jeffinmichigan

It looks like you were in my neck of the woods today, KJP! Unfortunately, I was on a train about 8 miles north of there approaching Montpelier and was unable to see the 765. It is great that she gets to spend the night in the Cleveland area tonight, as she was no stranger to that city during her working career! A story about the milepost pictured in your image: many years ago Conrail had used a bulldozer to push over all of the old, cast concrete mileposts in the Bryan, Ohio area. My brother and I decided that the old 342 Milepost would look much better in our backyard than in the weeds staring up at the sky, so we transplanted to my mom's Peony garden. It is there to this day.

Wonderful pictures! Several of them reinforce my hatred of the Met Life (formerly Pan Am) Building!

Though I cannot vouch for how efficiently managed Amtrak is, I think it is important to use the same criteria and standards to measure Inter-city bus and air transportation, as well. Though the companies that do the flying are not, in fact, operated by the federal government, they do benefit from government largesse. If we think for a moment that Greyhound pays enough in federal road fuel taxes to support the Interstate highway system, we are sorely mistaken. Additionally, the airlines do, in fact operate at a profit as private companies but if they had to shoulder the burden of maintaining their own terminals, runways and Air Traffic Control, there is no way they would be able to turn a profit. I am afraid that Amtrak's enemies are too quick to overlook the huge amount of indirect subsidy upon which private transportation companies of other modes rely.

It has become apparent that the only bullet left in the gun for those opposed to the AAF project is one of legal delay. I feel that the AAF project has a lot of merit and I hope to ride it someday. If for no other reason than to slight the clowns on the "Treasure Coast" who are so dead set against it. Screw them! I know their ringleader and have blocked her on Facebook because it is all she talks about. You would think that the prospect of more trains through their precious little corner of the world will instantly turn it into Detroit, the way they talk. Let's see some action, AAF! The longer things take, the more skeptical people become of your intentions.

That is a very interesting story, Ken. Thank you for sharing it. I might add that you are a damn fine cartographer, as well!

I can somewhat sympathize with them re: the drawbridges. That being said, they are still a bunch of NIMBYs who want the problem to go somewhere else. They want the trains to travel up the inland route of CSX which happens to have a poorer and blacker population along its route. I don't think that the Not All Aboard Florida people are going out of their way to be racist and elitist but that is how it comes off. When I explained to my classmate that FEC doesn't own that route and that it would be akin to asking your neighbor if you could build your new house on his lot instead of the one you already own, free and clear, she came up with the idea that FEC should just lease space on the CSX line. I further tried to explain that the inland CSX line is mostly single track north of Ft. Lauderdale. This would require much more excavation and bridgework than the FEC line, much of which used to be double track and has a great many bridges which are already two tracks wide. Logic is of no use to these people. I don't think they could be persuaded with a station stop in Stuart.

I am sorry to say that a classmate with whom I graduated from High School is one of the movers and shakers in the "Not All Aboard Florida" group. Her main beef is that the bridge over the waterway in her adopted hometown of Stuart will be closed for such a greater period of time. The FEC runs about 12 trains a day across it and the AAF trains will add another 32 trains across the bridge. Add to this the fact that the bridge reportedly takes 20 min. to lower and raise and you have quite an inconvenience to owners of pleasure craft. They are also not thrilled with trains "blasting" through their town that will be of no benefit to them. I find it ironic that they hold their rally in Flagler park. A park named after the railroad baron who, almost single-handedly, opened the east coast of Florida to real estate development with the construction on his Florida East Coast Railroad.

Regarding Belle Isle Park: The State of Michigan's Department of Natural Resources is about to take control of this neglected gem in the middle of the Detroit River. It is truly a spectacular park that is of world-class design that belonged to a city that could no longer afford to give it the care it deserves. The DNR will be operating it as part of the State Park system and has much work to do but there are many outside of Detroit who are quite excited about what this park could become, once again.

