Here are some railroad factoids for previous open thread.
Peak railroad mileage was in 1909. Every year since then more tracks have been retired than established.
The less-than-car-load problem noted by others led to the creation of the first logistics companies (American Express, Wells Fargo etc.) They had their own cars and facilities. Many if not most modern trains are “unit trains” where the entire train is consigned to a single shipper. Logistics companies like Pacer Stacktrain (now XPO Logistics) own their well cars and millions of containers.
The first railroads in the Seattle area were about getting coal from mines near Seattle to the Seattle water front for steamships. The coal was mined just across Lake Washington from Seattle in Newcastle and Coal Creek. It was loaded on steamboats near the mouth of May Creek (near the current Seahawks training facility) carried up to Salmon Bay (near where Husky Stadium is now), offloaded over Montlake to the Portage Bay arm of Lake Union. From there barged to South Lake Union and moved by horse-drawn railway to the Seattle water front. The first steam engine in the Seattle was a 0-4-0T tank engine (like Thomas the Tank Engine) named “Ant” and owned by the Seattle Coal Company. The Seattle Coal Company became the Seattle Coal & Transportation Co.
Northern Pacific began building up from Portland Oregon, they announced that their Puget Sound railhead would be near Tacoma (pop 73) on the Commencement Bay water front. They named the place “New Tacoma”. The Seattle founders decided that this would not do and created the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad & Transportation Company with the intention of connecting with the future NP line at Walla Walla. They built from Seattle south to Renton around the end of Lake Washington to Newcastle.
The road was renamed in 1880 as the Columbia & Puget Sound Railway Company. They extended the line to mines in Coal Creek, Black Diamond and beyond. In 1909 the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific (The Milwaukee Road) completed their line from Chicago to compete with the Great Northern and NP and joined the Columbia & Puget Sound in Maple Valley.
At the peak, three great streamliners ran from Chicago to Seattle: The NP “North Coast Limited”, the GN “Empire Builder” and the Milwaukee Road’s “Olympian Hiawatha”. In 1958 all three trains were scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 8:05. If they were all on time, the Hiawatha (over Snoqualmie Pass) and the North Coast (over Stampede Pass) would reach Black River Junction at the same time and travel the final 10 miles on side-by-side tracks. The North Coast to the King Street Station and the Hiawatha across the street at Union Station. The Empire Builder would arrive from Stevens Pass north of Seattle and reach the King Street Station via the joint NP-GN rail tunnel under Seattle.
The Columbia & Puget Sound was bought by the Pacific Coast Railroad in 1916. On March 2, 1970 the Burlington-Northern was created by merger of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Pacific Coast and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle (and some others).
BN abandoned the former NP tracks through Renton in favor of the much older PC right of way.
On March 1, 1980 the Milwaukee Road terminated all operations west of Miles City, Montana. On March 30, 1980 the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (the Rock Island Line) terminated all operations.
In 1996 the now privately Warren Buffet owned BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (now just BNSF). About 15 years ago the BNSF ended the Lake Washington Belt line. The old PC line is now just a spur serving Boeing Renton where 737 fuselages from Wichita are delivered to 737-final assembly.
By mileage, the USA still has the largest rail transport system in the world. It’s just that it is mostly freight.
Interesting read, CE…thx.
I used to own a little stock in Genesee and Wyoming, which is an owner operator of a wide variety of short line railroads in N. America and several other countries. I think they took themselves private.
It always struck me that if people really cared about lowering the nation’s carbon footprint, then an substantial increase in the number of short lines and intermodal freight would be a great idea.
TommyJay. As it happens, our carbon footprint is decreasing. Much of it has to do with natgas power generation. So switching from most convenient to less convenient–with associated costs–seems less urgent than some greenies claim.
Seems to me that long-haul railroads versus short haul have one thing in common. Each has to be loaded at one end and unloaded at the other end. The fuel/emissions advantage for the short haul is offset by many times the pain in the butt of loading and unloading, compared to long haul.
Rudyard Kipling has a story in the person(s) of various railroad vehicles. Good description of a switch yard. Seen them more recently than that. Big deal if you don’t have a unit train.
Richard A.,
You may be correct. In my complete ignorance of the details, I imagined that the short lines would be connected to the long lines. So a single container could travel from short line to long line and back to a short line without too much trouble.
Speaking of nat. gas, another thing that has been discussed, but is probably a non-starter, is running locomotives on LNG instead of diesel.
Way back in the olden days the Milwaukee RR mentioned by Chases Eagles was notable as electricly powered IIRC. When it went under in 1980 there was a race to recover the copper power lines along the tracks before the thrives stole it (MT, N DK, ID,WA). Nowadays we know that windmills and solar panels are the future! So those big freight locomotives will be green too (and loco-non-motives).
When Milwaukee de-electrified the Washington portion, they sold a 100 miles of line to Puget Sound Power & Light (now Puget Sound Energy) in 1976. PSPL had piggy backed off the railroad lines to deliver power to some residential customers. The rest was scrapped in 1977. The Renton substation is a now a nice office building.
