|
Passenger rail, once again, is a loving joke. Just for funsies, I priced out traveling from Jacksonville, FL to Miami, Fl. 350mi, 8hr trip. $140. Flights are $230 and take an hour. Why would anyone ever take a train, outside of the NEC which I guess is cheaper, over a flight? 7 hours of my life is worth more than $90 bucks.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 04:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 10:11 |
|
|
MassivelyBuckNegro posted:Passenger rail, once again, is a loving joke. Just for funsies, I priced out traveling from Jacksonville, FL to Miami, Fl. 350mi, 8hr trip. $140. Flights are $230 and take an hour. I've been wanting to take a proper trip by train for years, but this kills it for me every time. Right now I'm in DC visiting my family and I actually looked up doing this trip on Amtrak. Headed down today, returning on Friday. The round trip was going to be around $400 IIRC and would take around 12 hours each way. The worst part is that there are only two trains that go through Cleveland. Both are options to get to DC, but both depart in the wee hours of the morning. At this time of year I don't think an on-schedule Amtrak train is in the state of Ohio during daylight. Southwest charged me $125 round trip and got me here in 55 minutes, while letting me get a mostly full night of sleep.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 06:22
|
|
|
bytebark posted:They do intentionally put spare empty cars between the bottle cars to space them out. Unsure of the exact reason but I suspect it's either to more widely distribute the weight of the steel, or because putting the cars right next to each other might make loading/unloading more difficult. Another thing to consider is braking. You get more axles with brakes on them, and not extra weight. Might help with downhills.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 07:33
|
|
|
Raluek posted:Another thing to consider is braking. You get more axles with brakes on them, and not extra weight. Might help with downhills. I'd think that fancy knuckles or not, that's going to try to lift and overrun the rear of the unladen car.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 08:50
|
|
|
Rail travel in the US is like a cruise, you aren't doing it for the speed. And with a horrible Supreme Court verdict likely coming down the pipeline, it's going to stay that way.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 10:45
|
|
Cygni posted:Rail travel in the US is like a cruise, you aren't doing it for the speed. And with a horrible Supreme Court verdict likely coming down the pipeline, it's going to stay that way. Are you talking about this? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/business/supreme-court-hears-cases-on-internet-shopping-and-railroads.html?_r=0 http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-08/amtrak-rulemaking-questioned-by-us-supreme-court-justices If so, yeah I'm perefectly fine with the law being struck. gently caress foamers and whatever other weirdos that travel by passenger rail. I want my trains on time.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 12:33
|
|
|
Pretty sure the railroad does a good job of delaying their own poo poo. Let's stop a slop manifest with 13000 tons and 2 wheezy motors on the side of the largest hill while its freezing rain then wonder why its taking them so long to pull up while there's a pile of trains behind it. Or delaying a train for 3 hours waiting for a hot pig train that is still 150 miles away.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 13:24
|
|
|
It can be real hit and miss. My Amtrak train into California was early by 2 hours, although we got delayed in the last 10 mils due to construction and only ended up being 30 minutes early. However, on the way back our train was late by 6 hours  And then I took the train out of Philadelphia and it was 6 hours late getting to the station because of a broken down locomotive. It'll get better 
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 16:44
|
|
|
Considering the Feds subsidized and bailed out the freight rail in this country multiple times over, I don't think 'let us run a train twice a day' is too much to ask.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 17:02
|
|
|
I took the Empire Builder from Minneapolis to Portland with a private bedroom for my honeymoon. I think a long distance train journey should be on everyone's bucket list, but it was definitly way slower than flying (we took the train west and flew back). We also took the Cascades between Portland and Seattle and Vancouver, and that's very nice, they just need to fix the bottlenecks and generally up the speed from 79 to 110 mph. Train travel can be good, we just have to want it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 17:10
|
|
|
I took a shower on the Zephyr at 80 mph. The drain just emptying on the tracks so everything under me is just whizzing by. It was awesome.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 17:28
|
|
|
MassivelyBuckNegro posted:If so, yeah I'm perefectly fine with the law being struck. gently caress foamers and whatever other weirdos that travel by passenger rail. I want my trains on time. The thing most people don't seem to get is that all forms of passenger transportation only work with government support. Highways are paid for with tax dollars, airports are heavily subsidized, etc. That said, long distance passenger rail in the US is basically serving a market that doesn't exist. It's more like a land based version of cruise ships than a true method of transportation. Edit: In spite of this I would love to take a long distance trip by rail, just haven't gotten around to it yet. Disgruntled Bovine fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Dec 24, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 17:39
