TRAINS (EXAMPLE OF REPORT TEXT)
Trains
Have you ever stopped at a
railroad crossing when a freight train rumbled by? Did you try to count the
cars? Have you ever seen a high-speed passenger train whiz past? Trains are
very important to transportation. Trains carry freight and people in places all
over the world.
A train is made up of
railroad cars hooked together and pulled by a locomotive. Locomotives are
sometimes called engines. All trains run on tracks. Freight trains haul goods.
Passenger trains carry people.
WHAT MOVES A TRAIN?
Locomotives push or pull
railroad cars. They have powerful motors. The motors turn locomotive wheels
that run on railroad tracks. Sometimes you will see three or four locomotives
hooked together to pull a long freight train up a steep mountain.
Some locomotives get their
power from electricity. The electricity comes from wires above the track or
from a special third rail next to the track. Other locomotives get their power
from diesel fuel, which is similar to the gasoline that most cars use. The kind
of locomotive engines most used today are diesel-electrics. Engines that burn
diesel fuel drive generators that make electricity. Powerful electric motors
turn the wheels of a diesel-electric locomotive.
KINDS OF FREIGHT CARS
A freight train can have
as many as 200 cars hooked together. There are special railroad cars for
different kinds of freight.
The boxcar has four sides,
a floor, and a roof. It looks like a box on wheels. Boxcars carry freight that
has to be kept clean and dry, such as radios, television sets, and boxes of
cereal.
Refrigerator cars work
like your home refrigerator. They are boxcars that are cool inside.
Refrigerator cars carry meat, fruit, frozen dinners, and other food that must
be kept cold.
The hopper car is open on
the top. Hopper cars carry coal, sand, gravel, and ore (rocks that contain
metals). Hopper cars are easy to unload because they have doors on the bottom.
The doors open and the coal, sand, or gravel pours out.
A flatcar has no top or
sides. It has a floor on wheels. Flat cars carry lumber, steel beams, huge
pieces of machinery, and other big items. Lifting machines called cranes load
cargo onto flat cars. Special flatcars carry cars, boats, and trucks.
A tank car carries liquids
or gases in a big, round tank that is lying on its side. Tank cars can carry
milk, gasoline, or oil. Some tank cars carry dangerous chemicals.
KINDS OF PASSENGER CARS
Passenger cars have seats
in rows along each side. Passengers can place small bags in a rack above the
seat. Some passenger cars are made for long trips. They have seats that can be
made into beds at night. Trains that carry passengers over long distances have
special baggage cars to carry suitcases. They have dining cars where people can
sit down and eat.
HOW DO TRAINS STAY ON THE
TRACKS?
The track has two long
rails made of steel. Pieces of wood or concrete called ties hold the rails in
place and keep them from moving. Spikes hold the ties to the rails.
Locomotives, freight cars,
and passenger cars have wheels that hold the train on the track. The wheels
have a flange, a special shape that fits over the rails and keeps the train
from slipping off the rails.
Railroad tracks are laid
on a roadbed made of tightly packed dirt, gravel, or other material. When
tracks have to go over rivers, the railroad company builds bridges. Sometimes
railroad companies dig tunnels through mountains.
WHAT WERE EARLY TRAINS
LIKE?
The first trains were
wagons hooked together and pulled by horses, oxen, or other animals. The wagon
wheels rolled over two strips made of wooden planks. Trains with wooden tracks
were used as early as the 1500s to haul coal and stone. In the 1760s, iron
rails replaced wooden ones.
Inventors made the first
locomotives in the early 1800s. Early locomotive engines burned coal to heat
water and make steam. The steam drove big pistons that turned the wheels.
Inventors made bigger and better steam-engine locomotives. Steam engines drove
most locomotives until the 1940s.
The first passenger cars
were stagecoaches set on four railroad wheels. Then came larger cars with six
wheels. In 1830, the Baltimore & Ohio became the first railroad in the
United States to offer passenger service. The train was pulled by horses.
Passenger trains got better
and better. In the late 1800s, a U.S. company called the Pullman Palace Car
Company began making a comfortable sleeping car. Other companies made luxurious
parlor cars for passengers to sit in. Train travel became very popular.
HOW HAS TRAIN TRAVEL CHANGED?
Many people traveled by
train until the 1950s. Jet planes then began to replace trains as the most
popular form of passenger travel. Today, most passenger trains in the United
States and Canada are commuter trains. Passengers ride commuter trains twice a
day between homes in the suburbs and jobs in the city. Trains continue to carry
passengers between cities in Europe and in other parts of the world.
Some countries have
high-speed trains. The first high-speed trains were in France and Japan. These
trains can go about 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour).
Engineers are working on a
train that floats above its track. This type of train is called a maglev.
Powerful magnets push the train a short distance above the rails as it moves
along. Engineers are designing maglev trains that can travel much faster than
trains on rails can.
Source: Practice English Competence, Fikri
Farikhin,M.Pd.I
Posting Komentar untuk "TRAINS (EXAMPLE OF REPORT TEXT)"