I am in the computer science field, so the answer is a bunch, us nd people accel in fields that interest us. Plus my personal friends and family members.
The California railroad museum is definitely one of the best in the country but if you want to see potentially the largest collection with lots of cosmetically and mechanically restored equipment, you have to check out the Illinois Railway Museum
Personally I’ve been to the California Railroad Museum (back when they were still Orange Empire), the Illinois Railway Museum, the Cumbres and Toltec and the Colorado Railroad Museum. The IRM is great anytime but especially if you come during an event weekend like Labor Day or Memorial Day because they run their mainline and trolley loop at full capacity during the holiday weekends with as many as 8 trains running at once, but they also have enough accessible equipment even on weekdays when they just run a single electric interurban to make it still worth a visit. The Colorado Railroad museum whelmed me when I was there on a weekday, but I’m sure it’s far more exciting on a weekend or event day with more going on. It’s pretty small but has pretty unique collection (including 3! of the galloping gooses) Cumbres and Toltec was definitely a worthy bucket list ride, and when I was at the California Railroad Museum I joined a tour group, had the entire group split off, so the guide took me off the beaten path and gave me a really in depth tour of literally everything he has keys to and shared a ton of neat information about a lot of the equipment (such as the interurbans that were specifically built to serve one of the college campuses. As he put it “y’know how in Wisconsin bored college kids will go cow tipping? Well here they’d go street car tipping, so they built these to be much heavier so they couldn’t be tipped and ran them exclusively at the campus”)
I’m really hoping the Colorado museum gets their wigwag fixed one of these days. Poor thing lights up but doesn’t swing, probably needs new electromagnets.
There might still be an operating wigwag signal at Devils Lake State Park. When I was last there about a decade ago it was still there and operational (and for revenue service no less!)
Otherwise the IRM has a really good collection of railroad signals. Many are actually in use on the mainline (so crews have to be familiar with even the biblically accurate railway signals along with all sorts of fun obscure variations. And if I remember correctly as you first enter and cross the streetcar loop and the steam shop/long barn sidings (long enough to store the entire Zephyr trainset on one track, as well as where quite a few cosmetically restored locomotives are stored including multiple articulated locomotives and a DDA40X) there’s a wig wag protecting the crossing
Oh, probably. And at the very least the Colorado museum also has the Delhi wigwag which does still work thankfully. The IRM has a ton of really cool crossing signals too for sure. While I’m a railfan, I’m also a total railroad crossing nerd lmao
Yes, but how does that pertain to this picture, I would need like a before and after photo to know any context for this image, thank you for sharing, though I appreciate the response response
The before map would be of the only high speed train the US currently has, and it’s the Acela Express. So, something like this.
If lots of people are consuming Tylenol in day to day life, and it causes autism, and some autistic people love trains, then the US should have a system like the map posted.
Acela trains are the fastest in the Americas, reaching 150–160 miles per hour (240–260 km/h) (qualifying as high-speed rail), but only for approximately 40 miles (64 km) of the 457-mile (735 km) route.
That has to be the slowest high-speed rail in the world. 260km/h is not even that fast and it only reaches this speed for couple minutes.
The good news is that soon there’ll be the California High Speed rail line. I’m hopeful that I can make a good long trip over there once it opens in a few years to check it out. Heck maybe I’ll move to California for a year or two? Who knows!
In short, the US has absolutely zero high-speed rail infrastructure - and barely any rail infrastructure at all compared to what it used to have and the size of the country.
This was one of many proposed high-speed rail networks from (I think) the late 2000s/early 2010s, but the fledgling train companies were largely strangled or bought up and closed by freight rail, car, and fossil fuel companies, so nothing ever happened.
The rich are also really stupid and shortsighted. The consolidation of wealth leads to populism, which leads to authoritarianism.
Have they not seen what happens when they clash with authoritarianism? They should look at Jack Ma and realize that, from a game theory perspective, if they just stand against tyrants and ease up on tax reform, they stand to preserve their power and wealth better…
Weird aside, but Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Is actually kind of base on a true story. Oil, tire, and car companies did actually conspire to dismantle Los Angeles’ then extensive street car network, and then pretty much every other major American city too.
We do, but it’s really scaled back compared to what we used to have. There are so many scars of abandoned rail lines all over major cities where they were torn out and replaced with road infrastructure. So many central train stations that are shadows of their former selves.
I don’t get it
Trains are a common special interest of people with autism.
I know two neurodivergent people that love trains, one is into models and the other trainspotting. They are correct too, trains are awesome.
How many neurodivergent people do you know though.
I am in the computer science field, so the answer is a bunch, us nd people accel in fields that interest us. Plus my personal friends and family members.
Then I must be autistic then, because I love trains and dream of having high speed rail.
