Robert Pence

It's a stunning testimonial when one of America's most canny financial gurus speaks out on the importance of railroads and invests with the intent of maintaining and probably growing operations. I'm waiting for the other shoe; a merger or acquisition between BNSF and either NS or CSX to create a seamless transcontinental freight route. When that happens, it will drive UP to hook up with whichever eastern system remains. Both systems will work to create routings that bypass Chicago and run fast all the way, with longer crew districts. Transcon rail freight will be so much faster and energy-efficient than trucks that there will be a marked increase in Road-Railer and TOFC, and dramatically fewer trucks on routes like I-80.

I agree with that statement. Our local media people, especially in televison, learned everything they want to know about railroading by watching a couple episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Would airports be as attractive and amenity-rich as they are if the airlines had to pay anything near the operating costs they incur, or if the massive quantities of tax-dollars spent on them were subject to as much howling criticism as passenger rail's pittance? Buffalo Central Terminal's grand concourse looks much better than it did in earlier photos I saw of it, full of trash and litter. Those folks certainly have cleaned it up.

Scroll ----------------> Taken from the top deck (5th Level) of the Harrison Square parking garage. Left to right = North to East. New construction in the right foreground is Courtyard by Marriott. From the height of the elevator/stairway structure, I'm guessing it still gets another storey, and that will be the end of this view. Edit: Here's a keyed version, identifying some of the buildings shown in the view above.

YOU Lie! I still look just like that, only prettier! Actually, this pic is about 3 years old. It's time I got a new one.

Ship photos? Baltimore Harbor, 1979:

My senior yearbook photo:

^Neat stuff! I'd probably be a ship nerd if I had grown up closer to navigable waterways; those have always fascinated me. One of my favorite books is End of an Era - The Last of the Great Lakes Steamboats, by David Plowden. He documented those ships, inside and out, and the men who worked them, when most Great Lakes shipping still was powered by coal-fired reciprocating steam. 150 pages of gorgeous black-and-white.

^Whoever was responsible for that, if they're still alive, should be forced to live out the rest of their days in a trailer park. Preferably this one

Since yesterday, the forums have been veryvery slow for me. It's not happening on any other sites I visit. Edit: For example, when I first created this topic and then clicked "Post," it too 1 minute, 50 seconds to post.

^No; I used Advanced GIF Animator. It's really easy to get started with the software's wizard. I set the camera on a tripod and waited until I heard the train, and then started pushing the shutter manually. After a couple of introductory attempts, I need to read up on my camera's interval timer and set up some time-lapse sequences with the exposure and focus set to manual to keep them from shifting. I kicked up the pace on the rendering to at least twice what actually happened. A nice thing happened; just as events were about to unfold, someone in a car pulled up to the crossing gates. Then, he saw my camera and backed up out of the field of view. Totally unexpected, and appreciated. I shot a couple more sequences. Here's one.

Please click the photo :-)

Spectacular color, and a lot of folks don't expect topography like that in the eastern US.

PBS segment on Chicago's effect as rail freight choke point: http://video.pbs.org/video/1113563932/

Cute town. Do the residents eat anything other than pizza? Speaking of which, do any pets ever turn up missing from Pampered Paws?

Amazing variety, excellent tour!

Wow! That's a lot of damage! A few months ago, a flex connector under my kitchen sink blew. I had only been out of the house a hour or so, and when I came up the back steps, I heard water rushing. When I opened the back door, water came out. My house is 1860s, and fortunately the addition with the kitchen has a floor that's about an inch lower than the rest of the house. It's at the very back, and the floor is sheet vinyl, so the water never got into anything else except a little leaked through to the unfinished basement and down the floor drain. The cabinets are 1950s Mullins by Youngstown (enameled steel), and they weren't phased. All I had to do was clean up with the shop vac and fix the plumbing. I had put in a bunch of those PVC flex connectors years ago when I was remodeling and lost my job, just so I could get moved in. I planned to replace them, but forgot about it. I count myself lucky that it wasn't one in the upstairs bathroom. The next day, I went out and bought all stainless-steel burst-proof connectors and replaced all the old ones.

