):
The steam train, today you don't really see too many
steam trains around. Maybe yougo to a tourist railroad or you
see one in a museum, but if youever seen one in operation, or
seen video, it's really amazing,really powerful. You saw that
steam and that smoke come out.Of course, it's called a steam
engine. It runs on steam, so youhave to create steam. So those
old locomotives, they have whatwe call fireboxes, and so you
(05:29):
might, so it has a fire, right,either powered by coal or maybe
wood, and then all that heat isgoing to generate, of course,
heat that heats a boiler, andthe boiler has water, and just
like you might have, like a potof water on top of the stove is
going to generate steam, and allthat steam builds up, and that's
what drives the machinery thatturns the wheels for that
(05:49):
locomotive. So sometimes you'llsee, if it's in operation,
you'll see all the steam comingout from the locomotive, as well
as the smoke from the burning ofthe coal or the wood.
Jane (05:59):
All right, so that answers a lot of our questions about how
trains work. More specifically,there are a couple questions we
have about why and how they goon tracks. I mean, we all know
that cars don't have to go on atrack, and they're powered
sometimes by diesel, sometimesby gas, sometimes by
electricity. Why do trains haveto go on tracks, and how does
that work and help them.
Jason (06:21):
Hi, my name is Jason. I live in Stanford, Connecticut,
and I'm three. My question is,why do trains drive on the
track?
Jessie (06:34):
Hello. My name is Jessie. I'm five years old. Why
do trains have to go on tracks?
Patrick (06:40):
Well, if you are ever able to go up into a locomotive
or maybe see pictures of it,now, there's no steering wheel
like you have in a car, so youcan't steer a locomotive to go
in a certain direction. It's thetracks that are really guiding
that train. So the tracksthemselves are made up of two
rails, and that's what thewheels are on, and then those
two rails are tied together bywhat we call ties. They usually
(07:02):
wood or sometimes concrete, andthen that whole track sits in
the bed a crushed stone, whichwe call ballast, and that,
because of how wide it is, ithelps distribute the weight of
the train. Because the train isreally heavy. I mean, it's tons
and tons, right, the locomotiveand the cars, but it also guides
the train. So if the tracks gostraight, the train goes
straight at the tracks curve,the train curves. But it also
(07:24):
gives you the ability to makereally long trains too, right?
Because they can just guide orbe guided by those rails.
Jane (07:31):
a train?
Patrick (07:32):
Well, we have to remember almost 200 years ago,
when they first, you know,created trains, there were no
such thing as cars. They didn'texist yet for another 70-80
years, you really didn't haverubber wheels either. So you
have these really heavymachines, you have to figure out
(07:54):
how to get them to go over theground, and the track is one
way, again, to distribute allthat weight. And think too about
trains. If you've ever seen afreight train, a freight train
might carry like coal and graveland even orange juice, you know,
sand, you can put, like,hundreds of cars together. So
it's a lot cheaper to move allthose goods by all those cars.
(08:15):
And then you also have passengertrains too, like Amtrak that
carry people.
Jane (08:19):
So is it actually more efficient to use trains than to
use trucks to carry the orangejuice and sand you talk about?
Patrick (08:26):
It is more fuel efficient, and it's usually an
easier cost too, because you'reable to carry more at one time.
Sometimes you're waiting for thetrains to be put together,
because you might carry carsfrom one area and they put other
goods behind it. You assembleone big train that takes it
anywhere across the country. Youknow, for passenger trains, we
(08:47):
have lots of specialized carstoo. So we have cars like
coaches like we're in todayright now we're sitting as comfy
chairs we can sit in. You havecafe cars that have
refrigerators and microwaves andthat coach car you can also
work. There are tables so youcan get on your computer, or you
can read a book. Sometimes Ilike to take a nap. They also
have cars that have bedrooms, soand those ones it's really neat.
(09:11):
It kind of goes from day fromnight to day, or day to night.
You can take the chairs and theyfold down, and you put a
mattress on them. They become abed.
Jane (09:19):
People are trying to get on. And I think we're even
breaking the rules because we'rein the quiet car. But before we
get off the train and walk tothe end, I want to ask one other
question. This is actually fromSamara, but Samara is noticing
something that I'm noticingright now, which is that these
seats don't have any seat belts.
Samara (09:36):
I am four years old. I live in Arlington Heights,
Illinois. And my question is,why don't trains have any seat
belts?
Patrick (09:47):
That is a good question. And actually, if you
look at trains around the world,most of them don't have seat
belts. That's because the traincars themselves are really heavy
and strong, so if they do hitsomething, let's say, hit a
tree. Maybe there's a storm,you're really protected within
that car. But I think Amtrak andother railroads around the world
and across the US are alwaysinterested in continuing to look
(10:09):
at risk reduction and what mightbe safer. So you never know.
Jane (10:13):
I want to go back and double back on a question from
Noah, because you mentionedthis, that trains are really
heavy, and that's puzzling someof our listeners, including
Noah.
