[Transportation] Trains (was - The Future of Railroads)

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 654

When the railroads were built, many of the majors were given every other section of land back ten miles from the track by the govt for putting in the track. A section is 640 acres which the RR sold to farmers and kept the mineral rights too. CAN YOU FIGURE out how much money that has meant to the RR. And how they got the capital to build the rail lines. THere were no roads to worry bout, no gates on the crossings, no environmental whack jobs, no cities to dodge or go thru, and less govt interference.

I work for them, I know what it would take now.

emersonbiggins

Yep, JoelC, it was a huge subsidy for the railroads on behalf of the U.S. government. However, it provided access to distant land that had little to no value until it had access so, in essence, the railroads created the value in it.

As you mentioned, it would be several orders of magnitude more difficult to attempt expanding the rail networks now. Land ownership is simply too fragmented and dispersed.
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"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."

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joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 654

All the railroads want now is long haul freight like coast to coast containers and coal. The grain business is so expensive for the elevators that they have had to build 100 car loading facilities to get a better rate. Those cars have to be loaded in 16 hours from the time of the spot.

We used to stop at 21 stations for grain, molasses, beans, fertilizer, farm equipment, cotton, scrap iron, and other commodities. The railroad has made it too expensive for the smaller shipper to use and often times the switches to the places are taken out to save on taxes.

emersonbiggins

I wonder if the trend towards consolidation will continue much longer. It seems to me there is a definite market for the emergence of smaller co-op or locally owned railroads to haul grains to market, but that could be wishful thinking.
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"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."

George Carlin

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 654

My brotherinlaw was an agent back when. The railroads paid the shippers the difference between rail costs and truck freight. Then 5 to 10 yrs later, when they wanted to abandon those smaller lines, and had to go before congress, they could show NO CARS SHIPPED for all those years. Testimony about the deal with the trucks was not allowed. HMMMMMMM..robber barons...

The cost to build, maintain and run a small railroad is cost prohibitive. Locomotives, maintenance, crews, taxes, it wont work.
Most of the smaller railroads are owned by the big railroads under another name or by their CEO;s or their wives. So not like its just available to anyone to do. All the smaller lines were scrapped, rail taken up and ballast removed. Our main line was taken out after new rail was installed, all new ties were put in and new ballast dumped. So its all a game.

emersonbiggins

Interesting. It doesn't paint the prettiest of post-peak pictures for those in the interior of the U.S. Sad

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"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."

George Carlin

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 654

That is correct. Public rail service will not be available to ppl in the plains states due to low populations. Really, we are hit harder than ppl in the city on gas prices as our towns are 60 miles apart and often, there are no grocery stores in some towns requiring ppl to travel to get supplies, etc. Or to work. Even the utility workers have to drive so much as they have hundreds of miles of wire to maintain but that is over thousands of square miles.

The Railroads used to have a section gang in each town. Now there is one gang of 5 workers for 500 miles of track. So the track is going downhill. for sure.

danbloom · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 01, 2008 Posts: 54

Railroads of the future. A dreamer in Iceland, Trausti Valsson, has envisioned vacuum tubes carrying trains in the far north, ferrying people from Beijing to Berlin to Chicago. See his map here:

http://northwardho.blogspot.com/2008/06/polar-cities-and-northern.html

Laurasia · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 533

Saw this on the BBC Website just now - hope it works out and doesn't die in the planning stages:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7467203.stm

Revi · Fusion Joined: Apr 25, 2005 Posts: 3112 Location: Maine

I've noticed that they are fixing up a lot of the lines around here. They put new ties in and even fixed up a bridge over the Kennebec River. They are expanding back into some territory they haven't gone into for almost 100 years. Guilford rail needed to get to a gravel quarry to rebuild the tracks I guess.

http://www.guilfordrail.com/Maps/map.htm

Railroads are back. They are taking a lot of wood to the mills. It's way cheaper on the train than in trucks.

Now if we can get passenger rail back to Augusta, or even to Waterville we would be getting somewhere!
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Deep in the mud and slime of things, even there, something sings.

Ludi

Thank goodness they had the presence of mind to keep the old lines in your area, Revi. Here they are mostly sold off. The train is gone and it ain't comin' back. Sad

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dinopello

Joe Biden would be a good advocate for restoring Americas rail system

emersonbiggins

This is a definite plus for the passenger rail movement.
_________________
"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."

George Carlin