Do you guys really hate us?

Thank goodness for trains, I shudder to think how many more seat depressors would be out here on the road without them.
Eons ago I got to "drive" a locomotive on a short line railroad. I was the scariest 15 mph of my life! The sensation was like trying to stop an 80,000 lb truck doing 70mph with just the trailer brakes. And that was with NO freight cars, just the single engine.
The only inequality that gripes me is that if somebody does something stupid and gets hit by a train, it is their fault. If only the same rules could apply to trucks.

 

I have no problem with trains,

I hear people all the time that say trains are the enemy of trucking, but shouldn't it be the other way around, I mean trains were around hauling freight long before trucks were.

 

Wow, I like those (cant say rules, how about guidelines) guidelines, no wonder its so hard to get into that business. I wish trucking had 1/3 of those guidelines and were enforced. Thanks Class1.

 

Trains haul the stuff that can wait. Trucks haul the stuff that can't, along with the stuff that can to and from the trains.

Apples and oranges.

I don't see trains stealing anything of substance from trucks. They serve different purposes and trains aren't exactly a fast way of crossing the country for freight. Not if the customer is waiting for it at least.

 

Maybe, maybe not. But because of trains, we're doing just fine.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100414-712730.html?mod=WSJ_earnings_MIDDLETopHeadlines

For a guy that dropped out of 7th grade, Mr Johnnie Bryan Hunt was one smart fella.

 

Amen to that. It takes a good week to get a load from point A to B on an intermodal shipment. There will always be freight for trucks.

 

What commercial are you talking about? Anyway, just because any certain company does not put their trailers on the rail, does not mean they are not doing intermodal. It probably means they are not doing much of it. I've hauled intermodal loads where I picked up at a warehouse who basically took the freight out of a regular box car and stuck it in a trailer. And the same thing with shipping containers off a ship. But those kinds of places would be darn nice for a company that has a driver stuck in an area and needs a load for him...

 

Man, one time i saw a train stop for a railroad crossing. See, the gates had broke down and been stuck in the down position all day. A CSX worker got them UP and was working on them. Amtrak came, and somehow the CSX worker seemed to not know they were coming? Amtrak stopped, let a couple cars through, and then stopped traffic manually by standing in front of the crossing and putting flares down. LOL.

 

Freight is going to move on whichever mode of transport makes the most financial sense for the shipper and receiver. Individual workers, whether they be truck drivers, engineers, captains or pilots have no control over that.

I'm fascinated by trains for a single reason: I have a soft spot for giant machines with giant engines. I found out there's a company in the UK that will make you "engineer for a day" for GBP 400, and I'm considering it.

(You get to actually drive the train, but a real engineer rides along with you to keep an eye on you and handle difficult situations.)