Trains Are A Big Deal

I was surprised to find the degree to which trains shuttle between the US and Mexico and Canada.  Here is a news report on a Department of Homeland Security request for information on detecting nuclear materials passing back and forth across the US border.

The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office within DHS is gathering information from companies and other organizations about their ability to detect radiological and nuclear materials being carried on approximately 120 freight trains—containing about 4,800 rail cars—that travel into and out of the United States each day, through rail ports of entry at the Mexican and Canadian borders.

That is a lot of trains and a lot of freight.  Trains continue to be a major part of our transportation infrastructure and part of the reason is their energy efficiency.  This, in turn makes then "environmentally friendly", at least relatively.

And, then there is the romance of the rails.  Trains are just neat to watch as they go hurtling along, or even creeping along.  And, I wonder how many people have been connected to railroads. I have a Great-Grandfather who was a conductor. My wife, Martha, worked for a firm of lawyers for several railroad worker unions (including the Brotherhood of the Maintenance of the Way♠) and her grandfather was an engineer on the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern (EJ and E) Railroad.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Which always strikes me as more like the name of a monastic group.