On 6/1/26 3:13 PM, Jeff Zeitlin - editor at freelancetraveller.com (via
tml list) wrote:
> Yes, but 5 minutes isn't going to get you from Paulo Down (southwest US) to
> the Manhattan district of the East Coast megacity, and even if you use
> local grav freighters to get from Paulo to JFK, you've still got to get
> from JFK to the final destination...
>
> Which brings up a potentially interesting question, both for EDQ's grav
> trailers, and for present-day wheeled trailers, especially for road trains
> in .au: Is there any sort of mechanism so that the trailers "track" the
> path of the "tractor"?  I know in the US, there isn't (universally, as far
> as I can tell), so that the driver of a single cab+trailer has to swing
> wide to make sharp turns (like when delivering to retail establishments in
> urban/suburban areas), and tandems (2 trailers) or triplexes (3 trailers)
> are prohibited in areas off most interstate-grade highways - but in a lot
> of SF, the trailers *do* track, so that the entire "train" acts like it's
> on rails. (For an example of such a "tracking" train, see _Wheelworld_ by
> Harry Harrison.)

IMO, I would think (dangerous for me) that just like we've standardized
container types and sizes today, that the same would be done in
Traveller.  The limited battery idea makes perfect sense, but I'd go one
step past that and eliminate them entirely.  The "mover" (perhaps an
air/raft frame with just a connection frame and controls for one) would
connect and directly power the container. Containers should be cheap,
viewed as disposable, and cheap.  A lot of containers today last one,
maybe two uses before they're sold/scrapped.  As for a control module to
make them track like a train, that could probably be done by something
akin to a Raspberry Pi (that also draws power from the prime mover).

A further argument could be made that the container itself would not be
anything more than a container and that like today, the hardware to move
it any distance would be connected to the container at the port much
like a semi frame for an ISO container or a flatbed rail car.

Again, the idea is sound, just too expensive.  How much would it add to
the dton cost/parsec?  What is the container's lifespan?  How durable is
it?

--
Kurt Feltenberger
xxxxxx@thepaw.org/xxxxxx@yahoo.com
“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough." - Me