|
|
|
ijustam posted:I took a shower on the Zephyr at 80 mph. The drain just emptying on the tracks so everything under me is just whizzing by. It was awesome. I thought that all US passenger cars had to empty into a holding tank.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2014 04:15
|
|
|
Pigsfeet on Rye posted:I thought that all US passenger cars had to empty into a holding tank. Grey water (sinks, showers, etc.) dumps directly on the ground, black water (toilets) goes to a tank.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2014 06:11
|
|
|
ijustam posted:I took a shower on the Zephyr at 80 mph. The drain just emptying on the tracks so everything under me is just whizzing by. It was awesome. I noticed this too, when I took the Zephyr last year. The water pours right out onto the track. You can see light from the outside through the drain. This whole arrangement was only realized after I took my first shower (of a two-night trip) on the first morning I woke up on the train. The second morning, I made sure to time my shower with one of the smoke breaks the train makes in eastern Iowa. Just to make people on the platform think someone on board was taking a really long piss.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2014 07:02
|
|
|
wolrah posted:Grey water (sinks, showers, etc.) dumps directly on the ground, black water (toilets) goes to a tank. Some cars also have primary and secondary tanks. I was cleaning the weekly passenger train in the Fairbanks shop at midnight once (years ago, when I was in college) when the septic guy came to pump it out. He would go and open the primary tank so that it would drain into the secondary, then hook up to that lower tank and pump everything. Somebody in Anchorage had left the lower valve open and the whole thing drained into the car shop. bytebark posted:I can think of one exception to the rule of thumb that friction bearings are gone from railroads - hot bottle tank cars (specialized tanks used to shuttle liquid steel between steelmaking facilities). Supposedly the heat from the molten steel can cause roller bearings to expand (and make the car immovable) in this type of application, hence the use of standard (friction) bearings. Video of this type of car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbzKU3cxWkk You can see roller bearing trucks under a couple of those hot bottle cars.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2014 22:45
|
|
|
We took the train from Portland to Seattle a couple of months ago. $50 or so for two and it took three hours. Very convenient.
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2014 14:21
|
|
Cygni posted:Considering the Feds subsidized and bailed out the freight rail in this country multiple times over, I don't think 'let us run a train twice a day' is too much to ask. http://www.amazon.com/American-Rail...rican+railroads From what I remember Many railroads become insolvent/non competitive because 1-The ICC determined what rates the railroad could set 2-The ICC determined if a line could be abandoned 3-The other 3 modes of transportation were/are heavily subsidized by the government 4-Railroads weren't able to properly amortize their property to the benefit of state/local property taxes 5-Were forced to remain in the passenger business long after it was profitable(and subsidize it with their own increasingly unprofitable(due to ICC stranglehold and heavily subsidized competition) freight revenue) 6-Weren't able to extract many concessions with unions to eliminate/consolidate jobs after they were made unnecessary(crew size remained 5 until the mid 80s and 3 until sometime in the 90s). 7-Successful railroads were forced to absorb unprofitable ones(in order to continue rail service) The railroads shot themselves in the foot a number of times but its not like Uncle Sugar came to save the day with totally clean hands.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2014 20:23
|
|
|
The latest "train asplodes" [turbocharger, specifically] clip to be making the rounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RvoppZT0Y&feature=youtu.be. Bonus foamer chatter in the background.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2014 19:13
|
|
|
bytebark posted:The latest "train asplodes" [turbocharger, specifically] clip to be making the rounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RvoppZT0Y&feature=youtu.be. Bonus foamer chatter in the background. CN, of course it is. Unfortunate, but pretty funny.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2014 19:29
|
|
|
MassivelyBuckNegro posted:http://www.amazon.com/American-Rail...rican+railroads It's like this is drat near everything that Uncle Sam gets his fingers in. Complete clusterfuck.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2014 22:20
|
|
|
bytebark posted:The latest "train asplodes" [turbocharger, specifically] clip to be making the rounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RvoppZT0Y&feature=youtu.be. Bonus foamer chatter in the background. "DUDE! His traction motor is on fire." Riiiight. About that....
