August 2004 - great issue

[MP57313]

Agree this was a great issue.

Speaking of obscure branch lines...I had no idea there once was a branch from Oceanside to San Luis Rey on the Surf Line. This area is largely developed now and I doubt there are any traces left.

The SDG&E building is still across from the San Diego station, though much modified from the picture. There is still a short segment of a rail siding in the sidewalk (on the Broadway side facing the station), but I don't know if that was a Santa Fe siding or a remnant from the streetcar system.

MP

[Anonymous]

It was ok,not the greatest.

[jeaton]

I've been "out of town" since the 4th and won't be home until Tuesday. Guess where my issue is at? I read everything, made the connection to the multi-talented Ed, (photography, switching cars, writing) but missed the other two. I'll be patient.

The article on commodities is worth keeping for reference when someone tells you that railroads are obsolete. Just because the item you bought on the internet wasn't delivered to you out of a boxcar on a rail siding at you house...

I am also sorry to see Mark leave the Editor's spot at Trains. That didn't have to happen, but I guess a corporate jet for commuting was not in the cards.

Jay

[edblysard]

Uhhh...
WOW!

I think you might want to hire this guy, if he can write that well at 16, just imagine how good he will be in a few years...
Way to go, Justin....


Ed

[Anonymous]

Got it yesterday, it was better than any issue in the last few years.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Kathi Kube

Hey, all.

There actually are three forum members whose names appear in our pages this month. Give up? Check out pages 80 and 81. Props to a very cool individual who accepted my edits with maturity and grace that rivals many folks many times his age. (No, I won't tell. You have to go find it for yourself.)

We're glad you're enjoying the issue; I'll pass your thoughts on to the rest of the guys here who make it all happen.

Have a nifty day!
Kathi

Kathi,
Quite right!!
And the August issue IS one of the BEST !![:D]

Oh,and I did read Pgs 80-81.
That,s awesome for a person of that age!

[theonejp]

I thought it was a great mag too but I have one little problem! The map on pgs62-63.The last node point listed in the text of the article is the beautiful city of Toronto. Funny, the map itself puts the dot somewhere around Montreal or Quebec City. Which one is it?

[espeefoamer]

The August Trains is one of the best in recent years.The PRR is one of my favorite railroads, and I love mountain railroading,so I especially enjoyed the Horseshoe Curve article.I spend a lot of time watching trains on the Santa Fe surf line, so this article was of special interest to me.Also the piece on D&RGW commodities was very informative. You have a real winner here.[:)]

[Modelcar]

...Both spurs have been removed decades ago.
I agree...Pictures were great and I too thought more written material of history and operation, etc...about the area would have been included in the article. What's in the article is great but a more thorough discription of it would have been nice.

[Kathi Kube]

Hey, all.

There actually are three forum members whose names appear in our pages this month. Give up? Check out pages 80 and 81. Props to a very cool individual who accepted my edits with maturity and grace that rivals many folks many times his age. (No, I won't tell. You have to go find it for yourself.)

We're glad you're enjoying the issue; I'll pass your thoughts on to the rest of the guys here who make it all happen.

Have a nifty day!
Kathi

[FJ and G]

I'd like to find out more information on those 2 secret spurs that went off the horseshoe curve. The one is mentioned as closing in the 1930s but not the other. Is it still active? Also, there were some fine pictures but very little verbiage to go with the history of the curve. Some real railroaders' perspective perhaps.

[Anonymous]

Would have liked to see multi-train shots on Horseshoe like the ones published years ago in Railpace and in Dan Cupper's softcover book. That aerial view of two trains side by side doesn't count.

[Anonymous]

I FIANLLY GOT MINE YESTERDAY 07-06-04,LATE.

[cstaats]

I did not want to read this until I had a chance to look through my Issue. The mail is slow to the Pacific Northwest. It looks good. Mark great way to leave the stage making us want more.

[Modelcar]

...Yea, I believe I remember reading that....and if I'm remembering correctly, it was good.

[edblysard]

Thanks Quentin,
But its funny, I like Mookies letter better than my own!
If you guys read back a little in the archives, you can find Mookies letter in a slightly different form, and it generated a lot of responses!!!.


Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

Ed...congratulations on being published in this months Trains.

