HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gurd@next04wor.wam.umd.edu (Daffy Duck)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: MD Governer to win APTA award
Date: 5 Oct 92 02:25:54 GMT
Reply-To: gurd@wam.umd.edu

The following article appeared in the September 28th. issue of Passenger  
Transport, Copyright 1992, American Public Transit Association.  It  
acknowledges the achievments of Schaefer in advancing public  
transportation in MD, and making it a model for the nation.

"Governer Schaefer To Receive Award, Address Delegates"

     Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer, a national leader in promoting  
modern urban public transportation for the people of his state, will be  
receiving APTA's State Distinguished Service Award and will also be  
speaking at the closing of General Session at APTA's Annual Meeting in  
Sand Diego.
     The Annual Meeting kicks offi in less than three weeks on Sunday,  
Oct. 18, and continues through Wednesday, Oct. 21.
     Gov. Schaefer, now serving in his second term as governer after four  
terms as the mayor of Baltimore, led the way for the development of  
Baltimore's new Central Corridor Light Rail Line.  He will recieve his  
award at the Tuesday morning Grand Awards Breakfast.
     The governer will address the Wednesday afternoon General Session  
...
     In addition to getting the light rail system built in under three  
years, the governer has also streamlined rail passenger service in  
Maryland by comining the adminstration of the State Railroad  
Administration with the Mass Transit Administration.  In the past five  
years, commuter rail ridership on MARC trains have grown from 6,000 to  
18,000 daily.
     Schaefer also worked to ensure the completion of the last segment of  
the Baltimore Metro system, which will be completed in late 1994.

Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: nzr20@meadow.uucp (Nicholas Russon)
Subject: Re: Modeling: Trains and the modeler?
Reply-To: nzr20@meadow.UUCP (Nicholas Russon)
Organization: Amdahl Canada Ltd., Software Development Center
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 12:40:33 GMT

Garth G. Groff writes:
>First, I am not excited by the content of the major
>magazines.  I have found TRAINS to be too technical,
>too financial, or too centered on lines too far away
>to be of interest.

I don't think I'd characterize TRAINS as being too technical,
but it definitely concentrates on railways other than those
I model.  (But that's my problem, since I model north-of-the-
49th-parallel-railways ;-)  )

>I do skim 
>TRAINS and other magazines at the hobby store or on
>the Walden's newsrack, but buy only when some article
>really interests me (usually RAILFAN & RAILROAD which
>has better historical pieces).

Ditto on this, too.  I find the odd modern article of interest,
but I'm more a historian than a railfan, so the coverage of the
latest and greatest GE/GM products are of only slight interest
to me.

>Third, I find that most of the magazines tend to 
>concentrate on what is modern, or what is happening
>now in preservation.  My interest is historical and
>model railroading information.  I don't find the
>the prototype magazines fill these needs.  That is 
>in no way to imply that up-to-date information is 
>unimportant, it is just that it is not what I enjoy.

I subscribe to several NMRA SIG newsletters, which provide a
more modelling-oriented view of railways, and their prototype
content is both interesting and (from a modeller's viewpoint)
potentially useful.

Regards,
Nicholas

Nicholas Russon    nzr20@meadow.uucp           | A good politician is quite
Amdahl Canada      nzr20@amail.amdahl.com      | as unthinkable as an honest
416-542-6530       nicholas.russon@canrem.uucp | burglar.  (H.L. Mencken)
-- 
Nicholas Russon    nzr20@meadow.uucp           | A good politician is quite
Amdahl Canada      nzr20@amail.amdahl.com      | as unthinkable as an honest
416-542-6530       nicholas.russon@canrem.uucp | burglar.  (H.L. Mencken)
From: tgrupe@watnxt11.ucr.edu (Todd E. Grupe)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: What about the Metrolink phone number?
Date: 2 Oct 92 01:48:44 GMT


On Pirate Radio 100.3 FM, a recent traffic report was sponsered by Metro-
link and a toll-free phone number was given.  The number was 1-800-371-
LINK.  I have dialed this number at all hours of the day throughout the
week and it is always busy, as if it's off the hook.  1.  Is this the
correct number?  2. If it is the number, is it possible that it would be
busy all of the time?

from santafe@watserv.ucr.edu
From: jwj2@po.CWRU.Edu (Jermaster)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: something about tunnels
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 03:01:28 GMT
Organization: Eastern & Ohio Railroad Company
NNTP-Posting-Host: b63154.student.cwru.edu

In article <1992Sep29.012933.14247@s1.gov> lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:

>	What is "tofc/cofc"?

