Reply to "Is it time for a new way to control and power our trains?"

Those very early trains built by JLC used battery power, but the batteries were external from the train and still connected to the track. In the days before rural electrification, many household things were powered by a setup of batteries and a small generator kept in the basement or a shed outside the house -- battery power is far from new, but the high power density of modern batteries is largely a 21st century development.