Run out of Town Without a Rail

If you're among the three people in the City of Pittsburgh that care about this kind of thing, this news story probably hit you very hard.

Harry Davis & Company announced plans today to auction off the assets of Maglev Inc., a McKeesport-based high-speed rail developer that filed for bankruptcy in July.

The auction is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 6 at the company's former research and development facility, located at 1905 Technology Center in McKeesport...

Maglev Inc., was created in 2003 to develop a high-speed magnetic levitation train that would link the Pittsburgh International Airport to Pittsburgh to Greensburg. But the company failed to secure federal money for the project. A $28 million federal grant announced in 2009 was never released.

Among the items to be auctioned off are industrial equipment, office furniture and intellectual property for the Maglev Positioning and Table Software.

Indeed, this should really come as a surprise to no one; after several starts, a competing "slow" MagLev planned between the Civic Arena and the USX building, and the general disinterest about new transportation ideas both in Western PA and across the Country, the only real surprise is that the company managed to hang on for almost 10 years before exploding, like I would assume, a Maglev train filled with TNT, crushed dreams, and puppies.

OK, maybe not the puppies.

But there's always a bright side: I for, one, am looking forward to scavenging the parts necessary for my own person Hoverboard.

Back in 1989 Robert Zemeckis promised us all Hoverboards by 2015 in Back to the Future II. Twenty-three years later, we're still waiting. What's up with that? Step it up Hasbro!

Anyway, I'm hoping to head down to the Maglev fire sale and pick up some industrial magnets, a pair of Nike Mags, and a slice of dehydrated pizza.

And God help them: the Hoverboard better work on water.