HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: $53.75 (was: TTC POP fines (was Railway police in Canada (was NYC's Transit Police)))
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Distribution: ont
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 18:57:41 GMT

> This raises a question I've always wondered about:  Why $53.75?  Why not
> an even $50 (or $55, or $60)?  If it were $53.50, I'd suspect they were
> charging $50+GST (1/2:-), but $53.75 is just plain weird.  Is it possibly
> an inflation-indexed value from some past year's base amount?  Anyone know?

Once upon a time some years back, the province decided that in view of
inflation it would be a good idea to raise all fines by 6.5%, this
presumably being that year's inflation rate.  But apparently they did
it by means of a one-time act rather than an automatic indexing provision
such as is used for income tax.  I've never understood why.

This was back in the days when the PCs had a lock on the provincial
government, as I recall, so I don't think it could be that a later
government repealed the indexing.  In any case it certainly happened
this way only once.

Oh, and I'm told that in New Zealand (where the term GST originated, our
version being a watered-down copy of theirs), they *do* charge GST on fines.

(If you're outside Canada and are puzzled by "PC", this is because news
distributions are leaky.  This article is posted to Ontario.  "PC" means
the Progressive Conservative party, of course.  "GST" is the Goods and
Services Tax, a form of sales tax.)
-- 
Mark Brader				"'Taxpayer' includes any person
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto			whether or not liable to pay tax."
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com		-- Income Tax Act of Canada, s.248(1)

This article is in the public domain.
Xref: sparky rec.railroad:5880 rec.models.railroad:1427
From: 31ochs@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,rec.models.railroad
Subject: CP Rail multimark orientation
Date: 22 Jul 92 19:41:42 EST
Organization: Western Michigan University

I've cross-posted this item in both rec.railroad and rec.models.railroad,
because it is info on a prototype, but it is for information on paint
detail questions.

This is for you CP Rail modelers out there:
I've always been wondering this...
Why do some CP Rail cars have the multi-mark on the right side of the car
and the car number/reporting marks on the left side(the normal way) and
some have them backwards. i.e. like this:

(backwards one, with the reporting marks on the right side)
 _______________________________________
|\   \                                 |
| \   \                        CP RAIL |
|  \   \                               |
|  /   /                       CP      |
| /   /                        80170   |
|/___/*       *         *         *    |
----------------------------------------

(normal one with the reporting marks in the left side)

________________________________________
|                                 /   /|
| CP RAIL                        /   / |
|                               /   /  |
| CP                            \   \  |
| 80172                          \   \ |
|  *        *           *        *\___\|
----------------------------------------

I thought that one side was backwards and the other side wasn't, but
looking at a bunch of different cars, I've thrown out this idea. I've seen it
either backwards on both sides, or normal on both sides on every one of their
boxcars,grain hoppers, hoppers, gondolas, that I've looked at(the ones I've
looked at both sides anyway, watching the train once, and going to another
place and seeing it again)
The only cars I've noticed to be backwards on one side and normal on the other
is the cabooses.

The model manufacturers all put it backwards on one side, and normal on the
other. This makes the multimark face either the front of the train or the
back of the train, whichever way you have it oriented in the train.

Does anybody have any idea what is the difference? Is it certain number series,
or different batches that were built all have the same way?

Thanks in advance,
Fred Ochs

31OCHS@gw.wmich.edu   (VAX)
ochs@sol.cs.wmich.edu (UNIX)

_________________________________________________________________________
        _______________
       /_______________\__+--+_---_+--+__
    ___|[  ]| ###|  ###   ######|###### |
  | | ______|    |                      | |
  |_|/|_|___|____|______________________|_|
   H   \--/  \ \o/  o          /  \--/   H
___"__O----O__`---------------'__O----O__"_____

A GP30 with some imagination ;^)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 00:10:11 -0400 
From: Denise Pullen <dp2r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Train .GIF uploads to wuarchive.wustl.edu

Here is a complete list of the files I have scanned and uploaded to
/graphics/trains on wuarchive.wustl.edu:

B36-5051
CONWAY1
E6-1413
E8-1413
E8-1435
E8-4002
E8-4002A
E8-4022
E8-4024
E8-4530
E8-4633
E8-5898
E9-1456
F7-4480
F7-4540
F7-4550
F7-4550A
F7-4598
F7-935
GG1-4890
GG1-4935
GP15-165
GP30-692
GP38-382
GP9-6489
GP9-6570
RSD7-681
SD35-740
SD35-743
SD40-628
SD40-636
SD50-678
STM040
STM490
STM90

All these files have a .JPG extension and are compressed using JPEG.
There are two decompression programs (for ms-dos), "JPEG3" and
"JPEG3386". These programs are easy to use and available from most
anonymous ftp sites including wuarchive.wustl.edu. I suggest that since
these files are scanned in grey-scale that when decompressing them use
the "-g" switch to force a grey-scale decompression. More files are in
the works!
From: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: bmwe settlement
Date: 27 Jul 92 18:28:54 EST
Reply-To: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Canada Remote Systems

Press release from Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees

 BMWE Members Approve Contracts with Conrail, Amtrak
 To: National Desk, Labor Writer
 Contact: Charles Miller or Al Comeaux, 202-289-0800,
          for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees

   PHILADELPHIA, July 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Brotherhood of
Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) members on Conrail and Amtrak
ratified new contracts, the BMWE announced today.
   BMWE members at Conrail approved their contract by a vote of 1,605
to 756.  The vote by BMWE members on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor was
788 to 316.  Amtrak workers outside the Northeast Corridor passed a
separate agreement 138 to 129.
   The contracts were initialed on June 27 in the wake of a two-day
national lockout by management, during which Congress and President
Bush took away the right to strike and established a 38-day binding
arbitration process for those parties that could not agree to terms.
   The ratification of these contracts ends the 1988 round of
bargaining for the BMWE. The moratorium for making changes in either
contract runs until Jan. 1, 1995.
 -30-
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario/Detroit, MI
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,sci.environment,alt.activism
From: bunker@physun.physics.mcmaster.ca (Alex Bunker)
Subject: Re: _Scientific American_ profiles Maglev Trains
Organization: Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 13:16:25 GMT

In article <JMC.92Jul30204522@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU writes:
>It worries me that the artists' conceptions I have seen of maglev
>show a single car that could hold about 30 people.  If that's the
>model it will require a truly enormous subsidy.
>
>I'll speculate that the pro-maglev sentiment starts from the idea
>that airplane travel is less energy efficient than train travel,
>and in response to the argument that trains are too slow, counters
>with maglev and other exotic schemes - ignoring cost.
>
>Airplanes are an extremely flexible means of long distance travel,
>and I don't believe they will be displaced for any significant
>amount of their prsent applications.  A Japanese told me that he
>went from Osaka to Tokyo by airplane rather than by the bullet
>train.

As someone who a) has visited Japan b) has taken the train from
Tokyo to Osaka and c) knows where Narita airport is wrt downtowm
Tokyo and d) knows how long it takes to get from Narita to
downtown tokyo by the fastest train possible(having taken it)
I can Tell you as a FACT that this this Japanese friend of yours
Takes the plane for the view and is not concerned with the extra time
it takes him to use this arcane polluting slow and inconvenient
means of transportation. 

DEATH to the evil of polluting planes and automobiles.
Long live the futuristic democratic egalitarian mass transit
of the faster and faster GLORY of trains. I am willing to
pay my share of the subsidy!

>John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
>*
>He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
>
EXCACTLY wrt flying from Tokyo to Osaka!

Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: dfl@panix.com (Danny O'Bedlam)
Subject: New AMTRAK Signal Tower (Penn)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 09:16:54 GMT
Organization: Panix, (New Yawk City)

	this past Sunday I was surveying the post-convention remains of
madison square garden and the nearby JAF Postal building (a/k/a GPO)
across the street - the NEXT Penn Station, I hope.  I can say emphatically
here that the building as used today by the USPS is fully accessible for
people in wheelchairs, though not on 8th Ave.  there are plenty of entrances
at street level without steps.  More can be built without damaging the
buildings facade.

	across 9th ave from the back end of Farley is the open air yard
west of Penn I had not previously checked out... the area between 9th
and DYER aves, and between 33rd and 31st streets.  However...