The Milwaukee Road left its name all over western Washington. There is a Milwaukee Way in Tacoma along with the Saint Paul Waterway and the Milwaukee Waterway. There is Milwaukee Road in Bellingham, Milwaukee Ave in Carnation, Auburn and Puyallup and Milwaukee Drive in Port Angeles.
The Milwaukee Road had rail service to the Olympic Peninsula via railcar ferry from Seattle. They had ferry docks in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Port Townsend, Shelton, Port Gamble, the ASARCO smelter and a few other places. Some of this was still in service when the Milwaukee Road abandoned operations west of Miles City.
At max mileage in 1916, the Milwaukee Road ran from Deep Creek to Discovery Bay and the Port Townsend Southern connected from there to the Milwaukee ferry dock in Port Townsend. Milwaukee bought out the Port Townsend Southern in 1975. By that time Port Townsend Southern had only one customer left of their own: The paper mill in “An Officer and a Gentleman”.
With all of the tornadoes recently, you might find this book — about how tornado and hurricane warnings are made and how so many lives are saved — to be interesting.
A pro-vaccine doctor warns people to screen themselves before getting vaccinated.
This doctor, Hooman Noorchashm, was on Tucker Carlson tonight. Basically, he is saying that people who are currently infected with COVID-19 or have recently recovered from COVID should not rush in for vaccination.
This directly addresses a question that Rufus T. Firefly had, since he was ill with COVID. The doctor’s worry is that once people feel better when recovering from COVID, the SARS-CoV-2 antigen may stay in your system for a couple or few months. He strongly urges that such folks wait about 6 months after recovery, before getting vaccinated.
It’s pretty good. Comments about something important in business/finance/economics, without beating you over the head.
My absolute favorite little poem is about a train….
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak, and the couplings strain.
For the pace is hot, and the points are near,
And Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear;
And signals flash through the night in vain.
For Death is in charge of the clattering train!
.
Seems that’s the short version. I think it works better that way, the longer version gives up the punch line way too early. I’ve run through it (the short version) in my head a hundred and more times, and the imagery still gives me a shiver…
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak, and the couplings strain.
Ten minutes behind at the Junction. Yes!
And we’re twenty now to the bad—no less!
At every mile we a minute must gain!
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
Why, flesh and blood, as a matter of course!
You may talk of iron, and prate of force;
But, after all, and do what you can….
Man is in charge of the thundering train!
Man, in the shape of a modest chap
In fustian trousers and greasy cap;
A trifle stolid, and something gruff,
Yet, though unpolished, of sturdy stuff….
Only a Man, but away at his back,
In a dozen cars, on the steely track,
A hundred passengers place their trust
In this fellow of fustian, grease, and dust….
The hiss of steam-spurts athwart the dark.
Lull them to confident drowsiness. Hark!
What is that sound? ‘Tis the stertorous breath
Of a slumbering man—and it smacks of death!
Full sixteen hours of continuous toil
Midst the fume of sulphur, the reek of oil,
Have told their tale on the man’s tired brain,
And Death is in charge of the clattering train!
Those poppy-fingers his head incline
Lower, lower, in slumber’s trance;
The shadows fleet, and the gas-gleams dance
Faster, faster in mazy flight,
As the engine flashes across the night.
Mortal muscle and human nerve
Cheap to purchase, and stout to serve.
Strained too fiercely will faint and swerve.
Over-weighted, and underpaid,
This human tool of exploiting Trade,
Though tougher than leather, tenser than steel.
Fails at last, for his senses reel,
His nerves collapse, and, with sleep-sealed eyes,
Prone and helpless a log he lies!
A hundred hearts beat placidly on,
Unwitting they that their warder’s gone;
A hundred lips are babbling blithe,
Some seconds hence they in pain may writhe.
For the pace is hot, and the points are near,
And Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear;
And signals flash through the night in vain.
Death is in charge of the clattering train!
Hey, Neo, there’s a post that probably got grabbed by your spamfilter, for some odd reason. Just a note.
Here is the speech referred to, from Other Peoples’ Money — the “Anti-Wall Street”.
First, you have to hear Gregory Peck’s speech.
The context is Devito, “Larry The Liquidator” has tried to gain control of a factory in New England, for the primary purpose of selling it for parts.
The movie is a fun, fairly light movie about a moderately serious topic. Well worth the effort to find/watch if you get the chance.
OBloodyHell:
I can’t think of a single reason that comment of yours should have gone to spam, but that’s exactly what happened. I took it out and it’s visible now.
Thanks, Chases Eagles. Really interesting, and I was startled at the 1909 info.
A couple of years ago I had reason to look up rail trips to help my brother schedule the speeches he gives at Business Schools, thinking it would be better to go by rail than to rent cars and drive and arrive exhausted. I was bewildered at the lack of passenger trips available, but my experience with trains was from my childhood in the 1950s and 1960s. Just like the changes in flying—the last time I was on a plane was in 1973.
“Rudyard Kipling has a story in the person(s) of various railroad vehicles. Good description of a switch yard. Seen them more recently than that. Big deal if you don’t have a unit train.” – Richard Aubrey.
