How many miles to Canterlot?

[woodgazer 71]

Yeah, what the headline says. It seems to me the time it takes to travel to Canterlot varies greatly (even considering the means of transportation; wings, trains, carriages, flying carriages...). Sometimes Ponyville even seems to be visible from Canterlot, and sometimes not. What do you think?

Edited July 14, 2016 by woodgazer

[Sonic5421 423]

I have to assume that it varies from episode to episode whenever the Mane Six travel from Ponyville to Canterlot since the distance and mileage can vary, especially in terms of how they travel there, whether by wings, train, or other means of transportation.

[weesh 690]

With the exception of "MMMyster on the friendship express", the show seemed to make it look like a day trip.

But if we take that episode as fact, then its an overnight trip...maybe of 10-12 hours.  The train seems to be a bit slow.  Like maybe 40 mph?
400-500 miles by track seems like a lot, and makes me want to discount this episode.  By wing, it could be a half or a third as far, but that would still be 130 miles.  That is a long way to fly in an emergency, and yet we see Twilight basically just fall into ponyville when she can barely fly.   

 

The distance seems comfortably undefined and plot-dependant.  

 

---

 

Aside:
I asked an army guy to go to a hotsprings with me and he asked "how far is it?"  when he heard that it was a 60 mile drive, he declined since he was not allowed to be more than 50 miles from the military base on that day due to some duties he had.  I check the route as the crow flies and discovered that the hot springs were only 25 miles away, and he changed his mind and went with me!

[cmarston1 5,959]

I am pretty sure that it varies from episode to episode.

[woodgazer 71]

Aside:

I asked an army guy to go to a hotsprings with me and he asked "how far is it?"  when he heard that it was a 60 mile drive, he declined since he was not allowed to be more than 50 miles from the military base on that day due to some duties he had.  I check the route as the crow flies and discovered that the hot springs were only 25 miles away, and he changed his mind and went with me!

Cool story! I guess most hot springs aren't exactly down a straight road from the nearest base! I'm guessing this is in the US? Where would you find hot springs there?

[weesh 690]

Cool story! I guess most hot springs aren't exactly down a straight road from the nearest base! I'm guessing this is in the US? Where would you find hot springs there?

 

Fort Wainwright and Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks Alaska. 

[El Duderino 879]

The train seems to be a bit slow.  Like maybe 40 mph?

Steam engine train speeds vary a lot. Really fast ones could reach up to 60 mph, but those were extremely well maintained short tracks. Many trains would only go about 20-30 mph. We don't know how fast the train going to Canterlot is. Let's assume that the Canterlot train is somewhere in the middle, because it seems like it would be well maintained, but is a longer track and probably isn't easy to maintain, so probably about 30-40 mph. We also need to take into account that the train has go travel up a mountain. That would slow the speed and the train would have to wind around the mountain, which would add time to the trip. Steam trains also have to stop to refill water often, so lets add another hour to the trip to compensate for that. Other than that, lets assume the train doesn't make any other stops or detours.

 

Considering all this and the show normally depicts the trip as a day trip (lets assume 10-15 hours), Canterlot could be anywhere between about 330-640 miles away from Ponyville. That is a vary large range, so I'll add one more factor to try to narrow that. They typically depict Canterlot as being visible from Ponyville. In ideal conditions you can  only see a about 20 miles because of the atmosphere and curvature of the earth. However, when looking at something at the top of a mountain, or from the top of a mountain, the curvature of the earth is less of a factor and you can see for a couple hundred miles. Now, this still falls below the minimum distance I figured out (330 miles), but we could also assume that because Equestria is not Earth and therefore would probably have different conditions for visibility, we can extend the distance a little bit. Because of that, I would place the distance between Canterlot and Ponyville on the low end of the range I decided on. 

So, I would deduct that the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot would be about 330-400 miles (about 531-643 km).

 

But in Equestria all of that could be wrong because... magic

Edited July 15, 2016 by El Duderino

[woodgazer 71]

magic

YOU are! That was an awesome calculation! How did you acquire all this knowledge on trains and steam engines?

[El Duderino 879]

YOU are! That was an awesome calculation! How did you acquire all this knowledge on trains and steam engines?

A combination of google and basic knowledge of how locomotives work. I have way too much time on my hands, and I also have a weird talent for remembering useless facts. My sister also works on a steam engine and like to talk about them. 

[Daring_Do 552]

A couple recent comics issues have actually had signposts that gave mile distances to different places. It's been interesting that they'd actually tell us this stuff (I wonder if there was a reason the comics didn't do that before; Maybe Hasbro is only just letting them?)

 

Any case, Canterlot seems to be 14 miles from Ponyville.

Yeah, what the headline says. It seems to me the time it takes to travel to Canterlot varies greatly (even considering the means of transportation; wings, trains, carriages, flying carriages...). Sometimes Ponyville even seems to be visible from Canterlot, and sometimes not. What do you think?

Using quote function so you get sent a notification (in case you've left the thread). See my post above. 14 miles, according to the comics.

[El Duderino 879]

A couple recent comics issues have actually had signposts that gave mile distances to different places. It's been interesting that they'd actually tell us this stuff (I wonder if there was a reason the comics didn't do that before; Maybe Hasbro is only just letting them?)

 

Any case, Canterlot seems to be 14 miles from Ponyville.

Using quote function so you get sent a notification (in case you've left the thread). See my post above. 14 miles, according to the comics.