Yep. Michigan DOES suck. This coming from a life-long Michigan fan. The play of the offensive line has been HORRIBLE all season. As a result, the running game is not-existant. The Buckeyes should be able to make hay with that all afternoon. It should get ugly today and Ohio State fans will act like they are world beaters. In reality, you will be beating a team with a lot of frustratingly glaring shortcomings. Not too much to be proud of today in victory. I absolutely hate MSU but it will be the best team OSU will have faced all year. Their offense isn't much to write home about but that defense of theirs is otherworldly. A victory over them would be Ohio State's most (perhaps only) impressive victory of the year.

I have said it before and I will say it again: Dayton is becoming the next Detroit.

Does the road pictured above cut through the property of the former USS South Works?

It will be interesting to find out if any of the geometry of the line will be changed with this latest round of work between Jackson and Battle Creek. When Norfolk Southern took over this line after the breakup of Conrail, they lessened some of the super-elevation in the curves. There has also been talk of taking some of the curvature out of some of the tighter spots since there is room where there used to be two tracks. Every little bit helps when trying to trim transit times.

Ah, yes! Nothing like good old-fashioned fear to sell magazines! William Randolph Hearst would be proud!

If this has been discussed somewhere on this board in the past week, I am sorry for the old info but Robert Pence, a frequent contributor to this website, passed away last Saturday, December 8. He died at his home in Fort Wayne. Robert's funeral was held on Thursday, December 13. As some of you may be aware, Robert had been battling throat cancer for quite a number of years and it finally got the best of him. He was 73. I had run into him on a couple of occasions and found him to be a true gentleman of many talents and interests. His wit and opinions will be missed on the pages of this website.

A couple of "beefs" with a few news articles posted here: I hate when railroads are referred to by the media as "train companies." Do they ever call American Airlines or Delta "Plane Companies?" In what world is Amtrak "strengthened?" Sure, they are hauling more people then at any time in their history and they are doing it with far less subsidy per passenger but I would hesitate to call a federal operation that is never sure if it will survive the next Congress or Administration "strengthened." Perhaps Amtrak's "strength" arises from the fact that there is not a President-Elect Romney!

Port Huron is, indeed, an interesting town. Given its location, it would be impossible to see how a town couldn't have developed there! If one finds oneself in Port Huron on a summer weekend (particularly the weekend of the PH to Mackinac boat race) one will find a very lively little city. The Black River (the smaller river with the Railroad drawbridge raised) is usually humming with pleasure craft activity in the warm weather months. There is a lot of evidence of old wealth in Port Huron but I am not sure if it is from old shipping interests or from the Timber industry which has left its mark in several other Michigan cities like Saginaw and Muskegon. Of note is the Maritime Center with all of the flags. Last I knew, the website boatnerd.com has a live webcam facing the river which allows the viewer to watch passing river traffic on the St. Clare.

What a great essay, Sherman! I have always been fond of old bridges and your photographs show a wonderful eye for the small details of these old spans. Great job! Before I was legally able to drive my now-late father would take me on the back roads outside of my hometown here, in Hillsdale County, Michigan to hone my driving skills. The route, completely bereft of paved roads, would take us across several of these old through-truss bridges. Sadly, they are gone and have been replaced by featureless modern bridges that are required to be built to essentially the same standards as a bridge on an interstate highway. The good news is that one of the old bridges I would drive across as a young man is still in existence in a park outside of Battle Creek, Michigan. A park there has a number of old bridges from around that state which have been preserved. Portland, a small town northwest of Lansing has several large bridges that have been preserved in place and are worth seeing if a fan of bridges finds himself in that part of the state.

Great shot, Andre. I can count at least 20 buildings in your picture that wouldn't have been there in the 1970s!

That is alright, KJP. Isn't KY the neighbor you'd just as soon not have?

