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[Anonymous]

My son is preparing an essay for next Monday for his college speech class, where he has to convince the audience on a particular topic.. Unbeavilably ( but makes me proud) he wants to discuss the importance of trains in America.. He needs facts and figures for a very strong argument. Can anyone help me directing him to sources he can use?

[Anonymous]

try any of the Big 4's websites. they list lot's of facts about their ton's shipped per year and other facts. Also try the FRA's site, http://www.fra.dot.gov/ , they may have information there as well.

Then if he wants to do a comparriosn to other transportation services, he shopuld consult the DOT for other facts and figures, http://www.dot.gov/ , between these sites he should get a fairly accurate picture of how impoertant Railroad transportation is to our country.

EDit, looking at DOT's site, they had a link to this site: http://www.transtats.bts.gov/ an end all overall view of all transportation systems databases. this should be exactly what he needs. the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) is probably the best one (be warned these things are huge)

[Anonymous]

Make sure he stresses how environmentally friendly trains are in comparison to trucks, and also how trains aid in highway congestion.


That usually gets people's attention.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy

and also how trains aid in highway congestion.

That usually gets people's attention.

Mac how do trains make roads more congested? last time i checked, you don't see trains on roads unless a rwister went through and put a few on the road.

[dehusman]

I used to give talk on railroads to my kids' elementary school classes (after an Operation Lifesaver Presentation). I would ask them how many of them use railroads to move things around. Then I would ask them how many of their parents use railroads. Nobody would raise their hand.

Then I would show them a slide of a McDonalds and ask how many of them go to McDonalds. Lots of hands.
I would ask them if they ever ate any of these and show a picture of French fries. Lots of hands.
I would show a picture of a reefer car and explain that many of the frozen French fries move in refrigerator cars.
Next would be picture of a soda from McD's. I would ask if they ever drank one of these. Lots of hands.
A corn syrup car would be the next picture, and tell them most of the corn syrup used to make soda sweet moves in railroad cars.
I would ask them how they got to McDonalds. They would say a car.
Up would go a picture of an auto rack. Virtually every car sold in the US has had either its parts or the finished car ride on a railroad.
I would ask them if they went home after they ate, and then ask if they had seen what a house like theirs looked like when it was being built. What was it made of? Wood, lumber, etc. would be the answer.
I would show a picture of a centerbeam flat and tell them that in most houses in the US, some of the building materials traveled on a railroad car.
Then I would show a picture of a light switch and ask them what it did. Then I would ask what made the lights come on (electricity) and where did the electricity came from (power plant).
I would show a picture of a coal car and tell them that in their town some of the electricity was made by burning coal and railroads hauled the coal in to fuel the plant.
Finally I would show them a picture of a Nintendo game set and ask them if they knew what that was (lots of hands).
I would show a picture of a doublestack car and tell them the Nintendo games were imported in containers that probably spent some time on a railroad car to get to the store where they sold the sets.

In summary I would remind them about the first question I asked about whether they or their parents used railroads and then point out that every time they ate French fries, every time they drank soda, every time they drove their car, every time they turned on the lights, every time they played a video game they were using railroads and ask them again how many of them or their parents used railroads, this time everybody raised their hand.

While that might be overly simplistic for a college setting, the idea was to make the audience realize how the railroads impact their lives on a day to day basis.

Dave H.

[railman]

Railroads today are certainly less visible in our ten-second culture, but they play an extremely crucial role in keeping this nation free and prosperous. Good luck on the speech.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SteamerFan

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy

and also how trains aid in highway congestion.

That usually gets people's attention.

Mac how do trains make roads more congested? last time i checked, you don't see trains on roads unless a rwister went through and put a few on the road.

>>>aid in the relief of highway congestion. [B)]

[CSXrules4eva]

Also make sure ur son talks about how important trains are in moving large and even small commodities. Without their movement by rail there would be more congestion on the roads, more air pollution, ground pollution, and possibly higher taxes. Also costomers of the railroad will be puzzled with the slow shipment of goods on crowed interstates if their were no railroads.

Sorry I don't have any sources to give ya ( I did my senior sem project on Railroad safety) so, I only have sources for rail safety. But I would urge ur son to go to a serch engine and just start typeing in stuf, this is how I found most of my sources. Also try posting this topic in the trains Magizine forum. ( I know of a guy in those forums who can give u a world of knowledge, Mark Hemphill.

GOOD LUCK