Burllington Northern, Santa Fe, they’re now oil companies living off the mineral estates they were given by the government, supposedly to run railroads, and maintain them, in perpetuity, but they just keep pulling track instead.
The impression that I have acquired over the years of those who try to attract the youth market is that they inevitably fail, lose the good thing they had, and/or look foolish.
It should be obvious that the loop should be between stations, not at the station, where the train is slowing down and stopping. Also, based on my calculations, the loop would need to be 897 feet in diameter (minimal vertical articulation at the couplings) and the train would need to be going 87.6 miles per hour to maintain sufficient centripetal force to prevent the cars from falling off the track.
I agree and ships with convenient routes. Not all the Florida ships to the Mediterranean and New York ships to Northern Europe.
Until Katrina ripped up the Gulf Coast, you could get on a train in Florida and go all the way to Los Angeles along a southern route – no switching trains. CSX [freight] must have rebuilt the tracks (in that area) but passenger trains no longer use them or can’t afford them.
Now you leave Florida, switch trains at Wash DC, go to Chicago, switch to a train to New Orleans, where you can finally catch the original train[route] and proceed west from there to LA – adding many more days to the route and not a desirable route in the middle of winter.
The UP didn’t buy the C&NW until it went broke in1995.AT&T once owned a railroad, the Manufacturers Junction, with less than 2 miles of track in Cicero Illinois & a bit in Chicago. It served the now gone, gigantic Hawthorne Works, where all of AT&T’s phones & switchboards were once made.
I rode a long ride train with my two small kids. We got a sleeper car that could handle me and two very small children, and it was fairly comfortable.
But it cost ALMOST as much for the tickets as plane tickets would have. And besides having very incovient times (leave at 10 at night), running hours late, and hard to sleep when you’re stopping every few hours — with the train it makes me go to a station in a bad part of town with no way to get a car (they didn’t even have taxis stopping there) so if we didn’t have family we were vistiting it would have been COMPLEATLY unworkable.
paulsub63 over 9 years ago
Rail travel might be slow … but you do get to see places. Need MORE subsidies, and more time to travel.
Dtroutma over 9 years ago
Burllington Northern, Santa Fe, they’re now oil companies living off the mineral estates they were given by the government, supposedly to run railroads, and maintain them, in perpetuity, but they just keep pulling track instead.
The Life I Draw Upon over 9 years ago
The impression that I have acquired over the years of those who try to attract the youth market is that they inevitably fail, lose the good thing they had, and/or look foolish.
Observer fo Irony over 9 years ago
Leave it to a government subsidy to create its own loop hole.
pelican47 over 9 years ago
Trains will really need a jackrabbit start to make this work.
Hardthought over 9 years ago
Amtrak epitomizes Ronald Reagan’s slam against government. " If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it."
dabugger over 9 years ago
Little too loopy?
ladylagomorph76 over 9 years ago
Amtrak station: The place where the homeless hang out,
richard over 9 years ago
It should be obvious that the loop should be between stations, not at the station, where the train is slowing down and stopping. Also, based on my calculations, the loop would need to be 897 feet in diameter (minimal vertical articulation at the couplings) and the train would need to be going 87.6 miles per hour to maintain sufficient centripetal force to prevent the cars from falling off the track.
Rose Madder Premium Member over 9 years ago
I agree and ships with convenient routes. Not all the Florida ships to the Mediterranean and New York ships to Northern Europe.
Until Katrina ripped up the Gulf Coast, you could get on a train in Florida and go all the way to Los Angeles along a southern route – no switching trains. CSX [freight] must have rebuilt the tracks (in that area) but passenger trains no longer use them or can’t afford them.
Now you leave Florida, switch trains at Wash DC, go to Chicago, switch to a train to New Orleans, where you can finally catch the original train[route] and proceed west from there to LA – adding many more days to the route and not a desirable route in the middle of winter.
krcaddis over 9 years ago
How about a mobius strip? = TIme travel?
strictures over 9 years ago
The UP didn’t buy the C&NW until it went broke in1995.AT&T once owned a railroad, the Manufacturers Junction, with less than 2 miles of track in Cicero Illinois & a bit in Chicago. It served the now gone, gigantic Hawthorne Works, where all of AT&T’s phones & switchboards were once made.
water_moon over 9 years ago
I rode a long ride train with my two small kids. We got a sleeper car that could handle me and two very small children, and it was fairly comfortable.
But it cost ALMOST as much for the tickets as plane tickets would have. And besides having very incovient times (leave at 10 at night), running hours late, and hard to sleep when you’re stopping every few hours — with the train it makes me go to a station in a bad part of town with no way to get a car (they didn’t even have taxis stopping there) so if we didn’t have family we were vistiting it would have been COMPLEATLY unworkable.