For all you old and young sentmental saps that long for the “good-old-days” of railroading for whatever reason, you need get into the thinking of here and now as the REAL heyday of RAILROADING! Look at the statistics railfans! They are moving MORE FREIGHT…MORE MILES …with less people and machinery than EVER! I just got off another AMTRAK passenger train recently…third trip in this month…and EVERY train I was ON was PACKED (sold-out) with passengers! That was NOT the case in the 50’s gentlemen! Read your own sentimental stories. They were empty trains, maybe 2-3 non-paying railroad relatives riding…loosing money…track falling appart. You know all the derogitory facts of the past. NOW-A-DAYS it’s high speed, ribbon-rail, jumbo-sized cars, smooth, super-service, and get-it-DONE attitude on the railroads! I love it. Yes, I’m a railfan that looks to the past as a time and place of railroading that (good-or bad) was a period of train travel and way of life for many railroaders that evolved into today’s systems. Many a man sweated and toiled to get those tracks laid down or repaired in summer hot sun and winter freezing/ snowing weather, and keep the lines open, many a man worked hard and sweated keeping those old steamer locomotives running and cars repaired, and risked his life to jump from car to car setting brakes and coupling cars. People were hurt bad and killed in accidents back then. Unions were good for the employees to get practices changed to stop and slow the carnage. Today’s railroading is the results of those efforts, injuries and lives lost in the past. The only BAD thing about today’s railroading is it doesn’t take as MANY employees to DO it! Machinery and automation and mult-tasking has taken away positions that were once unique to seperate crafts. Routing and door to door delivery of car shipments has made some yards obsolete that were a day-or more-delay in the past. YES, I agree, that delay was a crew of men working that day shifting that car that was delayed. Now
You forgot to mention all the new shortlines and regionals, they have made railroading more interesting for me. They have kept and brought many customers to using rail. I know where I live it is amazing how much more railroading there is since the early 90’s when Conrail was trashing everything… I think there will be more of a heydey for freight rail as the highways get more congested, fuel prices continue to rise, labor costs continue to increase, and liability insurance keeps going up for truckers. I think technoligical advances such as the GPS tracking you mentioned will continue to advance railroad efficiencies to new levals. I just hope the class ones avoid more merger melt downs.( UP/SP, Conrail/NS/CSX).
heyday- the time of greatest health, vigor, success, prosperity, etc.
I have to respectfully disagree with you on some points
You’re right, the heyday was not the 40s or 50s, it was the 20s and 30s. 50s were considered the golden age, but that quickly faded away. Here’s why:
The 1920s and 1930s were considered the heyday of rail passenger travel in the US because that was the peak in normal passenger traffic. World War II saw a surge in rail passengers for obvious reasons, but that was mostly troop trains going to bases and then coming home in 1945-46. Before the 50s almost all trains didn’t have airconditioning. My grandma told of taking a train from Wichita to Texas to see my grandpa during WWII. She remembered the trip as hot and dirty because the steam engines smoke kept blowing into cars.
The 1950s were the golden ages because of the quality of rail passenger travel. Every luxury imaginable was available and the service was exceptional. I was never around then, but this is obvious from all the movies I’ve seen, the film clips, and books and magazines I’ve read. I’ve riden Amtrak’s Southwest Chief on 2 seperate trips the last 2 years and they are nothing above 2nd rate, or even 3rd rate, when you compare them to trains of the 1950s. The observation lounge has all plastic and uncompfortable chairs, the dining car is less than what you can expect in a fine restaurant. The decor in the coaches are reminiscent of the 1970s. They’re spacious and compfortable, but old looking.
The big differce between today and anytime before the 1950s is that passenger trains don’t go everywhere whereas back then trains went everywhere. I can’t get on a train in my hometown and go where ever I want.
Now, this might be a heyday for freight shipping and railfans have many opurtunities to see all kinds of trains today. But I’m sure some railroaders will get on here and say what a shipping nightmare some things. (think 1996 and UPs overflow). You’re confusi
Thank you Jeff for your breath of fresh air. [:)] Unfortunately, just as Jeff correctly pointed out, the Hey day of railroading is long gone. So too is the Golden Age of railroading.
As Jeff also pointed out you can no longer get on a train in your hometown (or even close to your hometown) and go everywhere as you once could. If I remember right the amount of trackage now is down compared to what it was 40 or 50 years ago.
