This morning at La Porte IN, 8:45 am, NS executive train passed thru
La Porte IN on NS westbound. Train was empty cept for a rider in first
car.

One class act passenger train. Made my day!

Tom Travis La Porte IN

May be a classy looking train but doesn't pull a nickle's worth of revenue.

Yeah, so?

Quote:
May be a classy looking train but doesn't pull a nickle's worth of revenue.


Yeah, so?

Exactly. For a change, a business is doing something genuinely positive and related to what has been coined their "distinctive competence" rather than shoveling wheelbarrows of cash to grievance groups, transparently self interested "charities" that rarely attain their stated goals (and when they do, they simply restate them to justify their perpetual existence) and the other shakedown artists running year-round trick-or-treat operations.

A classy set of F-units, showing up at some town's Xenntenial, or just being seen along I-whatever is better than the slickest multimillion dollar ad campaign and quite a bit cheaper.

"Beware of people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

Devil's advocate here:

In today's environment, unless the history and significance of the train is specifically emphasized through proper media exposure--such as, say, that Clinchfield/CSX Santa Train, the IC Santa Train you're about to see in your upcoming issue of Trains, an Operation Lifesaver special, etc. ......

..........then just what do you think most people, of the generation that may have never seen a passenger train except wrecked on the TV news or on Thomas the Tank Engine, see if they see a shiny streamlined executive train with people inside?

Some rich billionaire's plaything?

A snazzy string of expensive yachts, full of fat cats mooching at stockholder expense?

Another train holding them up at the crossing while they're late for work?

Corporate graft taking fat cats and politicians to high society at the Masters and Kentucky Derby?

Don't fall in the trap of assuming everyone else sees the same thing as you do, lest you start laying smoke screens with your steamers and Alcos...........

Makes you wonder why they even bother painting thier engines...

Here's a link to a shot of it when it came thru Alabama 8/27 on the way to new intermodal facility near Dallashttp://www.alabamarailfan.com/download.php?file=08012007_951_madison.jpg&catid=image

[i]"..........then just what do you think most people, of the generation that may have never seen a passenger train except wrecked on the TV news or on Thomas the Tank Engine, see if they see a shiny streamlined executive train with people inside?"

Some rich billionaire's plaything?

A snazzy string of expensive yachts, full of fat cats mooching at stockholder expense?

Probably not, there's not that many of that smug type of soy milk chai latte swilling people whose first emotion is envy-if there is, I think its time to have a 12 step program to reality, say "Marxists anonymous?"

Another train holding them up at the crossing while they're late for work?

If they're going to be doing a slow burn at a crossing, you think its going to be at the shiny new F's that "hey, they look like that HO set my Dad bought me in the drugstore/Kmart, hmmm" or that gritty 75 car coal train thats no different than 1000 others-I'm fully aware 99.99% of the population couldn't tell the difference between a Dash 9 and a GEVO and if you told them, wouldn't give a rat's posterior to know the difference.

Corporate graft taking fat cats and politicians to high society at the Masters and Kentucky Derby?

As a stockholder, I'm a lot happier if NS shmoozes some logistics manager who can bring several thousand car loads a year, rather than throwing cash to some narcisstic grievancemonger leading packs of stupid robotic marauders doing their bidding. You know the one's for whom enough is more and who'll only come back with their hand out again next year while using cliches like "Corporate graft taking fat cats". Politicians I generally despise, but I know they exist and must be persuaded, as long as we keep applauding every time some windbag says "there ought to be a law"


Don't fall in the trap of assuming everyone else sees the same thing as you do, lest you start laying smoke screens with your steamers and Alcos...........[/i]

I don't. I did however show a pix of the new NS F's to my pre-school age niece and she was captivated-not as much as by "Lightning McQueen" from "Cars"-but enough to persuade me the brass in Roanoke can run the railroad better than anybody on a chatboard.

Lets get some reality here. We may never get to ride behind those ponies but dammit, lets be a little appreciative for a front office with a soul. Remember how sour everybody was 13 years ago? Man, some people are never satisfied. The "Goode old days" are over. Carpe Diem! Oil is 90 bucks a barrel and while I'm sure those purveyors of "corporate graft"have been busily locking in futures contracts or call options-to protect their stockholders from geopolitical turmoil that drives the price of diesel, there's no guarantee that these units will run forever-enjoy and APPRECIATE! No wonder the pros toss around that "FRN" term so much.

As someone who has ridden CSXT's Executive Train from Jacksonville to Washington as its guest, I can assure you that the Class I OCS's earn their keep by hosting Traffic Managers of major shippers, introducing new services (that's why I was aboard), or entertaining them at events like the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby. They're also used to entertain analysts from the major Wall Street firms on occasion.

I'm enough of a foamer to ask, behind the ex-Clinchfield? F's or the leased ex-Amtrak F-40's?

Flame me all you want, I work for the NS and see things a little differently. All I would ask is that they maintain the rest of the locomotive fleet the way they baby those F units. Then we wouldn't have the FRA Inspector bad-ordering every engine he comes across every time he sets foot on the property. I won't even get into the rest of the conditions that exist on the property.

Exactly. For a change, a business is doing something genuinely positive and related to what has been coined their "distinctive competence" rather than shoveling wheelbarrows of cash to grievance groups, transparently self interested "charities" that rarely attain their stated goals (and when they do, they simply restate them to justify their perpetual existence) and the other shakedown artists running year-round trick-or-treat operations.

A classy set of F-units, showing up at some town's Xenntenial, or just being seen along I-whatever is better than the slickest multimillion dollar ad campaign and quite a bit cheaper.

"Beware of people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

Excuse me, but you weren't flamed, you were disputed. You questioned the economic value of the F's and we provided alternate viewpoints.

There's a very big and distinct difference. I don't even think it would be flaming to question why you remain in the employment that you found dissatisfying (and by implication potentially unsafe), let alone offer it as a some sort of irrefutable bona fide .

While some might even question whether this thread remains relevant, trust me-it explains a lot about railroads distrust of the people who run their trains and the value of relating to "enthusiast community". Now I understand why they want to reduce crew sizes so much.

Neither, behind a pair of GE B30-7's. CSXT has converted a sleeper into a power car to provide hotel power for the train. We were put up overnight at a hotel in Rocky Mount.

Can't we all just get along? I mean seriously - we like trains and thats why we're here.

Until you walk (or ride) a mile in my shoes, keep it to yourself. Come out here and ride some of the NS's typical power. But then again, why gripe about it. All of you know-it-all's seem to have all the answers. You guys are the experts, not any of us who have spent 35+ years out here. Don't get me wrong, I would love to get a chance to run those but not with some rfe who hasn't even been alive as long as I've been on the railroad. What does that tell you? Spend all that money on 4 diesels while a majority of the rest of the fleet will never see that kind of care or upkeep. And for all don't don't like my opinion, fine, the hell with you and have me banned from the board. I could care less. (Now to dig myself deeper, curious how mych they did spend keeping the A and J running...)
However much I may dislike what some of you are saying against my views, I will respect you right to express them. I wasn't the first person to express that view about a nickle's worth of revenue. It was expressed many years ago by someone about the 3 E's that Conrail used for their OCS trains. I ran those several times.