zardoz How is it that the other forms of transportation receive the subsidy $ and not the railroads? And to add insult to injury, the railroads have to pay property taxes! That justy seems so unfair. How did this develop thru history? Or would this be a better subject for a different thread?
How is it that the other forms of transportation receive the subsidy $ and not the railroads? And to add insult to injury, the railroads have to pay property taxes! That justy seems so unfair. How did this develop thru history? Or would this be a better subject for a different thread?
You raised a lot of valid questions, and this topic could very well deserve its' own thread.
This situation is the same in Canada, although a book called "The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" by Ron Brown goes into it very well. It does go on to explain why none of my childhood homes, with the exception of the one my mother lives in, is still standing.
One thing that still has my head shaking is that during one of the annual AMTRAK funding requests in the last couple of years, some Republican asked why railroads should receive taxpayer support when only railroad employees could drive the trains. And they were unionized employees at that! I think that kind of thinking prevails in both countries, and means rail supporters have a lot of work ahead of them yet.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
That question is so foolish I'm not surprised where it came from...and I'll shush on politics at that.
I was lucky today...I got a heads up call from a friend whose camera broke just as the train came into view. On today's A446 (originates at Green Bay, WI) the power was kinda neat (to me anyway).http://flic.kr/p/9tbWLP
CN 2196http://flic.kr/p/9tepoW
CN 2122http://flic.kr/p/9tbqLi
That made me smile! I haven't yet seen a picture of one of the CN-pumpkins with an ex-CNW Dash 8 yet. Crazy lineage here: ATSF->BNSF->CN and CNW->UP->CN. I'll take this stuff all day long!
Dan
Hey, Dan! I just saw you on TV, with somebody who looked like Wonder Woman!
You and Bruce are right--that comment was a real head-shaker, regardless of political affiliation. Does he pilot his own commercial planes? I'll bet he doesn't drive his own car in DC, either.
Glad you got those pictures, Dan, in bright but chilly weather (I saw those temps showing on the TV spot!). It's hard to catch in the pictures, but that Pumpkin's Santa Fe heritage can be distinguished by the indentations in the slopes of the cab roof (some people call it a "gull-wing" profile), reportedly so the unit could fit beneath the coal loader at York Canyon, New Mexico.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Forgot to mention that today is our beloved magazine's Associate Editor's birthday, and it's a significant one.
Happy 30th, Andy!
Also, Editor Jim Wrinn's 50th birthday was this past Monday (shares a birthday with Johann Sebastian Bach and Modeste Mussorgsky). Sorry, Jim, for missing this momentous occasion!
Well, good wishes all around then!
Nance-CCABW/LEI
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” --Will Rogers
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right! --unknown
CNW 6000 That question is so foolish I'm not surprised where it came from...and I'll shush on politics at that.
I'm banking on it being the question asked by the politician in Bruce's post, Jim--that's the one I was responding to, anyway.
CShaveRR I'm banking on it being the question asked by the politician in Bruce's post, Jim--that's the one I was responding to, anyway.
We drove to Eola after church today (we visited a church in Naperville where an old railfan friend of mine is now an associate pastor). Not much was happening while we sat at the railfan parking lot, but we caught an empty hopper train on the CN moving into Eola wile we were going there (we expected to see it go out the other end, but it was apparently a CN crew that brought it--they shut things down, got into the messenger van, and left). No freights (just a dinky) went through while we were there just before noon, but as soon as we left for lunch, we saw an eastbound stack train and another westbound string of gons (DEEX/DETX empties).
We took the highway north from Naperville to West Chicago, and had a little better luck on the UP, with a westbound stack train and hopper train catching us in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn, respectively. The hoppers, by the way, were on a "throwback" train--everything there was lettered either CNW or CMO, but none of these cars existed as such before the CNW-UP merger!
UP seems to be having a very rough time west of Nevada...
What we didn't do yesterday, and should have done, was check out the progress on CP Y019, the new Lombard crossovers. Two more switches were installed this past weekend, both west of Grace Street. Now three more switches (one on Track 2, two on Track 1--one west of Grace and two east of Grace) need to go in, as does the connecting track on the crossover routes.
