Amtrak turned 40!

Ok, so I'm late to the party. You can catch up over at Amtrak's site here.

As an evil right-winger, but also a confirmed train nerd, Amtrak presents a quandry for me. It is not a profitable government venture; but then, one wonders how much subsidy goes to keeping the highways and airways moving.

Can Amtrak be made to turn a steady profit? Doubtful. I don't know how it could - its mail and cargo-hauling options are statutorily limited. And hauling passengers isn't always profitable, if the travails of the airlines are any indication.

But that's another post for another day. For now, just consider this - you have never made the trip over the Rockies until you have seen Denver below you from the Big Ten curves, from a picture window on the California Zephyr. There's nothing like it.

Steam and Snow on the White Pass

On April 27, 2011, the White Pass & Yukon took their steam-powered rotary snowplow out for a workout - with two steam engines as power.

Magnificent.

ExploreNorth took the above video, and has more at their blog here.

And Now Something Lighter

Sorry, I had to get that last post off my chest, but I can't close tonight on such a grim note. The fact that dark things dwell in the shadows of this world is not a new idea; that's why we have humor. To confront the dark, prevail over it, and go on, ready to meet the next challenge.

So here's a little humor, to get you ready for tomorrow. (Thanks again to Moe Lane. You really ought to put him on your reading list.)

Here, a comparison between railroad uniforms of yesterday, and today.

Yeah. Yesterday did some things a lot better than today. (*Snrk*. "The Hello Kitty bag tells us that this is the lady.") It's not the girl's fault, either.

Western Coal Connection

The Burlington Northern moves coal in the late 1970s.

A big thanks goes to "mwmnp25" on Youtube, for making these available.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The Lively World of Great Northern

A promotional movie by the Great Northern Railway, just before its merger into the Burlington Northern in 1970. This is state of the art railroading, circa 1969.

A big thanks goes to "mwmnp25" on Youtube, for making these available.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Steel and Steam Heat

I need relaxing. Hence, here's some train content.

Here is film of VIA Rail's Atlantic departing Halifax for Montreal in 1993.

This was the last Atlantic to be steam-heated, as trains had been for the previous hundred-plus years. Steam heat had been gone from Amtrak for nearly a decade. This was a train as my grandparents would have remembered.

The blue-and-yellow railroad cars you see would be retired after this trip; not worth rebuilding, a few would go to tourist trains, most to the scrapper. The silver stainless-steel cars had a better chance; several of their siblings run still on VIA's trains. The Atlantic had as bleak a future as its consist; it would be discontinued in 1994, supplanted by the Ocean.

It Almost Sounded Like a Brake Squealing

That noise you may have just heard was me screaming like a giddy schoolgirl.

Rapido Trains has announced that they are building an HO scale Canadian.

Giddy, I tell you.

Oh, you wouldn't understand.



Then again, maybe you would.

A little of the late, great BC Rail

Going to be out of pocket for while, so here's a little BC Rail action:

The Pemberton Pushers