Philly wreck.

[rogertra]

It is unfair to compare European trains, or Japanese, for that matter, to American railroads because the countries were destroyed. A lot of the rail systems have been rebuilt over and over while trains in the USA chug away on sections of track designed 100 years or more ago.

Not completely true.

Continental trains were in use until war's end. In fact, the Americans sent hundreds(?) of 2-10-0s and 2-8-0s and some 0-6-0Ts to the UK for use once the invasion of Continental Europe took place.  They realised the railways was the fast means of transporting war supplies once they were landed.  What was targeted were locomotives, and major bridges, hence the need to supply the 2-10-0s and 2-8-0.  Major yards were also targeted but it's surprising easy to repair bomb damaged track.  The Brits found this out during the blitz.  Literally, bulldoze the craters to fill them in and level the site, relay the track and within hours, over night in fact, trains could be running again.  Remember, European track has opposed rail joints, not staggered as in North America.  European track was also laid in 60 feet panels, not the 39 foot staged track as in North America.  So repairing major track damage was fairly easy.

It's bridges, service facilitates and destroying locomotives that caused the most problems but there were always detours available and most of the train, in the later part of the war, would run at night.

Cheers

Roger T.

[Woody Elmore]

I'm sure the blame will be placed on the engineer - that is why I feel sorry for him.

As for WWII - my dad was a sailor on a troop transport - one trip they made to England had locomotives lashed to the deck - to be used on French railways after the invasion. Because of bomb damage some rail lines were realigned.  The Burt Lancaster movie - the Train, was filmed on an abandoned French line. If you have seen the picture you know there is a bombing scene. The movie makers were doing the SNCF a favor!

The late congress man from California, Tom Lentos, was a Hungarian teenager when the Germans pressed him into a work gang. All they did, everyday, was repair bomb damage to a railway line. He said that the people doing the repairs tried their best to delay and do poor work; risking retribution from the Nazis.

You still can't compare American railroads to those in Europe. European countries, and Japan as well, spend far more on infrastructure and rolling stock than the US. I think many members of congress would like to see Amtrack go away.

[Desertdweller]

It's too bad that, in the face of a disaster like this, parties with an axe to grind are more interested in finger-pointing and placing blame than finding reasons.  That the engineer would be blamed is not surprising, as he is the most visible individual.

AMTRAK spends huge amounts of money on the Northeast Corridor, supposedly even makes money there.  But the knee-jerk reaction is for AMTRAK to spend even more money there.  Even so, most of the rest of the country goes without trains or with only one.  Proposals to add more trains in the hinterland are met with howls of pain from advocates of the NE Corridor.

As a retired locomotive engineer, I understand the tendency to make him a whipping boy.  All kinds of terrible life-wrecking punishments can be leveled at him.  But if in fact the wreck was not his fault, nothing will be gained by destroying this person.  The underlying cause of the accident will remain, and the act will be repeated with a different cast.

Les