I’m a member of another forum, a music forum specifically, but one of the sub-forums welcomes random off-topic discussions. One person made a comment that “Why don’t railroads work?”
We all know railroads carry more volumes of freight today than ever before, but it’s interesting to hear the general public’s perception of what they believe is a “dying” or “obsolete” industry
Read:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1645250
As with most things, a matter of perspective prevails.
They are correct in the sense that passenger rail has collapsed, withered and is in the last throes of life… Many have either seen that happen during their lifetime or was raised by someone who did. Look around you at all the former -passenger stations that have been converted to makeshift museums or left to fall into decline…It’s pretty hard to see very much of encouragement at all
They are correct in the sense that many lines have been abandoned through the more remote areas.If you happened to grow up alongside a line operated by the former Erie, PRR, or similar, and all that remains now is a 35’ wide corridor of weeds stretching from town to town, punctuated by abandoned factory buildings every 15 miles…it’s pretty hard to see a vital, prosperous lining around such clouds.
They are correct in the sense if they grew up alongside a line once owned by one of CSX’s predecessors, and major bridges and infastructure that once glistened with freah paint in now allowed to rot away into thin air, it’s pretty evident that neglect and decay are '“in” style.
What they don’t see are the growth segments that are replacing the above.
Commuter rail has exploded in the past 30 years offering local service where previously there was none, much of the earlier abandonments actually are a by product of consolidation and elimination of inferior routes that make the surviving entity much stronger, and…and… well, two out of three isn’t that bad, is it? [:D]
You are correct in the assumption that most of us here on the Trains forum would find the thoughts of the folks there interesting.
But then again, if you don’t work for, or work in a profession then is served by railroads, then your contact with them is small or nonexistent, so it would only be natural to assume they are dieing or no longer working.
I would love to see the face of the poster who mentioned “revitalizing” freight railroading to remove 18 wheelers from the roads.
Wonder if he realizes how many trucks are not on the roads due to railroads and container trains…
You should note there that last year was again a record year…we moved more tons, with less trains and employees, on fewer miles of rail, than ever was moved by rail in the industries entire history…all without the general publics realizing.
It’s interesting here in the Twin Cities that if say Northwest Airlines buys a new type of jetliner, or opens a new route, it’s covered on the local TV news. Trains only come into the picture if there’s a wreck or derailment, save once a year a story about a local RR museum or dinner train “puffing” or “chugging” us back to the olden daze when the railroads were important and things were slower etc.
An interesting thought - someone wrote a piece in I think Railfan back in the mid-eighties quoting local and national news stories about the retirement of the last GG-1’s in 1983. Some stories called the engines diesels, a few called them steam engines (there’s that “puffing” and “chugging” again) and generally got everything wrong. The writer of the piece ended by saying that ‘we can laugh at these mistakes, but what if these reporters are making the same kind of mistakes when they cover the state legislature, or crime, or wars?? How much of what we see in the news is really true??’
That is until they watch 10+ kilotons of loads go by them at a grade crossing.[:D]
The other forum was pretty funny, though. I needed a good laugh this afternoon.
True, Chuck,
Most folks don’t even realize we still have railroads till they are blocked at a crossing…they never realize how much of their daily life is tied to a train movement…the car they are driving most likely was shipped from its port of arrival or manufacturing plant by train…almost everything they bought at Walmart arrived in a container…the furniture they have was shipped by train, as was the printer paper in their computer, including the computer its self…virtually every consumer good sold has, at some point, either traveled by train, or had one of its components shipped by train, from the raw material and chemicals used to make or the finished product itself.
Odds are the electricity they use at work and home is generated by coal shipped by train, and most of the lumber to build their home, or steel in their office traveled at least part of the way by train.
So did the carpet in both places, and the sheetrock too.
But railroads have intentionally be flying under the publics radar on purpose since the demise of their passenger services, less hassle over all for us to go about our business without the general publics knowledge, mostly because it makes no difference to the bottom line if John Q knows if we are Union Pacific or the PTRA…
Hello guys,
This thread brought to mind something I observe when out train watching. Every now and then when a train is passing through a town, I watch what the people nearby do. Many do not even glance in the trains direction unless they are waiting at a crossing, and then it is with a “how long is this gonna take” expression. Or they get out their cell phone. It is apparent that trains don’t even register on many peoples radar. They are oblivious. Of course, I say this from a railfan perspective. Big, powerful constructs of any kind have always enthralled me, be it a locomotive or a steel mill or a rocket. But, back to the topic. I agree that most people are totally unaware of railroads and what they do and have done in the past. Interestingly enough though, when I mention trains and railroad operations in some social settings, it surprises me who gets interested and starts asking questions.
Later,
Gregory
The previous post about how the only time the populace hears about trains is when something goes wrong says a lot.