	On the southwest corner of 9th avenue and 31st street is a new
building still under construction with an AMTRAK sign on the side.  It
identifies the site as a new Signal Control facility for our national
passenger railroad.  So:  no doubt this relates to the ongoing discussion
about new signals on the NEC.  This building will replace some other
older facility, but where?  Harold?  Woodside?  Where is Amtraks old
control facility, and where does its control extend?  What are the
boundaries of the NEW facility?  Is it just for PENN and the Empire
Corridor?  What else can we find out about this new structure?


-- 
***********************************************************************
* Danny O'Bedlam  = dfl@panix.com = cmcl2!panix!dfl = Danny Lieberman *
* PO Box 3131 Church St Station, New Yawk, New Yawk, 10008-3131 (usa) *
***********************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: roma@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Roma)
Subject: Re: New Signals on NEC Mainline ?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 22:06:54 GMT

smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:

>I've always been puzzled by the lack of redunancy in some signals against
>a burned-out light bulb.  It's always seemed to me that using position/color
>signals, or using the PRR-style six-bulb circle with a bulb in the middle
>does provide an extra margin of safety, compared with searchlights or
>traffic-light style signals.  Am I missing something?

On railroads using color light signals (including searchlights), it is
common practice to use dual-filament light bulbs.  When the main filament
fails, the second filament continues to burn dimly.  This allows the
failure to be detected and the bulb replaced.

Also, most signal control circuits include filament checking.  In the
event of a bulb failure, the signal approaching the failed signal is
set to yellow.  The engineer of a train will thus approach the failed signal
prepared to stop at it.  This failure, too, will be reported.

Upon encountering a signal with one or more lamps dark, the engineer must
normally treat the signal as displaying the most restrictive aspect possible
given the lights that are displayed.
-- 
Jon Roma
Computing and Communications Services Office,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Internet:  roma@uiuc.edu      	UUCP:      uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!roma
Xref: sparky rec.railroad:5956 rec.models.railroad:1448
From: romeo@niagara.Tymnet.COM (Michael Stimac)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,rec.models.railroad
Subject: Re: CP Rail multimark orientation
Date: 26 Jul 92 20:38:10 GMT
Followup-To: rec.railroad
Organization: BT North America (Tymnet)

>> 
>> Now what is "A" and what is "B"?  Good question, and someone else
>> will have to answer that to be certain.  But I can say for sure,

The "B" end of a freight car is the end with the brake wheel.
The "A" end is the other end.

A very few freight cars have brakewheels at both ends, and
I don't know how they're defined in that case. As a guess I'd
say that it was arbitrary, and indeicated by putting the
lettering "A end" on one end of the car.

Michael Stimac
-- 
Michael Stimac
(408) 922-7539
romeo@tymnet.com
These opinions are not necessarily anyone's but my own.
From: hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Hudson Leighton)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Railroad Commercial on CNN
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:25:10 GMT
Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN.

I am sorry to say but that was not a BN ad but a Norfolk Southern ad.

It has been around for a few years and still blows be away as a railfan and
as a computer user


UUCP: {crash tcnet}!orbit!pnet51!hudson
INET: hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org
ICBM: Lat. 44.59 x lon. 93.13
HAM:  NONMX  444.100 repeater
Advertisement: Try the Railway Post Office BBS (612) 377-2197 a Railfan BBS
From: banarji@unixg.ubc.ca (Ajai Banarji)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Details of Railway Gazette
Date: 27 Jul 92 20:18:19 GMT
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Originator: banarji@unixg.ubc.ca


		Railway Gazette Address

  Here is the address of the publisher. Sorry I don't have the rates, though
I can tell you that it is a monthly. If you subscribe you also get an annual
supplement on "Developing Railways", and possibly other freebies. 

Railway Gazette International
Quadrant House
Sutton
Surrey SM2 5AS
U.K.

