Comments on: Mr Smith doesn’t go to Washington

By: John M

John M — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:43:19 +0000

Perhaps not going extinct but definitely neglected, as you say. The airline, aircraft, and automotive businesses sure don’t support better railroads. Who’s lobbying for trains?

I agree that high speed rail could be a viable mode of travel in the US. 300 mph is *really* hard to do. 200 isn’t easy. We’d be lucky to have 150 mph vehicles, which would still be good enough for some things.

By: paul

paul — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:34:01 +0000

I dunno about “nearly extinct.” Both trains were full on our trip, and anyone who prefers the “luxury” of air travel to rail is nuts. The seats on an Amtrak SuperLiner are the best I have ever sat in, and that includes Business class to Europe and Concorde (talk about extinct!).

It’s a crime how neglected the rail system is here. The rail line from downtown Shanghai to their airport hits 268mph: I expect we were lucky to hit 70. If the roadbeds and rails were maintained well-enough to do 150, Seattle to Portland would be well under 2 hours, not 4+ as it is now. And for long hauls . . .

The Empire Builder (Seattle/Portland-Chicago) is 1700 miles or so and takes 45 hours (38 mph average?!). Imagine a high-speed rail line like Japan or France have had for 30 years. 1700 / 300mph = 5 2/3 . . . even if it took 8 hours, it would be an improvement over flying, when you consider the greater comfort, and the fact that trains take you into the heart of a city, not to some blighted concrete wilderness on the outskirts.

LAX takes 35 hours to go 968 miles (28 mph?!). Imagine that at even 100 mph average speed. Think people would even consider flying on anything but transcontinental or transoceanic flight?

By: paul

paul — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:28:24 +0000

zut alors? something along the lines of “snap!” or “gawrsh!”

I actually didn’t take a lot of pictures: I rarely do with the Family along. But I should have some experimental zone plate images to share.

By: John M

John M — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:33:40 +0000

I’ve probably got Coolpix 3500 shots from Portland. What year was that trip? Sandy and I took the train down, too, as you’ll recall. A lovely passage (on a nearly extinct mode of transportation).

What’s your working definiton of “zut alors”? I didn’t find a concise one. Frank Zappa couldn’t even spell it correctly! ;-)

By: Michael Gorsuch

Michael Gorsuch — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:23:44 +0000

I hope to visit Portland someday. Perhaps I will have to live through your multitude of photos ;-)

Safe travels.