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Rail Improvements in California over the Next 5-7 Years
Story and Photos by Noel T. Braymer With all the talk about High Speed Rail and 130 miles of new construction in the San Joaquin Valley by 2018, what can we expect between Los Angeles and San Diego? The projects we can be sure of have been in the works for years. In San Diego…
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PHOTOS of the Month: October, 2012
5 new Rail PHOTOS taken by RailPAC Photographers! 1. Amtrak’s Capitol Limited arrives at Cumberland, Maryland, on September 28, 2012. Lots of CSX trackwork in the area caused 90 minute delays, but the tracks are much smoother. Photo by Mike Palmer. 2. The Galloping Goose is now running on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic in…
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Caltrain Modernization Program
Report by Bruce Jenkins, RailPAC Director Caltrain is the commuter railroad operating on it’s own Right of Way (RoW) from San Francisco to San Jose with a limited six train service further south to Gilroy on Union Pacific RoW. The San Francisco/San Jose leg has been a rail commuter line since 1863 and was known…
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Where I Would Like to Go by Train; but Can’t
By Noel T. Braymer The best places to go to by train are those with lots of traffic, congestion and expensive parking. One place like that which is hard in California to go to by train are airports. There are several California airports with transit connections to train stations. The last time I tried to take…
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The Texas Eagle in Illinois and the San Joaquins in California
Commentary by Ralph James, RailPAC contributor On October 2, 2012, the Railway Age “blog” contained an article by Lyndon Henry, “Texas Eagle highlights passenger train success,” which was included in the October 8 RailPAC weekly e-newsletter. In that article a statement is made that the Chicago-St. Louis upgrades on the Union Pacific will not affect…
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YES, Long-Distance Amtrak Trains are Crowded!
Trip Report on the Southwest Chief and the Empire Builder Commentary by Andrew C. Selden, MinnARP, Minneapolis Recently I rode Los Angeles-Chicago on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief #4 over a weekend and it was jammed the entire way. There were two sleepers and just two coaches, which the crew—conductor and service crew alike—reported was a standard…
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Highway or No Way: the Need for Transportation Alternatives
Article and Photos By Noel T. Braymer Man: An argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says. Other Man: It is NOT Man: YES It Is… The Argument by Monty Python What is missing at the national level for transportation is the middle…
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To Sacramento by way of the Sunset Limited-Texas Eagle
Photo and Trip Report in newly rebuilt Superliner cars by Russ Jackson, RailPAC “It isn’t the destination it’s the journey.” That’s what the retired doctor sitting across from us in the Sunset Limited dining car said about train travel. He was the personification of that statement, as his trip started in Seattle on the Coast…