I don’t fault any railroad employee. Our current railroad environment is caused by economic conditions beyond their control. I am sure that any railroad employee who had lost his job because of mergers or any other reason would tell you he wished he still had a job. And the employees who once served faithfully in the passenger runs would wi***hey still had the opportunity to serve.
There is a current poll about “Your Favorite Railroad Decade”. Take the poll and tell us why you like that decade, but don’t attack other people just because you don’t like their opinion. The poll is for fun. Take it and enjoy it. Don’t diminish another opinion because it doesn’t agree with yours. WE DON’T WANT OR NEED ANOTHER “MISSOURI” TYPE HERE ! No offense to people living in Missouri ( I am from there), if you don’t understand that comment then read through other threads and you can see why I say that.
Take care, stay safe, and Look, Listen, and LIVE
Don’t forget the troops.
…Just one comment. WWII Passenger traffic was more than troop trains heading to bases. Riding the rails was just about the only way to travel any distance for many civilians due to gas rationing, non manufacturing of new cars, tire rationing, 35 mph speed limits, etc…The railroads had to throw anything they had in service that had wheels to carry the bulge of people traveling. Some of the cars were pretty rugged too but they were necessary to carry the mass of traffic. The railroads did a great service in that period of serving the country. It was quite an era. Of course they transported uncounted amounts of GI’s too. To war…and many back home but sadly not all…
I have to agree and disagree.Like ironhorseman said back in the days before 1950 you needed trains to go everywhere.The railroads knew what on time ment as if the train was due at 7:15 thats when it came not sometime that day.The NKP used an engine called a Berkshire to fly down the line to get stuff from Chicago to Buffalo.I would have loved to see them run and hear the stories from my stepgrandfather.However I do agree that modern technology is helping the railroads.With all the run through power and having 6 trains go by you in 30 minutes you don’t know whats next.So bring your camera.Take pictures leave footprints and as always stay safe.
Joe
Modelcar Some very good comments there. Not only was everything with wheels used for passenger travel it also applies to freight service. The war saved, for a while at least, many a railroad by carrying the extra traffic needed for the war effort.
But the good times didn’t last. And unfortunately neither did many of the railroads of that era. And when they left their character, spice, style, nature, and charm all went down with them–lost forever except to memory . (If you were fortunate and were able to experience them in the first place).
Stay Safe and Look, Listen and Live
Don’t forget the troops
…A new era began after WWII. All kinds of conditions and situations changed. It was about like we started over…! Transportation systems included, and we all know what it has evolved into now…But one thing is for sure, the way railroads were able to serve the needs of this country during the 4 years of WWII…was one of railroads finest hours…!!
wtdeb, I could not agree with you more. The potential for profit has never been better for railroads. With the updated computer systems and the improvments to infrustucture that have taken place over the years, opportunity to make a real dent into the trucking industry is there. The big question: Do Ralroads Have The Right Managment In Place To Exploit The Advantages They Have Over Trucking.
TIM A
Not so sure the “art” of railroading is in it’s heyday, so much as the technology available to manage a railroad is.
The basics of moving freight by train is still the same as it was a century ago.
The steel wheel on steel rail was one of those lucky inventions that came along at just the precise time to alter the world, and just like powered flight, the basic principal remains the same, no matter if its a steam or diesel locomotive, or a Biplane or 747.
The efficency is already there, even with the crews cut to a bare minimun.
We do our job, and do it better than we have in a long time, with less people.
What has, and will continue to make a big difference is how we gather and process the information needed to make good business decisions, and weather we are willing to change the culture of railroad managment to adapt to this improvement in technology.
RCLs wont make that big a impact towards profit, I know, with a engineer and a switchman, I can out switch any RCL operator, and earn my railroad more money, even though the carrier is paying three employees, instead of one, due to the sheer volume of cars I can move in a shift.
But all of that means nothing, and does no good, if we cant meet the business expectations of our customers.
And to do that, we have to get the business, and then service the customer in a manner that profits both the railroad, the shippers, and the railroader.
We have to do away with the dual cultures involved with railroading, the us(labor) versus them(management) style that currently influnces every business decision we make.
Without a mutually benifical contract, that ties the profit of the railroad into the productivity of the T&E employees, and shares the profit with them also, along with allowing the employees to participate in the decision making process, we are stuck where we currently are, a industry with hugh growth pontential, choking on our inability to change our thinking and de
I have to agree with Ironhorseman.
