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I've been toying with writing editorials to the paper on this same subject for some time now. But for now I think this forum will do. I think there's way too many people out there that forget the very fundamentals of economics when it comes to fuel. Supply vs Demand. If you use more, the price will go up. If you use less, the price will go down. I specifically remember hearing a bit on the radio not too long ago. A guy called in and basically stuck up for the big SUV's because "he could afford it". He said that his salary was over 6 figures a year and that he had no problem filling up his Escalade. What killed me was the comment he made basically stating that "See what a higher education can afford you to do?" That struck a nerve in me because this moron was only painting a self portrait of his stupidity. If that higher education had taught him anything it'd be that just because he has the money to afford to be able to drive a gas-guzzler, if he used less fuel, prices would drop and he could spend that money on other, more desirable things. Not only that, other people would have money to be able to buy the goods/services that his company offers and he'd ultimitely be even richer, right? (I don't know what he does for a living, but as an assumption...) Now, back to the topic of the thread, railfanning. I drive a '99 Ranger that is flex-fuel capable and unlike many people I bet, I actually use that feature. Starting last summer when the first E85 gas station opened up here in town I started using it in my truck. At that time E85 was $.30 cheaper than regular so the comparison in price/mileage was close. I continued to use it until about December when I couldn't get my truck to start one day. I believe it was because the ethonal froze, but I'm not sure. I don't know the freezing point compared to gasoline, but thats my assumption. After the truck sat in the sun for a day, I finally got it to start and I went back to gasoline for the rest of the winter. Once the spring weather hit I decided to go back to E85 for awhile. Prices had gone up since last year and I was now paying the same for ethenol as I would gasoline. But money wasn't my point. I figure that if I use the fuel, Ethenol companies would see the demand for the ethenol and eventually produce it cheaper until it was far more financially reasonable to use it instead of gasoline. I have however stopped using ethonal because it has had some bad side effects on my truck. More often than not I get a bad sputtering and a real lack of acceleration. I believe that is what fouled up my spark plugs so bad last year that it would hardly start. But I still believe the technology is there and it's a great thing to invest in. As for railfanning. Well, I certainly don't go on as many trips as I used to although thats because of a lack of time more than anything. But when I am tooling around town looking for trains, I usually try to pick one place and sit there. I know people that constantly move around checking out lighting and locations for each train, coming back to the same locations many times. All that does is burn gas. Just find a good spot and stay there. Maybe have a plan to end up at a certain place. I just go along from one spot to the next down the line until I'm there, rather than hopscotching all over the place. And chasing trains is never a good idea when you're trying to cut back on fuel. Lots of quick starts/stops, exessive speeding to get ahead of the 60mph train. We all know there's been those times where we've looked like the officers on Cops, weaving in and out of traffic, flying across fields and small creeks  and driving 110mph trying to chase down a train. I am going to Illionois next week with a friend to explore the BNSF Chilli sub for a couple days. But instead of taking my truck which would allow us to cross-country if needed and get into other places a car can't, we're taking his Accord, which gets close to 30mpg I believe, rather than my truck which is closer to 20-23 on the highway, 18 when railfanning. It's simple things like that that can cut down on railfanning costs and also help the economy at the same time. -Greg Lavoie Webmaster www.fwarailfan.net
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