I suspect that a fair proportion of our predominately-male, predominately-mature-age membership has encountered some of the works of the late "techno-thriller" master Tom Clancy. Since Mr. Clancy's passing in 2013, works on the same vein have been continued with "semi-official" status -- (same packaging and format) -- by several younger "legatee" authors, the most prominent of whom is probably Mark Greany.
Mr. Clancy was known, and admired for his efforts to retain relevant, {u}and authentic[/u] technological references for his works. in Red Storm Rising, special reference is made to the fact the same basic equpment on the back-in-service battleships cited was familiar to the grandparents of the "current day" (1990) sailors; and in Clear and Present Danger, a New York-Washington Amtrak trio is involved (although unfortunately, no reference is made to the 1902s-30s -vintage manned interlocking plants still in service at the time.
But to get to the point, the plot of Red Metal involves a plan to disguise a Russian train caring armaments as a Polish Strizh contemporary passenger train which. in turn, is based upon the Talgos first designed for Spain's RENFE. Some of us are familiar with the minor gauge disparities in Europe (including between Russia and Poland) and according to some Internet the latest, state-of-the-art Talgos are equipped to deal with this.
Those of us close to the industry are painfully aware of Hollywood's willingness to take liberties with real-world technological limitations. (Does anybody else here recall ABC-TV's [Disaster on the Coastliner (1981)? or the space-age interlocking plant (set in 1943) in Von Ryan's Express (1966)
So if the facts on the capabilities of the latest Talgo/Stizh equipment to deal with gauge disparities are proven accurate, Mr. Greany is to be complimented and thanked for researching his subject matter thoroughly.
Mr. Clancy was known, and admired for his efforts to retain relevant, {u}and authentic[/u] technological references for his works. in Red Storm Rising, special reference is made to the fact the same basic equpment on the back-in-service battleships cited was familiar to the grandparents of the "current day" (1990) sailors; and in Clear and Present Danger, a New York-Washington Amtrak trio is involved (although unfortunately, no reference is made to the 1902s-30s -vintage manned interlocking plants still in service at the time.
But to get to the point, the plot of Red Metal involves a plan to disguise a Russian train caring armaments as a Polish Strizh contemporary passenger train which. in turn, is based upon the Talgos first designed for Spain's RENFE. Some of us are familiar with the minor gauge disparities in Europe (including between Russia and Poland) and according to some Internet the latest, state-of-the-art Talgos are equipped to deal with this.
Those of us close to the industry are painfully aware of Hollywood's willingness to take liberties with real-world technological limitations. (Does anybody else here recall ABC-TV's [Disaster on the Coastliner (1981)? or the space-age interlocking plant (set in 1943) in Von Ryan's Express (1966)
So if the facts on the capabilities of the latest Talgo/Stizh equipment to deal with gauge disparities are proven accurate, Mr. Greany is to be complimented and thanked for researching his subject matter thoroughly.
What a revoltin' development this is! (William Bendix)
