All About Maglevs

Posted on by scott

As those of you who’ve read it know, the action in Extras is kick-started by a secret clique called the Sly Girls. The Girls have invented a highly illegal pastime called “maglev surfing,” which basically consists of riding on top of a magnetic levitation train, trying not to die.

Maglev surfing is not something I’ve done, for obvious reasons. But I did check out a few YouTube offerings to get some sense of what riding an ultra-high-speed train might be like. So I thought you guys might want to see them.

maglev.jpg

First, this video offers an educational look at how they work, with some pretty cool footage.

For the best shots of travel at speeds of 575kph (357mph), check out this video of a French TGV. The TGV is not actually maglev, because it runs on tires instead of levitating, but it’s still wicked fast. (Faster, in fact, than the trains in Aya’s world, whose engineers are more about energy efficiency than speed.)

And finally, this is the funniest of the videos. It’s just a bunch of kids hanging out near a maglev trial track, waiting for a train to go past. It gives you a really clear idea of how shockingly fast maglevs are as they bolt past, resulting in mild profanity.

Enjoy.

149 thoughts on “All About Maglevs”

  1. wow…that’s really amazing that anything that can go that fast is designed for regular people. it would be handy, though: if you want to get to school/work, you can sleep later and still be on time.
    i like those japenese kids. if there was a testing maglev around here, that is totally what i would do.
    they don’t really look like i imagined aya’s maglevs, but then i guess i imagined them wrong.

  2. Arwe’nt they powered by magnets? We learned about magnetism last year and my textbook had a short section about maglev trains.

  4. SWEETTTT =]]]
    i always wondered what they looked like!!

    haha, scott your my hero.

    and thats pretty fast btw.

  6. awwww…videos taking long time to load. and now it wants flash player

    random—i was reading some really old post of Justine’s talking about the magic of spreadsheets and decided to try it—actually helped. basically because i found out i had a bunch of 2000 word chapters, one 800 word chapter, and one 5000 word chapter. the 800 one was okay, because it was in mid-action-scene, but the really long one works much better as two. and it’s inspired to actually get around to writing where i formerly had that big fat placeholder [they do stuff].
    now i remember why i love writing….

  10. awesssome! thats kind of what i pictured when i was reading extras just because id heard of them and id seen something kind of like that and for some reason i pieced them together mentally like how people say that its more fun to read because you can mentally picture them? well i kind of did that. but umm…i just started reading midnighters-my 2nd scott westerfeld book series! its reallly good so far. i got it from my friend who gave it to me for my birthday which is today!!!! yeeeeeep!

  11. I find it funny that it is still the 25th where i live! And yes.. those trains are F.A.S.T. I would probably die if i maglev surfed. Although i would totally try it! And awesome vids.

    >Support the Witers Guild Of America on strike!

  13. Now I really want to maglev surf! I’m an adrenaline junkie. The trains were almost exactly how I imagined them to be.

  16. dang thats fast i didnt think they where realy real loll

    i guess thats how i pictured them but more train like

  18. it’s still the 25th for me 2.
    midnighters rox!
    i’m happy cuz i’m *writing* again. i say *writing* because i’m on the internet right now, that sinkhole of procrastination, but i’m doing well! i randomly found out one of my characters is really good at math cuz they keep ignoring the task at hand (saving the world) and doing boring stuff like talking about school.
    those trains are hardcore. i want to ride in one. maybe not surf, but it’d be cool to ride one.
    u ever been on one, Scott-la, or did u just decide to write them cuz they seeemed futurey?

  21. My mom is reading Midnigters! She’s read Uglies. She was in the middle of reading Extras but then I let a friend borrow it. lol

  27. That is so fool that your mom is reading Scott’s books — Although, I think everyone should read them because they are just that fawesome-

  28. Just in case anyone cares:

    1. Extras is now at 49% while Eclipse is at 46%. On the Amazon thing.

    2. I went to my g-ma’s for Thanxgivin, and my dad stumbled cross an 8-point buck and shot it, and I shot a young turkey! Yeah Kelsey-chan!

    3. I like icing.

  29. Holy cow thats amazing.. Scott did you make the idea up for the book and research or did you previously know about them?

