Railroading is not dead

[arkansasrailfan]

Yesterday in Pre-algebra, a classmate( not mocking classmate)said that trains would be gone in 20 years. I just laughed at him and said he doesn't know squat about trains and that business is booming. That didn't work. Then I said,"Just you wait in twenty years, nobody will care about trains , except a small bunch of people, myself included."He said,"You're on."(He's going to "play for the Cardinals", and if that doesn't work he'll work for Stepthen Inc. as broker, that shows he not going to interact with trains.)

[PBenham]

Ignorance is just that.

[arkansasrailfan]

That's funny:-)

[AntonioFP45]

Wyoming,

You have to consider that "back in the day" before the 1950s, railroads kept a high profile with the public. School field trips to railroad shops or busy passenger stations were common.  A train trip for a girl or boy was often an exciting event to look forward to.    Radio and television ads popped up regularly touting the pleasntries of train travel.   

Today, our freight railroads generally keep "a low profile".  We have Amtrak, but it pales in comparison to the passenger rail network of the 1950s.  Other than in large cities, many people encounter the railroads at grade crossings where they often see grafitti laden railroad cars. Even with shiny new locomotives a grafitti covered train is often a negative view for a lot of people, including railfans.   But, even flying on an airplane has lost a lot of its 1960s-70s glamour. Young people today seem to look more forward to riding a gasoline-drinking SUV equipped with entertainment gadgets. 

Computers, video games, and fighter jets are what capture many young people's attention today. So hence the partial lack of excitement regarding railroads by many young people today.  Railroad related tv and radio commercials, though growing slightly in number, are still very far and few in between.  I haven't seen an Amtrak tv commercial in at least 2 years, sad to say, even though Amtrak ridership is up. So that's likely why your classmate has the view you heard.  

Don't be discouraged. There are still young people interested in railfanning and model trains. They're thrilled by the sound of a Nathan horn, hearing EMD locomotive turbochargers, or chugging GE diesels.  You're correct, even with the economic ups and downs the large railroads are indeed booming. Union Pacific will need to hire several thousand employees over the next 5 years because of the large number expected to retire.

Just show your classmate an issue of TRAINS magazine. Point out the photos of intermodal trains and let him know that it's very likely that 40 to 50% of the items in his house or apartment likely spent some time in a container that was on a hot shot intermodal. 

  

[J. Edgar]

 i have copies of the AAR's 1950's teachers guide and student handbook.....funny thing is if you read old ( 1950's ) Trains and other publications the naysayers back then predicted railroads would be nothing but land locked barge systems hauling grain and coal.....guess they were wrong too.....

[route_rock]

  I had a neighbor lady when I was 14 say that the railroads were going to be gone in 5 years. Fast forward to today and see me working at a railroad. I agree a lot of people dont see railroads daily,or see them as they were. I blame the Railroads PR dept and the Brotherhoods. I think the UTU or BLE-T should start a public education for not only kids but adults as well. Heck a lot of people I meet love to talk trains once they find out my job.

[steamfanatic]

I went to Latrobe Pa  yesterday which is on the old Pennsy mainline, now NS, and saw six trains in less than one hour.  It doesn't seem very dead to me.  Also on the encouraging side, there were two families with kids checking out the action.  Future railfans.

[route_rock]

  When I was running to KC we would see a family that would always be out on the weekends. They had to hike like a mile or better to get to the location they were but always waved and looked like they were having a bal.

[Trainmaster.Curt]

Obviously this guy has no sense of history or knowledge of railway's. They will always be around now, trucks are the major polluters, and they will change over the next 10 years.

[tomikawaTT]

If railroads are going to disappear, the BNSF main line from Belen, NM, to Kingman, AZ, will probably be one of the last to go.  Driving parallel to it (but not always close) I got the impression that the stackers, pigs and general freights were running on each other's yellows!  Good thing it's all double track.

Ask the same kid if he thinks that ocean-going shipping is down because the only passenger ships around are cruise liners.  A single modern container ship can carry as much as an entire WWII convoy, and travels at twice the speed.  Not to mention that its port turnaround time is measured in hours, not days!

Back when the Y6 was the king of the coal haulers, the N&W considered 6,000 tons to be a good size for a coal drag.  Three of them would equal one PRB train, and both BNSF and UP had to triple-track their powder river connections to handle the traffic!

Chuck

[DMUinCT]

Easy, tell him to look at "The Dow Transportation Averages".  The four most profitable companies are all railroads with UPS in fifth.

[SSW9389]

That's why Berkshire Hathaway was putting Billion$ into rail stocks earlier this year. Your acquaintence is going to be a stock broker? He needs to learn to study what is right in front of him.

[Anonymous]

I could hardly imagine the lives without trains and railways. It would be a disaster