People moverA people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. The term was originally applied to three different systems, developed roughly at the same time. One was Skybus, an automated mass transit system prototyped by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation beginning in 1964. The second, alternately called the People Mover and Minirail, opened in Montreal at Expo 67.
Overhead lineAn overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the technology is overhead line. It is known variously as overhead catenary, overhead contact line (OCL), overhead contact system (OCS), overhead equipment (OHE), overhead line equipment (OLE or OHLE), overhead lines (OHL), overhead wiring (OHW), traction wire, and trolley wire.
Steam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels. In most locomotives, the steam is admitted alternately to each end of its cylinders in which pistons are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels.
MonorailA monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style of track. The term monorail originated from German engineer Eugen Langen in 1897. Monorails are single-rail systems serving as a track for passenger or freight vehicles, often found in airport transfers and medium-capacity metros.
Road surfaceA road surface (English), or pavement (American), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, hoggin, cobblestone and granite setts were extensively used, but these have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete laid on a compacted base course. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the 20th century and are of two types: metalled (hard-surfaced) and unmetalled roads.
Steel millA steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finished casting products are made from molten pig iron or from scrap. Since the invention of the Bessemer process, steel mills have replaced ironworks, based on puddling or fining methods. New ways to produce steel appeared later: from scrap melted in an electric arc furnace and, more recently, from direct reduced iron processes.
Degree of curvatureDegree of curve or degree of curvature is a measure of curvature of a circular arc used in civil engineering for its easy use in layout surveying. The degree of curvature is defined as the central angle to the ends of an agreed length of either an arc or a chord; various lengths are commonly used in different areas of practice. This angle is also the change in forward direction as that portion of the curve is traveled. In an n-degree curve, the forward bearing changes by n degrees over the standard length of arc or chord.
Rolling (metalworking)In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is similar to the rolling of dough. Rolling is classified according to the temperature of the metal rolled. If the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is known as hot rolling.
Track transition curveA transition curve (also, spiral easement or, simply, spiral) is a spiral-shaped length of highway or railroad track that is used between sections having different profiles and radii, such as between straightaways (tangents) and curves, or between two different curves. In the horizontal plane, the radius of a transition curve varies continually over its length between the disparate radii of the sections that it joins—for example, from infinite radius at a tangent to the nominal radius of a smooth curve.
Tamping machineA tamping machine or ballast tamper, informally simply a tamper, is a self-propelled, rail-mounted machine used to pack (or tamp) the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks and roadbed more durable and level. Prior to the introduction of mechanical tampers, this task was done by manual labour with the help of beaters. As well as being faster, more accurate, more efficient and less labour-intensive, tamping machines are essential for the use of concrete sleepers since they are too heavy (usually over ) to be lifted by hand.
