Trains Talk - All Comments

re: An insomniac’s nighttime adventure

marcrail — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:46:48 GMT

The North End sub causes insomnia

re: An insomniac’s nighttime adventure

D-Halv — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:54:48 GMT

There's something about night time railfanning. The tranquility is profound, and the train's presence is felt ten-fold.

If you haven't done it, give it a try!

Finding shades of the past on the rails of the West

Trains Talk — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:39:07 GMT

On Tuesday morning, the shop door at the Nevada State Railroad Museum lifted and a century-old ghost

re: A radical idea: Take the lead out of Amtrak!

oltmannd — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:27:26 GMT

Amtrak needs to remove some of their own "lead", too. Check the schedule dwell at Washington DC Union Station for the engine change. It's 25 - 40 minutes! I can understand keeping some slop in the northbound schedules, but this is for southbounds, most of which originate in NY Penn. Not all that long ago, Amtrak used to manage the AEM7 to F40 swap at New Haven in 5 to 10 minutes. What gives?

re: A radical idea: Take the lead out of Amtrak!

craig4 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:55:30 GMT

I tend to agree with Falcon48 on long distance service. Shorter routes would tend to have more car and air competition.. thus trip time is probably more critical when choosing how to travel.

re: Spotting roundhouses from satellite images

efennell — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:42:43 GMT

My old neighborhood in Troy, New York had a Boston and Main roundhouse south of Middleburgh Street, between 7th and 8th Streets. Type in Trojan Electric Supply, 15 Middleburgh St. Troy, New York. You can't miss the roundhouse right below it.

re: Don Phillips reflects on Trains-Amtrak town hall meeting

davewi — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:16:16 GMT

Forget about photos. The question I have is that time and again we are told the states have to come up with funding for service. Yet how much does MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT pay for its excellent Acela and other northeast corridor service?

re: Don Phillips reflects on Trains-Amtrak town hall meeting

L&M RR — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:33:57 GMT

Taxpaying photographers are indirectly shareholders in Amtrak, and therefore fully entitled to shoot pictures of anything there they choose. Amtrak personnel, the Chairman included, are vulnerable to stockholder litigation if their rights as stockholders are breached. Now, which one of them will step up and file suit against the Chairman and his ill-advised "regulations"???

re: The commuter train that leaves Acelas in the dust

cordon — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:06:59 GMT

My GPS showed 124 MPH on an Amtrak Regional between BWI and Washington on a trip a few years ago. It's always impressive.

re: The commuter train that keeps up with Acelas

sprucemountain30 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:27:27 GMT

Commuting between DC and Baltimore at 125 mph is really impressive, but it's actually not the only "fastest commuter train in the world". The "Nürnberg-München-Express" in Germany, a true commuter train despite its intercity-train-like name, runs also at 125 mph - but here, the 125 zone is 48 miles long! It goes from Feucht near Nuremberg to Ingolstadt (halfway between Munich and Nuremberg). There are two intermediate stops (Allersberg and Kinding), but not all of the commuter trains call there. The ROW is shared with ICE high-speed trains, running between Ingolstadt and Nuremberg at 186 mph!

re: The commuter train that keeps up with Acelas

gaspeamtrak — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:42:45 GMT

WOW!

I will have to do this trip both ways! Thanks Fred for letting us know about this trip

re: Don Phillips reflects on Trains-Amtrak town hall meeting

jimnorton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:10:05 GMT

Never understood the threat of photographers. You take any Amtrak train and park it for a couple of days in many regions of this country and it will plastered end to end in graffiti.

There is the threat. Those having trackside, hands on access to the property. Not those standing in public on a platform with a camera!

An amazing and continually ignored disconnect when it comes to rail security.

re: Railfans as seen from the locomotive cab

jimnorton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:49:44 GMT

Railroading is the only industry which has a group of supporters unlike any other. We, as supporters, watch the property, we report trespassing and crime, we bring coffee to the crew in the siding and even give the occasional crewman a ride from a mile back to the comfort of the locomotive...to name a few.

Yet, only one Class I seems to realize the contribution supporters and that is BNSF and its Citizen Security program. More of these programs need to be in place. The loyalty of the rail supporters needs to be addressed.

Foamers? Never understood that. Railroading in the general public's mind is an industry in decline. Every thing moves by truck is the mindset. The industry needs to be thankful for its rare legion of fans. At least we are noticing the return of railroading!

re: Don Phillips reflects on Trains-Amtrak town hall meeting

x-CN Ken — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:26:38 GMT

Yes Amtrak deserves a small clap for being present at this town hall meeting. Apart from their attitude about some of 'us' enthusiasts in the audience. And the conflicting answers they gave.

Having just retired as an engineer there is one partial explanation. As far as their imposed policy on photography goes. The majority of the operating empIoyees I work with are just PARANOID about cameras. Often that panic transends it' s way up to management.

Fortunately here in Canada it has not reached that level of absudtity......yet.

Ken W.

re: A radical idea: Take the lead out of Amtrak!

Falcon48 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:24:57 GMT

Let's look at this for a moment from the standpoint of the customer that's riding long distance trains, not railfans longing for a return to the passenger trains of yore. This is not a time sensitive market. Most of today's long distance train passengers aren't taking the train to get from their origin to their destination in the least possible time - if that were their goal, they would take a plane rather than a train. As long as the train is "on time", it doesn't matter whether the trip takes two or three hours longer than it did in 1991 (or whenever). There's no reason to spend great gobs of money on capital improvements or other measures to increase overall long distance train speeds by a few hours in this situation. The important thing is meeting the published schedule.