October 2007 - Posts

Fixed Rail Failure and House Sitting

Today is day one of a house sitting task that I have promised to fulfill over the next 10 days.  This house just happens to be all the way in Vancouver, far out of reach of decent transit service. What I have planned so far, which might change during Read More
posted Wednesday, October 31, 2007 9:12 PM by adron | 4 Comments
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Why the Portland Streetcar Loop is Broken

Over at VanPortlander there is an entry about the Portland Streetcar system being broken down toward the South Waterfront area.  After a few discussions I found out what the deal is.  The switch on the southern section of the loop is broken.  Read More
posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007 1:16 PM by adron | 3 Comments
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Photo Spots, Slide Shows, and Tons of North West Trains

The day started out at 5:45am for me, with the screeching of the calm hippy sounding ring tone that I have on my phone.  I don't know why it is set to the hippy sound, but it is.  I jumped up and took care of whatever I needed to, slung the Read More
posted Sunday, October 28, 2007 9:09 PM by adron | 1 Comments
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BNSF, STOP Derailing Your Trains!!

In the year and half that I've been travelling back and forth to Tacoma on my contract I just finished, BNSF has managed to derail at least 3 trains.  The recent just today.BNSF, STOP derailing yer friggin trains!!  What is the deal?  I Read More
posted Thursday, October 18, 2007 6:57 PM by adron | 0 Comments
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Amtrak's/WSDOT's Talgos Are Back!

Weeeehaaaaa!  Just as I don't have to travel northward for a long time, the nice trains return.  Darnit!  I look forward to my next trip, tilt style. Read More
posted Tuesday, October 16, 2007 9:55 PM by adron | 0 Comments
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China Starts 817 Miles of 217 MPH High Speed Rail

Construction of 817 Miles of 217 MPH track will begin before the end of the year. America will have 0 miles of 217 mile per hour track.  We won't have any 200 mph, or 180 mph, or even 151mph track.  We will have less than 20 miles of 150 mph Read More
posted Tuesday, October 16, 2007 9:51 PM by adron | 0 Comments
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ST (Sound Transit) Express #594

I had to run some errands (more like attempt to run some errands) this morning in Seattle.  I was planning to catch the #594 from Seattle to Tacoma since I would obviously be missing the #1501 Sounder.  So around 8:45am I attempted to catch Read More
posted Thursday, October 11, 2007 10:15 AM by adron | 0 Comments
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"I hope Sounder gets enough riders to keep up the service.", She Said.

As I was coming into King Street Station this afternoon on the #1510 Sounder, I overheard something that I know people think, but is always interesting anyway.  A lady stated, "I hope this new (Sounder) service gets enough riders that they can keep Read More
posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007 7:11 PM by adron | 0 Comments
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Amtrak Does 4 hr trip in 3 hrs flat!

When our train was 50 minutes late getting in and ready for departure it set up train 1007 for an ideal, minimal stop, high ball run straight to Portland.  The kicker, the Amfleet cars and clunkers form the last month or so didn't arrive, but instead Read More
posted Monday, October 08, 2007 12:03 PM by adron | 0 Comments
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Coffee and Beer Car Sounder Service!

Ok, so maybe this isn't happening yet.  But I was thinking back to stories and diagrams I had seen of two things that would be awesome amenities for Sound Transit (or any commuter rail for that matter). There where at one time, in the days of privatized Read More
posted Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:46 AM by adron | 2 Comments
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Mileage

How many miles does one get out of their car?  100,000 or maybe 200,000?  What is the current average price of a car that will get somewhere between that mileage over the course of a lifetime?  20-30k at least, last I knew the average was Read More
posted Tuesday, October 02, 2007 5:36 PM by adron | 2 Comments
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Facts about TriMet

Well, two things I noticed about Tri-Met/Trimet/TriMet is how many variations of the letters t, r, i, m, e, t they seem to have gone through.  Which is right?  I digress. I received the TriMet e-mail notification that the fact sheet was released Read More
posted Tuesday, October 02, 2007 5:12 PM by adron | 2 Comments
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Week One, Of the Last Two Weeks, Amtrak Rockin' It!

Tonight I've headed back to Seattle for two more weeks to complete the roll off process on my current contract.  Again I rode Cascades #1008, which made excellent time, and without doubt will be missed.  Sort of, with the return of Cascades Read More
posted Monday, October 01, 2007 11:24 PM by adron | 0 Comments
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