Conversation in amtrack terminal

[t walgamuth]

I took the Amtrack up to Chicago today and drove back the 95 e300 diesel I bought from Matt a fellow member here. The tran was about 20 minutes late but otherwise the service was exemplary.

Sat down in the terminal with my backpack. Next to me was a lady with four bags.
Her: "where you going?"
Chicago.
What for?
Picking up an old Mercedes.
You a collector?
Uhhhh....more of an accumulator.
she laughs.
Then I launch into a breif explanation of how many old cars I have but left out the two studebakers for simplicity/
Then she tells me all about her nephew who collects (gasp) Sears allstate motorcycles...he has them all except for two models.
We go on for a good while about that, then I ask her where she's going. She launches into an excited description of how her husband is flying down in a couple of days to NOL and they are taking the delta queen paddle boat up to memphis, taking 5 days to visit all the sights along the way...vicksburg etc.
She tells me how the old Delta Queen had been taken out of service by the government and so they had to build a new one, then she starts ranting about how terrible it is that the government is telling us too much to do and that if all this safety hogwash was so effective how come Social Security is in trouble? We used to ride bikes without helmets and no seat belts in cars, etc.

I say that the automobile safety standards work really well and that even though we drive many times more miles today less people are killed than in the sixties (I may have stretched that a bit, not sure).

She argues more.

So I say "your solution to the social security shortfall is to kill off more young people?"

Then I must have made her feel as if she was losing so she said "I was kidding". don't you have any sense of humor?

So I stopped talking to her.

Turns out all the problems of the world would be all better if people just would simply grow a sense of humor!

[Diesel911]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I took the Amtrack up to Chicago today and drove back the 95 e300 diesel I bought from Matt a fellow member here. The tran was about 20 minutes late but otherwise the service was exemplary.

Sat down in the terminal with my backpack. Next to me was a lady with four bags.
Her: "where you going?"
Chicago.
What for?
Picking up an old Mercedes.
You a collector?
Uhhhh....more of an accumulator.
she laughs.
Then I launch into a breif explanation of how many old cars I have but left out the two studebakers for simplicity/
Then she tells me all about her nephew who collects (gasp) Sears allstate motorcycles...he has them all except for two models.
We go on for a good while about that, then I ask her where she's going. She launches into an excited description of how her husband is flying down in a couple of days to NOL and they are taking the delta queen paddle boat up to memphis, taking 5 days to visit all the sights along the way...vicksburg etc.
She tells me how the old Delta Queen had been taken out of service by the government and so they had to build a new one, then she starts ranting about how terrible it is that the government is telling us too much to do and that if all this safety hogwash was so effective how come Social Security is in trouble? We used to ride bikes without helmets and no seat belts in cars, etc.

I say that the automobile safety standards work really well and that even though we drive many times more miles today less people are killed than in the sixties (I may have stretched that a bit, not sure).

She argues more.

So I say "your solution to the social security shortfall is to kill off more young people?"

Then I must have made her feel as if she was losing so she said "I was kidding". don't you have any sense of humor?

So I stopped talking to her.

Turns out all the problems of the world would be all better if people just would simply grow a sense of humor!

Maybe: Turns out all problems of the World seem to be better if People just would simply grow a sense of Humor.

Baseball is not Americas favorite past time; compared to complaining about things.

[kerry]

Nice to have a local Amtrak station.

[t walgamuth]

yes, the ticket was half the cost of fuel to drive my most fuel efficient car up there. Interesting view too....different from driving.

At one point I passed a whole row of the huge windmills which were at least a mile away and they lined up so straight and it was so level it looked at one point like one mill with about 20 blades turning.

[spdrun]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

yes, the ticket was half the cost of fuel to drive my most fuel efficient car up there. Interesting view too....different from driving.

If only the Northeast line were as cheap w/o pre-booking. I'm paying $50 from NY to Philly tomorrow -- driving would be closer to $25 but my car is stored out of town, the bus or local train would be $15. Local train takes twice as long, and riding on long-distance buses generally makes me want to vomit. Arriving motion sick ain't my idea of a fun ride.

Looking on the bright side, moving at 120+ mph on the ground is kind of fun.

[t walgamuth]

The rails were in pretty good condition and got better as we approached the Chicago area. I was walking along the platform which must be a quarter mile long in Lafayette and was disturbed to see that only about 20% of the spikes actually touched the rails, the others had backed out as much as 4".

