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Luzerne County has been running some local rail service for a number of years, and few would dispute that political patronage is a big factor. But it's also worth noting that the Lackawanna County Court House changed hands between parties in the 2003 election, so the action may represent an "en...

Just wondering...... if any other of the older members of this form can remember how the phrase "train station" crept into our vocabulary. When I was growing up in the late 1950's and 1960's, you met a train at the "railroad station". It wasn't until I'd finished my education tha...

Let's take a close look at the geography of Indiana. Of the major cities other than Indianapolis, only the following are on major transportation routes. South Bend and Fort Wayne (Chicago-East Coast) Terre Haute and Evansville (Chicago-Gulf Coast) All the other cities would feed traffic to an Indian...

It's the market, or the lack of one. This is a prime example of why it's so tough for passenger trains to serve rural patrons. The population of Indiana is pretty well dispersed, with only Indianapolis as a major metro area; none of the state's other cities could be classed as a transportation hub. ...

The Bloomsburg trackage cited was the Reading's branch to Orangeville and Benton, which started out as the Bloomsburg and Sullivan (County). Not sure about the abanadonment date, but the last time I can recall seeing a freight car in Benton was in the spring of 1967, and I believe I encountered a Re...

Interestingly, at the controlled siding in my home town (NS/CP Sunbury Line, formerly D&H, formerly PC, formerly PRR), it's the home signals which are approach lighted. The distant sgnals are lighted constantly.

"Congressional mismanagement does not, in my opinion, give Amtrak a license to be stupid." But the absence of normal market discipline means that patrons and taxpayers pick up the tab, on a continuing basis. In fairness, no mode of transport operates in anything even remotely approaching a...