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First let me introduce myself as avid railfan.
If you are unsure, a railfan is a person who is drawn to the railroad in any way. I frequent the railroad for the opportunity to take pictures and shoot some video. It is a disease I have that is worse than my SAAB addiction.
Anyway, I have taken notice over the past couple of years that every time Amtrak asks the federal government for money within a couple of months the price of a postage stamp increases. Just yesterday I heard on the radio that Amtrash was making some rumblings about needing more money from the feds. Will the stamp rise again? I would bet on it.
I live near where the Empire Builder runs from Chicago to Seattle. The train runs twice a day, once eastbound and once westbound. It always carries a handful of USPS cars on the freight half of the train.
I watched trains tonight in Columbus, Wisconsin and that is abount 150 miles from Chicago. Amtak #7 which is the westbound entity of the Empire Builder was running 2.5 hours behind schedule! This train originates in Chicago and I know I can drive from that Amtrash station to Chicago in 2.5 hours. WTF!!!
I guess my point is that the feds are always going to give up money to Amtrak as long as the USPS is still around because they need to keep the post office alive and using Amtrak to haul the mail is the only way to compete with UPS and FedEx.
Amtrak and the United States Postal Service are like a couple of wounded soldiers that lean on each other and refuse to die. Meanwhile sucking up money better used for other things.
My 89 9000 Turbo makes a great railfanning "van" by the way. I can pack three full growns in there, drop the split rear seat, stuff 10 grand worth of camera gear in the hatch and still haul ass to the next train. The bonus is it only cost me about $2000.
I have been told by my railfanning counterparts that they enjoy the available space better than my old C900. A lot of people gave me a hard time about my C900 but that old dog was a trooper. I knew things were getting bad when folks would pass me in their four colored Catalina and point and laugh. LOL
Arik
posted by 68.112.179...
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