You can apply the same principles to your Vanagon but you would get
arrested if not shot first. Ever seen a long freight climbing a long
grade? Makes a diesel Vanagon look like a race car. Ever seen how many
train cars ride on each others butts to get a draft and cheat the wind?
So close they almost touch. Wait a minute, they do touch, a hundred or
more in a line. Oh, and they travel on special roads with very low
resistance between their tires and the road. The special roads are cut
into, through, or around anything that keeps them from anything more
than a gentle grade by auto standards so the power to weight ratio is
kept low and the LONG braking distances are acceptable since they have
few stop signs or stop lights. Put rubber tires on a locomotive, get it
on the interstate from Denver to SF, and then lets talk about its fuel
economy.

Mark

John Rodgers wrote:
> Am I missing something here? Can someone explain this, please?
>
> CSX Railroad claims to move one ton - 2000 lbs - some 436 miles on one
> gallon of fuel! Is 436 mile per gallon - even on a train - a possible
> thing? What am I not seeing?
>
> If it is as it seems on face value, I sure would like to apply the
> principle to my '88GL.
>
> Can someone illuminate this? Please enlighten me.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> John Rodgers
> Clayartist and Moldmaker
> 88'GL VW Bus Driver
> Chelsea, AL
> Http://www.moldhaus.com
>