Trailer On Flat Car/Container On Flat Car.
^       ^  ^    ^   ^         ^  ^    ^
In other words, just a fancy way to say "piggyback" or "intermodal."

Later,
-Jer
--
Jerry W. Jordak        Climb back in the cab, gonna be there 'til dark
a.k.a. Jermaster       We gotta keep movin' if we're gonna make a buck....
(jwj2@po.cwru.edu)                                                 -- BTO
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: So Where is Steamtown Anyway?
From: finney@husc3.harvard.edu
Date: 5 Oct 92 12:05:42 EDT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Hi,
    Drove near Scranton on (I think) Rte 81 on Friday -
saw a huge sign that indicated we were heading for 
Steamtown. We all watched carefully for further indicators,
but didn't see any. Can anyone enlighten me? (I remember
Vt.)
                          Thanks,
                           Cynthia Finney
From: jordan@IMSI.COM (Jordan Hayes)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: NYC color-coding, again
Date: 5 Oct 92 16:47:12 GMT
Organization: Investment Management Services Inc., NYC

Ron Newman <rnewman@bbn.com> writes:

	Garbage trains on the NY subways?  Tell us more!

Imagine.  It's 105 in the shade, 98% humidity.  You enter the station
and descend four flights of stairs to the platform.  The walls seem to
drip.  It hurts to breathe.  The air is thick, heavy, wet.  You stand
still, hoping that this will slow the steady stream of sweat from
soaking your clothing.  You sneak a look down the track, hoping to
catch the sight of headlights.  A train is approaching, you stand near
the back of the station, thinking that the train will be moving faster
at this point and it will generate enough of a breeze to temporarily
stop you from going insane from the heat.  The train approaches more
slowly than you'd expect.  Suddenly, it hits you.  It's too late to
run.  You are frozen in time.  It is the yellow garbage train.  You are
awash in the stench of the previous 40 stations.  It takes forever for
the garbage to be loaded onto the flatbed car.  Diesel fumes add to the
clogging, choking.  The noise is unbearable in the enclosed space.  You
want to die.

/jordan
Xref: sparky rec.railroad:7684 rec.models.railroad:1881 aus.forsale:1526
From: craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au (Craig Dewick)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,rec.models.railroad,aus.forsale
Subject: softcover 'Standards of Steam - the 50 class' for sale
Date: 30 Sep 92 21:54:09 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Distribution: aus
Organization: Kralizec Dialup Unix Sydney: +61-2-837-1183 V.32


Interested in obtaining a copy of Ron Preston's new, hot-off-the-press book on
the NSW (D)50 class 'standard goods' steam locomotives but can't justify
spending up to $46.00 for a copy?

When I ordered my copy of the definitive book on the NSW (D)50's, I stuffed up
and ordered the soft cover version when I wanted a hardcover copy!
 
So, I have 1 (one) only soft cover version of Ron's new book for sale to anyone
who is interested. It's almost newer than new (I received it in the post
yesterday!). Normal price is $32.95 ($39.00 posted) for this version, although
I would like to sell my copy for only $25.00 (plus a few dollars if you want it
posted to you).

