Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 43 Kinetic Energy Recovery
The stench of decay, mixed with the smell of blood, lingered in the carriage and wafted out from overhead.

Su Huan raised his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sunlight. "How does evolution feel?"

Liang Kuan subconsciously touched his left shoulder. "I've gained some new knowledge. I'm a 'Defender,' and my current skills are level 1 'Combat Factor' and level 1 'Shield Mastery.'"

Su Huan was about to nod when he realized what was happening and raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Two skills? You've used a shield, a melee weapon, before?"

"My uncle taught me some usage skills when I was a child, but I've almost forgotten them all."

"No wonder……"

Su Huan narrowed his eyes, but in that case, Liang Kuan's career path would have to be re-planned.

He originally intended to assign Liang Kuan a job like "firepower expert" or "gun master".

I never expected him to be an unpopular shield warrior.

The growth potential of cold weapons is actually higher in the later stages.

However, it was too early for that. Su Huan walked towards the front carriage, with Liang Kuan following behind, carrying the somewhat deformed sword and shield.

"By the way, is there a device similar to a handbrake on the train?" Su Huan asked casually as he melted the lock cylinder leading to the next carriage with high temperature and pushed open the door.

Liang Kuan paused for a moment, “Of course, such a big vehicle must have a braking device. Like our old one, it’s usually next to the wheels, and there’s one at the bottom of each compartment. You have to operate them one by one. I’m afraid that if there’s an accident, I won’t be able to do it in time, so I never lock them.”

The carriage was clean, but judging from the scattered suitcases, it seemed that people had run out when the accident happened.

Su Huan examined the train's interior structure. "What about this hydrogen-powered train?"

"It should be an air spring parking brake, or something like that. I don't know the specific principle, but most high-speed trains are like that. After depressurization, it locks up."

Liang Kuan gave a somewhat uncertain answer.

Su Huan tried to channel energy directly into the engine of the train beneath his feet, but it didn't work. The train seemed to be firmly nailed to the ground.

This means that every time we encounter a train blocking the track, we have to get off and move it away, or derail it.

It cannot be directly propelled by energy.

It's very troublesome.

As the two walked forward, inspecting the damage to the hydrogen-powered train, Liang Kuan explained some basic train knowledge to him.

By the time Su Huan reached the driver's cab, he had a basic understanding of the train beneath his feet.

The hydrogen-powered carriage is 34.8m long, 2.7m wide, and 4.28m high, with an interior height of 2.1m. It is longer and narrower than the old-fashioned green carriage, and shorter than the old-style carriage equipped with air conditioning.

As for the two points he is most concerned about.

First, can it be powered by energy? Okay.

Second, does it have a kinetic energy carriage? No.

but--

The power system of this train adopts a distributed design, with fuel cells and lithium batteries on the roof and chassis of each carriage, and two carriages sharing one power system.

In other words, each pair of carriages can be considered as an independent train.

There are a total of twelve carriages under his feet. After removing the four that were too badly damaged, Su Huan can get a total of eight carriages.

It's equivalent to four locomotives that can operate independently.

Disassemble them all and stuff them into existing armed trains, and the power shortage problem will be solved.

Although he couldn't get his hands on hydrogen energy, hydrogen-powered trains have kinetic energy recovery capabilities, which can convert kinetic energy into electrical energy and store it in batteries. They can simply be attached to the train and run normally.

With these eight carriages, the train's electricity and fuel consumption can be further reduced.

Su Huan only saw himself as the core energy source for the later stages of the train.

But I no longer really see myself as a power bank.

The train will run out of power once it leaves its own station, that won't do.

As for how to arrange it, there definitely needs to be a set at the rear of the car, so that reversing won't be so slow, and you can run faster if something happens.

One more car can be added in front of the dining car and the sightseeing car, but these cars must be added in twos, they cannot be separated. Moreover, the dining car currently serves as a meeting room for the group, and a large number of people gather there, so it cannot be placed too far back.

If you're going to add one, add it to the back of the sightseeing carriage.

That would mean moving carriage number 3, which is his private space, to the front.

After considering it carefully, Su Huan said, "Let's start the train now. Break down the hydrogen train and the armed train into two separate cars: the locomotive, car number 3, the dining car, the sightseeing car, two hydrogen train cars, a food storage car, and a baggage car. Move all the armed cars to the back."

"Of the remaining six quarters, four will be placed at the end, and you can decide how to arrange the other two."

The luggage compartment is about the same size as the passenger compartment, but it has no windows, only some ventilation openings, and an additional double door that is about 2.5 meters wide and 2.2 meters high.

It was placed behind the food storage compartment, firstly to separate passengers, and secondly to provide Yu Jing with a workspace.

There will be more and more places that require mechanical modifications in the future.

Constantly banging and tinkering in your room isn't a good solution.

Liang Kuan rubbed his stubble. "There are quite a lot of rails, enough to keep things running, but it would take me a lot of time to do it all by myself."

"Just arrange the carriages for me within today!"

"clear."

……

After assessing their location, which was about three kilometers from the South Station, the two drove the hydrogen-powered train back.

Qi Xiaoba built a large steel plate about ten meters behind the armed train to cut off the railway and prevent sudden zombie hordes.

Some of the workers behind were also lowered down, and Yu Jing was directing them to clean the front of the vehicle and remove the two-and-a-half-meter-long butcher from the ram.

As the train reversed, everyone stopped what they were doing and crouched warily beside the train door.

Su Huan crawled out of the back carriage and jumped to the ground.

He glanced at the skullcutter that the butcher was carrying.

The "Pan-Energy Perception" fluctuated slightly, only sensing a faint residual pan-energy within the zombie corpse.

It must have been dead for too long, resulting in severe loss of its crystalline properties, making it impossible to extract crystals.

Otherwise, we could earn one more.

Looking up, he saw Yu Jing walking over carrying a sniper crossbow and asked, "How was the water tank designed?"

"I plan to use a modular design so that even if the carriages are swapped, the water purifier can be connected to every water tank, and each carriage will have its own high-pressure water gun."

Su Huan's eyes lit up slightly. "Modular, independent high-pressure water guns, that's a good idea. How long will it take to implement?"

Yu Jing picked up her notebook and started writing and drawing, then frowned and said, "The design isn't complicated, but the high-pressure nozzle is a real pain. It takes Xiao Ba a long time to make one."

"Don't worry about the sprinklers for now. Liang Kuan will rearrange the carriages later. Just pre-set the water pipes inside the first few carriages."

Su Huan thought for a moment and then said.

There may not be suitable water guns elsewhere, but fire trucks definitely have them, and they are absolutely powerful.

Yu Jing looked up at the high-tech hydrogen-powered train and asked, "Should the carriages be rearranged?"

“Yes, we’ve also arranged a separate workshop for you. You’ll move to…” Su Huan counted on his fingers, “It’ll still be carriage number 4. Your original armored carriages will be moved to the back. From now on, the first ten carriages will all be our own.”

"The materials used in the new carriages don't seem to be very impact-resistant."

Su Huan rubbed his temples and said solemnly, "They're made of lightweight aluminum alloy, so the most important thing for you and Xiao Ba today is to re-attach steel plates to these two carriages."

"And it must not affect its airtight and moisture-proof properties."

(End of this chapter)