[Grunthor]

Chance to force others to subsidize your ride on the rails is a dream come true

[Dem Guard]

Doesn’t it depend on what it costs? The ticket each way between Raleigh and Charlotte is 50.00. How are you going to get to work from the station?

[1rudeboy]

Heck, I'd be in favor of steam engines if we brought back THIS.

[Gondring]

I’d be in favor of cutting the subsidies of trucking instead of adding more to the rails, too.

[Hodar]

Have you priced what it costs to travel the rails? Given the taxpayer (Gov’t) susidies, the cost to travel by rail is not only woefully inconvenient, slow; it’s outrageously expensive too.

Consider, the destinations are limited, but for me to leave from Ogden, UT and travel to Memphis, TN - that trip, one-way will cost me $240.50 and involves the following.

I leave 5:10pm on Tuesday, and after a bus ride, and a transfer - I arrive in Memphis on Friday at 6:27am. 3 Days of sleeping in a chair for a one-way ticket. Round trip is going to run an extra $315.

For that price, I can fly First Class round trip - and my travel time will only be a matter of a couple hours.

[Bender2]

Gadzooks! Maybe it is my age... but every time I hear "trains," this comes to mind:

These are the times that try men's souls. In the course of our nation's history, the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened. Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known as the M. T. A., is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the form of a subway fare increase.

Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you!

(Eight bar guitar, banjo introduction)

Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charley on a tragic and fateful day.
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family, went to ride on the M. T. A.
Chorus:
Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and his fate is still unlearned. (What a pity! Poor ole Charlie. Shame and scandal. He may ride forever. Just like Paul Revere.)

He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station and he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, “One more nickel.” Charlie couldn't get off of that train.

(Chorus)

Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station, crying, “What will become of me?!!

How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea or my cousin in Roxbury?”

(Chorus)

Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station every day at quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumblin’ through.

(Chorus)

Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal how the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brien! Get poor Charlie off the M. T. A.

(Chorus)

He's the man who never returned. He's the man who never returned.

That you... Charlie?

Speaking of trains, my Cowboys Third Teamers will run over... the Doll Phins Third Teamers in about two hours!

Don't know about y'all, but me and Bender are... READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!

[harrym]

I recently took the California Zephyr from S.F. to Chicago. Just felt like it. It was a wonderful 3 day ride. The food in the dining car was good. The company at table was interesting. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Price with sleeping car was about $600. Much more than flying but I just wanted to do it. One thing that struck me was just how big this country is. It makes midgets out of those idiots in Washington. It’s actually almost too big to screw up, no matter how hard they try. We should be concerned about the present situation but never afraid. We outnumber them millions to one.

[OrangeHoof]

Pimping those 19th-century solutions again, Willie?

[Siena Dreaming]

Trains are as American as apple pie and baseball

Untrue. Train travel is much more European than American. In the UK, for example, cities and towns are much closer together and train travel is convenient and widely done. The US has larger expanses which is why trains are not more popular here.

I smell a rat with all these "train" and "rail" headlines. I sense Democratic desperation behind these efforts. Wider use of trains in the US would put more people on the state and federal roles, would increase the number of people in unions, and would decimate the car industry even further.

Train travel serves to sever the family unit where car travel brings families together. This is all a socialist's dream.

[ilovesarah2012]

I love trains. Hate to fly so would love the opportunity to ride a train. My dad was an engineer and as I child I wanted to be a hobo more than anything else. Our tax dollars subsidize a lot worse.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

My niece just got back from Japan an a honor school program.

She said a single round trip ticket on the high speed rail from Tokyo to Kyoto costs over $200 US dollars.

Considering we’ll have to deal with all the union gaga & cost of maintaining, I’m sure a comprable ticket in the US for the same service will be double.

[Petruchio]

This is today's

Daily Willie Green Choo-Choo thread.

Promoting 19th Century technology for the 21st Century.

[Mjaye]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piUWIqWSthA

This is my favorite train song (City of New Orleans)!

[dr_who]

You need to get out more often.

[Wuli]

Is “Willie Green” actually an Obama admin plant who not only posts these notices here, but helps orchestrate the production of the pro-mass-transit funding articles in papers across the country? Inquiring minds want to know.

[mad_as_he$$]

Willie, seriously you need help.