Using RR’s on Vancouver Island as an example. In the 1920’s and 30’s there were 3 common carriers and a hell of a lot of industrial railroads on the island. Canada’s two big railroads each had operations on the island, constantly competeing with each other. Canadian Pacific bought the E&N Railway in 1905, expanded it to its current size(Victoria-Parksville-Port Alberni and Parksville-Courtenay) and operated the E&N Division like their mainline on the mainland, Canadian Naitonal also had its own operation on the island.
Come 1990, only 1 logging railroad remains, CP has started marketting it’s truck lines instead of the E&N, which falls into disrepair(trackage worse than Rock Island trackage). RDC’s that replaced the standard passenger equipment decades before can’t even go a day without breaking down, and often run completely empty. Freight traffic dropped from 40,000(in 1925) car loads a year to 7,500 because CP wants to abandon the E&N and uses several low-down, down right evil tactics to scare off customers. Canadian National has abandoned it’s entire operation(all 100 miles of it). The CNR hauled only 70 cars a year in its last few years of operations, that’s one 5 car train a month.
The 3rd common carier shut down in the 1940’s.
Come 2002, the E&N has been spun off as a short line, Rail America(due to restrictions placed on them by CP in the lease agreement) cannot go after new business and is forced to shut the railroad down. They later change their minds and continue to operate the money-loosing operation, now only handling 1,000 cars a year to three remaining customers on a 181 mile network. The Parksville-Port Alberni portion of the mainline has been closed down due to the loss of the largest customer.
I’m with you on your comments Joe and Ironhorsemen…both valid arguments. But could I respecfully add that I "like"what edblsard said also as a real and valid “problem” with todays Railroaders…“being adolescent…both in suits and coveralls…” THAT right there is a BIG problem today. Egos and attitudes that WILL NOT QUIT for the love of the Industry or for the protection of their Family and their main source of INCOME! I realize one is trying to PROTECT his job or the job of his fellow workers by his “inactivity” and/or negative attitude…and the other is trying to protect his job and his millions in stock options by playing the tough-guy with the “lowly” blue collar underlings. But wouldn’t it be nice if they would give the engineers and conductors some incentives and benefits of being MORE PRODUCTIVE …ie MONEY?! or TIME OFF with PAY?! That would take railroading into the 21st century!! The potential is there and waiting for the Railroads to take back!
I’d say the hey days were the 19-aughts. Rail miles near the all time peak. The last of the mainline mileage was just being finished. No competition from any mode to speak of. Canals and round-the-horn shipping pretty much beaten for all commodities. So much profit they had to either reinvest it or give it to the gov’t. Big moderization projects underway. Major passenger terminals. Route realignments. One in ten US workers worked for a RR.
there was a time were 95% of intercity cargo was moved by train, there was a time when the largest and most powerful company in the world was named the PRR. There was a time when every school and market place had a poster of powerful engine pulling a long string of cars. In the golden and heyday for railroads, they were the nation, everybody knew them from schoolboys to the president, now under half of our cargo is moved by train and to most the railroad is nothing more than a child’s toy. We are far from the the golden era or heyday, just because the railroads can pull more with less doesn’t mean this is the best time for them. At one point the president of the PRR was called the 51st sentator in Washington, now Washington doesn’t know what a railroad is…
“The true history of the United States is the history of transportation … in which the names of railroad presidents are more significant than those of Presidents of the United States”. – Philip Guedalla, The Hundred Years, 1937.
Guedella thought that was the period 1870-1920.
For all you old and young sentmental saps that long for the “good-old-days” of railroading for whatever reason, you need get into the thinking of here and now as the REAL heyday of RAILROADING! Look at the statistics railfans! They are moving MORE FREIGHT…MORE MILES …with less people and machinery than EVER! I just got off another AMTRAK passenger train recently…third trip in this month…and EVERY train I was ON was PACKED (sold-out) with passengers! That was NOT the case in the 50’s gentlemen! Read your own sentimental stories. They were empty trains, maybe 2-3 non-paying railroad relatives riding…loosing money…track falling appart. You know all the derogitory facts of the past. NOW-A-DAYS it’s high speed, ribbon-rail, jumbo-sized cars, smooth, super-service, and get-it-DONE attitude on the railroads! I love it. Yes, I’m a railfan that looks to the past as a time and place of railroading that (good-or bad) was a period of train travel and way of life for many railroaders that evolved into today’s systems. Many a man sweated and toiled to get those tracks laid down or repaired in summer hot sun and winter freezing/ snowing weather, and keep the lines open, many a man worked hard and sweated keeping those old steamer locomotives running and cars repaired, and risked his life to jump from car to car setting brakes and coupling cars. People were hurt bad and killed in accidents back then. Unions were good for the employees to get practices changed to stop and slow the carnage. Today’s railroading is the results of those efforts, injuries and lives lost in the past. The only BAD thing about today’s railroading is it doesn’t take as MANY employees to DO it! Machinery and automation and mult-tasking has taken away positions that were once unique to seperate crafts. Routing and door to door delivery of car shipments has made some yards obsolete that were a day-or more-delay in the past. YES, I agree, that delay was a crew of men working that day shifting that car that was delayed. Now
You forgot to mention all the new shortlines and regionals, they have made railroading more interesting for me. They have kept and brought many customers to using rail. I know where I live it is amazing how much more railroading there is since the early 90’s when Conrail was trashing everything… I think there will be more of a heydey for freight rail as the highways get more congested, fuel prices continue to rise, labor costs continue to increase, and liability insurance keeps going up for truckers. I think technoligical advances such as the GPS tracking you mentioned will continue to advance railroad efficiencies to new levals. I just hope the class ones avoid more merger melt downs.( UP/SP, Conrail/NS/CSX).