327, I would like to hear you expand upon your point regarding how partisan politics plays a role in how educated seem to prefer larger metros. I will say that my observations are that there are far greater percentage of well-educated liberals in larger cities than is small towns. If birds of a feather do, indeed, seem to stick together than I can see your point. The same could also be said for people who are on the opposite end of the political spectrum, as well. Perhaps, if someone is an outdoors-ey type and values hunting and fishing they are probably more likely to settle in an area where hunting land is plentiful and fishing spots are also numerous. Those same people are likely to also have strong opinions regarding the Second Amendment and will vote accordingly. Thus continues the deepening "conservative-ization" of rural areas in the mid-west. These same people also claim to have strong opinions about religion but are not likely to attend a house of worship on any given Sunday. They take comfort in seeing all kinds of Christian Churches around and would flip out if a mosque were to built in their community. Granted, one could view these observations as rash generalizations but they are things I have noticed after having been born and raised in a small town in South-Central Lower Michigan. I know these people and even call some of them friends (just not the kind of friends with whom I talk about politics). I have also spent periods of my life living in large cities (Detroit area and in the City of Chicago) and the differences in the attitudes of people is stark when compared to small town folks. I cannot pass judgement as to which philosophy is better. I find that big city folks are just closed-minded about different things than small town people. Most of it comes from a lack of understanding on both parts. At the end of the day, I can foresee smaller towns becoming "dumber" as a result of brain drain as larger corporations will continue to be based in cities and their suburbs. There are exceptions like little towns with mid-sized insurance companies or jelly makers or basket companies but those towns will be the exceptions. Small towns within a 45 min drive to a larger city are also less likely to go downhill. At least in the case of Ohio, with the exception of the SE corner of the state, much of the state is withing a 45 min. drive of a larger city. Shifting demographics can be a fascinating study!

I read the linked article and while the deaths of those young people was unfortunate, how is the crossing "broken?" Sure, there appear to be very steep inclines leading up to the crossing but the article states that the driver was estimated to have reached speeds of up to 69 mph! How is that the fault of the road? I doubt the speed limit is even within 14 mph of that. Really, though, $450,000 to raise the approaches to that crossing? How much of that money, I wonder, will go to the consulting civil engineering firm to tell the road authorities to do what they know needs to be done any way! Such a large portion of government waste seems to be the result of making our country "idiot-proof" and paying PRIVATE CORPORATIONS and LAWYERS to make it so. I will dismount my soap box before I start to sound like someone commenting on a "Yahoo News" article.

HOW DARE someone oppose the Hamilton County GOP! Doesn't she realize with whom she is dealing? Of course, the Hamilton County GOP would never dream of casting stones at some organization like the Chicago/Cook County Democratic machine, would they?

Am I to assume that the portion of the line from New Haven to Boston has the constant-tension wires as well as ballasted decks and the like? All of which would have been done when that portion of the line was electrified.

To call the interior of our country "The Middle Nothingness" is so foolish. The fact of the matter is that there is plenty down here but most people might not be looking. I remember being on a recent flight from the south to Detroit and very much enjoyed flying over everything from Huntington, WV to landing in Detroit. There were familiar towns everywhere I looked! Some of them were even rather large. It is mind-boggling to me that Zanesville was visible just below us to the west and I could plainly see the entire Columbus area and and most of the way to Cincinnati! Making a turn over Sandusky Bay and seeing the entire western end of Lake Erie as well as Toledo in the distance was a great sight. Making the big, sweeping turn into DTW to approach from the NE is always fun as Detroit is much more attractive from 8,000 feet than from ground level! Another time, when flying out of Detroit (on the way to BWI in the Piedmont days), out flight path took us directly over Hopkins airport. It seemed unusual flying over a major hub without actually landing there. I have rambled enough and some of you may be thinking: "Cool story, bro." The fact of the matter is that there isn't a single corner of this country that I wouldn't like to look at from the window of an aircraft at least once. My fellow Americans seem to have the attention span of a fruit fly and no intellectual curiosity. Everything between from where they are coming and where they are going is just a waste of their time, seemingly. If they want to see "nothingness, " they should try fling across Australia! I always enjoy aerial photographs-especially the first/last 10,000 feet. Keep them coming!

Looks like a beautiful country with beautiful people. My folks just ran into a smiling, beautiful and fun-loving Iranian family while on vacation in the Canadian Rockies. Wonderful bunch of folks, according to my mother. Why wouldn't they be, either? I get so mad about our nation's relations with other countries when there is no reason not to like the great people who live in those countries. Cuba comes to mind.