| Bamboo train transportation performs a key role during | | | | Efficiency is key for this train system. They use the |
| the advancement of societies. Sumerians invented the | | | | existing railroad tracks and spurs to travel. When they |
| wheel in 3500 BC to aid during the movement of hefty | | | | meet an additional bamboo train on the tracks, |
| stone as they designed their temples; Romans created | | | | whoever has the least passengers merely lifts their |
| a vast network of roads across their Empire so | | | | train off the track to let the other one by. They keep a |
| soldiers could march and conquer more efficiently; | | | | razor-sharp ear out for the infrequent freight trains that |
| Egyptians constructed ships to access more markets | | | | come through and when they reach their destination, |
| for trade and later on, canals were created to give | | | | they simply pick the train up and turn it around to head |
| additional passage. In the 1800s, America's own | | | | back. |
| Industrial Revolution was spurred on by expanded | | | | These bamboo trains, or "Norries" as they are known |
| transportation including the Cumberland Road (now | | | | as by locals, offer a link between villages, a way to |
| part of Interstate 40), the creation of the Steamboat, | | | | get produce and animals to the market, a way to |
| the opening of the Erie Canal and the completion of | | | | transport lumber to building sites and a means of |
| the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. | | | | income for several as rich tourists pay up to $2/day to |
| Their selection of materials is an unusual combination | | | | ride them. In Cambodia, that may equal two months |
| from the strong and abundant bamboo that surrounds | | | | wages to most citizens. A local village has even turned |
| them and parts from abandoned military tanks. | | | | into a "little Detroit" and builds up to 10 trains a month |
| Described as a "bamboo slab on wheels," these trains | | | | for sale and use. Not only are they building them, but |
| sprung up within the late 70s where they were | | | | they want to make them more beautiful to help |
| controlled by a series of levers and hand-cast controls. | | | | encourage the tourists to ride them. |
| They have since upgraded to wooden footbrakes and | | | | Necessity is the mother of invention and in a nation |
| small motors that poured into the country, courtesy | | | | that desperately needs (and wants) to rebuild itself, |
| from the United Nations relief effort during the 1980s. | | | | these bamboo trains are an ingenious solution. |