  I would say that it is the only "international" trade magazine on railways,
though it may not be really aimed at railway buffs like readers on this
newsgroup. There are many other magazines for enthusiasts; for people from
Commonwealth countries probably "The Railway Magazine" is the best.
From: jjohnson@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU (JOHN JOHNSON)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: old Pennsy & Reading EMUs - where are they now?
Date: 29 Jul 92 19:25:31 GMT
Reply-To: jjohnson@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU
Distribution: na
Organization: California State University, Chico

In article <156q05INNg3q@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, james@cats.ucsc.edu (James C. Bohem) writes:
>
>Does anyone know what happened to the large fleet of red & green
>Pennsy and Reading EMU's (from before the silverliner era) that
>were retired 10+ years ago? A lot of them used to sit in the
>yard at 30th St., but I don't think they're there any more.
>
>Did any of them wind up in museums?
There are a dozen or so of the ex-Reading green MU's at the Station Motel in
Wilkes-Barre, Pa. that were converted into motel rooms.
From: billg@bony1.bony.com (Bill Gripp)
Subject: Hobos Glamorized on TV (Was: Re: The State of Train Hitching)
Organization: LA&W RR
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 16:28:21 GMT

In article <8093@orbit.cts.com> hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Hudson Leighton) writes:
>Well here we go again.
>
>"Hitching" on trains is a good way to get killed!!


Last week on 48Hours (?) there was a segment on the new yuppie fad in
Southern California, "Hobo-ing".  They went to a bar in Beverly Hills
where "Yuppy Boes" hang out and trade tricks of the trade.  Then they
went along with 3 yuppies who drove somewhere around Bakersfield and
hopped an EsPee freight.

The yuppies were saying how dangerous this was, and that it was
ILLEGAL, but that didn't stop them (along with a CBS camera crew) from
hopping into an empty box car and riding along.

Was SP aware that CBS was filming this?  If not, could SP bring legal
action against CBS?  After all, the "evidence" was on video, and
broadcast on network television.

One of the more humerous parts was when the 3 guys were waiting for a
train to come along and one remarked "how do we know where it's going?"
They acted worse than a 3 year old who has seen his first set of
electric trains.

As if railfans don't have enough trouble worrying about getting hastled
by police, now we are likely to be confused with this growing segment of
jerks.  =B^[
From: BRANDT_JOBST/HP1900_01@HPLOMG.HPL.HP.COM
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Switchback (was: Trip report on the C&TS)
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:40:50 GMT

Nick Leverton writes:

< I can't remember seeing any references to this sort of setup in the UK,
< but it was not uncommon in colonial railways, for instance the Darjeeling
< Himalaya line in India and Aliwal North to Barkly East in South Africa,
< both of which are still in use and both with revenue-earning steam !

On that note, what do you know about this legendary Darjeeling RR.  Is it
still running? is it 2 foot gauge?  I have heard rumors that it is dead or
near death.

jobst_brandt@hplabs.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: ajh@cs.monash.edu.au (John Hurst)
Subject: Re: Switchback (was: Trip report on the C&TS)
Organization: Computer Science, Monash University, Australia
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 06:11:24 GMT

msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:

>> > A switchback consists of pair of switches at the ends of a piece of track
>> > on which the train backs up and then reverses again to continue when
>> > climbing steep terrain where there is no room for sweeping turns.
>> 
>> Interesting linguistic difference. A switchback in non-US usage is a very
>> hilly road, which gives a ride like one receives on a roller coaster ..

>I agree with the first definition, but not the second.  I think a switchback
> ...

>Some railways follow a similar path, though the curves are necessarily
>less sharp than would typically be used on roads.  Although switches are
>not involved, it doesn't seem a totally unreasonable usage to accept the
>term "switchback" for these.

>> What you describe, we would probably call a reversing station or a Z
>> (pron. zed :-))

>I believe the standard term for a railway switchback outside North America
>is zigzag.  At least, I've heard of specific examples in Australia and India
>that were so named.
>-- 
>Mark Brader		   "... there is no such word as 'impossible' in
>SoftQuad Inc., Toronto	    my dictionary.  In fact, everything between
>utzoo!sq!msb		  'herring' and 'marmalade' appears to be missing."
>msb@sq.com	    -- Douglas Adams:  Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

The term used in Australia is indeed Zig-Zag, and there were two on the main
western line out of Sydney, but were replaced by re-alignments around the turn
of the century.  The more remote one has recently been restored, and has a
regular steam service running up and down it.

