A good read.

[DryCreek]

I just finished a great book that is both accurate and timely. It is titled "WAITING ON A TRAIN, The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service". The author is James McCommons, with a rather useless forward by the economics crackpot James Kunstler.

Even though the book first went to press in 2009, the authors experiences collected riding every region of Amtrak's service areas are still very current. That is what can be so aggravating. Even after that long a period, not much has changed. Granted, there have been some improvements, but for the most part, many of his grievances are still echoed in this forum today.

What I found most enlightening were the interviews with freight railroad officials and their vastly differing opinion on passenger rail service. It ranges from a complete inconvenience (UP), to a symbiotic relationship (NS), to an acceptable scheduling challenge (CSX). I think that most of the Amtrak aficionados here will enjoy this book. Especially the parts where he talks to the champions of passenger rail service and how they are making good progress in their respective areas to expand and improve existing service.

As a side note, I am about halfway through "ALL ABOARD AMTRAK, A 20 year salute to the NRPC (1971-1991)". yup, it's a used book from the wayback machine. Pretty interesting comparison of operating styles and equipment purchases from the first half of Amtrak's lifespan.

 

[crabby_appleton1950]

I see a used copy of "WAITING ON A TRAIN, The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service" in ‘good’ condition is available

on Amazon for 1¢ plus $3.99 shipping. (New is $12.40 plus shipping)
Abe Books has "ALL ABOARD AMTRAK, A 20 year salute to the NRPC (1971-1991)" new for $20 and $4.95 shipping.

(When available I buy used books)

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I read and enjoyed WAITING ON A TRAIN, although it was a few years ago.

I wanted a recent and comprehensive history of Amtrak, and seem to have found it in Frank Wilner's Amtrak: Past, Present, Future. The endnotes take up about a third of the book, so it's not a quick read, but it is very thorough, fairly recent (2012), and exactly what I was looking for. I got it in interlibrary loan, which I consider one of the best features of the library. (It's always fun to see how far away the book came from--this one came to the east coast all the way from a branch of the University of Madison in Wisconsin!)

Another favorite of mine is All Aboard by Jim Loomis, who seems able to balance optimism and constructive criticism. And I especially like how he describes the AEM 7 so loved by some of us. He doesn't call it a toaster. He says it looks like an old shoebox. (I think that's a perfect description--who doesn't love old shoeboxes, stuffed full of photos or letters or other memories?)

 

[DryCreek]

I see a used copy of "WAITING ON A TRAIN, The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service" in ‘good’ condition is available

on Amazon for 1¢ plus $3.99 shipping. (New is $12.40 plus shipping)

Abe Books has "ALL ABOARD AMTRAK, A 20 year salute to the NRPC (1971-1991)" new for $20 and $4.95 shipping.

(When available I buy used books)

Me too.

The copies I bought were also used. They came in about the same time that some other books I had ordered did:

All Aboard, Images from the Golden Age of Rail Travel (Lynn Johnson & Micheal O'Leary)

Classic American Streamliners (Mike Schafer & Joe Welsh)

Jeep Wrangle Haynes Repair Manual - 1987 - 2000 (Haynes Automotive Publications)

I've had good luck ordering used books through Amazon so far.

 

[DryCreek]

I read and enjoyed WAITING ON A TRAIN, although it was a few years ago.

Were you surprised by the overt disdain shown to passenger traffic by the UP?

Quote from the book (Page 177)

According to Hubbard, the executive snorted, "You know Griff, you just don't get it. Amtrak doesn't get it. And maybe you guys will never get it, but we just don't care - that attitude is instilled in the people running this railroad. It will take a full generation to run it out, and it may just pass on to the next generation.

"You need to understand this...if you're right to the minute on time and an butt* in every seat, we don't care. If you are nine hours late, and nobody is on the train, we don't care. If you have engine failure and are stuck, we don't care. If you bring a few million to the table in incentives, we don't care. We're a $3-billion company, it means nothing to us.

"So no matter what Amtrak does. No matter what you do, we don't care. WE DON'T CARE."

That was an eye opener for me. Fortunately not all other railroads have the same mindset! And to think that at one time the UP was a preeminent provider of upscale passenger rail service. Even the SP (later absorbed by the UP) had its heyday before the attack of the Vend-O-Mats.

*butt edited in after careful consideration of using the original wording that rhymes with ma$$.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I wasn't surprised by the disdain, but quite surprised that anyone would express it so openly.

After I finish slogging through the book I'm reading with all those endnotes , I will have to go look for this one and read it again--thanks for your review of it !

 

[andersone]

the Amazon one cent books are amazing,,,, the vendor must make their money on the shipping ,,,, I downloaded the Kindle version (my preference before used) and got through the first part yesterday in the doctor's office,,, may not get back to until my CZ trip next week,,, it is interesting and an easy read though far from the great American novel,,,,,,,, in the words of the great John Dvorak, "More, later".

 

[Ind Ben]

I am reading the Kindle version now. I also find it interesting.

 

[neroden]

Interestingly, UP's attitude seems to have improved. It may have something to do with the repeated total system meltdowns which were caused by the brain-dead idiot executives quoted in Hubbard's book; the next generation of executives may actually understand that Amtrak is the 'canary in the coal mine' for a functioning railroad.

 

[DryCreek]

Interestingly, UP's attitude seems to have improved. It may have something to do with the repeated total system meltdowns which were caused by the brain-dead idiot executives quoted in Hubbard's book; the next generation of executives may actually understand that Amtrak is the 'canary in the coal mine' for a functioning railroad.

We can only hope. But, in the railroad community, prejudices die a very slow death. I can vouch for that being that I still have some relatives currently working for BNSF.