Isambard Brunel, one of history’s great engineers, tried to make one in the 1800s.
The project failed due to materials science limits of the day (leather seals for high vacuum)
So he went back to building normal, non-silly railways.
So it’s fair to say “maybe we didn’t have the technology 150 years ago” but that also means you know exactly what mistakes to not repeat. Of course, this assumes a good-faith operation, not a placebo promised to keep people from demanding normal, non-silly railways in thr first place.
Isambard Brunel, one of history’s great engineers, tried to make one in the 1800s.
The project failed due to materials science limits of the day (leather seals for high vacuum)
So he went back to building normal, non-silly railways.
So it’s fair to say “maybe we didn’t have the technology 150 years ago” but that also means you know exactly what mistakes to not repeat. Of course, this assumes a good-faith operation, not a placebo promised to keep people from demanding normal, non-silly railways in thr first place.
Non-physicists when they try to assume a vacuum: