Celebrate National Train Day!

By John McDaid | Saturday, 10 May 2008

Train Day!Today, May 10, is the anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, and Amtrak is celebrating with National Train Day. There are events in stations all around the country, and here in Little Rhody, the Railroad Museum of RI — located in Kingston Station — will be offering guided museum tours and other displays.

RIDOT will be getting into the spirit as Transportation Week kicks of on Monday with a robotics competition at URI. And Friday is Bike To Work day — if you live near Providence (or even if you don't), why not check out the excellent Bike Providence blog for more info.

Rail and bikes and alternative transport are important parts of our post-carbon future. Let's give 'em a little love.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871

Comments

Wernerlll

Sat, 05/10/2008 - 6:38pm

"National Train Day" may serve to raise awareness of alternative travel modes available that are less punitive on the pocket book than the personal automobile. In my youth in Europe, travel by train was the preferred method, packing a bicycle along, or by streetcar through urban areas.

Looking back at those experiences biased my travel expectations in America and was shocked to learn that passenger comfort, punctuality, and convenience were at a premium. Moving about from car to car, from sleep wagon to the dining car, or return to your locked compartment, without disturbing fellow passenger, was not in the offering. Today, with high-speed trains, Europe is a great place to visit and capture the many cultures, architectures and beautiful landscapes - I highly recommend it.

We need to recapture the past modes of travel when carbon was not yet an issue and make mass transport competitive and appealing again, but I worry that big oil and Detroit will not permit this kind of competition to develop, lest we let them repeat the Los Angeles street car buyout.

John McDaid

Sat, 05/10/2008 - 8:37pm

Hi, Werner...
You are absolutely right. I'm stunned to think that 100 years ago, you could take a train from Portsmouth to Boston and that now — when commuters might actually want to — the chance is gone. That there were not one, but two trolley lines, one on EMR and one on WMR. Like LA, like everywhere else, cheap oil and the auto killed them off. A kindred spirit like you would no doubt love reading Portsmouth historian Jim Garman's excellent book, "Travelling Around Aquidneck Island 1890-1930." It's an indispensable reference, and I keep my copy literally within arms reach at my desk.

The way every American administration has treated Amtrak from its founding, as well as the contorted terms of its fealty to the freight railroads, have left intercity rail in this country in piss-poor shape. You're right about Europe. And in Japan, I had the opportunity to take the shinkansen, and that is such a thrill to a rail buff like me. You stand on the station and look at your watch, and if the schedule say the train arrives at 9:02, the train is there on the minute. I love the Acela, but it's no bullet train.

You are exactly right that we need to look to the past, but to the future as well. We can make rail work again in America. And peak oil might just be the kick in the pants we need.

Best.
-j

miki

Tue, 05/13/2008 - 11:09pm

Hey John, I've put together a collection of train-related tunes for National Train Day. They are available on my station, Radio Sweetheart (http://www.live365.com/stations/mikijourdan). The playlist, called "I Often Dream of Trains," includes songs by Bettye LaVette, David Bowie, Eliza Carthy, the Ethiopians, Gang of Four, James Brown, the Magnetic Fields, Neko Case, Robyn Hitchcock, Tom Waits, and more. You can check my schedule (http://www.live365.com/stations/mikijourdan/schedule) for play times.