fishheadbob
Platinum Member
Railroads worldwide have seen a dramatic decline in usage and number of people employed over the last 70 years. Credit that to the airplane and the interstates, and that's too bad. My father-in-law was a brakeman on a short line RR, my aunt worked for the New York Central. It became just too quick and easy for people to jump to cars and planes, while a lot of freight went to 18 wheelers.
Maybe the semis weren't such a great idea. I would love to get most of the big rigs off of the interstates and their freight back onto the rails. Give superhighways back to cars. 80,000 pounds of semi does a bad number on bridges and road surfaces, and who hasn't been white knuckled when a big rig blows past you making way too much time. This idea won't make me overly popular with many "knights of the highway". Too bad. There should be no overall loss of jobs. We still would need short haul trucks and drivers for terminal to customer delivery, lost trucking jobs would become new railroad jobs. The construction workers currently rebuilding roads and bridges all season long would switch to rebuilding tracks and bridges, and wouldn't be closing lanes during construction season, eliminating lengthy backups which we all know and despise.
Ain't going to see this in my lifetime.
Maybe the semis weren't such a great idea. I would love to get most of the big rigs off of the interstates and their freight back onto the rails. Give superhighways back to cars. 80,000 pounds of semi does a bad number on bridges and road surfaces, and who hasn't been white knuckled when a big rig blows past you making way too much time. This idea won't make me overly popular with many "knights of the highway". Too bad. There should be no overall loss of jobs. We still would need short haul trucks and drivers for terminal to customer delivery, lost trucking jobs would become new railroad jobs. The construction workers currently rebuilding roads and bridges all season long would switch to rebuilding tracks and bridges, and wouldn't be closing lanes during construction season, eliminating lengthy backups which we all know and despise.
Ain't going to see this in my lifetime.