We’ve ridden twice on the Ffestiniong Railway (restored narrow-gauge) in Wales – the second time in the parlor car with a Cream Tea laid on for our group – and have seen the old switch yards, although we didn’t pass through one. Langollen Railway (IIRC) hosts a Thomas the Tank Engine (reproduction of the animated favorite) for the kids, but I only saw the station, not the train. Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden brings in a Thomas a couple of times a year, with the Polar Express in winter months.
As for real American trains: my first ride in the fifties was on a grade-school field trip to the next town over, because the teachers thought we needed to experience a rail trip at least once in our lives. The school bus or parents picked us up at the destination, about 10 miles from home. Our family rode the long-distance train a couple of summers to see my mom’s folks in north-central Texas, but Mother preferred driving most of the time. I suspect we were riding at reduced rates or even free (see family story).
One trip was particularly painful, because we didn’t have the air-conditioned car and had to put the windows down. The story I remember is that a Boy Scout Troop had reserved the only one, which I thought was not a very friendly thing for them to do, leaving the old folks and little kids to tough it out.
I don’t think we got wood-ash blown in (most likely that line was already using diesel), but it was extremely hot and dusty.
I suspect, looking at the map, that we were on a spur from the FWD. The tracks ran through our hometown, just across the highway from that aunt’s house I mentioned (who was Grandpa’s sister), and the porch-swing would rattle when the express came along. However, we lived close enough to hear the whistle late at night. The town where we raised our kids, in south Texas, was a bedroom community (not that the “real” towns were much bigger), and the road on one side of our subdivision ran parallel to the tracks that serviced the Dow refinery on the coast. We only moved in after making sure there were alternative exits that didn’t involve crossing the tracks. Luckily, there was never a derailment close by; the usual speed along that section was about the same as F’s fly on the “City of New Orleans” thread. I don’t remember hearing the whistle at our house, but they didn’t run the trains at night, because the engineers wanted to be able to see the idiots crossing the tracks where there were no barriers. They hit a school bus one time anyway, because the bus driver had been toking. I was almost on that jury; one of my friends was seated. I don’t think anyone was killed, but there were some injuries.
Family story from Grandma (names changed, because, anonymity is good these days): As a teen, she was sitting one afternoon with a group of friends on someone’s big front porch; she was in the swing, that so many people had hung from the rafters in those days (my aunt and uncle at home had one too, which we monopolized on visits). They were all talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up, and Grandma announced that she was going to marry a man who worked for the railroad, because they got to ride free, and everyone was laughing with her.
As the night closed in and people drifted away, soon there was no one but the house’s resident, Grandma in the swing, and a young man sitting on the steps. He had just recently moved to town, and hadn’t said much during the party. He smiled over at her (and I know exactly how he must have looked, because he still had that smile), and said quietly, “You know, Miss Lily, I work for the railroad.”
And they lived happily ever after for over fifty years, still in the same town, where Grandpa was station master for the Ft. Worth and Denver RR. He was not drafted for WWI, because he was an essential home front employee. Fortunately, my other Grandad came home safely from France; being a born-and-raised cowboy (we would call him “a professional” today ), he ran a horse-drawn chuck-wagon for the troops.
One of our sons lived for a few years in Iowa about 10 years ago, and he would bring his family to Denver on the over-night train, so that the kids & parents could sleep all the way. I was looking forward to going their direction, because 2 trips driving had cured me of that past-time, but they moved before I got a chance, and I don’t need to take the train down to Castle Rock to see them now!
After I helped another son drive a moving van to Utah about 10 years ago, I took the train back, but it was in February and there was so much snow on the ground we never went faster than about 40 mph, which isn’t really the most efficient way to travel; the trip ended up taking twice as long as driving, but I got to sleep, read, and eat so I thought it was a good trade-off.
Everyone should ride the train at least once in their life.
One of my mother’s favorite poems was posted in the teacher’s lounge at the middle-school where she taught English for 25 years. As usual, it can be found with different titles and in various versions on the internet, but the substance is generally the same.
“The Conductor’s Lament”
I’m not allowed to drive the train.
The whistle I can’t blow.
It’s not my place to say how far the train’s supposed to go.
It’s not my place to shoot off steam,
Or even ring the bell.
But let the blamed thing jump the track and see who catches hell!
“Casey Jones” was the most-often-sung folk tribute to railroad men when I was young, but I learned this one also. It loses some meaning if you don’t know what a driving wheel is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsfcUZBMSSg
The picture doesn’t sync correctly with his singing, and he says “driver wheel” rather than “driving wheel” – never trust online lyric transcribers!
There are a couple of very poignant comments.
My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me,
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun don’t ever shine,
I would shiver the whole night through.
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I’m going where the cold wind blows.
In the pines, in the pines.
Where the sun don’t ever shine.
I would shiver the whole night through.
Her husband, was a hard working man
Just a mile and a half from here.
His head was found in a driving wheel
But his body never was found.
