In a message dated 3/5/05 11:49:43 AM, mrpolak@YAHOO.COM writes:

<< We buy 3 cars and whine about the demise of public transportation.  Who's
to blame?  WE are. >>

Or are we.  Anymore, we have little choice.

Years ago, I would take a train whenever I could and this was even before I
spent time in the NE Corridor.  I much preferred the train to flying for a lot
of reasons and my preference was once validated whenever a race between two
Washington Post reporters ended with the reporter traveling by train arriving at
the Post's office in Manhattan before the guy who flew.

The last time I TRIED to take a train, I had a meeting some 70 miles from
here in Pittsburgh.  The meeting was for 10:00 AM so I thought I would catch the
early train, have a cup of jo, then walk to the meeting.  On the flipside, I
would catch the eastbound train after I had dinner.  Whenever I called to book
a seat, I discovered I would have to leave the night before in order to make a
10:00 AM appointment, then I would have to stay overnight to catch a train
home.

As my cousin Bill "Choo Choo" Worthington, a division engineer for the PRR
then Amtrak, used to always say, there is no more efficient and economical way
to move people or goods than by steel wheels on steel rails.  He died beating
that same drum without anyone ever really dancing to it.

George