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Why does everyone think train travel is for old people?



Sex on those sleeper cars is awesome!

*Rumble/shake/rock*

Posted - June 7, 2019

Responses


  • 6023
    Who is "everyone"?
    Even in the US, millions of people travel to work by train, every day.

    If you're talking long trips ... it's probably because most people don't have the time to take a train, instead of a plane.
    Even driving a car is faster, in many cases.
      June 7, 2019 8:10 AM MDT
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  • Everyone is Them.

    Except me.

    And maybe you, unless you're in a big hurry.
      June 7, 2019 8:46 AM MDT
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  • 10026
    I am old and I do like trains.  When I was young, I liked them, too.
     
    I'm in your small group of the few, included in the "Them" group.
    Train trips, long distance, are very romatic and fun all wraped into one!
    I am also included in the "Them" group of not having the time to take the train and flying is quicker if going long distance.  
    Split personality.  I've been working on it. ;)

    *A quick note. If you don't have a trip in your future or time to jump on a train, Fear Not!
    Plan a trip to your laundry room.

    Grab your partner and try sitting on your dryer. It can also give you that shake/rattle/and roll experience right there, in your own home.  It is rather warm, too!
    ;):)


    This post was edited by Merlin at June 17, 2019 12:49 PM MDT
      June 7, 2019 9:33 AM MDT
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  • I promise I  will use your laundry room secret only for Good - Not Evil 
      June 7, 2019 10:12 AM MDT
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  • 10026
    Huge Giggles!!  No loose lips.  They sink ships.  Only LoonLips!  They bring good and happy thoughts!!
      June 7, 2019 10:14 AM MDT
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  • 46117
    You are the least old person I have ever met.  
      June 17, 2019 12:49 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    Because no one does.  


      June 7, 2019 10:40 AM MDT
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  • And yet here you are - Making me feel 1st class special.
      June 7, 2019 12:13 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    Well, I care about you.  And I care about trains.  Isn't that special?  Ahhh chooo chooo

    This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at June 17, 2019 9:57 PM MDT
      June 17, 2019 12:50 PM MDT
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  • 17364
    I can't imagine where you got that idea. 
      June 7, 2019 9:46 PM MDT
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  • 3680
    Never heard of that notion, not here anyway. It may be an American thing.

    Answering Walt O'Reagan's point about flying being faster than by rail, I can see that true in a continental the size of the USA, but for shorter trips (no more than a few-100 miles) it can be slower. It's not just the time actually moving in the air or along the rails that counts.

    You need to think of the comparative times between start and destination and the air-port or station, and the very long booking-in times enforced by airports. There may be a sort of cross-over time where the one loses to the other.


    There are not many sleeper-train services in Britain now, but modern fast main-line passenger trains on mostly welded rails, don't give anything like the shake, rattle and roll familiar in the old days of running along bolted track, despite the speeds being a lot higher now!

     
      June 14, 2019 12:05 PM MDT
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  • 1893
    Train travel for us is convenient and cheap  if the trip is under 400km.  In France on the TGV, Austria Rail Jet, and the list goes on great distances can be  traveled in speed & comfort.  The 'Old Folks"  since we can afford it used 1st Class, 2nd Class is primarily anyone under 40 and those traveling with kids.  

    From my doorstep to Budapest, 3.5 hours driving; 3.0 hours train and I do not have to pay for parking.  The trains come evry half hour.  Prague is a wash, 5 hours driving 5 hours train due to the stop in Bratislava etc.  It is faster for us to take a plane to Spain than a train. It is faster for us to take a plane, then car to Croatia etc.  Black Sea plane.

    The trains are heavily subsidized to avoid building more Freeways on the limited landscape.  They are also a greener alternative to driving.  Our .05 alcohol tolerance also makes taking the train a no brainer, especially on heading out to the local vineyards.  Anytime of the year especially during the Fall wine festivals "Old Folks" are rarely found on the loical vineyard trains.

    Yep you do reinforce  my memories of the 4th World US, once great now falling apart with Libertarian greed
      June 17, 2019 12:41 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    I think that being old is being stuck thinking negative things about new experiences that may be exhilarating.  When I think of most train rides, I think of a temporary escape that is relaxing.  I have a good book or a window and I'm off to an adventure.  I hope.  Unless the train derails or I forgot my wallet. But that is old people thinking.  
      June 17, 2019 12:48 PM MDT
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  • 10026
    You must bring a good murder mystery to read.  Murder on the Orient Express would be a must!  Anything by Agatha Christie. :)  They are just the right length for a 2 day, 1 night train trip. :):)
      June 17, 2019 10:11 PM MDT
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  • 3680
    I made two return rail trips last year for weekends, from my home in the South of England, to destinations in the North. It was easier for me to travel via Bristol and Leeds, so the necessary changes were on the same stations (via London would have meant crossing from Waterloo to King's Cross).

