After reading the latest thread on DM&E and Rochester not wanting ethanol and a few other things to go through their town, I thought we should describe what the “perfect” train is.
The perfect train only comes into our town with the products that businessess in our town uses. All other stuff get routed around our precious perfect town so as to not make any more noise and disruption than absolutely necessarry.
The perfect train silently flies over the town not blocking a single RR crossing.
The perfect train only makes noise switching cars when we allow it to 10am to 4pm.
Unfortunately I think to Rochester and some other towns, the most perfect train, would be one setting on static display in somebody else’s town. Of course then they’d complain about the increase of trucks hauling hazardous material through town.
Considering the regs for hauling Hazmat are tough enough already. Can you imange the gridlock if everything was hauled via trucks good luck even getting anything moved at all. NIMBYS and the BANANNAS need to realize something the railroads were here LONG BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN A GLIMMER IN THEIR DADDIES EYE.
In Brookings, South Dakota the perfect train would be where EVERYONE who works for the railroad has a degree from South Dakota State University.
Under that stipulation you could run 200 trains a day with the horns going full blast from one end of town to the other and the city would not complain.
There have been a couple of letters to the editor of the Omaha World herald from people living in west Omaha right next to the double main about the amount of train traffic and the noise. I have often wondered what the developer told these folks about the train traffic as he sold the lots,. I can only imagine Larry
75 loaded coal cars, each equipped with new tight-lock couplers
3 SD70MACs–2 on the front, 1 DPU, all DB working
On duty call for 7am
Train waiting at yard when on-duty time arrives
Sunny day, around 75 degrees
Nothing but green signals
Conductor that stays awake (or if he blabs constantly, maybe better asleep)
Nothing but welded rail and 60mph speed restrictions for the next 250 miles
Off duty at noon, hop on empties
Tie-up at home terminal after 10 hours on duty and 500 miles run.
What about the people that work 3rd shift? You have to equate those people in. No switching period!. Going to have to move the Yard way out of town, build a transit line (so Trains Magazine can do a boring article about those, maybe even a trolley system!!) so you wouldn’t have extra traffic on the streets. I suppose one could drive to the yard with all the over/under passes built.
One would also have a double main track, downhill for departures and inbounds so the units can be shut off and the train can coast into town with hardly any noise. Going to also have some kind of generator installed so the air is continually pumped up. Before each train is allowed to come into said city, there has to be a car shop so the RR can replace flat spotted wheels, leaky air hoses and muffle the sound of the air releasing from the smart FRED. Oh yeah, globs of grease into the springs of the rolling stock so there isn’t any noise when they compress. That would be the “perfect train”. Soon to be near a city by you. It will catch on. Just wait.
My perfect train is a mixed bag of lease cars loaded grain, corn, soybean about 90 in length with 3 SD40-2’s as the pulling power. 2 facing forward and last one facing backwards.
The ultimate perfect train is any train that I get caught by while on the clock.
I think a lot of towns perfect train would only run in the middle of the night, not blow for crossings, and be silent. That way nothing interferes with their precious little lives.
The perfect passenger train? Visually it’s a tie among the pre-Amtrak California Zephyr and Denver Zephyr (as long as the consists of both trains were 100% stainless steel and both carried their characteristic observation cars) any “Skytop” equipped Hiawatha, the Rio Grande Zephyr, the Electroliners, and TheSilverton. I might even throw in the Broadway Limited (pre Penn Central), when the Pennsy took pride in its flagship, and perhaps the Panama Limited as well.
The perfect passenger train round two? Any section of the Evanston Express as long as it was powered by a four car brace of 1920’s-built “Cincinnati Heavyweights.” They were the homeliest looking equipment but full of charm beyond belief. From Linden Ave., Wilmette (on Chicagoland’s North Shore) to The Loop and back, they sang, whined, groaned, squealed, wheezed and roared everywhere they went. On a really hot and muggy day with the windows wide open, the mixed odors of creosote from the wooden 'L platforms and ties, ozone from the sparking third rail, and hot traction motor grease made a mix of industrial perfumes that would make any member of the rapid transit lunatic fringe all but swoon.
The perfect passenger train, period? The Super Chief when it was John Shedd R
The Super C was a unique train that outran passenger trains if I recall from the Trains article, but it was often a few cars long. As the picture said, when the locomotive is as long as the train it’s time to give up.