Don Phillips

[overall]

Read in the latest Railway Age Magazine that Don Phillips has left the Washington Post. He was told that he would either cover airline security only or he would take an early retirement package. He chose the latter .This is really sad guys. Don deserved better. I hope he continues to write for TRAINS.

George

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I hope he keeps up with his articles for "TRAINS". I don't blame him for the later decision though . You can't help but love his articles. His employer lost out on some good talent.

[Anonymous]

Gonna miss Don. He did the right thing though. Cancelled my subscription long ago.

[Anonymous]

Don will continue to write for Trains. He discusses this change in his column in the April issue, which is now shipping to subscribers and retail outlets. Not to worry!

[Anonymous]

Cancelled my subsciption to the Washington Post long ago that is.

[jeaton]

I took the Post WEB site off my favorites. Is that a protest, or what? Figured that Don's Trains column would continue, but hope we will also see his work in other more frequent publications. Mark-Faster, we hope? (I promise, no more whining about that!)

[Anonymous]

Glad to hear Don will still be around TRAINS.

LC

[daveklepper]

I always look forward to Don's column and usually read it twice. Dave

[Anonymous]

If anyone knows how to get in touch with Mr. Don Phillips, I'd greatly appreciate it. I need to discuss an urgent matter with him!! I work at Amtrak in DC and we've conversed before on a certain subject matter regarding the high speed trainsets. Well, I need to converse with him again. Can someone relay this email address to him: [e-mail]. Tell him it's very important!!


Glenn
A R E A L RAILROADER...A T R U E AMERICAN!!!

[BaltACD]

Don made the right decision.

Were he around today's Class I's he would probably have been put in the same or a simliar situation...do something distateful or walk the plank.

It no longer fun around the railroad....

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by overall

Read in the latest Railway Age Magazine that Don Phillips has left the Washington Post. He was told that he would either cover airline security only or he would take an early retirement package. He chose the latter .This is really sad guys. Don deserved better. I hope he continues to write for TRAINS.

George

Don is one bright chap,....I have to wonder if the paper was "pressured" by the DC power structure to do something with Mr Phillips? You know, because of that bad habbit he has? Writting the truth...[yeah]

[Anonymous]

Antigates: I have no reason to believe from talking with Don that his leaving The Post is anything other than exactly what he said it was. Your premise WOULD be more dramatic, wouldn't it? but I'm afraid organizations are rarely that clever or calculating. Large-organization decisions are almost always highly political, but almost always are internally so and self-centered, driven by personal failures and weaknesses that are rationalized by blaming the people who are not in charge. Look around at the organizations you have been involved in -- school, church, job -- and ask yourself if it ever reacted to anything other than its own problems and weaknesses.

Good leaders accept leadership as a responsibility rather than a rank, surround themselves with talented people, and do not blame others when things go wrong.

[jeaton]

I wanted to bring this one back up and make a couple of points about Don's column in Aptil Trains. He explains his reason for taking the buyout with all the class that you would have expected. Of interest to me, he points to the fact, discussed in another recent thread, that railroads and other freight modes have little interest in getting their story out to the general public. He notes that it follows that the general press has little interest in other than stories of accidents or delays.

As if to confirm the point, there is a letter to the editor from a writer who states that if it is true that only the government has the ca***o make needed improvements in the railroads' infrastructure maybe railroads aren't needed. (Check it out on page 6).

I'll listen to arguements against government grants to railroads, but to suggest that only SOME people would benefit is just ignorant. Can you imagine your light bill with coal only moving over the highway?

[daveklepper]

But $1.7billion for fuel cell nonsense? When the problem is already solved by Hybrid technology? And it is not even coming out of the Highway Trust Fund. Which by rights it should. Mark, isn't it about time you blew the whistle? Or just print one of my letters on the subject for less trouble from GM? And I know you know the whole story, starting in 1926. Probably know it better than I do even if you never met Professor Ballbaugh firsthand. Dave

[ironhorseman]

Does anyone know how or if there's a way to access any of Don's past Post articles?

[RudyRockvilleMD]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ironhorseman

Does anyone know how or if there's a way to access any of Don's past Post articles?

The only way you might be able to access any of Don Phillips' past articles in the Post is to go to its web site, www.washpost.com I believe, and go to its archives since I don't think Don wrote any articles about railroads recently. You would have to know the dates and the titles of his articles.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed his colume this month as I always do. As he explaned Its realy hard to spend your free time chasing the last of steam in China, life is tough ;-)
-justin

[jeaton]

I just checked. You can find Don's articles with a search of the archives, but for anything over two weeks old there is a charge. $2.95 for one or less for various "packs" up to 25 articles at $25.95.

[Anonymous]

This is gfjwashdc calling again. I need for someone to let Mr. Phillips know I need to discuss a couple of things with him. There may be a real story involved, but I need to talk/email with him personally. My email addy is [e-mail]. Please, someone relay this message to him, thank you.


Glenn
A R E A L RAILROADER...A T R U E AMERICAN!!!

[Anonymous]

The post-9/11 airbus crash he mentioned was downplayed by his bosses for the same reason everyone else buried it. Anyone who watched the live reports that morning remembers that every eyewitness heard a loud boom, looked up, and saw flames and/or smoke coming from the fuselage. Nothing about the rudder. A short time later, we catch a shoebomber on another plane who's plan was to blow a hole in the fuselage. Wake turbulence? Rudder snapped off and found in the water? Gimme a break.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mark W. Hemphill

Antigates: I have no reason to believe from talking with Don that his leaving The Post is anything other than exactly what he said it was. Your premise WOULD be more dramatic, wouldn't it? but I'm afraid organizations are rarely that clever or calculating. Large-organization decisions are almost always highly political, but almost always are internally so and self-centered, driven by personal failures and weaknesses that are rationalized by blaming the people who are not in charge. Look around at the organizations you have been involved in -- school, church, job -- and ask yourself if it ever reacted to anything other than its own problems and weaknesses.

Good leaders accept leadership as a responsibility rather than a rank, surround themselves with talented people, and do not blame others when things go wrong.

Mark,

Well, that is why I said "wonder".

Thanks for the additional insight in context of "after talking with him" that suggests such is not the case.

After reading Mr Phillips commentary on Trent Lott in then Feb 2003 issue of trains, then following the way the Washington power structure crushed Mr Lott, it would seem that folks in high places follow his writings very closely. That or it was uncanny coincidence..

In any event the fact that Mr Phillips' writing will continue in Trains magazine is a definite "win" for the readers of Trains.

I also find great enjoyment reading Larry Kaufmann in your magazine, his tough "Lets take the gloves off" approach is most refreshing

[Anonymous]

I liked Don Phillips he's has very interasting articles