My girl, my girl, don’t you lie to me,
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun don’t ever shine,
I would shiver the whole night through.
The variation I learned was edited by Scholastic in the 1960s for a folk song book that Mother used in her classes, which I pretty much memorized in its entirety, and have on my shelves now. The question-response pattern characteristic of old ballads is actually a bit clearer in this version, which is the wife trying to communicate with her missing husband. Leadbelly’s story implies that perhaps she is the one out in the pines, looking for her lost love.
True love, true love, don’t lie to me,
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And I shivered the whole night through.
True love, true love, where did you go?
I went where the cold wind blows,
In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And I shivered the whole night through.
My husband, was a railroad man
Killed a mile and a half from town.
His head was found in a driver’s wheel
And his body has never been found.
I’m sometimes amazed at what our ancestors thought suitable for children.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales are a case in point, once you get off the Disney-fied selections.
Many American roots artists, such as The Byrds, Tom Rush, The Black Crowes and the Canadian band Cowboy Junkies have performed a song written by David Wiffen called “Driving Wheel”, with the lyrics “I feel like some old engine/ That’s lost my driving wheel.”[17]
These lyrics are a reference to the traditional blues song “Broke Down Engine Blues” by Blind Willie McTell, 1931.[18] It was later directly covered by Bob Dylan and Johnny Winter.
Many versions of the American folk song “In the Pines” performed by artists such as Leadbelly, Mark Lanegan (on The Winding Sheet), and Nirvana (On MTV Unplugged In New York) reference a decapitated man’s head found in a driving wheel.[19] In addition, it is likely that Chuck Berry references the locomotive driving wheel in “Johnny B. Goode” when he sings, “the engineers would see him sitting in the shade / Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made.”
Really impressive knowledge CE. I take it you are from the Seattle area?
On a personal note, I lived for many years in Seattle. I was construction manager on one of the stations for the new underground rail tunnel in Seattle. (my small piece of Seattle’s rail history).
Years later I worked for 8 years on the reconstruction of the Khashuri – Zestaphoni section of the Transcaucasus Railway in central Georgia as Chief Resident Engineer. The line was begun by Czar Alexander II, in 1865, to move oil from the Caspian to the Black Sea. It was upgraded in order to reduce the steep gradients and tight curves in the mountainous areas through which it passes. The works included many tunnels, bridges, cuttings and other works. Work is still ongoing by the Chinese Contractor, CRCC BG23. Very interesting experiences working with Georgians and Chinese – better left for another discussion.
Some false propaganda asserting that White Men were once capable of undertaking thousand bomber raids on Tokyo without considerable input from Trannies and Wise Latinas.
There’s even a vicious rumor circulating that Black Women didn’t design the Norden Bombsight.
Really took some doing to get from there to here.
Zaphod:
The War Department couldn’t have taken the Marianas Islands (Saipan, Tinian, Guam) from which those mythical aeroplanes flew; there were white supremacists and extremists rampant in the rank and file. They had not been expelled from the military, such things could not be possible! What is your race and prounoun? We are at war! 🙂
Xylourgos, how interesting! I’d like to get to Georgia sometime.
Xylourgos,
No, I am not from the Seattle area. I have lived in the area for a long time but I was moved here unexpectedly and kind of against my will. It led to a troubled and turbulent time in my life. I roamed the area as kind of a lost soul and I was very familiar with some of the Milwaukee infrastructure. Their collapse occurred at a time of great change in my life. At one point I lived next to the PC line in Renton. If I was not careful pulling out of my very short driveway, I would overshoot the narrow lane on which I lived and literally end up in the railyard. They sometimes parked 737 fuselages in front of my house. I once had to rescue a teenage girl who had driven off the edge of the road and gotten one wheel hung up on the tracks.
The area was much different in those days but for me it is kind of trapped in amber. A year or two after I arrived, the Washington State Department of Ecology took very detailed aerial views of all the shoreline, it is a very visual reminder of the way it was then. Much Milwaukee infrastructure (and NP, some GN and UP) can be seen in these pictures. This is also when both the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks were established.
Philip…you should plan to go. Very interesting place with hospitable people . Check this out for a small taste of Tbilisi:
CE…I hope your life has changed for the better now. I built the fuel farm at the edge of the Renton airfield where the 737s were towed to get their first taste of jet fuel! I loved the smell of the fuel and the roar of the new engines preparing to take off for their first flight. All the different airline logos were a sight to see. Great memories.
I came to Seattle about the same time as you…in 1975 – as the Kingdome was under construction. It was my dream to work on the dome but I arrived too late as it was nearing completion. Do you remember the issue with lowering the formwork that supported the roof structure? Big story. Years later I was involved with the idea to replace the roof structure with a moveable roof. The better idea was to build the new stadium which is really a great improvement to the moribund Kingdome
I got to Enumclaw in July ’75. The first thing that happened is I got sick from hypothermia. In July. I remember the first nick-name for the Kingdome: Parking Lot with a Wart. Also one of the few tall buildings in Seattle was the Sea-First Bank building. They called it the “the box the Space Needle came in”.
