The following article appeared in today’s local paper. It was so interesting I wanted to share.
http://www.winchesterstar.com/articles/view/when_trains_ruled_the_world
Happy Railroading
Bob
Nice little story!
In my neck of the woods, quite a number of students still take the streetcar to school - every day! We are fortunate to have quite a dense network of public transport on rail available, and with the gas prices in a region of $ 7 a gallon, public transport is becoming more and more popular, even with the younger folks.
that was a neat story. My mom’s mom used to ride a coal train to school in England. I’ve actually never ridden on a train other than tourist lines; maybe someday I’ll ride Amtrak, it certainly looks cheaper than flying or driving long distances.
You would think it would be cheaper than flying but not the case this summer. My wife and kids traveled on Amtrak’s Starlight Express from Eugene, Or to Santa Barbara, Ca and it was over a thousand dollars for a sleeping car. Coach ended up being around 300 but the trip was about 24 hours. That’s a long time to be in an uncomfortable coach seat. Then you have to pay for food. Boarding was an unorganized nightmare as well. People wonder why no one takes the train except for commuter and short haul. I like trains, don’t get me wrong, but passenger service sure ain’t what it used to be.
Chris
Not to turn this is to slapping poor old Amtrak, but unless you’re at an endpoint of a route its not exactly convenient. I’ve done Pittsburgh to DC and back before. Its cost and time competitive with driving. But you leave Pittsburgh at 5:20 AM and get in at 11:48PM if its on time. Your arrival and departures in DC are around 1:30 and 3:45 PM respectively and thats better. Its a lot worse for some places in Ohio where to the to DC leg would have you board at 3 AM.
Long distance train travel is an anachronism. It is difficult to justify in terms of cost and time. Taking the train only makes sense for the small percentage of people who would rather spend two days on a train than a couple hours on a plane and are willing to pay for the privilage. I have twice made that choice taking Amtrak from Chicago to California, both times riding coach. In 1976, I was young enough that the coach seats were not too uncomfortable to sleep in. Not so just a few years ago. The old bones just couldn’t find a comfortable spot. If I do it again, I’ll cough up the extra money to get a sleeper. I believe on advantage of going with a sleeper is your meals are included. I’ll have to double check that but that would lessen the cost a little bit.
It would make far more sense if this country put more emphasis on high speed regional railroads to integrate with the rest of the transportation system. Here in Ohio, Obamadollars are being spent for a corridor to connect Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati but because they aren’t planning to upgrade the track, it will be slower and more expensive than traveling by car. Who but rail enthusiasts are going to go that way. I might try it just for the novelty, but I don’t see this as much of a success story. This is a halfway measure, doomed to failure. Unless they can upgrade it to a high speed rail line, it seems destined to go become a white elephant.
I completely agree. I would love to see passenger travel by train come back but unless we can invest seious capital into high speed rail (and when I say high speed I mean in the 250-300mph range), I think we are wasting our time (and money) on half hearted attempts. I think Amtrak does its best, it was just a real eye opener for me.
Chris
This is true.
[:)]
Amtrak’s not that bad. They have a route from Denver up into the mountains (Glenwood Springs) for about $25 and it’s about a 4 hr commute.
I think that it’s not only cheap, but you get to kick back, and enjoy the scenery.
With today’s gas prices, who wants to spend $50 on gas and fight traffic. If it’s a holiday weekend, add another 1-2 hrs trying to come down the mountain on a Sunday, it’s a nightmare.
One big thing that people neglect when comparing train/plane/car travel is “prep time” Things like the commute from home to airport/depot, security delays (really you want me to take my shoes off?) waiting for departure, in trip delays and then departure delays like chasing down luggage.
Personal cars win these hands down but many times you lose the abilty to enjoy the scenery. Planes have no scenery unless you like clouds. Trains generally have slow travel times.
But on short hauls trains can and do defeat planes and cars, look at the northeast corridor. Now if Amtrak (or the feds) can get long distance travel to those standards then cars and planes will give up some of their income to trains.
The Ohio plan is a joke, basically just assigning new rolling stock to existing routes. Where is the improvement? A dedicated rail ine or an express service would do better but the freight guys need to play nice.
This was a 1910 Postcard that was on eBay. today. It is a B&O station and is the one referred to in the article as the Piccadilly station. You will see that every one including the children are dressed up.
Until some time after WW II when people traveled they wore their Sunday finest whether traveling by car or train. As a kid I can remember being all decked out in My Sunday School clothes when we went by car to visit my Aunt and Uncle in NJ even though the only places we stopped were at a Howard Johnsons and to get gas. Needless to say I looked forward to the ice cream.
Those were the days.
Happy Railroading
Bob
If one is interested in how trains and railroads shaped modern life there is a book called “Passage To Union”. I don’t remember the author off the top of my head. Deals with many social and cultural things that have come about because of the railroads including time zones and “Railroad Standard Time” changed to “Standard Time” in 1964 or so.
Well around here trains are still king well at least commuter trains any way. More trains pass through the NY’s Grand Central station in a day then then any where else in the world. They are planning on new high sped rail lines and we all know that moving freight by rail is still the most economical way to do it hands down. Unfortunately the one great part of our infrastructure that built this great nation was neglected for way too long but as the saying goes whats old is new again it true at least around here. Although we do have idiots like our present governor in this state who decided last week to close down a railroad tunnel project into Manhattan that was employing over 6000 people. His reason we the people of NJ can’t afford it we’re broke. True but hey genius it was entirely funded by federal money. So the fed had to come in an read him the riot act and turn the project back on. I find it unbelievable that I am even putting this in print but at least the Federal government is doing something right. We need to upgrade our entire rail system in this country thats a fact and by doing so I personally feel it will help put us back on the right track no pun intended to having a stable healthy economy.Trains are something this country and the world will always need
I’ve tried commenting many times here on the rail plan in Ohio and each time just deleted the post. Can’t really comment on it without it turning to politics for the simple fact the politicians are trying to run it. Ruderunners comment on the security can be modified to include not only " you want me to remove my shoes" but very soon " You want to look WHERE !!!???" If they are not a panel of MDs ,I’ll pass. Enough on that subject. What would interest me is steam or even early diesels pulling heavyweights from scenic rr to scenic rr.
Those are some great pictures of never to be seen again views. The stations, trains, clothes, nobody being mugged, no graffiti, and visible respect, -that and everything being black, white, or all shades in between[;)]. Boy I wish I could visit those times.
RE the students riding the trains to school- I read an article from an old MRR about a countryside in England where this still occurs, and on small steam locomotives on 16 or 18in track if I remember correctly. There was just enough room to crawl in and sit on a seat, but definately no standing. It was in use during WWII to transport troops and school kids and has been running ever since. It CAN get up some speed (50-60mph IIRC), but they don’t do it.