Noah (10:22):
I'm seven years old, and I live in Billerica,
Massachusetts. My question is,how can trains go so fast, even
though they're so heavy?
Patrick (10:34):
Well, this will be a good question one day when
you're in high school, you hadto take physics or in college,
but basically, right? You havethe locomotive that provides a
force, the energy to move thetrain cars ahead. So sometimes
in really long trains or heavytrains, you might see more than
one locomotive. It might havethree or four right to really
carry all these cars.
Jane (10:53):
And you're just talking about the engine cars, right?
Patrick (10:55):
The locomotives have the engines inside them, whether
Locomotives.
they're diesel or electric, butonce you get that train moving,
you have the momentum of thatmovement. So you have that all
those cars moving at high speed.If you try to stop the train, it
won't just stop right away. It'snot even like a car, right? If
you stop a car, it takes alittle while for it to really
come to a complete stop. Sowhenever you are on a passenger
(11:16):
train, you start coming intostation. You'll see the train
has to start slowing down waybefore it gets to the station to
make sure it can come to acomplete stop. And that's one
thing to talk about, safetyaround railroad tracks. You
know, you should always becausetrains come at those high speeds
and they can't stop right away,you should always look for a
designated crossing. If youcross railroad tracks, remember
(11:37):
to look both ways, becausetrains can come in either
direction, and the electric onescan be pretty quiet too. You
might not hear them. And I thinkone good reminder is that if you
see tracks, think of trains. Soalways take a minute to look
around your surroundings andmake sure you're being safe.
Jane (11:51):
As I was talking to Patrick Kidd about trains, the
passengers were starting to comeonto the train, and to be
honest, they were looking at usa little funny, like, who are
you two people doing aninterview on this train, and
this is the quiet car whereyou're not supposed to talk. So
I hope you guys don't talk thewhole way to New York and
Boston. So we decided to get offthe train before the doors
(12:13):
closed and we'd be stuck all theway to New York. When we come
back, we'll talk about bullettrains that go really fast, and
we'll discover a little bit ofthe history of train travel in
the United States.
This is But Why? And today,we're in Washington, DC, at a
big train station in the citycalled Union Station. At Union
(12:35):
Station, people are alwayscoming and going, rushing to
catch the commuter rail or geton the subway. It's called the
Metro in Washington. Or to takea train all the way up or down
the east coast. The person we'retalking to today, Patrick Kidd,
works for Amtrak. Amtrak wascreated by the US government in
1970 to make sure there waspassenger rail service in the
(12:57):
country. Passenger rail servicejust means trains that are
designed for people, not forfreight like car parts or orange
juice or sand. These are trainsthat carry people all over the
country. The federal governmentowns the majority of stock in
Amtrak, which basically meansthe government kind of owns a
lot of the company. But Amtrakis not really part of the
(13:18):
government. It's a privatecompany. Patrick and I were
talking on a train that goesfrom Washington, DC up to New
York City and then on to Boston.Most of the time this train goes
about the speed of a car on ahighway, but it doesn't have to
stop for red lights like carsdo, and in certain places it
goes much faster. We stepped offthe train to watch it depart,
(13:41):
and Patrick told me a little bitmore about this train and other
trains. Okay, so now we'rewalking on the train platform,
right? Do I have that term,right?
Patrick (13:48):
That's correct!
Jane (13:50):
And we're outside the train. Can you tell me anything
interesting about this Acela, asyou told me earlier from the
inside?
Patrick (13:56):
So if you ever see the Acela, it's the most kind of
streamlined train, because it'sour fastest train. Like I said
before, it can go up to 150miles per hour at its highest
part of the route, or thefastest part of the route
between New Haven, Connecticutand Boston. So if you live up
that way in New England, maybeyou'll see the train go by you
one day. They call these fixedconsists. So unlike another
(14:20):
train, where you could addanother car, you could take a
car off. These always operate asa set. So it has coaches and it
has a cafe car that alwaysoperate together, and it has
what we call power cars, whichare like locomotives. There's a
power car at each end of thetrain, so that way, when it gets
to the last station, you don'thave to turn the train around
(14:41):
and take time. You can simplyreverse it and it can go right
back out and come the otherdirection. So it makes it a
little bit faster to turn thetrain around and keep it
running.
Jane (14:51):
You mentioned that this is Amtrak's fastest train, but we
have a question from Riley abouteven faster trains.
Riley (14:56):
I'm seven years old. I live in Melbourne, Australia.
And my question is, why dobullet trains go so fast?
Jane (15:04):
Bullet trains are high speed trains that can whisk
passengers from one place toanother at speeds of more than
200 miles an hour. Most peopleassociate the phrase bullet
train with Japan, where theystarted operating more than 50
years ago. But these days, a lotof countries have high speed
trains. China has the fastestones. The Shanghai Maglev Train
(15:27):
goes as fast as 268 miles perhour on one part of its daily
service. Some high speed trainsin testing have reached nearly
400 miles an hour, but none gothat fast, carrying passengers
on a daily basis. Patrick hadsome information about how these
trains typically go so fast.