Here is another RR factoid.
One of the first ski places at Snoqualmie Pass was the Milwaukee Ski Bowl built by the Milwaukee Road at Hyak to generate passenger traffic. The former site is next to the current Alpine and Nordic center at Summit East.
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Here are some railroad factoids for previous open thread.
Peak railroad mileage was in 1909. Every year since then more tracks have been retired than established.
The less-than-car-load problem noted by others led to the creation of the first logistics companies (American Express, Wells Fargo etc.) They had their own cars and facilities. Many if not most modern trains are “unit trains” where the entire train is consigned to a single shipper. Logistics companies like Pacer Stacktrain (now XPO Logistics) own their well cars and millions of containers.
The first railroads in the Seattle area were about getting coal from mines near Seattle to the Seattle water front for steamships. The coal was mined just across Lake Washington from Seattle in Newcastle and Coal Creek. It was loaded on steamboats near the mouth of May Creek (near the current Seahawks training facility) carried up to Salmon Bay (near where Husky Stadium is now), offloaded over Montlake to the Portage Bay arm of Lake Union. From there barged to South Lake Union and moved by horse-drawn railway to the Seattle water front. The first steam engine in the Seattle was a 0-4-0T tank engine (like Thomas the Tank Engine) named “Ant” and owned by the Seattle Coal Company. The Seattle Coal Company became the Seattle Coal & Transportation Co.
Northern Pacific began building up from Portland Oregon, they announced that their Puget Sound railhead would be near Tacoma (pop 73) on the Commencement Bay water front. They named the place “New Tacoma”. The Seattle founders decided that this would not do and created the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad & Transportation Company with the intention of connecting with the future NP line at Walla Walla. They built from Seattle south to Renton around the end of Lake Washington to Newcastle.
The road was renamed in 1880 as the Columbia & Puget Sound Railway Company. They extended the line to mines in Coal Creek, Black Diamond and beyond. In 1909 the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific (The Milwaukee Road) completed their line from Chicago to compete with the Great Northern and NP and joined the Columbia & Puget Sound in Maple Valley.
At the peak, three great streamliners ran from Chicago to Seattle: The NP “North Coast Limited”, the GN “Empire Builder” and the Milwaukee Road’s “Olympian Hiawatha”. In 1958 all three trains were scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 8:05. If they were all on time, the Hiawatha (over Snoqualmie Pass) and the North Coast (over Stampede Pass) would reach Black River Junction at the same time and travel the final 10 miles on side-by-side tracks. The North Coast to the King Street Station and the Hiawatha across the street at Union Station. The Empire Builder would arrive from Stevens Pass north of Seattle and reach the King Street Station via the joint NP-GN rail tunnel under Seattle.
The Columbia & Puget Sound was bought by the Pacific Coast Railroad in 1916. On March 2, 1970 the Burlington-Northern was created by merger of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Pacific Coast and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle (and some others).
BN abandoned the former NP tracks through Renton in favor of the much older PC right of way.
On March 1, 1980 the Milwaukee Road terminated all operations west of Miles City, Montana. On March 30, 1980 the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (the Rock Island Line) terminated all operations.
In 1996 the now privately Warren Buffet owned BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (now just BNSF). About 15 years ago the BNSF ended the Lake Washington Belt line. The old PC line is now just a spur serving Boeing Renton where 737 fuselages from Wichita are delivered to 737-final assembly.
By mileage, the USA still has the largest rail transport system in the world. It’s just that it is mostly freight.
Interesting read, CE…thx.
I used to own a little stock in Genesee and Wyoming, which is an owner operator of a wide variety of short line railroads in N. America and several other countries. I think they took themselves private.
It always struck me that if people really cared about lowering the nation’s carbon footprint, then an substantial increase in the number of short lines and intermodal freight would be a great idea.
TommyJay. As it happens, our carbon footprint is decreasing. Much of it has to do with natgas power generation. So switching from most convenient to less convenient–with associated costs–seems less urgent than some greenies claim.
Seems to me that long-haul railroads versus short haul have one thing in common. Each has to be loaded at one end and unloaded at the other end. The fuel/emissions advantage for the short haul is offset by many times the pain in the butt of loading and unloading, compared to long haul.
Rudyard Kipling has a story in the person(s) of various railroad vehicles. Good description of a switch yard. Seen them more recently than that. Big deal if you don’t have a unit train.
Richard A.,
You may be correct. In my complete ignorance of the details, I imagined that the short lines would be connected to the long lines. So a single container could travel from short line to long line and back to a short line without too much trouble.
Speaking of nat. gas, another thing that has been discussed, but is probably a non-starter, is running locomotives on LNG instead of diesel.
Way back in the olden days the Milwaukee RR mentioned by Chases Eagles was notable as electricly powered IIRC. When it went under in 1980 there was a race to recover the copper power lines along the tracks before the thrives stole it (MT, N DK, ID,WA). Nowadays we know that windmills and solar panels are the future! So those big freight locomotives will be green too (and loco-non-motives).
