I really want US rails to work better. I would absolutely travel the country by train a great deal over the next decade - nothing is better for furbaby travel, and seeing the country from a train is incredible. I have only taken one big US train trip ever ("big" by young Andrew standards, so from Richmond to Minneapolis), but would absolutely do more today in a heartbeat.
I think Amtrak works ok, especially on east coast corridors. It's just slow and lots of delays. One thing I learned taking the train up to Truckee is that there is only 1 set of rails and freight lines like BNSF get priority over passenger which explains some of the delays.
Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF. I guess I know a little about those guys from reading all of Buffett's letters to shareholders, going all the way back to the BPL days of the 50s. Good reading, for what it's worth!
I took a boat through the Panama Canal. Super cool and super old Army core of Engineers shit. This little tug trains latch on to the boat on either side with cables and coax it through because its so narrow they don’t want to damage the locks or the sides. Then we got to the other side and saw the *new* Panama Canal built for these super duper (not the real name) container ships like the Evergreen one that got stuck in the Suez. It’s really expensive to go through any of these canals though so its some crazy optimization modeling to figure out which way to go depending on cargo, etc. Kind of continues one of Goatfury theme’s about how important the sea remains for civilization
We are, indeed, a seafaring species, and it's a good observation that that's a big part of what makes us who we are. If we never leapt from continent to continent, we would not have connected the world in so many ways.
I learning about the Panama canal. It's such an enormous thing to consider, and we sliced two continents in half.
I remember when Buffet bought BNSF. Ballsy move at the time when rail was seen as old tech. Looking at what Europe, Japan, China are doing with high speed rail it's a puzzle why it doesn't work in the US.
Dog or no (and boo Amtrak for not allowing Dinkles I mean wtdh?), I love taking trains and also - that's how those containers from China with all our trophies get around!
Oh yeah. Trains are so incredibly important for shipping! It's the less sexy side of transporting goods, right up there with slow moving cargo ships that get stuck in the Suez or shot at by Houthis.
Good to learn about some of the Asian places. And the differences in tech around the world. 👍
Tx for reading Paul!
Of course!
I really want US rails to work better. I would absolutely travel the country by train a great deal over the next decade - nothing is better for furbaby travel, and seeing the country from a train is incredible. I have only taken one big US train trip ever ("big" by young Andrew standards, so from Richmond to Minneapolis), but would absolutely do more today in a heartbeat.
I think Amtrak works ok, especially on east coast corridors. It's just slow and lots of delays. One thing I learned taking the train up to Truckee is that there is only 1 set of rails and freight lines like BNSF get priority over passenger which explains some of the delays.
Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF. I guess I know a little about those guys from reading all of Buffett's letters to shareholders, going all the way back to the BPL days of the 50s. Good reading, for what it's worth!
I mainly wish Amtrack allowed dogs.
I took a boat through the Panama Canal. Super cool and super old Army core of Engineers shit. This little tug trains latch on to the boat on either side with cables and coax it through because its so narrow they don’t want to damage the locks or the sides. Then we got to the other side and saw the *new* Panama Canal built for these super duper (not the real name) container ships like the Evergreen one that got stuck in the Suez. It’s really expensive to go through any of these canals though so its some crazy optimization modeling to figure out which way to go depending on cargo, etc. Kind of continues one of Goatfury theme’s about how important the sea remains for civilization
We are, indeed, a seafaring species, and it's a good observation that that's a big part of what makes us who we are. If we never leapt from continent to continent, we would not have connected the world in so many ways.
I learning about the Panama canal. It's such an enormous thing to consider, and we sliced two continents in half.
I remember when Buffet bought BNSF. Ballsy move at the time when rail was seen as old tech. Looking at what Europe, Japan, China are doing with high speed rail it's a puzzle why it doesn't work in the US.
Dog or no (and boo Amtrak for not allowing Dinkles I mean wtdh?), I love taking trains and also - that's how those containers from China with all our trophies get around!
Oh yeah. Trains are so incredibly important for shipping! It's the less sexy side of transporting goods, right up there with slow moving cargo ships that get stuck in the Suez or shot at by Houthis.