[Anonymous]

It would be difficult to replicate the job done in WW I or WW II. Passenger equipment no longer exists in sufficient quantities, track no longer goes many places it once did and mainlines are nearly at capacity with the shrinkage of the network. Our heavy industrial capacity is much smaller than it once was and weapons are far more complex requiring a much better trained fighting force. Thus, building and growing the armed services will be more difficult. Also, wars are much shorter now and it is less likely the U.S. would have time to build into the war like we did in both world wars.

LC

[Modelcar]

Ed...congratulations on being published in this months Trains.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cherokee woman

Locomutt's copy came in the mail this afternoon. I have thumbed through it, and
it looks like it's filled with very good articles. I've gotten half way through Mark's
article on the commodities. Locomutt has not even had a chance to get through
it yet because he was [zzz]

I had to PRY IT from her hands.[:)]

I've not really had a chance to get all the way
through it,but it is totally interesting.

Ed,great letter,but nobody said Mookie wrote one also.[:)]

And Mark,I'm very sorry that is going to be your last Editorial.
I've looked forward to them when I get my copy of "Trains"[:(][:(][:(][:(][:(]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by daveklepper

All of the issues Mark has edited have been excellent and there isn't any reading material that I enjoy and am stimulated by more. This was as tops as any have been. But the troop-train story makes me ask the question: Why has not the National Defense angle been raised by fans, the industry, and the magazines, concerning the unfair treatment given the railroads, and the far greater subsidies given to all other passenger transportation than are given to Amtrak and public transit? Far greater subsidies when you look at the whole picture. Could the railroad industry begin to do anything like the job it did in WWII and WWI? Suppose North Amnerica had to fight a war and be energy independent at the same time? It this a complete impossibility?

Chances are they won't get called upon like they would in WWI and WWII, at least not in the passenger sense, they would all go by plane nowadays, or bus, both ways are faster nowadays than they were back during WWI and WWII.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Finally, got it today, the 6th. I think that's the latest I've ever gotten it. It is a very good issue, from what I have read and the glancing I have done. I've got to get off now so I can read it.

Noah

[cherokee woman]

Locomutt's copy came in the mail this afternoon. I have thumbed through it, and
it looks like it's filled with very good articles. I've gotten half way through Mark's
article on the commodities. Locomutt has not even had a chance to get through
it yet because he was [zzz]

[FJ and G]

why is Mark leaving? He's the best editor Trains ever got & I've been subscribing since the 60s. I hope we can get someone half as good as him; but I kinda doubt it.

Dave Vergun

[daveklepper]

All of the issues Mark has edited have been excellent and there isn't any reading material that I enjoy and am stimulated by more. This was as tops as any have been. But the troop-train story makes me ask the question: Why has not the National Defense angle been raised by fans, the industry, and the magazines, concerning the unfair treatment given the railroads, and the far greater subsidies given to all other passenger transportation than are given to Amtrak and public transit? Far greater subsidies when you look at the whole picture. Could the railroad industry begin to do anything like the job it did in WWII and WWI? Suppose North Amnerica had to fight a war and be energy independent at the same time? It this a complete impossibility?

[Anonymous]

This was a good issue, I read the whole thing straight through in about 2 hours this afternoon. I really did like the Rio Grande piece (if you look at the map on pg. 29, I live about 2 miles from the powerplant north of Denver named "Valmont", the Boulder plant), right in my backyard.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by adrianspeeder

Excellent work on the Rio Grande Commodites Mr. Hemphill. I read it twice already. How much work was that. Good work.

Adrianspeeder

The pictures of the commodities themselves was a really nice touch, you certainly don't see that anywhere else.... it really put things into better perspective.

[adrianspeeder]

Excellent work on the Rio Grande Commodites Mr. Hemphill. I read it twice already. How much work was that. Good work.

Adrianspeeder

[88gta350]

I thought the issue was a good one as well. l liked the article on the loads of the Rio Grande. A lot of information there that you usually don't think about or could get anywhere else. All in all, I'm pleased.

[Modelcar]

....This month my copy arrived on the 3rd...not bad. And the Horseshoe Curve article is right down my alley. My home area is roughly 40 miles from there. So I've been to the Curve quite a few times and understand what it used to be and even the war time traffic situation and the critical part it played in getting the war material over the mountain, etc....First trip to ride around it was 1942 and still remember it vividly. Later rode around it as a school boy heading to Washington and later as a GI going to the Orient.....Have visited it in recent years too...so the article hit home for me. Thanks, TRAINS.