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 18:50
|
|
|
UbiquitousFiend posted:"DUDE! His traction motor is on fire." and a few days later, read the comments to this video now. Looks like a few people are excited and mad at the guy for calling the fire department for it. I'm sure it was under control, but it is still a good call to make even if the fire self extinguished.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2015 05:03
|
|
|
Not so much locomotive insanity as track insanity - triple gauge points. With the rails numbered from the left 1 through 4 we have 1 & 3 - 1435mm 2 & 3 - 1067mm 2 & 4 - 1600mm These now reside at the Railway Museum here in Adelaide, but I'm working on a yard diagram for the yard that these were removed from.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2015 12:42
|
|
|
pic didn't attach before.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2015 12:43
|
|
|
I was out at the museum yesterday helping to paint prep for a restoration project we're hurriedly working on (maybe I'll make a thread?) and happened upon this piston from a locomotive prime mover. Shoe provided for size comparison:
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2015 19:16
|
|
|
bytebark posted:The latest "train asplodes" [turbocharger, specifically] clip to be making the rounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RvoppZT0Y&feature=youtu.be. Bonus foamer chatter in the background. This happened to me in 2011 on the last trip before I got married. The generator and turbo blew to smithereens and started a metal fire. We had to plug it and bail off the train while the fire departments from the nearby small towns did the keystone thing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 01:14
|
|
|
Runaway diesel from turbo oil leakage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvMl8LUzQnk Making some pretty expensive sounds. The engines are governed at around 900-990 rpm that goes out of the window.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 01:19
|
|
|
Stayed at a place in Chicago over new years that has 2 active tracks running right next to it (we're on the 7th floor). Pretty sweet seeing a bunch of trains so close from up top. We saw an Amtrak train run by, 4 SD-40 lookin locomotives idling for aout 40 minutes, a couple new freight locos too. We didn't think we'd see any but boy were we surprised.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 02:39
|
|
|
What a pleasant, intelligent way to start off the New Year: an Allentown woman tried to crawl under a slow-moving train. Got knocked over and lost part of her leg. What an idiot. http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-t-allentown-train-accident-leg-injury-20150102-story.html Pigsfeet on Rye fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Jan 3, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 04:01
|
|
|
I got bored at work last night and decided to play with my new phone. This is the end result.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 21:10
|
|
|
Crosspost from RUSSIA.JPG thread.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 15:14
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:I got bored at work last night and decided to play with my new phone. This is the end result. Do you work in 1915?
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 21:23
|
|
|
Mokotow posted:Crosspost from RUSSIA.JPG thread. If the rims were chromed, that car could be donked out big time.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 22:26
|
|
|
Das Volk posted:Do you work in 1915? That or he's on the St. Charles line
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2015 11:41
|
|
|
Das Volk posted:Do you work in 1915? Nah, it's 2015 here... most of the time. I work for a company in Dallas that runs vintage streetcars in a modern day commuter service.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2015 20:27
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:Nah, it's 2015 here... most of the time. I work for a company in Dallas that runs vintage streetcars in a modern day commuter service. What sort of background do you have so as to get such a position? City bus, I'm guessing? 
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2015 21:40
|
|
|
ctishman posted:What sort of background do you have so as to get such a position? City bus, I'm guessing? Your dirty secret is safe with me, goon.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 08:42
|
|
|
Another shot from work: necessity is the mother of 
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2015 09:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 10:11 |
|
|
  GOON PROJECT http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-30830799 BBC News posted:Rudyard Lake Steam Railway in Staffordshire for sale drat it why can't I have my chosen career as a well paid rich guy instead of the crap I do now, I want a toy railway to troll around on.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2015 19:00
|
|
