Have I got a deal for you! (or, I AM talking about Amtrak)

As you may be aware, many American cities have traffic issues.  Atlanta is one of them.  Some days, I drive to work on highly subsidized interstate highways.  They are terribly congested when I go.  I want to help fix the problem.

Here's my solution.  I'd like the Federal Gov't to collect an additional one cent tax from every income tax filer and pay it to me in exchange for a vow that I will never again use any highway during rush hour.  I'll leave my car in the garage except during off-peak hours.

Here are the benefits:

1.  reduced highway congestion
2.  Improved air quality
3.  Improved quality of life
4.  Reduced reliance on foreign oil
5.  Reduced need for fire/police/ambulance
6.  Reduced need for subsidized highway maintenance

Selling points:

1.  The total cost is much much less than an Abrams main battle tank.  
2.  I am a US citizen and deserving government benefits
3.  The per person tax burden is exceedingly tiny, compared to other things the government buys
4.  The government has many similar programs, like farmers being paid not to grow certain crops.
5.  I will use the money to create jobs. (only the "good" kind)
6.  The whole program would be less than the rounding error on many gov't programs

How could anybody possibly be against this!  Lobby your congressman now!  Meanwhile, I'm going to keep driving.  It's up to you.

Oh, and if you are not for this, I can only conclude you hate me!

"I was talking about Amtrak"

In the middle of an family discussion about something seemingly completely unrelated, I blurted out, "I was talking about Amtrak."

I was.  In my mind anyway.  It's a long story....not worth telling.

So here is a list of completely unrelated thoughts I've had lately, instead.

1. Rich people should not be referred to as "job creators".  That's too complicated. People with a lot of money are rich.  That's the definition of the word.  It's that simple.

2. People should not take credit or blame for things they watched happen and did nothing to affect.  The president took credit for the "fracking" revolution in oil and gas development and its effect on oil imports.  I saw Ryan Howard hit a home run recently.  Boy, am I a good hitter!

 

3. Perhaps the best argument for getting rid of the graduated income tax is that hardly anyone understands the basic principle behind it.  Never mind all the twists and turns in the tax code, the basic idea of tax brackets is just beyond most people.

4. Volkswagen's 2.0L TDI diesel engine is a wonderful thing. I wish I had one.

5. Albany NY is a hard place to get to from Atlanta.

6. I am not sure that we can keep the trailer (2000 Jayco) and tow vehicle (1999 Ford Expedition) in running condition.  They both seem to be falling apart faster than I can glue them back together.  Last month, it was a new rear crankshaft seal in the Expy.  This month, the thermostat in the trailer air conditioner and water heater pilot.  The Expy is coming up on a set of tires and the trailer needs the roof coated and the awning patched.  Time to punt them both?  I do like getting out camping, though.

12 year old trailer and 13 year old truck.

7. We have a landscaping plan for the house!  Hooray!  Now, we have to go do it... Boo!

8. The absolute best kept secret in Atlanta are the GRTA Xpress commuter buses.  They are smooth, fast and comfortable.  25 miles in 35 minutes for $5.  Can't beat it.  I get two naps a day!  They don't advertise anywhere.  Someone must be talking, though.  The bus is starting to get crowded!

9.  Cool, dry weather beats hot, muggy weather.  Cool, dry weather and a screened porch is even better.

10.  Lists should not have more than 10 things.

Not-the-Crescent

I saw it.  I really did.

I was working from home on a nice sunny Thursday about a month ago.  In the morning's email, there were several about a big mainline derailment on the Piedmont Division between Gainesville and the South Carolina boarder at Toccoa.  It looked like it was going to take more than a day to clean up.  It talked about holding certain trains and detouring others.

