Signal Boost: Night Train to New York · 11:38pm Dec 16th, 2020
Another entry into the Not-A-Contest! Do you like trains? Do you like ponies riding on trains?
Of course you do. And you’ll love this one:
I don’t know if jz1 meant it to be when he (I assume) gave me a link to pre-read, but it is. Besides the stellar writing and Tempered Steel’s frustration at the end, it’s loaded with train facts.
Plus, it’s set in 1979, and that’s something I haven’t seen before. I’ve seen PoE stories set in the distant past, as recently as WWII, but never the late 70s. For most of y’all, that’ll be so far before your time it might as well be WWII, but some of us old-timers were around back then. [Admittedly, I don’t remember much of 1979, I probably spent at least some of that year figuring out how to walk.]
My only complaint is that ponies think New York Style pizza is the best, and they’re wrong.
Here’s a YT video of GG1s leading both a freight train and a passenger train in 1978:
I definitely didn't intend to make this an entry, but good to know it qualifies!
Also, NY pizza is best pizza - just sayin'.
Sounds awesome!
5416705
She did drive the train, and that counts as ‘a job’ in my book.
(Not to mention, Tempered Steel is working her tail off.)
5416715
True that! When she gets back to Canterlot she's going to get the mother of all massages and even then it won't get all the knots out of her muscles.
Ah trains. The best way to move large amounts of cargo or people relatively quickly and efficiently. Shame trains have gone away somewhat in the last 50 yrs or so in the USA.
I like trains.
Hey thanks for recommending this, one of the better stories I've read in a while. Ponies and trains are a surprisingly good combination.
Why would we not like ponies riding trains?
5416818
Mind, there are infrastructure costs, so it's only efficient if you plan to continue using that route for a significant amount of time.
I do, indeed, like trains! :D
Thanks for the recommendation. :)
Of course the ponies are wrong about New York pizza being the best, obviously St. Louis style pizza is the best.
5418413
You mean Detroit Style deep dish.
5416716
I wonder if one of the job benefits of working in the castle is paid spa days? Feels like it ought to be.
They probably have a staff masseuse, or several.
5416818
The freight railways are doing pretty well, and there’s still Amtrak.
Amazingly there’s still Amtrak.
5416898
derpicdn.net/img/2020/10/24/2473928/large.jpg
5416900
You’re welcome, and I concur!
They really are, and there’s not enough of it. Maybe for my next not-a-contest. . . .
5416925
I dunno, but there’s got to be one person out there who doesn’t like that.
He’s wrong of course.
5417051
Or you can just impose lower and lower speed limits on the same line without maintaining it for a surprisingly long time.
One of the shortlines near where I used to live, there was a road crossing that was so sketchy, they’d slow down to walking speed and creep across it, then throttle up once the train was clear.
When my dad was a kid, one of the Baltimore and Annapolis’ bridges was so bad, they’d have one of the train crew walk across, and once he was safely at the other side, the remaining crew member would set the locomotive throttle, jump off, and if the train made it across the bridge, he’d follow it on foot. (I suspect it was some or all of the Severn River Trestle, although I don’t know for sure.)
5417170
You’re welcome!
5420961
The fact that Amtrak is still around is kinda impressive, the rest of the railroads have mergered into the 7(?) freight railroads still running’.
5420971
I was more referring to the whole "you have to build rails in the first place" bit; cars are better without roads than trains are without rails.
5420991
Yeah, it really is, especially since it’s at the mercy of the federal government to keep going.
Probably Amtrak Joe is going to give it at least four more years of life, and maybe a bigger budget.
5421021
Yeah, that’s true. Trains generally don’t do well without tracks.