The US military is being killed within. J. Christian Adams reports on the autopsy.
https://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2021/03/22/read-the-pentagon-training-materials-targeting-conservatives-in-the-military-n1434071
When Milwaukee de-electrified the Washington portion, they sold a 100 miles of line to Puget Sound Power & Light (now Puget Sound Energy) in 1976. PSPL had piggy backed off the railroad lines to deliver power to some residential customers. The rest was scrapped in 1977. The Renton substation is a now a nice office building.
The Milwaukee Road left its name all over western Washington. There is a Milwaukee Way in Tacoma along with the Saint Paul Waterway and the Milwaukee Waterway. There is Milwaukee Road in Bellingham, Milwaukee Ave in Carnation, Auburn and Puyallup and Milwaukee Drive in Port Angeles.
The Milwaukee Road had rail service to the Olympic Peninsula via railcar ferry from Seattle. They had ferry docks in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Port Townsend, Shelton, Port Gamble, the ASARCO smelter and a few other places. Some of this was still in service when the Milwaukee Road abandoned operations west of Miles City.
At max mileage in 1916, the Milwaukee Road ran from Deep Creek to Discovery Bay and the Port Townsend Southern connected from there to the Milwaukee ferry dock in Port Townsend. Milwaukee bought out the Port Townsend Southern in 1975. By that time Port Townsend Southern had only one customer left of their own: The paper mill in “An Officer and a Gentleman”.
With all of the tornadoes recently, you might find this book — about how tornado and hurricane warnings are made and how so many lives are saved — to be interesting.
https://www.amazon.com/Warnings-Story-Science-Tamed-Weather/dp/1608320340/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
A pro-vaccine doctor warns people to screen themselves before getting vaccinated.
This doctor, Hooman Noorchashm, was on Tucker Carlson tonight. Basically, he is saying that people who are currently infected with COVID-19 or have recently recovered from COVID should not rush in for vaccination.
This directly addresses a question that Rufus T. Firefly had, since he was ill with COVID. The doctor’s worry is that once people feel better when recovering from COVID, the SARS-CoV-2 antigen may stay in your system for a couple or few months. He strongly urges that such folks wait about 6 months after recovery, before getting vaccinated.
https://noorchashm.medium.com/the-safest-way-to-get-your-covid-19-vaccine-screenb4vaccine-d8a9b0bb7cbd
Bumped into this, over on Cafe Hayek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NhRYA4YO5I
It’s pretty good. Comments about something important in business/finance/economics, without beating you over the head.
My absolute favorite little poem is about a train….
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak, and the couplings strain.
For the pace is hot, and the points are near,
And Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear;
And signals flash through the night in vain.
For Death is in charge of the clattering train!
.
Seems that’s the short version. I think it works better that way, the longer version gives up the punch line way too early. I’ve run through it (the short version) in my head a hundred and more times, and the imagery still gives me a shiver…
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak, and the couplings strain.
Ten minutes behind at the Junction. Yes!
And we’re twenty now to the bad—no less!
At every mile we a minute must gain!
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
Why, flesh and blood, as a matter of course!
You may talk of iron, and prate of force;
But, after all, and do what you can….
Man is in charge of the thundering train!
Man, in the shape of a modest chap
In fustian trousers and greasy cap;
A trifle stolid, and something gruff,
Yet, though unpolished, of sturdy stuff….
Only a Man, but away at his back,
In a dozen cars, on the steely track,
A hundred passengers place their trust
In this fellow of fustian, grease, and dust….
The hiss of steam-spurts athwart the dark.
Lull them to confident drowsiness. Hark!
What is that sound? ‘Tis the stertorous breath
Of a slumbering man—and it smacks of death!
Full sixteen hours of continuous toil
Midst the fume of sulphur, the reek of oil,
Have told their tale on the man’s tired brain,
And Death is in charge of the clattering train!
Those poppy-fingers his head incline
Lower, lower, in slumber’s trance;
The shadows fleet, and the gas-gleams dance
Faster, faster in mazy flight,
As the engine flashes across the night.
Mortal muscle and human nerve
Cheap to purchase, and stout to serve.
Strained too fiercely will faint and swerve.
Over-weighted, and underpaid,
This human tool of exploiting Trade,
Though tougher than leather, tenser than steel.
Fails at last, for his senses reel,
His nerves collapse, and, with sleep-sealed eyes,
Prone and helpless a log he lies!
A hundred hearts beat placidly on,
Unwitting they that their warder’s gone;
A hundred lips are babbling blithe,
Some seconds hence they in pain may writhe.
For the pace is hot, and the points are near,
And Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear;
And signals flash through the night in vain.
Death is in charge of the clattering train!
Hey, Neo, there’s a post that probably got grabbed by your spamfilter, for some odd reason. Just a note.
Here is the speech referred to, from Other Peoples’ Money — the “Anti-Wall Street”.
First, you have to hear Gregory Peck’s speech.
The context is Devito, “Larry The Liquidator” has tried to gain control of a factory in New England, for the primary purpose of selling it for parts.