heyday- the time of greatest health, vigor, success, prosperity, etc.
I have to respectfully disagree with you on some points
You’re right, the heyday was not the 40s or 50s, it was the 20s and 30s. 50s were considered the golden age, but that quickly faded away. Here’s why:
The 1920s and 1930s were considered the heyday of rail passenger travel in the US because that was the peak in normal passenger traffic. World War II saw a surge in rail passengers for obvious reasons, but that was mostly troop trains going to bases and then coming home in 1945-46. Before the 50s almost all trains didn’t have airconditioning. My grandma told of taking a train from Wichita to Texas to see my grandpa during WWII. She remembered the trip as hot and dirty because the steam engines smoke kept blowing into cars.
The 1950s were the golden ages because of the quality of rail passenger travel. Every luxury imaginable was available and the service was exceptional. I was never around then, but this is obvious from all the movies I’ve seen, the film clips, and books and magazines I’ve read. I’ve riden Amtrak’s Southwest Chief on 2 seperate trips the last 2 years and they are nothing above 2nd rate, or even 3rd rate, when you compare them to trains of the 1950s. The observation lounge has all plastic and uncompfortable chairs, the dining car is less than what you can expect in a fine restaurant. The decor in the coaches are reminiscent of the 1970s. They’re spacious and compfortable, but old looking.
The big differce between today and anytime before the 1950s is that passenger trains don’t go everywhere whereas back then trains went everywhere. I can’t get on a train in my hometown and go where ever I want.
Now, this might be a heyday for freight shipping and railfans have many opurtunities to see all kinds of trains today. But I’m sure some railroaders will get on here and say what a shipping nightmare some things. (think 1996 and UPs overflow). You’re confusi
Thank you Jeff for your breath of fresh air. [:)] Unfortunately, just as Jeff correctly pointed out, the Hey day of railroading is long gone. So too is the Golden Age of railroading.
As Jeff also pointed out you can no longer get on a train in your hometown (or even close to your hometown) and go everywhere as you once could. If I remember right the amount of trackage now is down compared to what it was 40 or 50 years ago.
I don’t fault any railroad employee. Our current railroad environment is caused by economic conditions beyond their control. I am sure that any railroad employee who had lost his job because of mergers or any other reason would tell you he wished he still had a job. And the employees who once served faithfully in the passenger runs would wi***hey still had the opportunity to serve.
There is a current poll about “Your Favorite Railroad Decade”. Take the poll and tell us why you like that decade, but don’t attack other people just because you don’t like their opinion. The poll is for fun. Take it and enjoy it. Don’t diminish another opinion because it doesn’t agree with yours. WE DON’T WANT OR NEED ANOTHER “MISSOURI” TYPE HERE ! No offense to people living in Missouri ( I am from there), if you don’t understand that comment then read through other threads and you can see why I say that.
Take care, stay safe, and Look, Listen, and LIVE
Don’t forget the troops.
…Just one comment. WWII Passenger traffic was more than troop trains heading to bases. Riding the rails was just about the only way to travel any distance for many civilians due to gas rationing, non manufacturing of new cars, tire rationing, 35 mph speed limits, etc…The railroads had to throw anything they had in service that had wheels to carry the bulge of people traveling. Some of the cars were pretty rugged too but they were necessary to carry the mass of traffic. The railroads did a great service in that period of serving the country. It was quite an era. Of course they transported uncounted amounts of GI’s too. To war…and many back home but sadly not all…