Dan Goodman ([info]dsgood) wrote,
@ 2008-04-22 19:12:00
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Current location:Minneapolis, Alta Iowa

Sunday April 20, 2008 To Lunds for the spec-fic-writing Meetup.

Lunds is an upscale supermarket chain. It has more food samples than downmarket chains do. Today they included organic strawberries.

Program this month: Members reading their work. My contribution was a how-to article on writing historical fiction set in the 20th, 21st, and 22nd centuries. (Read for me by Hilary Moon Murphy; I don't have a good speaking voice.)

I got good suggestions. Decided that it would be simpler to use the idea in a story than to make needed revisions.

***Went to the Wedge Coop, then the Aldi on Lake Street.

Took the Hiawatha Line (light rail) home. The trains would be wind-powered on Earth Day, the electric signs said. I wondered what kinds of sails might be used. Reluctantly decided the reality would be less interesting.

Confirmed at metrotransit.org: "Ride a wind-powered light-rail train in conjunction with Earth Day. Metro Transit is buying enough wind power through Xcel Energy’s Windsource® program to power the Hiawatha Line."

I still want to see them using sails.


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[info]janradder
2008-04-23 12:43 am UTC (link)
There's this great book by Chris Van Allsburg called The Mysteries of Harris Burdick which has a picture of a group of kids piled onto a seemingly handmade cart which is placed on train tracks. A large sail is unfurled,waiting to take them away, down the tracks. That's kind of how I imagine your idea of wind powered trains.

Here's a link to the book, though it doesn't feature that drawing:

http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/harrisburdick2.html

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[info]mjlayman
2008-04-23 12:59 am UTC (link)
Terry Dowling's Rynosseros has people sailing the Australian desert.

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[info]jryson
2008-04-23 05:40 am UTC (link)
It's hard to tack on rails. Maybe gear the wheels to a windmill.

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[info]mjlayman
2008-04-23 11:09 pm UTC (link)
:::smacking my head::: Sean McMullen's Souls of the Great Machine series has trains using sails in a post-apocalypic Australia.

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