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The
Rail Transportation Division
is one of the oldest and most active of ASME's 37 Divisions
& Subdivisions. Founded in 1920 as the Railroad Division
promoting mechanical engineering applications to railroading,
it later became the Rail Transportation Division to reflect
its concern with rail rapid transit as well as conventional
intercity freight and passenger railroading.
Through over eight decades, the Rail Transportation Division
and its members have been in the thick of technological developments
that have shaped railroading--the development of super power
steam locomotives and their eclipse by the diesel--electrics;
experiments with turbine and other new locomotive types; the
first streamlined passenger trains of the 30's and the metro-liner
trains of the 60's; the present development of larger, heavier
freight cars, unit bulk commodity trains, intermodal trains,
and the technological problems they have brought.
As the nation becomes more conscious of the value of railroads
in the dawning era of energy scarcity, interest in the Rail
Transportation Division is growing. The Division encourages
technical research and development to improve railroad rolling
equipment, to publish technical papers dealing with this work,
and to provide a forum where railroad mechanical engineers
can exchange ideas and discuss common problems.
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