Many of us grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s and witnessed the great decline in th importnace of railroads. In the past decade or so, we have been able to see some positive signs of a rail renaissance. So… what are you glad to have lived long enough to see happen on the railroad scene ?
A couple of things that come to mind for me are…
The reopening of the former Erie mainline in Western NY and PA.
A new passenger train form Lynchburg to Boston.
Just something to ponder before we have to head outside and get the mowers ready for Spring.
The rise of intermodal - not only the international double-stacks, but more importantly, the domestic trade, even to its limited present extent. That includes the RoadRailers and some of the other technologies that are out there - the Rail-Mate, the CPR’s Iron Highway/ ‘‘Exxpressway’’, etc.
I’m glad to have seen railroads actually expanding infrastructure. Nearly all of the major railroads have done it. Back when I hired out, abandonment and cutbacks were the thing–getting by with less. Now we have tracks being added, projects to speed up traffic being done–and this is before any of the HSR stuff (Higher speed rail) has entered the picture.
I’m also glad to see a return in many cases to well-manicured, well-maintained roadbeds. If you look at pictures taken in the late 1970s of areas that are familiar to you now, you will be amazed at what passed for main line trackage then.
I hope I live long enough to see a lot of the things that railroads are currently talking about!
I understand what you are trying to say, Bedell, but it wasn’t a decline in the importance of railroads in the 50’s and 60’s but a decline in importance placed on railroads. Railroads never stopped moving freight and people but emphasis was put on the then new Eisenhower Interstate Highway System and the jet plane. Railroaders knew they had to be around for the long haul, it’s just that the powers that be didn’t want us to think that.
So many things are positive signs or the “renaissance”: rebuilding torn out second, third and fourth tracks on mainlines; rebuilding branch lines; intermodal services; coal haulage; expansion of commuter rail; new commuter rail servcies; expansion and success of non commuter rail like DownEaster, Caltrans, and services in Washington and Oregon; the success of shortlines and shortline companies; and new desires for passenger rail and freight lines in many different places.
The complete resurrection of frt RRing in the northeast under Conrail (made me proud to work for Conrail)
Concrete ties, AEM7s/F40PHs and Amfleet on the NEC (no longer embarrassed to suggest that friends take the trains somewhere - the early days of the NEC under Amtrak were just plain BAD)
The restoration of train stations - 30th St, Balt Penn Sta, Newark Penn Sta., New London, and even Union St. DC, to name a few - shiny and filled with passengers
Turboliners and 110 mph running on the Hudson Line and the service outgrowing TWO Alb-Renss stations (real improvement not part of the NEC)
Acela (stupid name and all…taking the train is what “normal” people do, now)
steady parade of stack and intermodal trains paralleling I-40 in NM (railroading a growth industry?)
Believe most people with even just a bit of rail operation awareness can see the rail system as a whole, is now poised to do better as time continues…Not doom and gloom, even extreme deferred maintenance of facilities we were seeing back a few decades…
Adding to what everyone has written already, I’m grateful
for locomotive ditch lights,
the sound of 4-cycle G.E. power heavy-hauling monster tonnage at a crawl up a long grade,
the expansion of Centralized Traffic Control,
how Automatic Equipment Identification technology (those “A.E.I. scanners”) has assisted with keeping railroad databases straight, and
the superior switch heaters we have today, hardware which keeps those dual control switches operating in snowstorms and ground blizzards.
Oh, and here’s one more item: LED signals - their brilliant and saturated colors are so much easier to see from a distance.
On the other hand … when riding Amtrak or the Chicago Transit Authority (especially between Howard St., Chicago and Linden Ave., Wilmette or around the downtown Union Loop) … I do miss the sound of jointed rail underneath the floorboards. It’s a disappointment I’ll have to accept.
One thing I always thought would be a neat thing as a kid in the 50’s was to be able to get on a DL&W train in my backyard in Denville, NJ and ride all the way into New York City and out to Hollis Long Island to visit my grandparents. Well, NJT has brougth MidTown Direct service from Denville to New York Penn Station; up and over the concourse and the LIRR, and I’m in Hollis in less than an hour! My grandparents are long gone, but the ride came true…
For me It was really depressing to be a railfan in the 60’s and 70’s. The 50’s were great, I was kid and was dumb as dirt and loved everything that had to do with trains, no matter what everyone said. But by the 60’s it was hard to be railfan and was laughed at a lot, and that was difficult for me. I almost stopped buying Trains mag because of the bad news, but in the back of my mind I always thought that railroads will prevail, but the government had better ideas, mainly cars, trucks, and airplanes. Little did I know by how much I would be right. I now laugh at the naysayers who laughed at me, and revel in the coal and doublestacks rolling everywhere, and still shake my head at the dumb as dirt politicians, especially the ones associated with the last president.
But what I really love is the broad-based renaissance of railroads in general and how it has come as a surprise to most politicians. It was unthinkable years ago to see LA with a successful light rail system, much less the eastern seaboard states investing in rail corridors rather than in more feeways (yes – feeways – who pays for those, anyway?). Who would have ever thought of that in 1970?? Not this guy.
Ya, I remember a Trains article about PC’s Mingo Jct and looked at a pic of 4 tracks, deep in the mud, and wondered “Is this what is to become of US railroads?” Well, look again. I knew all along I was right, and I have the last laugh. Long live the good guys.
I’m glad I witnessed the railway seen of the late 60s and 70s…first generation diesels…cabooses…a variety of passenger trains… Even though it was a depressed time for the industry, for a kid who liked trains it was a great time to be around. The rail crews were also more accommodating to a kid who wanted to roam the territory or have a look inside the cab of a locomotive. Now that we suspect that there’s a terrorist behind every tree even snapping a picture of a train might get you into trouble…and forget about climbing into a cab for a look around…those days are gone…but I’m glad I lived to see them.