    I like these kind of trivial-ish and informative posts lol. thanks 🙂

  30. kay i’ll check back later…have to do my evening chore (wiping off counters–yuck! beats the other chores–litterbox sweeping or dishes…) i’ll be right back!!!
    -Inconquerable Riderchild-wa :mrgreen:
    ps: i have a big problem…i just recently added the inconquerable to my name, but i just realized (thanks to flower-child-something-ah’s wonderful polymathness on thanksgiving) that “Riderchild-wa” has 12 LETTERS! i need some serious advice!!! gtg 4 now or else ull never hear from me again (lol!)

  32. that last one kinda got me by surprise…
    can you imagine standing in a cave like thing, knowing they’re gonna come in, in like 5 mins…
    {like aya did}
    ouch.

  33. [transplanted from the Chasing Midnight HQ]

    i’m rereading The Secret Hour cuz i’m a loser midnighters freak (and i finished all the library books in the house: wildwood dancing and almost done with maddigan’s fantasia. timon! you’re so cool yet evil yet creepy yet awesome!) but any-way….i’m reading Midnighters 1. and there’s this little exchange on page 230, which i recount here.

    “”And that means,” he [Rex] said slowly, “that they only hunt about once a month. Like a werewolf in mythology.”
    “Exactly. That must be where the whole full-moon thing comes from. Except darklings hunt once every 3.571429 weeks, not every four. But who’s counting?””

    see that? DARKLING. WEREWOLVES. and they’re CANON! CANON DARKLING WEREWOLVES! they have a whole paragraph. they deserve to have a whole book. a fourth midnighters book. with darkling werewolves. it’s already been proved that darklings are the source of werewolf myths. let’s get a little more literal.

    and, you know Mr.Westerfeld, there’s this secret meaning to the word “trilogy” i’d like to inform you of.

  34. hehe. I remember reading that part and thinking of the HQ (I read them before joining the HQ…but I didn’t read them til hearing about them here.)

    I reread the first chapter of Touching Darkness while in Tennessee for thanksgiving. So don’t feel too bad about rereading The Secret Hour.

  37. Lol. at first i thought it said you have gone mag-lev surfing for obvious reasons and i was like WHAT! But then i reread it and realized you said you didn’t. I was about to think you were a crazy uncontrollable maniac fool. But i get you now.

  38. It does sound fun. but i would be sooooo scared. Id scream have a hear attack die come back to life and die again in a 20 min period.

  39. I’m starting to see some new and old names the haven’t been on in a while. Ha. I misspelled havent so my computer was correcting it and i was like ‘advent?’. That makes since. “old names that advent on in a while.” lol.

  41. Oh my freakin gosh. I just watched the first video. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO KILL THE PEOPLE IN YOU BOOK SCOTT-LA.

  43. hehe. Bran-la you made me laugh in every comment you just made. 😀

    I probably would maglev surf. I’m that kind of person. Like the other day I climbed all the way up a tree with dry, brittle branches (I think it is dead, actually). And it wasn’t a small tree, either. But that’s not nearly as daring as maglev surfing. Dude…that would be soooooo fun.

  46. I’m sure that most of you already have them, but just in case…

    Giving away the entire UGLIES series, SIGNED by Scott, over at my blog.

    Click here for more info.

    And yes, Scott said it was ok for me to post this comment. 🙂

  47. kool have to check htem out when i get home from school … stupid blocker … ugg … what do they think we are criminals …. I hate the stupid school rules .. oh well i have to deel .. extras rocked …. loved it … but so bumbed about taly and david .. i like zane betta

  50. hmm…i just added an e at the end of my name, so i think i’m okay for now…i’m bored. i have no ideda what to do. my neck hurts. a lot. i don’t know why. right now, i’m wearing a cinderella shirt. yeah. and i haven’t changed at all today. and it’s 3:07pm. yeah. i love homeschooling. i slept till 8:30am. i’m just cool that way. i have no idea what to do.
    oh, my mom read the uglies series…actually, she did before i did…and now i’m reading her the midnighters series or else like she’ll never finish it cause she’s so busy. well, i’ll probably be back in like five minutes.
    -Inconquerable Riderchild-wa :mrgreen:

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