Most people are oblivious to them (sometimes in a very dangerous way) and the media view them as either nostalgic (steam engines) or potential catastrophes (any mention of a derailment anywhere). It is rare that I have read a story that doesn’t fit into any of the previous mentioned categories.
Most of the folks in this country are blissfully unaware of commerce and how it works, especially how goods get from some factory in China to their local store’s shelves. I guess I am a little unusal for the forum as my fascination with the rail industry is focused as much on what is being hauled as how it is being hauled.
Many years ago, I would spend some time in each winter in Flagstaff AZ. By watching the trains on the ATSF main line there, I could get a pretty good picture of how the economy was actually doing. Usually, my estimate would be about three months ahead of what the media was seeing. Of course, motive power was interesting, but that’s only about four percent of the train.
This is just one aspect, as I noted, of my fascination with the industry. Transportation in general is an interesting problem from any number of perspectives and the role that it has played in our nation’s history is barely understood by most folks, so I am not surprised that they are pretty clueless about what is going on now.
On the other hand, I learn something almost every day and am even surprised by some things, like the reason I see auto racks going north out of San Diego is not back haul like I assumed–our port seems to offload quite a few car carrying ships. Since you usually can’t see well into the racks (especially if you’re not looking) I assumed they were empties.
So, maybe the answer is when confronted with ignorance, maybe some gentle education might give someone some insight into the railroad industry. As noted in a post above, you would be pleasantly surprised by the number of people who are interested in the topic.
A similar question has been brought up before. My reply then was, “what have the RR’s done to dispell the myth or misconception that they’re dying?” Others responded with “why should the RR’s care what the average person thinks?”
I think very few people knew about or cared about RR’s. Recently w/ Warren Buffet investing signficantly in several RR’s, suddenly people are asking, what does he know that we don’t and people (the so called average person) is starting to pay attention, is starting to get intersted and is investing similarly. Thus the RR’s are seeing some collateral benefit to the increased public awareness in terms of improved stock prices. Joe Average investor does matter, no - not as much as Warren Buffet, but there are enough avg Joe’s out there with a little or a lot of wealth, that, when combined, they do matter. Faced with all of the people that make their own investment decisions these days, I’d surely rather not be the CEO of a company that the general populace believes is dying.
Oh - by the way - I bet the RR’s would spend a lot less time in court over grade crossing accidents if the average motorist knew that the RR’s were alive and thriving and yes, indeed, trains do use that piece of RR track that they’re crossing, so they’d darn well better pay attention and expect there to be a train coming.
G’day, Y’all,
Since railroads and state departments of transportation are busy eliminating as many grade crossings as possible, it is becoming rarer that people even have to wait on trains. So they are not explosed to them and don’t realize what they are carrying or how much. Out of sight, out of mind, goes the old saying.
The way to rebuild the railroads’ street cred would be for the train clubs to get off the boilers or out of the parlors and go to schools where members could teach young children about the nation’s first big business and what allowed the country to grow. That is especially true about Operation Lifesaver because kids, bless their hearts, are always going home and telling their parents that they are not doing something the way they learned at school. Fire departments use this method to great advantage when firemen go to school to talk about safety.
One way to get railroads back into public view is to have The Discovery Channel and TLC make and air documentary programs about the daily operations of a different railroad company each episode.
The coverage of new railroad equipment delivered to railroads would make great video clips for news shows. Who will communicate these delivery events to news editors and who is going to go out to record the event? Where is the railfan site exclusively for new equipment delivery?
Andrew
Oh my Gosh. Where did you get your degree in Public Relations?
[:D]
[(-D]
Ya, really, great idea, but who would watch but us?
Hey Murphy… told ya he’d do it sooner or later…
He just couldn’t resist taking one more shot at CSX’
To most pepole railroads are like their plumbing. It’s out of sight, out of mind and no thought given to it until it backs up or breaks.
Saxman
…Sure that’s AntiGates’ picture from a while back and it’s CSX, and it’s just about 8 miles from our home…and…I don’t think CSX ever painted that bridge from day one.
It was constructed in the early 70’s when I-69 was put through and still is without paint.
…As this subject has been raised time and time again on here, as I mentioned before, in my humble opinion…the industry could reap some benefits from being “known” as other businesses in the modern world of ours…Just my opinion.
John Q public’s first thought of trains is passenger trains. They think that RRs are fading away because Amtrak is the standard bearer and the only news anyone ever hears about Amtrak is the annual budget battle. The exception to this rule would be folks along the NEC, almost all of whom know what a Metroliner and/or Acela was/is. Outside of the NEC, suburbanites in Chicago, SF and LA may fairly aware of the commuter train network in their cities. It would be interesting to find out how much they connect this to frt RRing.
Freight RRing is like sewers to John Q Public. At some level, he understands that they exist, but has almost zero contact on a day to day basis - unless something bad happens. Once passenger RRing faded out of daily life, so did RRing as a whole.