You just reminded me of a dream I had last night, involving solving Madison, Wisconsin light rail controversy by introducing airships... Now that I am awake, maybe I should examine the idea more closely...?
B.
Weighing in on 2008: "The American Dream"
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theCryptofishist
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- Location: In Exile
We didn't HAVE to build one. In Berkeley, when I was a kid we had two sets of tracks, Southern Pacific and Santa Fe. So the Santa Fe tracks were torn up and Amtrak rents passage from Union Pacific, being shunted off on sidings so the freights can go through.jcpryor wrote:crypto, you make an excellent point about the failure of trains in America..
Its a cryn shame how such a supposedly advanced society as ours can't even build a decent rail connection across the continenent.
ARrrrgh!
The Lady with a Lamprey
"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri
"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri
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Ugly Dougly
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- Location: เชียงใหม่
Great Amerian Streetcar Scandal
Must be true - it's in Wikipedia.
Must be true - it's in Wikipedia.
The Trained I
federal regulations dictate that amtrak gets priority over freight trains when the rails are shared even though it doesn't always appear this is the case. there might be a freight train coming down the line which can't fit into any available siding, thus they must let it go through before the amtrak can go. that's just one scenario, and there are many. if the fra were to discover that dispatchers were holding up amtrak trains to give priority to freight trains, they would get into trouble.
in los angeles, the commuter trains are given priority, even on up and bnsf track.
it is rather silly that this nation tore up so much track (up to 66% of what was built in previous years is now gone) that passenger and freight trains almost always share the same tracks. generally, the overall average speed of freight trains in the this country hovers around 18 mph, which of course helps clog up passenger traffic. the only real solution is to have a seperate system of tracks for the passenger trains. alas, as the nation's population continues to increase, land becomes relatively more scarce and thus more expensive. so good luck getting that land for a mode of travel that once held sway but is now practically obsolete. the market has spoken. and in america that's practically gospel.
by the way, if you do get your passenger car going, you must pay $1.80 fare per mile per passenger. and i don't think that covers switching fees.
woo woo!
in los angeles, the commuter trains are given priority, even on up and bnsf track.
it is rather silly that this nation tore up so much track (up to 66% of what was built in previous years is now gone) that passenger and freight trains almost always share the same tracks. generally, the overall average speed of freight trains in the this country hovers around 18 mph, which of course helps clog up passenger traffic. the only real solution is to have a seperate system of tracks for the passenger trains. alas, as the nation's population continues to increase, land becomes relatively more scarce and thus more expensive. so good luck getting that land for a mode of travel that once held sway but is now practically obsolete. the market has spoken. and in america that's practically gospel.
by the way, if you do get your passenger car going, you must pay $1.80 fare per mile per passenger. and i don't think that covers switching fees.
woo woo!
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theCryptofishist
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Re: The Trained I
considering that freights can be more than 100 cars and Amtrak rarely goes into 1en, I question that it actually works out that way in practice.ravenluv wrote:federal regulations dictate that amtrak gets priority over freight trains when the rails are shared even though it doesn't always appear this is the case. there might be a freight train coming down the line which can't fit into any available siding, thus they must let it go through before the amtrak can go.
The Lady with a Lamprey
"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri
"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri
Re: Resistance Is Futile
[quote="ravenluv"] i was near general loofah (?...i'm terrible with names, he might have been a colonel, and maybe not loofah) [/quote]
I am General Loofah (but maybe not the General Loofah...) I am a burner in the Midwest who has been active at the Midwest Regional Burn under the name General Loofah. Google me, and I am the only General Loofah that pops up. I have not been to the Playa yet, but I will make it in '08.
I am General Loofah (but maybe not the General Loofah...) I am a burner in the Midwest who has been active at the Midwest Regional Burn under the name General Loofah. Google me, and I am the only General Loofah that pops up. I have not been to the Playa yet, but I will make it in '08.