Slo-Trans
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Slo-Trans is a fictional engine in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.
[edit] The Engine
The engine is frequently mentioned as being heard, such as in some castles, and is mentioned at one of the base stations of the Beam of the Bear (Shardik). It is implied that the sound of the engine was both recognizable and persistent over a distance.
The sounds of Slo-Trans engines can be heard all over All-World and sometimes in visions therein. The only positively confirmed functioning engine was found in the last surviving monorail, Blaine the Mono (see The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass). As he explains, Slo-Trans technology was nearly immortal, expected to last several million years. In his case, and possibly due to the degradation of the entire world, the engines were beginning to falter after only a few thousand years (thus dating the end of his creators civilization). His information is suspect as he is clearly deranged and local variations in degradation make any scientific assumptions suspect. Blaine was one of two monorails known to exist (by the Ka-tet) that were stationed in the city of Lud. An unnamed mono is mentioned in Black House as well, after Jack rescues Tyler Marshal. As no other Slo-Trans engines in the series appeared to be put to any kind of practical use after Blaine's suicide, it is clear that the machines' longevity simply allows them to outlive their usefulness.
The Slo-Trans engine was designed by North Central Positronics, a technology company seeking to find means to replace immortal magical phenomenon with quantifiable technological substitutes, thus leading to much of the world's current strife. Among other things, these very powerful engines were used to rapidly transport passengers over long distances, and were powered by an advanced battery or capacitor that lasted between 4 and 6 hours at full output in Blaine's case.
[edit] Charging the Batteries/Capacitors
If the destination was too far away that a single charge would not last the whole trip, the engine could make a pit stop and recharge. During the eight hour trip between Lud and Topeka, Blaine had to make one such stop.
The engines were initially charged in its home station before leaving. The only pit stop mentioned in The Waste Lands and shown in Wizard and Glass was located at a waterfall, The Falls of the Hounds, which provided the train with power. However, it is expected that there were many other places like this, with varying sources that supplied power. It is hinted that Slo-Trans engines can draw power directly from the Beams; this could imply that Slo-Trans technology is partially magical in nature, or that the engine is merely designed to work on the same power source that the Great Old Ones used to power the Beams when they replaced magic with technology.