If you're interested, send me email to craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au, or phone me
on (02)544-1060. There is a voice mail system connected to my phone service, so
if I'm not here you can still leave a message.
-- 
 Craig Dewick               |      - Railway Preservation Industries P/L -
 Send email to:             |      actively supporting the preservation of
 craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au |           Australia's railway heritage.
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: Rich.Rubel@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Rich Rubel)
Subject: Re: Notes from recent transcontinental vacation
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 11:31:07 GMT


As I think about it, the fuel may be methane rather than hydrogen.  Saw
the engine, with a white and green BN tank car behind it, vaguely
remembered a Trains article, and overheard someone behind me say it was
hydrogen.  It's quite possible I'm mistaken about the fuel...
[RICHR]
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,ba.transportation
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Subject: Re: Diesel vs. Electric Locomotive Maintenance
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 02:16:01 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

Speaking of which -- the October '92 Railpace mentions a campaign (in
Connecticut, I think) by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers against
an electrification project.  I assume that they're afraid of job loss,
but it isn't clear to me why electric locomotives should require fewer
engineers than diesels.  Explanations?
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: pierson@empror.enet.dec.com (dave pierson)
Subject: Re: Three-phase electrification (was something about tunnels
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 13:15:25 GMT

In article <35500@cbmvax.commodore.com>, grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George
Robbins) writes, in part:

>In article <1992Sep30.142436.9488@prodok.ch> prodok@prodok.ch (prodok) writes:

>> This type of transmitting power through open air couplings _is technology
>> from the thirties_.

>> The mentioned kind of coupling is still in us for coupling HEP-lines on
>> some secondary railroads (if one counts the Chur - Arosa line as secondary 
>> line). I doubt that it is reliable enough to transmit 6000 kW (or so) 
>> at high speeds.

>Well, why not?  As used on the Reading Railroad, it was at 11KV, so even your
>6KW 
	???  6000KW was the figure mentioned....

>would be less than 1 ampere, assuming you have good enough inslulation
>for 25KV instead of 11KV this should be no problem.
	(and not too much to high for main line work....)

thanks
dave pierson			|the facts, as accurately as i can manage,
Digital Equipment Corporation	|the opinions, my own.
146 Main St			|I am the NRA.
Maynard, Mass	
01754				pierson@majsty.enet.dec.com
"He has read everything, and, to his credit, written nothing."  A J Raffles
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Subject: Re: BART 20th. Anniversary
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 23:51:54 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.


>and the Colma Station project in San Mateo County.  The Colma Station will  
>be the link to the San Fransisco Airport Extension, which is scheduled to  
>begin in late of 1994.  The extension program is running about four years  
>ahead of schedule.

? Does this mean that it's been open since 1990, but no one knows about
it?



Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Subject: LIRR joke
Organization: LLNL
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 23:10:56 GMT


	Carl Sagan, in the _Broca's Brain_ chapter "Night-Walkers and
Mystery-Mongers", tells us how he once asked a question about
mysterious disappearances on the Dick Cavett show. He asked why is it
that it is ships and airplanes that disappear, and not trains. To
which Dick Cavett responded that "I can see you haven't waited for the
Long Island Rail Road..."

	Is that a fair assessment of the LIRR?

	[This comment was probably made in the mid-1970's]

	Carl Sagan's point was that it is easy for a ship or an
airplane to "disappear" in the middle of an ocean, while it is much
harder for a train to become misplaced.
From: b_nbca@icarus.lbl.gov (Bruce Nordman)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: garbage trains, money trains, and other novelties for out of towners.
Date: 4 Oct 1992 23:29:41 GMT
Organization: lbl
Distribution: world
Reply-To: b_nbca@icarus.lbl.gov (Bruce Nordman)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.154

In article <1992Oct3.233917.212@sq.sq.com>, msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
|> <<much text deleted>>
|> 
|> Are there any large subway systems where a garbage train is *not* used?
|> It seems the obvious approach to me.

BART (in the SF Bay Area) probably doesn't qualify as a "large subway".
FYI, though, it doesn't use a garbage train, but rather the trash is
put in dumpsters in suburban stations, or on the sidewalk in central
city stations.  You aren't supposed to eat in BART, so in theory,
most trash would be generated near the entrance to the stations
(don't know what reality is).

When BART installed newspaper recycling containers, they put them
just inside the turnstiles, that is, not at the platform level.
I expect that they would collect more papers if they put the
bins at platform level as the DC system does (or both would be
even better).

My cynical mind suggests that since BART designers tried to avoid
making BART look like a train or subway, they chose not to go the
garbage train route as other systems did.  On the other hand, they
might have decided that the way they do it now is cheaper.