[Jorn]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

yes, the ticket was half the cost of fuel to drive my most fuel efficient car up there. Interesting view too....different from driving.

At one point I passed a whole row of the huge windmills which were at least a mile away and they lined up so straight and it was so level it looked at one point like one mill with about 20 blades turning.

I love Amtrack, when I visit my sister in San Diego and don't need a car I take the train. Most relaxing way of traveling and the train is little bit cheaper even if I travel 1st class.

[spdrun]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

The rails were in pretty good condition and got better as we approached the Chicago area. I was walking along the platform which must be a quarter mile long in Lafayette and was disturbed to see that only about 20% of the spikes actually touched the rails, the others had backed out as much as 4".

Yeah, that seems pretty sketchy and dangerous. Have the railroad inspectors been furloughed of late?

Around here they seem to be moving to cement ties where the rails are clipped rather than spiked down.

[Pooka]

I think the last Delta Queen failed a Coast Guard seaworthy test and was not given a cert to operated in US waters. This is because it was worn out, and even though it still had a great deal of charm the operators must have made the decision to replace and not repair.

I find it amazing that anyone would want to go back to the unregulated days of sea travel. Most folks don't understand that hulls thin as they travel thorough water, and even thought it usually takes fifty years for this to take place the day will come when they are unsafe to operate.

Hulls can be maintained, but it is normally cheaper to just purchase a new vessel.

And... You may be wondering why I know this stuff. I was once in charge of a few oil tankers that operate in US waters and was always catching grief from the maritime operations folks for one thing or another. I just pointed out that I was the one signing off on the vessel's capability, and if they wished to assume that job I would be glad to turn it over to them.

But running a fleet of tankers is easy if you have a well trained staff that is doing all of the work.

[barry12345]

I have always thought you really needed a sense of humour to live in this world.

I would like to see the railroads grow stronger again. Locally we are still downsizing passenger service. The methology seems to raise fares so it becomes the most expensive commercial transportation to use.

Late last year the passenger train does not stop locally unless their booking system shows someone has purchased a ticket in advance anymore. Or some people are getting off. Plus service frequency is in decline.

The track infustructure etc seems well maintained because of the volume of freight handled. Railways up here in Canada have been really profitable the last few years. Government runs the passenger train service at a loss of course..

Bill gates purchased quite a chunk of Canadian pacific railways. I suspect Warren Buffet put him up to it. Was a wise move anyways.

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by kerry

Nice to have a local Amtrak station.

I flew to LA a few months ago for a business trip. After passing through the ordeal that is LAX and waiting at the terminal for the return flight, one of my co-workers suggested we should take the train next time. A little searching revealed we have an Amtrak station in Reno (that nobody knows about), and there's an Amtrak station adjacent to LAX (that nobody seems to know about). I haven't looked any further into it, but I will the next time I need to go to LA.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by Skippy

I flew to LA a few months ago for a business trip. After passing through the ordeal that is LAX and waiting at the terminal for the return flight, one of my co-workers suggested we should take the train next time. A little searching revealed we have an Amtrak station in Reno (that nobody knows about), and there's an Amtrak station adjacent to LAX (that nobody seems to know about). I haven't looked any further into it, but I will the next time I need to go to LA.

Here's a clip of LA's Amtrak station (though from 1985) at the beginning of a mesmerizing chase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDK8OtjE7O4

rest of it

To Live and Die in L.A.(1985) - The Car Chase part 2 - YouTube

[t walgamuth]

I thought it interesting that no security checks whatever were performed. I could have been a bad person and nobody would have taken any notice.

The seats are a lot more roomy than on an airplane and nicer.

[elchivito]

We used to ride the train to California in the summer when I was a kid. I liked the train ride more than Disneyland and the beach.
After wrecking the junky Citroen I bought from some hippies in Dom Square in Amsterdam, I fell back on the good old Eurail pass.
In the 80s I took the Sunset Limited from Phoenix to LA, changed to the Coast Starlight and up to Portland. I had a private sleeper all the way. Great way to travel. I've wanted to take Amtrak from Flagstaff to Albuquerque to see the country away from I-40, but last I checked there was only one train and it leaves FLG at 9 p.m., sorta pointless.

[neumann]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

The rails were in pretty good condition and got better as we approached the Chicago area. I was walking along the platform which must be a quarter mile long in Lafayette and was disturbed to see that only about 20% of the spikes actually touched the rails, the others had backed out as much as 4".

Hi,

Did you mention the spike situation to anyone?