Recent content by Jdub

All you can think is that this is 2024. Airplanes have WiFi. Every person younger than , say, 40, is on line all the time. The strategic future user projection seems to be led by 75 yr.olds.

Removal is sort of like jackstraws, the kid's game. Lots of unstable intermixed pieces. Armchair engineers may never have played the game. Seems to me there's not much sense in building a new bridge to 60 year old specs..better to assess what the need in 2024 may be.

Meteor rider here. VLI is preferred.

Just booked NB 9811 ( is this VL 1--probably?) and SB 9712 ( is this VL 2? probably?) Not a fan of VL 2..will change if the option exists.

I recall backing into the Jacksonville Union station. I guess that doesn't happen any more anywhere.

Has any evaluation ever been made of an autotrain-like service that begins in Lorton (say), breaks in say, San Antonio and terminates in LA? No niggling--just LD transport of vehicle and driver.

How do you do this? I've heard a passenger can speak with the conductor and buy a roomette space if one is available. It would be nice to know just how you do that. [I'm a slow learner and it helps to have directions].

I had a phone message today supposedly from Norfolk & Southern about a 'personal matter', please call back. Of course I deleted the message because I couldn't think why N&S would be calling me. I DID look up N&S and found a number of articles about a Board of Directors election and CEO...

So you're suggesting the an impatient driver can't distinguish between a Brightline train and a freight train and therefore will try to blow a crossing that is active. I recommend that you have a serious discussion with the local school board about life skills education, especially driver...

That's roadway signal timing. Each intersection on a roadway corridor has signals timed to the posted speed. Since rail intersection times and roadway crossing timing are so unpredictiable, rail crossing signals are unlikely to be sychronized with roadway times. Every driver needs to...

As a person of additive years, I recommend reserving in a VI when possible. Toilet facilities are in the room not down the hall. Some people think that the aesthetic leaves something to be desired. I say that practical considerations are a reasonable approach.

For some people

Quad gates stop the bozos who try to get around vehicles stopped by regular gate. I once stopped at a high speed rail crossing in Spain--quad gates with chains came down 2-3 minutes before the train came through. What you see is gates with chains hanging down. The chains could be metal or...

On the train itself---On my wish list is 2 or 3 illuminated depot signs in script large enough to be read from, say, 50' at night. Many stops include signs that are unreadable from the train night or day. It is frustrating to be looking out the window and to have zero sense of where the train...

I once wrote a discussion of how the US was organized around rail connections--focused on Chicago. Rails and history are deeply interconnected. Amtrak inherited passenger services that had a lot of variety--good, bad and indifferent. Amtrak is the recipient of those historic conditions...