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Terry: The main problem I have with your argument is that you are essentially extoling the social virtues of train travel. Trains are good for the community, good for the nation, build character, teach, etc... That may be true, but it is also true of many other modes we no longer significantly support, like horseback riding and steam paddleboats. Some of them do survive because of what you state. Could long distance trains be good tourism tools? Sure, that's why American Orient Express and Rocky Mountain Railtours and Montana Daylight etc etc are in business, along with dozens of rail excursion and tourist railroad companies. But these social arguments have nothing to do with a transportation system as a whole. They don't address efficiency or ridership or routing or cost effectiveness. People don't fly for social reasons. Some do drive for social reasons, and I guess there might be a few people who think riding a bus is neat and ride it for social reasons. But if it weren't for the ability of these modes to exist at a reasonable cost recapture rate, then these modes too would wither and die. So I am not saying long distance trains are worthless, but I am saying that, at the speeds and with the methodology by which they now run, they are not significant contributions to passenger transportation capacity as a fraction of the national whole. Regards, Alexander
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