I wondered, "What are they going to do with the Crescent?"  The Crescent is Atlanta's only passenger train.  It runs every day from New York City to New Orleans, passing southbound through Atlanta each morning about 8:00 AM.  Usually, when this sort of thing happens, Amtrak calls out some buses to get people where they are going and then they cancel the return train the following day.  As I read on, it appeared they were going to detour the Amtrak train around the derailment. How? Via CSX's Abbeville subdivision, in part, which runs a mile from my house.  This was pretty exciting news!

Okay, for ME it was exciting... Ever hear of the Silver Comet?  Sure, the same as the "Silver Comet Trail".  This was a train that operated from the Northeast through Atlanta and on to Birmingham on the Seaboard Airline Railroad. The Atlanta to Birmingham portion of the railroad was converted to a bike trail over the past decade.  The Silver Comet was a fancy, streamlined train that operated from the late 1940s until the dawn of Amtrak in 1971.  It ran over the Abbeville subdivision, and as far as I know, was the last public passenger train to run on this route.

Picture of Silver Comet at Athens

Silver Comet in Atlanta

Schedule

So, reading on and doing a bit of digging, it looked like the southbound Crescent was going to wind up in Atlanta 4 to 5 hours late, roughly noon, so maybe by our area between 10 and 11 AM.  It was 9:30 AM.  Hmmm.

I fired up my ATCS monitor.  What is that?  Its some computer software that shows where the trains are and how the switches and signals are set on lines where the communication signals are sent using a standard, open source messaging scheme adopted by the railroads a couple of decades ago.  It is the only surviving piece of some development work into computer based train control undertaken in the 1980s.  The project was known as the Advanced Train Control System (ATCS).

The ATCS monitor uses radio data.  In this case, a fellow feed his radio scanner data for our area onto the internet to share.  Other people have modeled the "track line view" - similar to what a train dispatcher sees - for areas in the country that use ATCS radio messaging.

The ATCS monitor showed me the traffic between Atlanta and South Carolina.  A meet was set up for Gloster siding.  A train from Atlanta was lined up for the siding and the only southbound train for miles was lined up for the main track.  Had to be...  I gotta go see this!  Grabbed the camera and took off for the Arnold road crossing  near the house.

Got to the crossing and all was quiet.  I fire up my "log-me-in igntion" remote desktop application on my phone so I could see the ATCS display on my computer back at the house.  The train from Atlanta was between Tucker and Gloster.  It would be here shortly.  The train I thought could be the Crescent was still on the other side of Lawrenceville. Good. It will be here soon, too. The CSX freight train from Atlanta crawled into the siding.  I got a picture of it arriving and was all set to get a nice picture of the two trains meeting.

The "Not-the-Crescent"

But, wait?  The ATCS monitor shows the main track is occupied!  Did the Crescent slip in just before I got there and is it now hiding right around the curve?  I didn't think so, but, there it was plain as day on my ATCS monitor!  Uh, oh.  Jump in the car.  I'll zip over to the Gloster Road crossing and catch it there.  I zoom out toward Lawrenceville Highway.  Bad move.  Much traffic.  Long light.  What a dope.  The other way was shorter, anyway.  Head back to the Arnold road crossing to go around the other way.  Lights are flashing. Gates are coming down.  I'm still 500 yards away!  Darn.  Sure enough, it's the Crescent! All two locomotives, baggage car, two sleepers, diner, lounge and four coaches of it.  It glides by at a pretty slow speed.  Rats.  No picture.

Aha!  Maybe it will stop behind whatever is on the main track at Gloster Road.  If I hurry....

Turn around again.  Wait through the longest light ever.  Zip down Lawrenceville Highway, then down Huff Road....to wind up in a long line of traffic at the crossing....as I watch the markers of the Crescent recede into the distance.  Drat!  Foiled again!  Oh, well.  I head home...back to work!  As I go over the tracks, I see a signal maintainer's truck. He was obviously doing some testing that made it look like the track was occupied, when it wasn't.  Of all the luck. I had outsmarted myself.

Oh, well.  I saw it.  I really did.  And, that's not nothin'!