Wikipedia
Michelines were a series of rubber-tyred trains developed in France in the 1930s by various rail companies and rubber-tyre manufacturer Michelin. Some Michelines were built in the United States by the Budd Company.
Most Michelines were self-propelled, but a number of locomotive-hauled trainsets were also produced.
Michelines offered unprecedented ride smoothness, but they soon proved to be problematic because the low load that the wheels could bear limited railcar sizes and demanded a high number of tyres (up to 20) per car. Furthermore, they were subject to flat tyres, unlike cars with steel wheels.
Eventually, the Michelines gave way to rubber-tyred metros, pioneered by the RATP (Paris transit authority) which introduced them for their superior acceleration characteristics, in order to increase the capacity of their subway lines.
However, as time went by, the extra complexity of rubber-tyred rolling stock meant that they were superseded by conventional steel-wheel rolling stock.
Micheline is a female given name and it may refer to:
- Micheline Bernardini (born 1927), French dancer
- Micheline Borghs (born 1956), Belgian fencer
- Micheline Calmy-Rey (born 1945), Swiss politician
- Micheline Lanctôt (born 1947), Canadian actress
- Micheline Lannoy (born 1925), Belgian pair skater
- Micheline Marchildon (born 1974), Canadian actress
- Micheline Aharonian Marcom (born 1968), American novelist
- Micheline Montreuil, Canadian lawyer and politician
- Micheline Presle (born 1922), French actress
- Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux (1938–1985), Canadian composer
Micheline may refer to :
- Micheline, a series of rubber-tyred trains developed in France in the 1930s by various rail companies and rubber-tyre manufacturer Michelin