Synthesized answer
The technology that allows for viewing scenery despite rapid transit is the instantaneous photographic process, as applied to opera-glasses and telescopes [1]. This technology enabled the observer to feel that they lost nothing by the rapidity of their passage, which was described as "meteor-like" [1].
Additionally, the cars themselves are designed for optimal viewing. They have large glass port-holes in their concave sides, offering an unobstructed view of the surroundings [1, 2]. This design, combined with the speed of transit, allowed for the observation of sub-marine scenery, including vast numbers of fishes and diverse marine flora [2]. The passages describe a journey through a sub-marine tube with glass sides running parallel to the car windows [2].
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
t command. The cars are indeed marked 70° Fahr., 80° and 100°. One buys one’s seat according to his taste for climate. Many of the travellers, I noticed, booked themselves for the bath department, remaining the entire journey in the Turkish, Russian, vapor or plunge departments--as the various baths attached to this line surpass a Roman voluptuary’s dream of such luxuries. I, however, never having been through the great tunnel before, was naturally more interested in what was passing so swiftly before my eyes. The speed at which we were shot was terrific--five miles to…
ng able to take in all the wonders of ocean-land through large glass port-holes in the concave sides of circular cars. The tube itself, which is of iron, enormously thick, has glass sides, also of huge thickness, running parallel with the windows of the car so that the view is unobstructed. The sensations awakened, therefore, both by the novelty of the situation and by the wonders we passed in review, combined to make the journey thrillingly exciting. We were swept, for instance, past armies of fishes, beautiful to behold in such masses, shimmering in their opalescent armor as they…
of so obsolete an expression that it must entirely fail to convey to you a true idea of the processes of the journey. Had I written--I was safely _shot_ into the country--this would much more graphically describe to you the method of my arrival. You may remember, perhaps, that before starting I found myself in very grave doubt as to which route to take--whether to come by balloon or by tunnel. As the latter route would enable me to enjoy an entirely novel spectacle, that of viewing sub-marine scenery, I chose, and wisely I now know, to come by the Pneumatic Tube Electric Company.…
Your life-long friend and comrade, WOLFGANG. II. DEAR HANNEVIG: The three days’ time which has elapsed since my last letter to you, has been so crowded with a confusion of bewildered impressions produced by this astonishing city and its still more astonishing inhabitants, that I am in doubt whether I shall be able to convey to you any clearer pictures than those which fill the disordered canvas of my own mind. I will, however, strive to reproduce my experiences in the order in which they came to me, and allow you to…
, running on an inclined plane. The balloon rose about a thousand feet into the air, affording a fine view of the city. Great is not a large enough word to describe so vast a city as this city of the Socialists--it has the immensity of an unending plain, and the flatness of one also. In former times, I believe, the original city was an island, on either side of which flowed a river; but as more and more land became necessary new channels for these rivers were dug, and the river-beds filled in, so that now, far as the eye can reach, there is a limitless expanse of roof-tops. As seen…