Last Southern Crescent

[Robert Grace]

Just an experiment if I can get a pic from photobucket to post

[Robert Grace]

Another Pic from the last run of the Southern Crescent 1/31/1979. My g/f and I are taking the Amtrak version to New Orleans next weekend. Her first overnite train trip!

[Dusten Barefoot]

That is what killed the steam.

[GN.2-6-8-0]

No' costly maintenence killed steam!

[Dusten Barefoot]

True. But that was the fun of having to work with a steam locomotive. A steam engine is a peice of art and it is fun to work with it unlike desiel engines. Desiels have just to fueld and sanded and cleanded, and then a switch to run it. Wile it is fun to start a fire, boil water and have a thrill to run it. I know it got hot and a few boiler expolsions but that was a thrill and people lived it. Maintenence is a small factor. I really dont want to get into a argument on my opinon of what I think is best.

[Stephen Warrington]

And Amtrak killed the Southern Cresent, That train hasn't been on time since the Southern RY last ran it. 2nd Shot is at Popularville, MS 1979. Same thing with the Illinois Central's Cityof New Orleans.

Oh well,

Stephen

[ebtnut]

While Amtrak is no saint, much of the problem with on-time passenger trains centers on the freight railroads, who treat Amtrak like an unwanted stepchild.  My wife and I took the train to Savannah and back from DC a few years ago.  We were over four hours late getting in, mostly thanks to CSX sticking us in the hole.  That was bad enough, but the return was even worse.  The train originated in Florida, and when I check with the clerk in Savannah about arrival time (which was supposed to be around 9 p.m.) he said to check back around midnight (!!!).  Well, the train arrived at 3:30 a.m.  It was due into DC at noon, but didn't arrive there until after 7.  Again, most of the delays were the fault of CSX (and partly NS on the return) just not moving the train along.  I think Amtrak asseses fines for delaying their trains, but it appears the freight roads in general would rather pay the fine and not worry about passenger trains.

[SteamGene]

I, of course, agree that steam is better.  But we messed up when we stopped putting propellers on airplanes, too. 
Nut is correct about Amtrack.  I took a trip by train from Newport News to DC a few years ago.  The train was something like 45 minutes late and it started from Newport News.  Then a month or so ago I watched a CSX maintenance crew delay the arrival of the circus train, thus delaying the passenger train, which was ready to leave on the advertized. 
Gene

[ebtnut]

Don't get me wrong, I used to go all weak in the knees when the CAF used to fly those magnficent WWII warbirds into town.  My dad was an engine mechanic on B-17's and later P-38's.  But much the same thing brought that era to a close--maintenance.  A big aircraft piston engine has hundreds of moving parts.  A jet has about 6.  And of course speed was another factor, especially for war planes.  Diesels might actually have more moving parts than a steam engine, but they are all basically the same parts (for a given manufacturer).  And you don't need coal or water every hundred miles or so.  And one man can control any number of units.  Let's face it, when the railroads realized that they could dispense with all those specialty crafts--boiler makers, machinists, etc.--with the equilvalent of a auto mechanic, steam was doomed.

[Stephen Warrington]

Last trip I took on the City of New Orleans from Yazoo City to New Orleans we actually left on time and arrived in New Orleans 15 minutes early only had to go into the hole once on the IC southbound main and that was a moving meet neither train had to come to a complete stop and the next short stopwas at Manchac as the lowered the draw bridge for us to cross. Ride was very smooth to my suprise. Next leg after supper on board the Steamboat Natchez in New Orleans (yes had to get some steam in this post) was from New Orleans to Houston TX on the Sunset Limited, nothing but delays, from the time we crossed the Huey P Long Bridge to Houston and man what some rough track. Near Houma I was in the dining car and the steward came through telling everyone to please hold on to our drinks I looked at him kinda funny he said Steve trust me this aint the IC. We hit the switch at 10 mph felt like it was at 40 mph way the car shook going over the swith points then the steady clank clank of very loose bolted rail joints. I was glad I wasn't drinking coffee or eating soup. We finally arrived in Houston 3 hours late thanks to the UP and BNSF.

Oh and speaking of areoplanes my last flight to England started of with me boarding a prop plane in Jackson, MS for the hop over to Houston I had a wing seat and those big engines were music to my ears.

Stephen
Stephen

[Dusten Barefoot]

I hate airplanes with a passion! Not to be a hippy, hippie or how ever you spell it, the airplanes polute the air just as worse as a loco does. Now I do like the old perpeller planes, but there is something about a jet that just burns my tail. They stoll the railroads job, freight, passanger, yo name it, The trucking and automotive industry as well! I might have just decleard war with some who read this so dont get me the wrong way, I am just saying how the other industrys have took the railroads job, remember it was a train that took the Write Bros to the beach in North Carolina.

[ebtnut]

Not to be a flamer, but it is all about speed, flexibility, and reliability.  Trains were the best way to get around the country from the 1850's to the 1910's.  After that, autos began making inroads, first in short-hauls (up to 50 miles), then longer as the highway system got bigger and better.  Air travel was for the well-to-do from the 30's through the early 50's.  Again, bigger and better planes cut into the railroad's long haul passenger business.  The advent of jets really sealed the deal. 

On a bigger scale, there is who issue of whether we should have a national transportation policy.  The aircraft and highway lobbies are rich and powerful, and want no support for any competition from rail.  Rail is the poor stepchild, a ward of the state, with lots of enemies within the government.  As we crowd more and more roads, and as air travel begins hitting a capacity peak, we really need to rejuvenate rail service in the major metropolitan corridors.  But somebody has to take the bull by the horns and look at the big picture and make some decisions on where to invest our tax dollars for the good of everyone.

(Stepping off my soapbox now)

[Robert Grace]

IMHO, I think as gas prices get  higher and higher, if the railroads were to develop more fuel efficient ways of powering, they could present a more economically and enviromentally advantageous option.  Since the government now runs the passenger trains, there's no incentive in that direction.  The basic network is there--what is needed is a way to move the trains more efficiently. I believe the Japanese used to use their rail infrastructure pretty good with the high-speed trains. Amtrak tries that with the Acela, but they still haven't found a way to make it profitable.
The return of old modes of travel may come about after all. Here in New York, following 9/11, a lot of ferry service started up--you saw more boats in the water around NYC right after that than I'd ever seen before. Now, there is a lot of ferry service here--there is a market for it.  The key is to make the market attractive, then the investors will come.  It may be instructive to read some of the trials and setbacks that the original entrepeneurs that made the American Railway and take lessons from that. It was a hard sell for years to get investors

[Frisco]

With Amtrak I rode the Coast Starlight from Seatle to Onxnard I was four hours late going and on the return we had a bag left on the train in Sacramento , a broken down freight in Salem and , a person hanging off the back of the train just outside of Seatle making me 12 ours late .

[Robert Grace]

In New Orleans:
Arrived 1/2 hour late.  Food not as good as 20 years ago when I rode the Crescent before, but slept well.  Beautiful through Mississippi, passing through Meridian. Since Katrina, they don't use the GulfCoast portion of the old run.  I took some vids of passing through Mississippi and across Lake Ponchatrain--will upload later