The Undersea Tube

The Undersea Tube

By

2
(3 Reviews)
The Undersea Tube by L. Taylor Hansen

Published:

1929

Pages:

20

Downloads:

1,013

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The Undersea Tube

By

2
(3 Reviews)

Book Excerpt

s only a matter of time?"

"Yes, and I have been informed by one expert that the old volcanic activity is not dead either."

"So that is what has stolen away your laugh?"

"Well I am one of the engineers--and they won't suspend the service."

"Fate has played an ugly trick on you, Dutch, and through your own dreams too. However, you have made me decide to go by the Tube."

He took his pipe out of his mouth and stared at me.

"Sooner or later the Tube will be through, and I have never been across. Nothing risked--a dull life. Mine has been altogether too dull. I am now most certainly going by the Tube."

A bit of the old fire lit up his eyes.

"Same old Bob," he grunted as I rose, and then he grasped my hand with a grin.

"Good luck, my boy, on your journey, and may old Vulcan be out on a vacation when you pass his door."

Thus we said good-by. I did not know then that I would never see him again--that he also took the train that night in order to mak

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The Liverpool to New York undersea tube is basically a large pneumatic tube. Built at the end of the 20th century, it has been up and running for three years when one of the tube's engineers confides to a friend that it is not safe. The friend is leaving for Europe in the tube the next day. When disaster strikes, there is only one survivor to tell the story.
No women were harmed in the making of the story, as the only woman in it is already dead and crumbles to dust.
An account of the rescue of the survivor would have been interesting, but it just happens with no details.
The story is so old and quaint that it creaks.
(1929) Sci-fi (Undersea tube train) / Short Story (Magazine article)


From Amazing Stories Nov 1929.


R: * * *


Plot bullets

A tube, for train transportation, is constructed under the Atlantic Ocean.
There are problems, but the tube is finished.
There are ominous signs of further dangers, but they are ignored.
All this, and what else, can be revealed by the construction and travel in, 'The Undersea Tube'.

Meh. It's so short, you could probably read it during television commercials, but you won't really take anything away from it. At best, it's an interesting study in early 20th century engineering and safety issues; it also has an earlier prediction of the Channel Tunnel, while certainly not the earliest, still interesting in that regards.