Bruce Nordman
B_Nordman@lbl.gov
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: tml@tik.vtt.fi (Tor Lillqvist)
Subject: Re: Rail links under Alps
Organization: Technical Research Centre of Finland, Laboratory for Information
	Processing (VTT/TIK)
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 17:33:07 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.203448.13156@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> jis@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (jishnu.mukerji) writes:
   I guess once the tunnels are put into service, one will have to change
   trains and get onto slower local trains to enjoy the scenary of
   Loetschberg and St. Gothard Passes, instead of doing so from the
   Eurocity Expresses like one can do today. 

But doesn't all real railfans use the slower trains already, if not
other than for the joy of being able to pull down the window and stick
your head out? Not possible on newer rolling stock. At least I enjoy
the scenery and railway engineering much more if I don't have to look
through a window pane.
--
Tor Lillqvist,
working, but not speaking, for the Technical Research Centre of Finland
From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Railroad Management and the Military
Date: 28 Sep 92 22:26:05 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: hobbes.ucsc.edu


I'm reading a book about 19th century telegraphers right now.  One of the
points the author makes is that railroads and telegraphs were a new kind
of business enterprise in the U.S.; older businesses were more localized.
He says the military served as a model for how to manage these enterprises,
and points to similarities such as calling portions of the operation 'divisions'
and having printed rule books, and having 'line' and 'staff' personnel,
having 'general orders' and 'special orders', and managers who had been
military officers in the Civil War.  Comments, anyone?
-- 
haynes@cats.ucsc.edu
haynes@cats.bitnet

"Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an Art."
        Charles McCabe, San Francisco Chronicle
From: R.Todd.Minsk@dartmouth.edu (R. Todd Minsk)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: FRA Grade Crossing Inventory Number
Date: 30 Sep 92 00:14:54 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

In article <Bv3LtH.6po@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
roma@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Roma) writes:

> hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Hudson Leighton) writes:
> 
> >Has anyone tried to decipher the FRA grade crossing inventory numbers?
> 
> >I was looking at a DMIR timetable that had a list of all the gradecrossings
> >with FRA numbers and I could not see and pattern.
> 
> There is no pattern.  They are simply inventory numbers and are assigned
> as needed.
> -- 

The numbers apply to grade-separated crossings also, and in my
observation are (or were at the beginning) assigned sequentially along
each line.  Private and pedustrian crossings, and crossings on
industrial spurs, are handled inconsistantly, often omitted from the
sequence, but as Mr Roma suggests, may be later additions.  Perhaps the
check digit (alpha) has a method, but I haven't seen enough numbers to
tell.

Does anyone know if, where, or how the specifics of the FRA inventory
can be obtained?  I'd like to be able to add the information to maps
when I hike along branch lines.


Todd Minsk, ferro-bibliographer
From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Diesel vs. Electric Locomotive Maintenance
Date: 6 Oct 92 04:43:37 GMT
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <1992Oct5.233132.27383@s1.gov> lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:
> 
> 	I have seen it claimed that electric locomotives usually need
> much less maintenance than diesel ones. Is there any truth to that
> claim?
> 
> 	This would presumably come about from the much lower
> mechanical complexity of electric locos as compared to diesel ones (no
> diesel engine, see?).

Well, the are a couple of problems with your assertions.  First of all
electric locomotives aren't particularly simple.  In the case of the
diesel locomotive, you can regulate power output simply by changing
the engine speed and simple switching of the traction motor series-
parallel arrangements.

An electric (we'll deal with a powerful AC one) has to in effect
have a power sub-station to step down the 11-50KV power from the
overhead to a lower voltage ~300-600 Volts that can be used in brush
type DC traction motor or handed economically by solid-state rectifiers
and switching circuits.  In addition there either has to be fairly
complex switchgear for selecting different effective voltages for
different speeds/power outputs or fancy solid state inverter/chopper
circuits for newer equipment.

All of these needs to be cooled and controlled so you have quite a
pile of auxilliaries in addition to the usual air-compressor for the
air brakes and perhaps a steam-heat boiler or provision for head-end
power for the passenger service.

