Re: Does NR know about this?

[markbau1@aol.comnospam (MarkBau1)]

Mr. Proctor, I don't know how you come to the conclusion that I am neccesarily
making an argument for 2 man crews. I am simply posting news from a countriy
whose railways make more money than Australian or pommy railroads could ever
dream of.

But I will respond specifically to one of your points.

<<<<EWS in England is close to making a profit - a huge turnaround since
Wisconsin bought the three British Rail companies - and Ed Burkhardt reckons
that after the 280 new locos he has on order are in operation, and the old
ones are gone, and with the projected increase in traffic, they WILL be
making a profit in 2-3 years. All of this was done with one-man crews.>>>>>>

<<EWS in England is close to making a profit>>>>>

Close only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades. Will this profit reflect the
assett depreciation that pre EWS railroads had to swallow?

And tell me, how do you compare a country that still runs turn of the century
train lengths (they still have unbraked waggons?) with trains that are over a
mile  long. You have a problem on a pommy train, no big deal. Try setting out a
bad order car on a mile long train with one man and you'll soon discover that
train lengths have everything to do with how many people are employed on that
train. Yes its easy flitting about the countryside on little mail trains but
big unit trains that make the big bucks are another story. BTW, what is the
longest trains they run in England/UK?Britain?

In your glowing assesment of EWS are you taking into account everything? Does
EWS own/maintain and pay taxes on their infastructure or are they skimming the
cream at taxpayers expense.

This whole issue is a lot more complicated than your flippant remarks suggest.

Mark



Visit my train pic website at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~markbau/