My wife and I have reservations for the Grand Canyon Railway for late June. We are really looking forward to it.

Will you be staying at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams?

http://www.thetrain.com/lodging/the-grand-canyon-railway-hotel http://www.thetrain.com/lodging/the-grand-canyon-railway-hotel/

Yes. We have booked the three day package they offer. We will have two nights at their hotel in Williams and a night at the Maswik at the Grand Canyon.

Any train that has 24 hr paramedic and air ambulance has got to be thrilling

I grew up a few miles from Conway Yard, the largest freight yard in the world from 1956 to 1980.  Now it’s owned by Norfolk Southern Railway.  We saw trains every day.  In Sewickley, PA the tracks are very close to Rt. 65.  I always hoped we’d see the end of the train because the guy in the caboose would wave.  They have some interesting pictures on their FB page.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Norfolk-Southern-Railway-Conway-Yard/289458457753185 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Norfolk-Southern-Railway-Conway-Yard/289458457753185

Now it’s the second largest freight yard in the US.  MH has often commented that he is astonished by it’s size. 

I have to add one more comment here. This is a photo taken by a good friend, of a steam helper locomotive assisting the Santa Fe Super Chief ‘up the hill in Cajon Pass, CA taken about 1950, I have stood in the same spot many times to catch a shot of an Amtrak climbing the Pass in modern times. This is one link in the history of the place that keeps me coming back.

That is such a wonderful photo!  Union Pacific’s Big Boy worked many years into the ‘diesel-era’ helping long trains over Sherman’s Hill in Wyoming.

BTW:  your photo in #12 above is of the Pullman Sleepers of the Super Chief.  The “El Capitan’ was all coach with reclining seats with the rounded back ‘observation car’ and a glass-domed ‘bar car’.  As a kid, the conductor told me that we crossed the Mississippi at 100 MPH and hit 120 on the Western straightaways.  Pre-interstate highways those speeds were really impressive to this, then 8 year-old.

On the return trip we visited the Grand Canyon over which http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Grand_Canyon_mid-air_collision this tragedy had just occurred.  The wreckage was visible with binoculars from the South Rim.  We were happy that ‘we took the train’!

Make no mistake about it, I [:X][:X][:X][:X][:X] trains – the equipment, the technology, and the magnificent architecture & engineering of tunnels, bridges, cuts, and the monumental stations.

However, as an economist, I have to examine – rationally – the viability for “high speed rail” in the United States.

Europe is the “model”, the “ideal”.  By experience, their rail systems inspire both admiration and, on occasion, absolute awe in me.  That, I have amply illustrated above in posts prior.

Probably the most legendary rail route was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express The Orient Express that connected Paris to Istanbul, via either Vienna or Milan.  Even though it is still possible to make that trek by rail, the Express no longer runs.  That is due to its length – roughly the same distance as it is from Dallas to NYC — across the breadth of Europe, but only half-way across the USA.

As here, Europeans needing to make such a trip will always prefer the 2.5 hour flight (unless they are into nostalgia and three day train rides).

Even though “high speed rail” is available from Rome to Paris, your choice is 11 – 14 hours by rail or a 1.75 hour flight.  The same length trip from Paris to Madrid takes 19 hours via rail!

Realize and THINK: England is the same size as Pennsylvania, has a gentler typography, and has more than 5X’s its population.  So, of course, rail “rules” Britannia.  And what rational individual would even think of “messing” with CDG-LHR when Gare du Nord – St. Pancras is, all things considered, faster and less expensive – and so, so more comfortable.

When I lived in Arlington, VA, even given the unique convenience of Reagan National, I soon learned that the best way to 59th. & CPS was by rail, even though the carrier was AMTRACK.

Lordy, abolish AMTRACK and let the private sector build state-of-the-art high speed rail where it makes sense.  By common sense and the Euro and Japanese experience, that means connecting major ‘metros’ not more than 400 miles distant from one another.  Given the ‘right of ways’ AMTRACK “owns”, private money will flood in and the Euros will envy us.

Wonderful visual to illustrate the weight and power of the locomotive – one of the greatest design and engineering achievements of Western Civilization – and today, sadly, one of the least appreciated.

But they never use their own money.  OPM is the game in Las Vegas.

From the last “debate” evidently that was true in Atlantic City as well.[lol]

When I lived in McLean, VA a buddy of mine and I made day trips to AC every few months.  My all-time favorite way to go was the AC Express that originated at DC’s Union Station with brief stops in Charm City, 30th. St. Station, and Cherry Hill.  It was quick and cheap – not all that much more expensive than the tolls for driving …  and it gave one the chance to sober-up enough to make the short drive home from Union Station relatively safe!

Like my many jaunts to AC, “day-trippers” from Greater LA would make the proposed line a big winner!

I thought abought a thread here focused on trains and roadfood linked together. Maybe a sticky one??

    Example, in Hesperia, CA on the Desert side of Cajon Pass. Main St crosses over the tracks on an overpass bridge. That is milepost 45 for the tracks with a couple of sidings into business yards there and signal lights to control access to those sidings. Running beside the tracks is Hesperia Road and on the far side of the road are businesses, including a great tortilla factory and Mexican food stand, and a short block North is a good Cafe with all glass windows facing the rails, where we often sit and wat the trains roar thru eastbound (downhill) at 79mph) . The westbound trains pulling a very long slow grade often stop to allow their wheels to cool a bit at Mile 45 before pushing on to the Summit at Mile 55. If the stop the Jr crewman will run across the street to pick up an order they have called in to either the Mexican place or the Cafe…and then trot back to his idling locomotive to share the chow with the engineer.

   There are places like this all along the track thruout the USA !!

Major Error on the Crew’s part Here.

Instead of locking the brakes with the gearing in ‘Neutral/Park’ when they stopped for a long ‘crew-change break’ ,  This crew on this CSX train let the engine idle in forward gear. They were on a very slight grade so the train made no forward progress, it’s powered wheels just kept turning and grinding against the tracks at the same points, with this being the results a few hours later. I don’t know what happened when the new crew arrived on scene and reported the condition of the engine and the track, requesting assistance.. This was near Nashville about 8 years ago.

Private investments, the way it should be done.

Private enterprise built the railroads – and the subways, trolleys, and el’s! 

I know that.  You know that. 

Sadly, I very much doubt many under 40 were taught/know that fact, much less to appreciate it.

Mayor Al,

We will be driving to Williams, AZ.

Thanks, MetroplexJim![8D]