Second, the maintenance requirements for diesel locomotives aren't all
that demanding.  The locomotive style diesel is rugged and subject to
periodic oil and filter changes runs (guessing a little) hundreds of
thousands of miles before requiring major maintenance or rebuilding.

> 	I think that it is a significant issue in evaluating the
> merits of electric (flat-road) cars, since one of their (purported)
> merits is low maintenance costs, for the reasons presented above, and
> also because they would be competing with cars running on internal
> combustion engines, as electric locos compete with diesel locos in
> similar types of service.

Well, for railroads electric propulsion seems to make economic sense
in areas with high traffic density, cheap electricity or expensive
fuel.  For just about anything except the Northeast Corridor and
commuter rail, the diesels have displaced electric traction, even
where the fixed plant is paid for and there is an effective fleet of
locomotives.  The first to go were the short tunnel electrifications,
followed by the mountain divisions and finally tearing down the wires
over the PRR/PC/Conrail feight only track.

As far as electric autos - there may be some opportunity for short
distance urban commuting if the technology catches up, if not the
only thing that will have it happen is coersive fuel prices or public
policy.
From: pvmason@cco.caltech.edu (Peter V. Mason)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Transporting helicopters on flatcars
Date: 29 Sep 1992 05:20:12 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: alumni.caltech.edu

In article <1992Sep25.161325.26567@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> mperlman@nyx.cs.du.edu (Marshal "Airborne" Perlman) writes:
>On my way out here from california..I saw 3 Huges 500's on a FLATBED.
>--
>           Marshal Perlman <> Florida Institute of Technology 
>                    ***** perlman@zach.fit.edu ***** 
>               Private Pilot - Airplane Single-Engine Land

Aren't helicopters hellishly expensive to fly, and very short lived?
I should think they'd ship them by rail/truck as much as possible.
Pete
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: jbvb@vax.ftp.com  (James B. VanBokkelen)
Subject: Re: Three-phase electrification (was something about tunnels)
Nntp-Software: PC/TCP NNTP
Keywords: Italy 3-phase electric
Reply-To: jbvb@ftp.com
Organization: FTP Software, Inc., Wakefield, MA
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 12:20:30

In article <1992Sep30.120043.12663@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> pierson@empror.enet.dec.com (dave pierson) writes:

            FS, in Italy, and the others doing main line work used "neither":

Sometime in the late 60s Trains magazine did an article on the Italian 3-phase
electrics - they didn't explain switches but they did give some history and
a map of routes using it.  Some good B&W pictures...

James B. VanBokkelen		2 High St., North Andover, MA  01845
FTP Software Inc.		voice: (508) 685-4000  fax: (508) 794-4488

Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: ajw@squid.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh)
Subject: Re: garbage trains, money trains, and other novelties for out of towners.
Organization: CSIRO, Division of Information Technology, Melbourne
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 92 22:47:27 GMT

In article <1992Oct3.001710.9356@ulysses.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>Hmm -- that reminds me of something I heard, or at least think I heard,
>long ago.  When one of NY's transit strikes was settled, it took several
>hours before service could be resumed -- a rail-grinder had to come out
>first to polish the rails, which were normally kept clean by the wheels
>of passing trains.
>
>Is this sort of thing common?  I've seen plenty of rusty sidings, and
>for that matter shortline main tracks.  Is it peculiar to electrified
>systems?

I very much doubt it. I've never seen the local trams have any problem
with rusty rails - even after a long strike.

What is slightly more likely is that they made sure that the grooves
were clean. Little used track can get covered in sand and grit. This
can (if bad enough) derail the tram. It can also insulate the tram
from the rails. Many years ago I can remember traversing a little
used connection on an excursion. The single truck tram traversed
this section very slowly (to avoid derailing) but sufficient speed
had to be maintained to ensure the tram had enough momentum to
get over any insulated sections on the rails. A bogie tram, of
course, would have had less problems.

It is even less likely on electrified heavy rail -- the currents
involved are very high. However, there have been cases where trains
on rusty rail have failed to shunt the track circuit. Usually this
is 'solved' by instructions to the signalmen concerned to ensure
that the track involved is regularly used -- even if only by a
locomotive shunting up and down.

andrew waugh
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,soc.culture.usa