I wouldn't want to live there; I don't think I could stand the excitement! :|

Bump. I fixed the broken links and revived this topic because I have some follow-up. Back at the time I created this post, I sent letters to Michigan City's economic development director and South Shore management, using primarily the text from the post. At the time, South Shore recognized a need to eliminate slow street running and hard-to-maintain track embedded in asphalt. That embedded construction also makes it impossible to install and maintain Postive Train Control mandated by recent Federal legislation. A more southern route parallel to CSX was the preferred option. Here's Item 7 from the May 29, 2009 NICTD Board Meeting Minutes: 7. PROPOSED REALIGNMENT 10TH/11TH STREET CORRIDOR IN MICHIGAN CITY (Moved forward at Mr. Yagelski’s request.) http://www.nictd.com/minutes/May292009.pdf Mr. Hanas said discussion has taken place since the 1960’s regarding moving the train tracks out of the middle of the street in Michigan City. Ms. Huston cited the safety concerns over operating a railroad down the middle of city streets. Mr. Yagelski said there would be issues regarding property acquisition. Mr. Parsons said the realignment will reduce the number of grade crossings from 34 to 17, and eliminate two severe curves enabling increased operating speeds to reduce transit time through the city by 6 minutes. Mr. Hanas said that last year new federal regulations gives railroads until 2015 to implement enhanced safety systems to avoid collisions. Positive train control will not work if the train’s rail is embedded in the streets. Mr. Parsons shared that at one time a northerly realignment was considered but that estimate was in excess of $200 million because of a bridge over Trail Creek. Using the tracks to the south near Ames Field would cost about $65 million plus land acquisition, but that route proved difficult to maneuver train cars into NICTD’s maintenance yard. Mr. Hanas suggested that the revamped 10th / 11th Street route and a new station between Franklin and Wabash Streets offers both NICTD and the city more development opportunities, including capitalizing on the proximity of Lighthouse Mall. NICTD’s current smaller stations at 11th Street near Pine Avenue and at Carroll Avenue both would be closed. Mr. Evans questions whether the realignment work could go on while trains were operating. Mr. Parsons replied affirmatively. The project could be spread over several years interims of phasing and costs. There should be no service disruptions while laying the new track. Mr. Hanas presented a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Michigan City and NICTD to move the South Shore tracks, now down the center of 10th and 11th Streets, to the south side of those streets. The $65 million project would require the railroad or city to acquire substantial property along the corridor and would include construction of double tracks and a modern, high-level platform station and 800-vehicle parking lot. Mr. Kovach made the motion to accept the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Michigan City and NICTD to move the South Shore tracks as presented. Ms. Graham made a second to the motion. Motion was approved. Excerpts from the July 31, 2009 NICTD Board Meeting Minutes: http://www.nictd.com/minutes/Jul312009.pdf 5. RESOLUTION 09-05 ON TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVEOPMENTS (TOD) Mr. Hanas introduced the resolution adopting a set of criteria to guide Transit Oriented Development along commuter rail corridors owned or operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. Mr. Sheldrake, of Policy Analytics, presented a brief overview. He suggested that TOD would allow NICTD, the private sector and local communities to open up new areas for development or to assist in redeveloping older, underutilized areas; access to the South Shore would be a key component of the projects. Office, retail, and residential uses that would create jobs and bring added value to South Shore patrons would be emphasized. TOD typically increases property values around it. Mr. Hanas said the public agency was approached by developers last year about a gateway railroad station with commercial potential and a parking garage near Interstate 65 in Gary; a proposed corridor expansion for South Shore trains in Michigan City is creating TOD opportunities there, also. NICTD is aware of the Town of Porter’s pending $19M request from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority to study, then develop an iconic ateway near U.S. 20 and Indiana 49 to the Indiana Dunes State Park. These proposals would have direct impact on NICTD. The Dune Park station’s proximity on U.S. 12 to both the state and federal parks makes a hotel a logical project to consider. Mr. Evans made the motion to accept Resolution No. 09-05 – Resolution adopting a set of criteria to guide Transit Oriented Development along commuter rail corridors owned or operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. There was no second to the motion. Mr. Yagelski made the motion to table Resolution No. 09-05. Ms. Graham made a second to that motion. Motion was approved. The votes were cast as follows: Mr. Yagelski– Yes Ms. DuPey – Yes Mr. Evans – No Mr. Kovach – Yes Ms. Graham – Yes Mr. Catanzarite – No Ms. Huston – Yes

I just saw that application on a link in a local blog. It implies a preference for the southern route through Fort Wayne and into Chicago via the former Pittsburgh Fort Wayne & Chicago (PRR) route. I like that the application stipulates feeder bus service connecting key points on the alternative northern route, like Waterloo, South Bend, and Elkhart. ... and if someone cut down the forest of invasive Ailanthus Altissima (Stink Tree/Tree of Heaven) along the tracks by Swinney Park, I'd be able to watch the trains pass from my front yard! :-)

Nice job! I'm pretty sure I've never been in that part of the city. Despite the hard-times aura of the place, there are some wonderful buildings that look fairly intact.

Between my two brothers, I have three ex-sisters-in-law. I get along better with the exes than I do with my brothers.

Stuff 'em full o' rope, and use it for a guest bed. Company won't overstay their welcome! :evil:

Those things fascinate me, but I wouldn't go on one without a life jacket and a seat with access to fast exit. They're more than sixty years old and some of them have serious structural and maintenance issues. I've read at least two accounts of tourist Ducks having prop shaft seals fail suddenly. Both sank like rocks, in less than a minute, with loss of life.

< rant > < :yap: > Sometimes I wonder how really "wealthy" the US is. Some time before the housing and investment brokers' bubbles started popping all over the place, I heard a business commentator on an NPR program use the term, "Virtual Money." I had been using that term in private conversations for several years, holding that much of the purported affluence in America rested on the expected future appreciation in the value of abstract financial instruments. Too much of our economic activity and the huge salaries and bonuses derived therefrom involved buying and selling various representations of money, and far too little from the fundamental source of real wealth in any economic system, the production of tangible, durable, necessary goods by application of labor to raw materials. In other words, "Making Stuff." I'm sure I've seen a similar view expressed by KJP in these forums. Further, the most affluent citizens, who often get their wealth through those non-productive buying-and-selling-money activities, are able through lobbying, misleading media ads, and outright bribery to influence tax rates beneficial to themselves and harmful to the general public, and subvert public investment toward freeways and expressways and commercial aviation that benefit their own lifestyle choices, and away from mass transit, public works, good public schools, and affordable health care that benefit a much larger number of working-class and marginally-employed people. The stratification of wealth in America continues to worsen, and ironically much of the wealth at the top is virtual and ephemeral. The race to the highest annual rate of return for stockholders has led/allowed investment brokers to acquire well-run businesses that produced useful goods, with the sole intent of looting their retirement plans and other cash and cannibalizing their physical assets, either sending production out of the country to places with exploitive labor practices that sometimes cross into slavery, or killing off the product and brand name altogether. A once-great industrial economy has become a parasite, feeding off burgeoning manufacturing growth in India and China. When they tire of supporting us (or own all our coal and iron ore raw material assets), well ... I don't like to think about it. Lord! I'm way off topic again. Phew! I gotta stop and take a few deep breaths. </ :yap: >< / rant >