Peck, the owner of the corporation, gives the following rousing speech, in that wonderful stentorian voice of his:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJRhrow3Jws
Now, after hearing that speech, you think, Wow, Devito’s character is going to have to cheat, there’s no way he can beat that speech!!
Then “Larry the Liquidator” comes out and just flat out CARPET BOMBS Peck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62kxPyNZF3Q
The movie is a fun, fairly light movie about a moderately serious topic. Well worth the effort to find/watch if you get the chance.
OBloodyHell:
I can’t think of a single reason that comment of yours should have gone to spam, but that’s exactly what happened. I took it out and it’s visible now.
Thanks, Chases Eagles. Really interesting, and I was startled at the 1909 info.
A couple of years ago I had reason to look up rail trips to help my brother schedule the speeches he gives at Business Schools, thinking it would be better to go by rail than to rent cars and drive and arrive exhausted. I was bewildered at the lack of passenger trips available, but my experience with trains was from my childhood in the 1950s and 1960s. Just like the changes in flying—the last time I was on a plane was in 1973.
“Rudyard Kipling has a story in the person(s) of various railroad vehicles. Good description of a switch yard. Seen them more recently than that. Big deal if you don’t have a unit train.” – Richard Aubrey.
We’ve ridden twice on the Ffestiniong Railway (restored narrow-gauge) in Wales – the second time in the parlor car with a Cream Tea laid on for our group – and have seen the old switch yards, although we didn’t pass through one. Langollen Railway (IIRC) hosts a Thomas the Tank Engine (reproduction of the animated favorite) for the kids, but I only saw the station, not the train. Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden brings in a Thomas a couple of times a year, with the Polar Express in winter months.
As for real American trains: my first ride in the fifties was on a grade-school field trip to the next town over, because the teachers thought we needed to experience a rail trip at least once in our lives. The school bus or parents picked us up at the destination, about 10 miles from home. Our family rode the long-distance train a couple of summers to see my mom’s folks in north-central Texas, but Mother preferred driving most of the time. I suspect we were riding at reduced rates or even free (see family story).
One trip was particularly painful, because we didn’t have the air-conditioned car and had to put the windows down. The story I remember is that a Boy Scout Troop had reserved the only one, which I thought was not a very friendly thing for them to do, leaving the old folks and little kids to tough it out.
I don’t think we got wood-ash blown in (most likely that line was already using diesel), but it was extremely hot and dusty.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=91695
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth_and_Denver_Railway
I suspect, looking at the map, that we were on a spur from the FWD. The tracks ran through our hometown, just across the highway from that aunt’s house I mentioned (who was Grandpa’s sister), and the porch-swing would rattle when the express came along. However, we lived close enough to hear the whistle late at night. The town where we raised our kids, in south Texas, was a bedroom community (not that the “real” towns were much bigger), and the road on one side of our subdivision ran parallel to the tracks that serviced the Dow refinery on the coast. We only moved in after making sure there were alternative exits that didn’t involve crossing the tracks. Luckily, there was never a derailment close by; the usual speed along that section was about the same as F’s fly on the “City of New Orleans” thread. I don’t remember hearing the whistle at our house, but they didn’t run the trains at night, because the engineers wanted to be able to see the idiots crossing the tracks where there were no barriers. They hit a school bus one time anyway, because the bus driver had been toking. I was almost on that jury; one of my friends was seated. I don’t think anyone was killed, but there were some injuries.
Family story from Grandma (names changed, because, anonymity is good these days): As a teen, she was sitting one afternoon with a group of friends on someone’s big front porch; she was in the swing, that so many people had hung from the rafters in those days (my aunt and uncle at home had one too, which we monopolized on visits). They were all talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up, and Grandma announced that she was going to marry a man who worked for the railroad, because they got to ride free, and everyone was laughing with her.
As the night closed in and people drifted away, soon there was no one but the house’s resident, Grandma in the swing, and a young man sitting on the steps. He had just recently moved to town, and hadn’t said much during the party. He smiled over at her (and I know exactly how he must have looked, because he still had that smile), and said quietly, “You know, Miss Lily, I work for the railroad.”
And they lived happily ever after for over fifty years, still in the same town, where Grandpa was station master for the Ft. Worth and Denver RR. He was not drafted for WWI, because he was an essential home front employee. Fortunately, my other Grandad came home safely from France; being a born-and-raised cowboy (we would call him “a professional” today ), he ran a horse-drawn chuck-wagon for the troops.
One of our sons lived for a few years in Iowa about 10 years ago, and he would bring his family to Denver on the over-night train, so that the kids & parents could sleep all the way. I was looking forward to going their direction, because 2 trips driving had cured me of that past-time, but they moved before I got a chance, and I don’t need to take the train down to Castle Rock to see them now!
After I helped another son drive a moving van to Utah about 10 years ago, I took the train back, but it was in February and there was so much snow on the ground we never went faster than about 40 mph, which isn’t really the most efficient way to travel; the trip ended up taking twice as long as driving, but I got to sleep, read, and eat so I thought it was a good trade-off.
Everyone should ride the train at least once in their life.
