How does NSG feel about railways?

[Farnhamia]

Just curious. I'm all for rail travel but I'd be curious to see what everyone else thinks.
Here in the U.S., everyone drives, so Amtrak closes stations, so fewer people ride. However, that might change if oil prices start rising beyond the point where cars or planes are economical, which they're supposed to in the next few decades.

*Farnhamian Guard OP Editor Squad crashes through the door*
For images of railroads, one place to visit is the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Check out to "Collections" tab. You can search for the photographers in their collections individually. Here are just two images, the first by Wallace Abbey, the second by Katherine Botkin.

[New Carthagea]

I love trains. They're relatively fast and comfortable. Not to mention much more eco-friendly than airplanes.

[Langenia]

I love railways and trains!

[Esternial]

Railways are essential, in my opinion. I enjoy driving and I'm a generally calm and jovial driver, but I know plenty of people that get stressed out or pissed off in traffic.

I'm all for offering people a more carefree commuting or traveling experience, provided the infrastructure is there to support it.

[The Blaatschapen]

I love railways, the trains always honk when I cross them from one field to another.

[Vassenor]

Train Good Car Bad.

[Major-Tom]

I like trains.

[Freiheit Reich]

I love trains, but they tend to be overpriced in many areas. Trains are more comfortable than buses and sometimes go into downtown stations. When visiting Germany however, I avoided high speed trains which I felt were a poor value just to save a relatively short amount of time. In fact, visiting Germany turned me off from trains when I realized how expensive they were vs. buses, car share, or even planes. Before going to Germany, I was jealous of Europe's rail system and thought America should improve their system. Now, I think of trains as luxury travel (except for commuter rail in some regions).

[Heloin]

Need more trains. Need more trains.

Train Good Car Bad.

[The New California Republic]

Need more trains. Need more trains.

At the very least the OP needs more substance to it as it looks thin and uninformative. More about trains would be a good start.

[Farnhamia]

Just curious. I'm all for rail travel but I'd be curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Two sentences do not an Opening Post make. Some details might be nice, a link or two to explain the not very admirable state of passenger rail travel in the US, stuff like that.

I personally love railroads. Railroad photography is one of my keen interests.

[Silver Commonwealth]

Just curious. I'm all for rail travel but I'd be curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Ohh, someone else who likes train travel? That's nice.

Anyways, yeah - I feel that railways are one of the most interesting means of transport, especially in how they connect smaller communities together. It is a darn shame that several of those lines have either been destroyed or closed down, while others are used only for freight transport. That said, I am not as interested in metros, and the small railway stations among abandoned railway lines are something that has charmed me for a long time, and I always check their wikipedia articles to see if there is a new trivia or something in them (I once even had a plan to go see some of the sections of closed railway lines). Several of those small railway stations are either partially or fully gone, while others still stand. Either way, the closure of several railway sections in my country was pretty bad for the smaller towns. (I am talking about Latvia, it might be different in other countries)

[Heloin]

Just curious. I'm all for rail travel but I'd be curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Two sentences do not an Opening Post make. Some details might be nice, a link or two to explain the not very admirable state of passenger rail travel in the US, stuff like that.

I personally love railroads. Railroad photography is one of my keen interests.

You're a real Rail Farn.

[Vassenor]

Train Good Car Bad.

Sadly I don't have a button that plays the Soviet National Anthem at full volume. Or The East Is Red.

[The New California Republic]

For anyone who might be interested I maintain a gallery of photos of British Rail rolling stock in the 1980's, photos taken by my grandfather. The collection includes photos of the following: Class 20, Class 25, Class 31, Class 37, Class 47, Class 56, Class 85, Class 86, Class 87, and Class 97.

All images are used in the galleries with the permission of the current copyright holder.

[Partybus]

I have always loved trains... bucket list? Take a train accross the country (US) my plan was "covided" but, I got a full refund, so, next time? (Still love the train)

[Cetacea]

Trains are brilliant, comfortable, fast, romantic, better for the environment, theurapeutic even

They can be pricey and unfortunately I currently live somewhere with no rail connection (the nearest is an hour away

[Dumb Ideologies]

I think they're railly important.

[Page]

So much environmental damage can be averted if we commit to building rail networks. The long term benefit will be well worth the cost.

I'm originally from the Tampa Bay area and if you don't have a car you're shit out of luck. The Tampa Bay area has the worst public transportation in America, nothing but a bus system and the busses are so bad there have been local news stories about people who could get to work in 20 minutes if they had a car but take an hour and a half taking the bus and walking to far away stops to transfer.

Building the world's greatest train network across America would be a great part of a Green New Deal. I don't know how much it will cost but I know it won't be as nearly as much as the trillions spent on the endless wars in the Middle East which we LOST. Maybe if we can make a commitment to no longer feeding the insatiable beast of the military-industrial complex, we can have cool trains instead.

[Pulsroth]

I mainly use a car due to where I work, but outside of work matters, I use trains quite a lot. My little country town has its own station, and we get hourly trains to the nearest city.

Certainly is expensive, though.

[Broader Confederate States]

IMO, diesels are boring. Which is fine, the oncoming oil crisis means they'll go the way of the penny farthing. And I don't think that electrification of the entire U.S. rail system is exactly possible due to stuff like transmission losses, so that leaves steam locomotives. Which is fine, modern-steam designs reduce maintenance by like 95% of the work and make them fuel efficient comparable to diesels, while burning more or less cleanly as possible.

[Ethel mermania]

Railroads? Its a living

[Eukaryotic Cells]

I loved the times I've traveled on Amtrak. No real delays on the routes that I've used, the trains were comfortable, and it was nice looking out the window at the landscapes.

[The New California Republic]

IMO, diesels are boring. Which is fine, the oncoming oil crisis means they'll go the way of the penny farthing.

Nope. In several countries there are ongoing projects to convert them to biodiesel, so they'll more than likely survive the decline of real diesel. Sorry.

[Ard al Islam]

I love railways. In my nation, we're building an international railroad that can take people around to every corner of the world, for free. This means anyone can just hop on a train in New York and end up in Shanghai. It is headquartered in Jerusalem. We call it the Khalifah Abdul'Hamid Railway, after the Ottoman Sultan Abdul'Hamid II, who intended to build a railway from Istanbul to Makkah to make the Hajj easier, inspiring our railroad. It was pretty genius, too. He built the railroad in a narrower gauge than European lines so that if Europe ever conquered Istanbul, they wouldn't be able to use their trains to easily invade Makkah.