It’s okay to find out new things about yourself. 🙂
for planning your next vacation after statesia does some spring cleaning.
The California railroad museum is definitely one of the best in the country but if you want to see potentially the largest collection with lots of cosmetically and mechanically restored equipment, you have to check out the Illinois Railway Museum
Of course if you’re more into narrow guage the Colorado Railroad Museum is hard to beat. Or if you just want an epic train ride, take your pick of the Durango and Silverton, the Cumbres and Toltec or the Royal Gorge Route
Personally I’ve been to the California Railroad Museum (back when they were still Orange Empire), the Illinois Railway Museum, the Cumbres and Toltec and the Colorado Railroad Museum. The IRM is great anytime but especially if you come during an event weekend like Labor Day or Memorial Day because they run their mainline and trolley loop at full capacity during the holiday weekends with as many as 8 trains running at once, but they also have enough accessible equipment even on weekdays when they just run a single electric interurban to make it still worth a visit. The Colorado Railroad museum whelmed me when I was there on a weekday, but I’m sure it’s far more exciting on a weekend or event day with more going on. It’s pretty small but has pretty unique collection (including 3! of the galloping gooses) Cumbres and Toltec was definitely a worthy bucket list ride, and when I was at the California Railroad Museum I joined a tour group, had the entire group split off, so the guide took me off the beaten path and gave me a really in depth tour of literally everything he has keys to and shared a ton of neat information about a lot of the equipment (such as the interurbans that were specifically built to serve one of the college campuses. As he put it “y’know how in Wisconsin bored college kids will go cow tipping? Well here they’d go street car tipping, so they built these to be much heavier so they couldn’t be tipped and ran them exclusively at the campus”)
I’m really hoping the Colorado museum gets their wigwag fixed one of these days. Poor thing lights up but doesn’t swing, probably needs new electromagnets.
There might still be an operating wigwag signal at Devils Lake State Park. When I was last there about a decade ago it was still there and operational (and for revenue service no less!)
Otherwise the IRM has a really good collection of railroad signals. Many are actually in use on the mainline (so crews have to be familiar with even the biblically accurate railway signals along with all sorts of fun obscure variations. And if I remember correctly as you first enter and cross the streetcar loop and the steam shop/long barn sidings (long enough to store the entire Zephyr trainset on one track, as well as where quite a few cosmetically restored locomotives are stored including multiple articulated locomotives and a DDA40X) there’s a wig wag protecting the crossing
Oh, probably. And at the very least the Colorado museum also has the Delhi wigwag which does still work thankfully. The IRM has a ton of really cool crossing signals too for sure. While I’m a railfan, I’m also a total railroad crossing nerd lmao
Yes, but how does that pertain to this picture, I would need like a before and after photo to know any context for this image, thank you for sharing, though I appreciate the response response
In two parts.
I always forget the Acela is technically a high speed rail. It would only actually be a tiny fraction of that line. Less than 10% of the line is HSR
That has to be the slowest high-speed rail in the world. 260km/h is not even that fast and it only reaches this speed for couple minutes.
The good news is that soon there’ll be the California High Speed rail line. I’m hopeful that I can make a good long trip over there once it opens in a few years to check it out. Heck maybe I’ll move to California for a year or two? Who knows!
In short, the US has absolutely zero high-speed rail infrastructure - and barely any rail infrastructure at all compared to what it used to have and the size of the country.
This was one of many proposed high-speed rail networks from (I think) the late 2000s/early 2010s, but the fledgling train companies were largely strangled or bought up and closed by freight rail, car, and fossil fuel companies, so nothing ever happened.
China will swallow up everything. This is how useless that extremist, “fuck the peasants” ideology is. It just leads to being outcompeted heavily.
The rich are also really stupid and shortsighted. The consolidation of wealth leads to populism, which leads to authoritarianism.
Have they not seen what happens when they clash with authoritarianism? They should look at Jack Ma and realize that, from a game theory perspective, if they just stand against tyrants and ease up on tax reform, they stand to preserve their power and wealth better…
OK, so it was like a real life who framed Roger rabbit situation, thank you for taking the time to explain
Weird aside, but Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Is actually kind of base on a true story. Oil, tire, and car companies did actually conspire to dismantle Los Angeles’ then extensive street car network, and then pretty much every other major American city too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
Yeah. I kind of figured as much, there is so much truth hidden fiction. It’s Astounding
We have rail infrastructure…it just happens all be mostly owned by freight rail companies
We do, but it’s really scaled back compared to what we used to have. There are so many scars of abandoned rail lines all over major cities where they were torn out and replaced with road infrastructure. So many central train stations that are shadows of their former selves.
If Tylenol caused autism, there would be a lot more support for trains in the U.S.
It’s something that happened in the meme-o-sphere and I too am left out