One of my mother’s favorite poems was posted in the teacher’s lounge at the middle-school where she taught English for 25 years. As usual, it can be found with different titles and in various versions on the internet, but the substance is generally the same.
“The Conductor’s Lament”
I’m not allowed to drive the train.
The whistle I can’t blow.
It’s not my place to say how far the train’s supposed to go.
It’s not my place to shoot off steam,
Or even ring the bell.
But let the blamed thing jump the track and see who catches hell!
“Casey Jones” was the most-often-sung folk tribute to railroad men when I was young, but I learned this one also. It loses some meaning if you don’t know what a driving wheel is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsfcUZBMSSg
The picture doesn’t sync correctly with his singing, and he says “driver wheel” rather than “driving wheel” – never trust online lyric transcribers!
There are a couple of very poignant comments.
https://genius.com/Lead-belly-in-the-pines-lyrics
The variation I learned was edited by Scholastic in the 1960s for a folk song book that Mother used in her classes, which I pretty much memorized in its entirety, and have on my shelves now. The question-response pattern characteristic of old ballads is actually a bit clearer in this version, which is the wife trying to communicate with her missing husband. Leadbelly’s story implies that perhaps she is the one out in the pines, looking for her lost love.
I’m sometimes amazed at what our ancestors thought suitable for children.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales are a case in point, once you get off the Disney-fied selections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_wheel
Really impressive knowledge CE. I take it you are from the Seattle area?
On a personal note, I lived for many years in Seattle. I was construction manager on one of the stations for the new underground rail tunnel in Seattle. (my small piece of Seattle’s rail history).
Years later I worked for 8 years on the reconstruction of the Khashuri – Zestaphoni section of the Transcaucasus Railway in central Georgia as Chief Resident Engineer. The line was begun by Czar Alexander II, in 1865, to move oil from the Caspian to the Black Sea. It was upgraded in order to reduce the steep gradients and tight curves in the mountainous areas through which it passes. The works included many tunnels, bridges, cuttings and other works. Work is still ongoing by the Chinese Contractor, CRCC BG23. Very interesting experiences working with Georgians and Chinese – better left for another discussion.
Some false propaganda asserting that White Men were once capable of undertaking thousand bomber raids on Tokyo without considerable input from Trannies and Wise Latinas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgoGV8oJAB8
There’s even a vicious rumor circulating that Black Women didn’t design the Norden Bombsight.
Really took some doing to get from there to here.
Zaphod:
The War Department couldn’t have taken the Marianas Islands (Saipan, Tinian, Guam) from which those mythical aeroplanes flew; there were white supremacists and extremists rampant in the rank and file. They had not been expelled from the military, such things could not be possible! What is your race and prounoun? We are at war! 🙂
Xylourgos, how interesting! I’d like to get to Georgia sometime.
Xylourgos,
No, I am not from the Seattle area. I have lived in the area for a long time but I was moved here unexpectedly and kind of against my will. It led to a troubled and turbulent time in my life. I roamed the area as kind of a lost soul and I was very familiar with some of the Milwaukee infrastructure. Their collapse occurred at a time of great change in my life. At one point I lived next to the PC line in Renton. If I was not careful pulling out of my very short driveway, I would overshoot the narrow lane on which I lived and literally end up in the railyard. They sometimes parked 737 fuselages in front of my house. I once had to rescue a teenage girl who had driven off the edge of the road and gotten one wheel hung up on the tracks.
The area was much different in those days but for me it is kind of trapped in amber. A year or two after I arrived, the Washington State Department of Ecology took very detailed aerial views of all the shoreline, it is a very visual reminder of the way it was then. Much Milwaukee infrastructure (and NP, some GN and UP) can be seen in these pictures. This is also when both the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks were established.
Philip…you should plan to go. Very interesting place with hospitable people . Check this out for a small taste of Tbilisi:
https://andreasmoser.blog/2019/02/22/tbilisi/
CE…I hope your life has changed for the better now. I built the fuel farm at the edge of the Renton airfield where the 737s were towed to get their first taste of jet fuel! I loved the smell of the fuel and the roar of the new engines preparing to take off for their first flight. All the different airline logos were a sight to see. Great memories.
I came to Seattle about the same time as you…in 1975 – as the Kingdome was under construction. It was my dream to work on the dome but I arrived too late as it was nearing completion. Do you remember the issue with lowering the formwork that supported the roof structure? Big story. Years later I was involved with the idea to replace the roof structure with a moveable roof. The better idea was to build the new stadium which is really a great improvement to the moribund Kingdome
I got to Enumclaw in July ’75. The first thing that happened is I got sick from hypothermia. In July. I remember the first nick-name for the Kingdome: Parking Lot with a Wart. Also one of the few tall buildings in Seattle was the Sea-First Bank building. They called it the “the box the Space Needle came in”.
Here is another RR factoid.
One of the first ski places at Snoqualmie Pass was the Milwaukee Ski Bowl built by the Milwaukee Road at Hyak to generate passenger traffic. The former site is next to the current Alpine and Nordic center at Summit East.