John Hurst
ComSci, Monash U.


--
John Hurst                              ajh@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au
Department of Computer Science          +61 3 565 5192
Monash University
From: bob@1776.COM (Robert Coe)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: CP Rail multimark orientation
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 21:54:05 EDT
Reply-To: bob%1776.UUCP@XAIT.Xerox.COM (Robert Coe)
Distribution: na
Organization: 1776 Enterprises, Sudbury MA

Steve_Hooper@mindlink.bc.ca (Steve Hooper) writes:
> As for cabooses, the multi-mark was ALWAYS supposed to point in the direc-
> tion of travel.  It is on the kitchen end of the cab.  For the most part, 
> cab's ran in either direction, but on unit trains (trains that would go 
> around loops such as the coal trains), it was mandatory by local union rules 
> to run the kitchen end trailing so the conductor could look out to the rear 
> while doing paperwork.

OK, I'll bite.  :^)  Why would the conductor need to look out the rear on unit
trains but not on other trains?

   ___            _                                           -  Bob
   /__) _   /    / ) _   _
(_/__) (_)_(_)  (___(_)_(/_____________________________ bob@1776.Sudbury.MA.US
Robert K. Coe ** 14 Churchill St, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776 ** 508-443-3265
From: pep7513@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (Phillip E. Paulsen)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Civil War Era Steam Locomotive Data Needed
Keywords: Steam, Locomotive, General
Date: 30 Jul 92 15:39:00 GMT
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

I am a mechanical engineer in need of technical data and drawings for the
"General".  This civil war vintage steam locomotive engine was used as a
part of the North's military railway system.  Are there any reference books
available?  Operations data?  Decent pictures or drawings?  Museums or groups
that could point me in the right direction? 

Thanks!

Phil Paulsen
From: Steven.Schultz@mixcom.mixcom.com (Steven.Schultz)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Railroad Commercial on CNN
Date: 30 Jul 92 00:24:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: mixcom.1992Jul30.002415.18939
Distribution: usa
Organization: Milwaukee Internet Xchange BBS, Milwaukee, WI U.S.A.

In <1992Jul27.233456.682@s1.gov> lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:


> Just this morning on CNN, not long before "Today's
>Business"(?), I saw a commercial for the Burlington Northern freight
>railroad. It featured some nicely done animation, such as a
locomotive
>turning into a galloping black horse, and it depicted some cars being
>put into an auto-rack car and a truck trailer (as if advertising
being
>in the "intermodal" business of hauling truck trailers).

> It is significant that BN appears committed to attracting
>business; when I was at the California Railroad Festival in
>Sacramento, I saw some brand-new locomotives on the rails near the
>Railroad Museum -- locomotives belonging to Union Pacific and
Atchison
>Topeka Santa Fe, though not to Southern Pacific.

> Given the abundance of freight-container and truck-trailer
>shipments, at least here in the US, I must ask if we have a growth
>industry in the making. Since rail sidings can't go to many places
>anymore, relatively speaking, trucks are absolutely essential for
>local deliveries. But for longer stretches, trains are probably more
>cost-effective; fuel and labor costs are almost certainly less than
>for trucking. There is also the interesting question of relative
>safety, and the expense of road maintenance (even with highway
>subsidies, I'm sure truckers have to pay a bundle in taxes).
 
I believe that the commercial is for the Norfolk Southern. I have seen
several such commercials on CNN that have been for the NS. Computer
animation is used to show several aspects of their operation,
intermodal, coal, and auto traffic. I have also talked to an employee
of NS who was involved with it. Also, BN has never had a black horse
associated with it. NS' logo is a black horse, and a white one is
painted on the ends of each of their locomotives (The locos used in
that commercial are G.E. Dash 8-40Cs, BN has never owned any.)
-- 
Steve Schultz     Steven.Schultz@mixcom.com
Newsgroups: rec.railroad