    A very large proportion of the passengers on the Friday out, and Sunday return, were students; but the Friday service was also crowded with commuters around Leeds and the towns on the Leeds - Settle - Carlisle line, when I reached that area in the late afternoon.

    In fact all the trains I used (two each way for one journey, three for the other) carried people of all ages, the elderly yes but also many young people, families with young children, and so on.

    No-one in the UK thinks trains - and buses come to that - are just for "old people". Given the choice they act by convenience or preference for the particular journey; and on week-days the country's many rural and suburban railway-station car-parks are full of cars owned by commuters using the trains as a sort of extended "park and ride" system, some up to 100 miles from the city in which they work. 

    Recently I saw a big display board on a housing-estate being built in the English Midlands town of Banbury, extolling the train taking only about 3/4 hour from the local station to London (Marylebone): it's about 80 miles, and you'd never drive it in that time.

    (The UK's motorway maximum speed-limit is 70mph assuming traffic volume allows it; most of our main railway routes have long stretches cleared for speeds from 90 to 120mph.)

    Of course, you've still to reach your work-place from the station by public transport; but I think the whole door-to-door journey would still beat trying to drive from home even if your work-place has its own parking.

    I wonder if the HS2 project will really only extend London's commuter-belt to Birmingham and beyond. These extremely expensive Governmental-prestige projects  - the French TGV, Japan's "Bullet Train", the UK's planned but highly-contentious HS2 - each need special, dedicated lines of their own, each serve only a very few cities; and whilst relieving congestion on existing lines are really only useful over very long distances: I'd say 300 miles minimum.   
      June 18, 2019 1:19 AM MDT
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  • 1893
    Well said, I have always like the GW line and its service between Bristol and London.  It is also a better way to visit Wales etc
      June 18, 2019 6:35 AM MDT
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  • 3680
    Thank you!
    There has been a service between Bristol & Weymouth sine way back but I see now some of these have extended to Gloucester via Bristol (and I think Cardiff) via Bristol TM; plus others to Swindon via Chippenham.

    It's route that ought be publicised more because although some of the journeys seem to take longer, it gives a large area of the South-West easy access to Wales and most of England and Scotland without having to cross London.  

    GW is owned by First Group, who also own the London- Weymouth services; behind the coach-side names. At least First is based in the UK. A large chunk of the country's passenger, and most of its goods, services are now run by the German state (behind the DB trading-name); Italy owns some more.


    I don't know who owns HS2 but when I looked at its web-site last year I noticed none of its Directors were Chartered Engineers: Civil, Mechanical or Electrical. No-one of obvious railway-management background either. There was a Lawyer, a Finance chap, a Personnel one (I abjure that horrible " Human Resources " pretension), perhaps one or two others I forget. Important, yes, but nevertheless still only support services. However, there was also a " Director of Strategic Partnerships " whatever one of those does for whatever no doubt stratospheric salary, so that's all right then. Every company needs a D of SP. Doesn't it?
      June 18, 2019 7:04 AM MDT
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  • 1893
    I thought HS2 was primarily French investors.  My last holiday in the Sw last year GW was extending the lines high Speed to Swansea.  A dangerous place for me with its yacht basin and excellent location.  Food is better than excellent.  Our Railroads are all State owned and sub subservient to DBB.  Service is excellent however on Holidays the pups lining up for beers since they can drink on Obb at 16 is a bit wearing
      June 18, 2019 9:25 AM MDT
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  • 3680
    I would not be surprised about HS2's ownership. I think it has heavy Asian investment too. We have for decades suffered from Governments of both parties who don't want British ownership or investment in anything, and are presently supporting the international economic expansion of the People's Republic of China.

    We (UK) don't have "railroads" We have "railways" - with "railway", not "train", stations. The track, stations, signalling etc are still State-owned under the Network Rail banner but the trains are all leased from suppliers by commercial "Train Operating Companies" of highly variable quality or ability.

    The UK Government wants all trains to be electric in the next couple of decades. That is not feasible - they've not even managed to settle on a standard, economical design of the overheads, and there are thousands of miles of line not electrified.

    However, a team from the University of Birmingham and a British rolling-stock company are commencing testing a fuel-cell powered locomotive, with the next stage being to develop viable service-trains, and these won't need track electrification. Of course, whilst the exhaust from a fuel-cell is pure water, you have to supply the hydrogen and oxygen, and I don't know how that will be achieved without merely moving an environmental problem from one place to another! 




      June 20, 2019 2:30 AM MDT
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  • 1893
    Thanks for the update, I knew some however not all. 

    The PRC is a nasty group at best at worst there are adjectives.  The powers that be in Austria, Germany and points east are continually slapping down the PRC's tentacles.  Trumps response to China is not so secretly being cheered here and points East; Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.  The PRC's mercantile policies are hurting these folks and their youth.  Curb the PRc and you curb the right - Die Presse last week
      June 20, 2019 6:20 AM MDT
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  • 952
    What is for young people then? In their opinion.
      July 3, 2019 12:13 PM MDT
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