I just want to read about trains period. I still prefer most of what I read to be based on American or Canadian railroading. Throw in Mexico as well. Overall I dont have a preference for the most part. But I wouldnt mind reading an occasional “foreign” article from time to time. I enjoyed the Iraq article. Seeing that China is a growing economic power, I wouldnt mind seeing a Trains article about railroading in that country.
My only “grudge” I have against TRAINS is, Im a little lost and showing a lack of interest reading articles and seeing pictures based and takin in the past. I like to read articles about modern railroading. And if I had my way, I’d like to see trains do a feature each month about a particular RR. Showcase it in other words. Also maybe do a feature on a particular segment of railroading like grain, autos, steel, intermodal, coal, etc. I’d like to see that because Im new to railfanning and would hopefully give me a better understanding about how railroads work in todays economy. Maybe post some kind of “diary” section of whats it like to be a worker on the RR on a daily basis.
Thats just my 2 cents. Sorry about going off topic.
Those are excellent points and great ideas. I don’t know how much we’ll be able to do in the near-term, since we’re in this crazy time of flux, but I’m listening and will pass on all your ideas as we move forward.
I can totally relate to where you’re coming from, though. Until I began working for a railroading trade magazine in June 1999, I had little or no interest in railroading, and for the most part was oblivious to anything that happened prior to the Conrail Carve-up. But, since being here for the past year-and-a-half, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for how the history of a line or railroad affects its current operations.
For example, knowing that New Jersey Transit’s lines were built and operated by competing railroads explains why it has been so hard to develop these lines into a coordinated system. Also, helping edit Paul Schmidt’s article on BC Rail, with all its historical twists and turns, helped me fully understand why the railroad is struggling so much today.
I guess what I’m saying is be patient. 150 years worth of history is an awful lot to catch up on, that’s for sure. But if you nibble at it here and there, and especially seek opportunities to read first-person accounts of what a certain time and place were like from a worker’s point of view, it won’t be long before you start getting a much more complete picture of how it all relates to railroading today. And anything that helps you get a complete picture is worth the time.
There are still mainline ALCos running in Australia.[:)] That alone makes the place worth a Trains article.[:)]
The most scenic train ride I ever took was on BC Rail from North Vancouver to Lilooet.[:D]
Amtrak’s Adirondak was a close second.[8D]
Australia also still has a fair number of GM (Clyde) locomotives with bulldog noses still running, including some double-enders in Victoria with 2 bulldog noses.
I enjoy reading about ALL railroading. I especially liked the article that TRAINS did about what Switzerland is doing. I think it is great to hear about a country that has the foresight to address its "entire transportation system - not just build more highways and airports.
I would like to see TRAINS continue to have articles about American railroading but also include more articles about foreign operations. I would especially like to see more articles about succesful passenger operations. Not the passenger operations like we have here in the US but more like what we find in Europe. Maybe if we see success stories in other countries we may be able to generate more support for us to emulate what they are doing in our country. Just a thought!
I guess I’ll have to pick up the July issue! I don’t blame those who are sick of hearing of Iraq, especially if they keep hearing all the bad news on the nightly news, in the papers, etc. Change your news source!!! There’s a lot of good news in Iraq, and I am glad that Trains is reporting on some of that good news. Personally, I was sick of hearing about Iraq in the ten+ years leading up to the war, but now that something’s being done about it, I enjoy hearing about what’s been done.
Besides, didn’t we do the same thing in WWII? Didn’t we rebuild the railroads in Europe and probably Japan? We helped bring economic health and vitality to war-destroyed regions of the world, and then forgave the debts owed us by these very nations! And then we exported lots and lots of equipment to them…
Im in the dog house with my honey so just as much be in the dog house
with Trains.Rail classics carried a article on the rails of Vietnam which was
a drasc reminder when read the rails of Iraq.we are so blessed by the nations
we live in as we have Freedom’s we take for granted.
May God bless America and take care
of her people as her President.
I think that mergers in the North American railroad environment has reduced the amount of topical diversity available to Trains. How many times do you want a big feature on Union Pacific, or any of the major railroads? It gets to the point where every issue of Trains looks just like the last one or the one before. True, the major systems run thousands of miles and cover a variety of territories and operations, but the foreign railroads are a whole new field of topic for Trains! Besides, the name of the magazine isn’t North American Trains!
Reading some of the rants against foreign (non U.S./American) or non U.S./Canadian rail content, I believe there may be room for someone to come up with a spam killer which would delete or stop such offending contents before being seen by sensitive viewers accessing this forum. With respect to the magazine, I suggest the “Trains” folks consider enclosing copies of issues containing such offending contents in a brown paper wrapper, with the warning “Contains explicit material, non American content, reader discretion is advised”