How did the age of rail end so quickly?
Too much competition from those personal transportation thingies powered by internal combustion engines. Oh, and apparantly you can pay to fly above the surface of the earth to your destination.
Simon: You are my beautiful sister. River: I threw up on your bed. Simon: Yep. Definitely my sister.
'War Stories'
Natter 33 1/3
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
tommyrot - Feb 26, 2005 5:46:49 pm PST #1517 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
§ ita § - Feb 26, 2005 5:49:45 pm PST #1518 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Too much competition from those personal transportation thingies powered by internal combustion engines. Oh, and apparantly you can pay to fly above the surface of the earth to your destination.
You can do that in Europe too, but people still take the train.
Crazy Americans.
Typo Boy - Feb 26, 2005 5:49:56 pm PST #1519 of 10002
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
> How did the age of rail end so quickly?
Too much competition from those personal transportation thingies powered by internal combustion engines. Oh, and apparantly you can pay to fly above the surface of the earth to your destination.
Note that in Europe and lots of places that are not the U.S. the age of rail never ended. The oil companies, the auto companies and the tire companies bought a cheap efficient rail system in the U.S., tore it down and replaced it with our current bus system. Before that happened LA had the best public transit in the U.S. - It was a great place to live without a car.
tommyrot - Feb 26, 2005 5:52:23 pm PST #1520 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Well yeah, there's that too.
Trains are fun. Long train trips are fun. Too bad Bush wants to cut all Amtrak funding.
Alibelle - Feb 26, 2005 5:54:34 pm PST #1521 of 10002
Apart from sports, "my secret favorite thing on earth is ketchup. I will put ketchup on anything. But it has to be Heinz." - my husband, Michael Vartan
You can do that in Europe too, but people still take the train.
Why? It's about a katrillion times cheaper to fly in Europe, than it is to take the train.
DavidS - Feb 26, 2005 5:55:48 pm PST #1522 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Before that happened LA had the best public transit in the U.S. - It was a great place to live without a car.
....cf., Who Killed Roger Rabbit.
Kristen - Feb 26, 2005 6:00:57 pm PST #1523 of 10002
It's about a katrillion times cheaper to fly in Europe, than it is to take the train.
But it's not nearly fun.
Lee - Feb 26, 2005 6:02:51 pm PST #1524 of 10002
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
Well, I bought the suitcases.
And a sweater.
And a dress.
Somebody stop me?
§ ita § - Feb 26, 2005 6:03:49 pm PST #1525 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
God, I love the train. Only reason while touring Morocco that we made it to the capital was because we heard it had a good train.
It's still a viable option in Canada too, economically. It was how we used to get from Montreal to New York.
I have an ER question. Why can't it just jump the shark properly, jump it in a way that doesn't leave me with two or three ships to root for, plus favourite characters? Damn them.
eta: All from Overstock, Lee?
Alibelle - Feb 26, 2005 6:05:37 pm PST #1526 of 10002
Apart from sports, "my secret favorite thing on earth is ketchup. I will put ketchup on anything. But it has to be Heinz." - my husband, Michael Vartan
But it's not nearly fun.
I'm assuming you mean as fun. In which case, I don't know. I took the train from London to Paris, and it was nifty. But it took several hours, and was crazy expensive, and it just wasn't $400 worth of cool. The planes were much quicker, much cheaper, and could be funnier if you had orange flight attendants trying to sell you J. Lo's "Glow." So, as trade offs go, I'm glad I got the train experience, but I'll probably pick flying over it in the future.