Huh. I was way off lol. Well either the writers don't care about it in the show, or the train is REALLY slow because they do seem to depict it as a day or overnight ride.

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

Due to it being visible in ponyville, no more than 25 or so miles. It is probably much closer, around 5 - 15 or so.

 

 

As seen from the image, it isn't that far from what it looks, but take into account how large Canterlot is, I'd say about 15 at least.

 

As for the train in MMMystery Express, it might have taken a much longer route. Or it is realllly slow

Edited July 16, 2016 by Namae

[ph00tbag 108]

Keep in mind, Canterlot is several hundred feet up the side of a mountain. A train's path to a mountain location like Canterlot will be lengthened by the fact that it can only rise so much per distance traveled. The fact that it winds around the Canterhorn will lower the grade, since the power a locomotive needs to overcome a slope is greater if the slope is found on a curved length of track.

 

The absolute maximum grade allowed by the US in the heyday of steam was a 2.2% grade. That is to say for every 100 ft. traveled horizontally, the train rose 2.2 feet. This value, obviously, would be reduced as the train curves around the side of the mountain. Tunnels are also used, and with their poorer airflow, the power of the locomotive is reduced, again, requiring a lower grade. Let's assume an average grade moving up the Canterhorn as 1.2%.

 

The Canter Range looks a lot like the mountains in the Yosemite area in the western US. Around there, you can find altitudes ranging from 600 ft to over 4000. El Capitan kinda reminds me of the Canterhorn, and it's 3000 ft. from the bass to the summit. Canterlot is about halfway up the Canterhorn, so for the sake of argument, let's estimate Canterlot's altitude at around 1500 ft. This means that from the base of the Canterhorn, we can expect the Friendship Express to travel an extra 68,182 horizontal feet, and since it's a grade that rises 1500 feet, we're actually dealing with a total distance of around 68,198 feet, which is around 13 miles. If we put the Canterhorn as being about 15 miles from Ponyville, per Namae's estimate, then we've got a 28 mile trip. Let's round that up to 30, since by all rights, 1.2% is probably a high-ball estimate for the average grade, anyway.

 

The first half of the trip should actually go by pretty quick, assuming no stops. Maybe 45 minutes. An hour tops. The trip up the Canterhorn will be slow going. But even if we're looking at an average speed of 10 mph, the train should make the last 15 miles in about an hour and a half. Add another hour for water refills, per Duderino's post, and honestly, this trip should not take any longer than four hours. MMMystery Abord the Friendship Express was clearly dealing with some advance time warping on the Starlight Glimmer level.

Flying to Canterlot won't have any of these limitations. Going about fifteen miles at a flight speed of roughly 30 mph, which is about how fast the average Golden Eagle flies, gets you to Canterlot in about half an hour (apparently eider ducks can hit a cruising speed over 45 mph, which would get them there in under 20 minutes). If the flier really pushed themselves, hitting around 60 mph, then a 15 minute trip isn't out of the question. RD could make the flight in seconds going at supersonic speeds. That girl's broken. Getting back would be even quicker, because gravity would help out a bunch.

Edited July 16, 2016 by ph00tbag

[woodgazer 71]

Any case, Canterlot seems to be 14 miles from Ponyville.

14 miles! Did it really say miles? And if so, how can we be sure it's the international mile, with so many other types of miles existing? "Common" mile=1.6 km, Welsh mile=6.2 km, Prussian mile=7.5 km, Scandinavian mile=10 km, geographical mile=¹⁄₁₅°=7.4 km...

 

 

this trip should not take any longer than four hours. MMMystery Abord the Friendship Express was clearly dealing with some advance time warping on the Starlight Glimmer level.

Would you science that, too???

Oh. Also, you're brilliant!

[Daring_Do 552]

14 miles! Did it really say miles? And if so, how can we be sure it's the international mile, with so many other types of miles existing? "Common" mile=1.6 km, Welsh mile=6.2 km, Prussian mile=7.5 km, Scandinavian mile=10 km, geographical mile=¹⁄₁₅°=7.4 km...

 

 

Would you science that, too???

Oh. Also, you're brilliant!

Yeah, it said miles. And I doubt they were thinking of any of those more obscure types of mile when they wrote it.

[HighLunarStudios 100]

it depends on by train, pegasi, walking or teleportation

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

@El Duderino Speaking as a fellow railfan, Equestria's railroads seem relatively primitive. We've never seen a locomotive larger than a 4-4-0, a locomotive that was most popular from around 1840 to 1880, when it was supplanted by larger, faster types like the 2-6-0 and 4-6-0. We've also never seen an Equestrian rail line with multiple tracks or ballast. Equestria's railroad network seems to be on par with American railroads of the Antebellum Period. Average train speed in that period was around 15-20 mph or so. With that in mind, the distance between Canterlot and Ponyville is probably only around 100 miles when you factor in stops for fuel or water, as well as the fact the railroad line from Canterlot to Ponyville is probably longer than 100 miles due to its topography.

 

Back when I lived in New York, I used to visit relatives in Montauk on a regular basis. I distinctly remember being able to see the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building from Montauk on a clear day. The distance between Montauk and Manhattan is roughly 110 miles. Thus, the ability of Ponyvillians to see Celestia's Castle from Ponyville doesn't seem too farfetched to me if the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot is only around 100 miles or so.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Silvestra Spooner