Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third rail systems are always supplied from direct current electricity.

The third-rail system of electrification is unrelated to the third rail used in dual-gauge railways.

Description

Third-rail systems are a means of providing electric traction power to trains, and they use an additional rail (called a "conductor rail") for the purpose. On most systems, the conductor rail is placed on the sleeper ends outside the running rails, but in some cases a central conductor rail is used. The conductor rail is supported on ceramic insulators (known as "pots") or insulated brackets, typically at intervals of around 10 feet (3 metres).

The trains have metal contact blocks called shoes (or contact shoes or pickup shoes) which make contact with the conductor rail. The traction current is returned to the generating station through the running rails. The conductor rail is usually made of high conductivity steel, and the running rails are electrically connected using wire bonds or other devices, to minimize resistance in the electric circuit. Contact shoes can be positioned below, above, or beside the third rail, depending on the type of third rail used; these third rails are referred to as bottom-contact, top-contact, or side-contact, respectively.

The Third

The Third (Japanese: ザ・サード, Hepburn: Za Sādo) is a light novel series, that has also been made into manga and anime series by Ryo Hoshino (星野亮, Hoshino Ryō) and illustrated by Nao Goto (後藤なお, Gotō Nao). The anime series goes under the name The Third: Aoi Hitomi no Shōjo (ザ・サード～蒼い瞳の少女～, Za Sādo - Aoi Hitomi no Shōjo, "The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye"). According to the New York Comic Convention, The Third has been licensed by Kadokawa Pictures U.S.A. and is distributed by Nozomi Entertainment for U.S. release. The anime was released in summer of 2007.

Plot

The series is set many years after a devastating war, which killed 80% of the Earth's population. Earth is being watched by a group of beings known as The Third from a city called Hyperius. They are named after a red jewel-like eye on their forehead (Space Eye) that serves as a port for data access and other types of communication. These beings are committed to protecting the humans from harm. One of the main ways is to protect the humans is to control the amount of "technos" or technology that the humans have access to, known as the "technos taboo". Humans found using forbidden technos could be killed by The Third's best "autoenforcer" an AI robot named Bluebreaker.

The Third Rail

The Third Rail is a U.S.-based online magazine concerning itself with rapid transit topics, including history and current events. It is currently published by The Composing Stack Inc. of New York, a software and internet services company, and the title is a registered trademark of that company.

History

The Third Rail published a single issue as a print magazine dated Summer, 1966 and then published six issues from 1974 to 1976.

In May 1999 The Third Rail was revived as an online magazine. As of April 2007, fifteen online editions have been posted. Publication has been sporadic but all editions are online in 2011. Some of the magazines contain original articles, some contain reprints from the print publication. Rapidtransit.net, which includes The Third Rail was featured in the New York Online column of The New York Times for January 9, 2000.

References

Rail

Rail or rails may refer to:

Rail transport

Science, technology, biology, and medicine

Third

Third or 3rd may refer to:

Numbers

Music

Music theory