On May 4, 1:30*pm, Morris Dovey wrote:
On 5/4/2010 7:02 AM, HeyBub wrote:





Han wrote:
*wrote in
news:OJSdncaczd3ICELWnZ2dnUVZ_tKdnZ2d@earthlink. com:

to move goods and people we require a lot of oil. Then, too, we do
so because we can. Like medical care, we can afford it, so we do it.

If we had a better, more efficient rail road system, we could move
goods by rail. *Electrified, nuclear powered rail. *It's a human
choice we made to put roads in, and as so many choices, some were
right, and some were wrong.

You're correct in thinking that nothing is more efficient that steel wheels
on a steel rail. The problem is, however, that there are very few railroads
that go to WalMart, the bodega down the street, and none at all that come to
my house.

True, although at one time our cities (and larger towns) enjoyed
neighborhood rail service in the form of streetcar lines...

In fact, I'd be surprised if more than 10% of the towns in this country
actually HAVE rail service. Also, rail cars are not like the UPS truck. Each
car's contents go entirely to one destination. Then, too, the efficiency of
railroads is built on scale. It takes time to load 200 rail cars, get them
all lined up and ready to go. Several days at least. I don't want to wait
that long for my donuts.

Fair enough, but I remember Railway Express moving packages around the
country without cumbersome delays - and that was before there were
computers to help optimize loading manifests and help train masters make
up trains.

The efficiency is not simply a matter of scale - it has a lot to do with
the ability to organize and plan the movement of goods, and there was a
/lot/ of merchandise moved very efficiently in LCL (less than carload)
quantities.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USAhttp://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

Of course it could be done much better in today's world. Much more
efficient dispatch, even more efficient locomotives, many could be
replaced with electric engines. Get those damned 747 Boeing Freight
planes out of the sky and those transcontinental trucks off the roads.
They send full truckloads of stuff coast-to-coast. Those are full van
loads. None of those truckers stop along the way to drop off a parcel
to Mrs Jones. The railway does what it does best, big loads, long
distances. Leave the micro stuff alone and set up a hub & spoke system
to feed it. Just like UPS does now, except feed the hubs with trains.
That would be a start.