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For those that had to work with him on the engineering side, "great guy" so far as things professional were concerned was not in our vocabulary. Harry Weese was the General Architectual Consultant which meant they developed all appearance related concepts and related general design standards...

The list, copied in for convenience: Replacing the severely deteriorated concrete ceiling of a box fan shaft above both tracks between Farragut North and Dupont Circle. Replacing a switch machine near Judiciary Sq that has reached the end of its usable life. Work on this machine has been...

Saw these trains and an LA station used in a movie quite a few years ago with WMATA labels on them so they could pretend they were in DC for the sake of the movie plot. Screamed phony to anyone who had ever seen any part of the WMATA system.

No. Virtually all of their tracks are in either 115RE, 132RE, or 136RE, which are the three most common rail sections found in track in the US, Canada, and probably Mexico as well. Current crown radius in all three is 8 inches. In the past the as-rolled radii of 132 and 115 was 10 inches and...

If the speed limit is less than 60 Passenger and 50 freight, no functioning signals are required by the FRA. Hence there are line with 59P/49F speed limits. In the past, Rock Island had a single RDC car train that ran between Memphis and Oklahoma City. The line had ABS from Memphis to some...

Maybe true in much of the US where we seem to in way too many cases follow, "THIS IS THE WAY THEY DO IT IN EUROPE", but it is not true in much of the rest of the non-European world. Case in point: In my one trip in Japan, on one regular line train, at some point it the route it reversed...

While the GM&O station, actually M&O for many years prior to merger of the GM&N + M&O, that is Mobile and Ohio, is a beautiful building it was built facing south as a terminal station for lines to the north. Understanding that and looking at the current railroad lines in Mobile, it is most...

The "honey bucket" system was the norm for drop off and early occupancy sleepers throughout the country for many years. In the mid 1950's my parents came in (into Memphis) on the Panama Limited's drop off sleeper once when I was in my early teens, and I rode with my grandfather to pick them up...

Since these cars were last made in the early 1950's, they would 70+ years old by now. Even for good quality railroad equipment, that is pushing it. Despite this, some of these cars are still rolling. Talking about running old equipment, it is also worth mentioning that the L&N rebuilt the...

Makes it obvious why the nickname in the industry for this sort of happening is "Backhoe Braille."

Princeton to Princton Junction in New Jersey on the NEC. Done long in the past by the PRR. About 3 miles if I recall correctly. Used by EMU's, and probably occasional freight.

Last information I had, the signal system on the west line was automatic block, not CTC, and not functional. The rail in the track is, at least in part, and most likely all in 113 SP rail which is a Southern Pacific design 113 lb/yd section, probably well worn and would be more than 60 years...

Ah yes! Another issue with electric power to railroads. Of necessity (notice only one contact wire) the overhead must be single phase. This results in unbalance between phases if carried too far. Therefore, there must be phase breaks at semi-regular intervals in order to balance the power...

Without copying in your statements: JIS, you are absolutely correct concerning underground utilities. As to the well publicized problems with Caltrain, I wonder if they have a "Miss Utility" system out there. I can't imagine them not, but then again, I do not understand why they would be...

AAR Plate H which defines the theoretical maximum vehicle outline for double stacks is 20'-2" high. The Pennsylvania Railroad design for wire elevation where not otherwise constrained was 22'-0". Although the container cross section is essentially international, from pictures I have seen the...

Google can be your friend here. For reference, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is 57.09 km = 35.47 miles. "The Seikan Tunnel is a 53.85 km (33.46 mi) dual-gauge railway tunnel in Japan, with a 23.3 km (14.5 mi) portion under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait." So, yes it can be said, "not quite as...

What on earth were these people thinking to build a new structure with such low clearances? You would think they would have built it to AT LEAST have no less vertical clearance than the old tunnel.

Some information on the tunnel, mostly from wiki. Opened: 1 June 2016 Line length: 57.09 km (35.5 mi) Track length: : 57.104 km (35.5 mi) (east tunnel); 57.017 km (35.4 mi) (west tunnel); Location: Switzerland (Uri, Grisons and Ticino) Start: Erstfeld, canton of Uri (north, 460 m or 1,510 ft)...

Don't drink the water in Slidell unless you want a really unique taste experience.

Yes, this is a very good idea, and has been recommended for a few situations in the US. There may be a couple locations in the US where such has even been built. On one in which I had some involvement we had screams from some "environmentalists" about it being a visual blight. There were also...