Patrick (15:46):
Those high speed trains, the bullet trains, what
really makes them fast is that,number one, they use electric
power, like the a Acela Expressdoes. They're also really
streamlined. If you look atthem, they're really smooth and
rounded, so they can go rightthrough really quickly. They
don't have all the air hittingthem. That's keeping them we're
making them go a little bitslower. You also see, when they
build high speed trains likethat, they either will build a
(16:09):
whole new track just for thehigh speed train, or if it's an
older track, they'll try andsmooth out any of the old
curves. They want to make it asstraight as possible so that
train doesn't have to slow downand start back up again, and
then if there any road crossing,so try to close off the road
crossings. Again, just they wantto keep that train moving as
fast as possible. You know, atall times we can get to this
(16:30):
destination.
Jane (16:32):
Why don't you have bullet trains?
Patrick (16:35):
Why don't we have bullet trains? Well, I think
we're working on it. You know,if we have a next generation of
a Acela Express that's coming ina couple years. They're actually
building the cars right now.That'll be our new flagship
line. But again, we're alwayslooking to improve the service
that we provide to the Americanpeople.
Jane (16:51):
Can you tell me the difference between a locomotive,
passenger car and a caboose?Because we haven't even talked
about the caboose yet, really,at least by name, and that's the
most fun one to say.
Patrick (17:03):
So the locomotive is what really pulls the train,
right? It has the engines insideof it, whether that's diesel or
electric or steam, like we hadtalked about, the passenger cars
are actually all the differentkinds of cars that hold people.
So whether that's a coach or adining car or a sleeping car,
and then the caboose, thecaboose. The Caboose is really
used on freight trains, buttoday we don't really use them.
(17:24):
They would have been at the backof the train, and that's where
the crews would have sat. Youcould do paperwork, you know,
have your meal there. But today,a lot of those functions are no
longer needed on day to daytrains. They also, the caboose
would have had the marker lightsfor the end of the train to let
people the train behind it knowthat it was there. That's all
been automated today, so nolonger. But if you look at a
(17:46):
caboose museum, you see one in amuseum, you see probably had a
stove in a bathroom, usually hada bunk where somebody could
sleep, and maybe a desk thatsomebody could work at. It's
just a changing nature of therailroad industry today.
Jane (17:58):
Well, you said you were a historian, a train historian and
an Amtrak historian. So tell usabout the role that trains
played in in expanding Americaand our territory, especially
out west.
Patrick (18:12):
Well, they played a really important role. We just
had a big anniversary about amonth ago for the first
transcontinentalrailroad.
Jane (18:19):
You have to explain trans-continental, sure.
Patrick (18:22):
So the transcontinental, if we look at
trans and continental, thatmeans going across the
continent. And maybe that's alittle bit of a misnomer,
because it really went aboutacross two-thirds of the
continent, but it finally gaveyou a route where you could go
from the east coast all the wayto the west coast. And that was
a big improvement, because thinkif you had to take a ship from
the east coast and go all theway around South America. That's
before the Panama Canal wasbuilt.
Jane (18:44):
That would take a year.
Patrick (18:45):
Take a year, it would take months to get there right.
A train might only take youmaybe a week, depending on how
fast it's going, how many stopsyou're making, etc. So it really
helped to link the countrytogether. Of course, we don't
really have good roads at thattime either. We really don't get
the highways we see today untilthe 1950s, 1960s the highway
system. So the trains were themain connection for getting
(19:07):
people to and from family andbusiness and friends and kind of
adventure. I always say trainsare more than just about
carrying people or carryinggoods, but it's also carrying
ideas, right? It's taking newideas and news out to other
places. Now you think about thedepot back in those 100 years
ago, if you're the newspapermight come in on the train. So
(19:29):
that's where you're getting allthe news about what's going on
in the bigger cities somewhereelse. And that's really a center
of learning and kind of seeingwhat's going on in the world.
Jane (19:37):
And with that, the train we were watching left the
station.
Patrick (19:43):
The conductors, they're at the end doing one final
check, making sure everybody goton. He's just looking down the platform.
Jane (19:49):
on its way north to New York and then on to Boston, and
that's where we'll get offtoday. There is much more to
learn about trains, and ifyou're interested, there may be
train museums near where youlive. Thanks to Patrick Kidd and
Kimberly Wood from Amtrak forteaching us about trains at
(20:09):
Union Station in Washington, DC,and thanks to Mike Koenig for
the train horn sound. If youhave a question that you want
But Why to answer, send it tous. You can have an adult record
you on a smartphone using one ofthe free recording apps that
come with the phone. Tell usyour first name, where you live,
and how old you are, and thentell us what you're wondering
about. Send your questions toquestions@ButWhyKids.org. But
(20:34):
Why is produced by MelodyBodette and me, Jane Lindholm at
Vermont Public Radio. Our thememusic is by Luke Reynolds. We'll
be back in two weeks with an allnew episode. Until then, stay
curious.
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