Had an unusual train of hoppers go west today--cars I'd never seen before. They were AEPX rapid-discharge hoppers of two varieties, including some Trinity Industries "RDL" hopper, that apparently have a large single hopper with gates hinging off the center sill. They're AAR Mechanical Designation HMA, same as an ore jenny! Only they're about four times as large.
CShaveRR [snip] Had an unusual train of hoppers go west today--cars I'd never seen before. They were AEPX rapid-discharge hoppers of two varieties, including some Trinity Industries "RDL" hopper, that apparently have a large single hopper with gates hinging off the center sill. They're AAR Mechanical Designation HMA, same as an ore jenny! Only they're about four times as large.
https://www.trinityrail.com/productdetails.aspx?id=22&catid=26
And a link to webpage for TrinityRail's "RDL-A" Aggregate Hopper - 2,402 Cu. Ft. Longitudinal Rapid Discharge Hopper car:
https://www.trinityrail.com/productdetails.aspx?id=26&catid=25
- Paul North.
Paul, that just might work...if the logs were thin enough and loaded just right!
Thanks for the link! The cars I saw looked just like that (color of the rotary-coupler end, placement of logo), but were lettered AEPX. I had been expecting to see stuff like this on my trip into C&O country next month, but it was nice of them to come visit me first.
I don't know if we'll get trackside today, but we do have to go out, and I'll probably lobby for lunch at one of our favorite places on the other side of the tracks. It's cold for the season (we might make it to 40; we should be hitting 50 or more by now), but we'll try not to use the car today.
We're supposed to be near 50 today...so glad to finally feel that again, if only for a couple days. I've been busy trackside again and will probably post links to some more shots I've taken once I finish processing a couple of them.
Reminder-look for Trackside Lounge: 2Q 2011 tomorrow. No, it's not an April Fool's joke.
That is all, carry on.
Dan, I went over the College Avenue viaduct in Appleton last night and there was a crane that had been used to load DOD flatcars with military trucks from Oshkosh truck. Looked like they were about half done, as there were quite a few empty cars. Two weeks ago they were doing the same thing in the Neenah yard.
Don
Hey Don,
Several reliable sources informed me that the location for unloading was changed from Neenah Yard to the Appleton WC Yard because Neenah was "too busy". Some of the trucks being offloaded are being towed to an old KC facility just SE of the Winchester exit from US41.
On a side note, a friend and I caught another U780 heading south. Our speculation is that will be the last one with the locks now open. CN 2592 was the leader.
Rather than put an early start on the new thread with a downer, I thought I'd put the report here:
The report is, next to nothing! Spent a few minutes biking trackside this morning (and seeing nothing close-up), then went on a bit of a shopping trip with Pat this afternoon (she needs a new dress for July, so it's time to buy the pattern now!)
They've put a lot more of those piers up at Provo Junction, but I'm beginning to wonder if they are temporary--they'd be mighty ugly if they don't cover them up with concrete or something.
Continuing east through Forest Park, it was sad to see the CSX line that used to be the main artery of the Wisconsin Central. Where we crossed it, both tracks had copious amounts of rust. Further east are the stack cars that have been stored on one of the tracks for at least a year.
We saw a train of ethanol tanks at LaVergne, but there was no power at either end. Clyde Yard doesn't afford too many good views from Ogden Avenue (certainly not if you're interested in the power at the diesel shop!).
No real luck at the IHB at Summit, or McCook,or LaGrange. And, along the BNSF from LaGrange to Downers Grove, we encountered only one dinky.
Well, tomorrow's another day, another month, another Lounge, and we have to be out again, along the UP. But the forecast predicts that we aren't going to enjoy being out there for any length of time.
Aw bummer, Carl; that's too bad. At least you know you could have 'better luck next time.' And maybe the weather guessers will be proven wrong once again.
I'm still crazy-busy! But hey, it beats 'bored' or just plain 'crazy.' (Disclaimer: I never said I wasn't a bit crazy. We all are in our own way; it's what makes the world go 'round, or so they say. ) I hope to get back to my RR studies before too much longer.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.