Rip Track

The reports of my demise, retirement, disability, or death are all in error. However, this will more than likely be Rip's last post at this blog. Why? Two reasons. First, Riptrack the blog never...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2009/10/final-thoughts-for-now-at-least.html

MOST ARE GLAD TO SEE THE NEW YEAR. But it is beginning to look like the railroad supply business won't be a whole lot better than '08. Everyone is trying to remain optimistic nonetheless. Light ...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2009/01/short-lines-not-as-long-but-just-as.html

Good planning and execution have led to the opening of an extension of the New Mexico Rail Runner operation from Bernalillo to Santa Fe! This project was a favorite of Governor Bill Richardson. ...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/12/congrats-to-new-mexico-rail-runner.html

Just got my November '08 copy of Railway Track and Structures , and was pleased to read a story about how Metrorail dealt with a Track Inspector who failed to identify poor track (scroll down to...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/11/metrorail-shows-good-thinking.html

Metrolink (SCRRA) is still having bad luck. A Metrolink Train sideswiped a freight train in Rialto, California. The story is here, at least as much as there is now. There have been recent devel...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/11/scrra-crash-today.html

Not the results you already know about, but other important results. It was a big day for many Rail Commuter and Transit Agencies last Tuesday. For the most part, voters strongly supported tax an...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/11/short-lines-not-as-long-but-just-as.html

As many predicted, the whole affair in Salt Lake City came off very well. Having noted that, most believed that the Exhibits came off better than the Sessions. The Salt Lake City Convention Cente...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/10/arema-2008-annual-conference.html

MASS TRANSIT MAGAZINE HAS A VERY GOOD REVIEW OF THE INVESTIGATION OF THE METROLINK DISASTER UP UNTIL NOW. What is the reaction of the politicians? As noted by Railway Age, it is pretty predictab...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/09/short-lines-not-as-long-but-just-as.html

This morning, our thoughts and prayers are with all of the employees and patrons, and their families, who have been devastated by the head-on collision near Chatsworth involving Metrolink. Li...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/09/metrolink-disaster.html

New ideas are good! New ideas can be good. I hope this is one of them. From time to time, there are "one liners" that occur in the railroad industry that don't warrant a full page effort, but are...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/08/short-lines-not-as-long-but-just-as.html

No argument here. In fact, no argument almost anywhere. I gave up posting links to stories about whose ridership is up. Throw a dart into a USA wallmap. No matter where the dart hits, there is a ...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/08/we-need-more-trains.html

Rip has discussed this earlier. Even so, the riders just keep on coming, especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Here's the story according to Railway Age. True enough that Rip has b...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/07/ridership-still-going-up.html

Yes, but . . . . . When the idea for the Rippers came about, it seemed logical to mention in an on-line format both the good and the bad of the Transit Agency Community. The goal was noble enoug...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/07/isnt-it-time-for-this-years-rippers.html

Progressive Railroading notes the financial success of picking up the scrap steel that litters the Right-of-Way. How many times have track workers said that getting the scrap rights to a railroa...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/07/long-island-scrap-drive-success-story.html

. . . all the workers who are putting the railroad back in order after the flooding. Progressive Railroading has an update to a story that has flown under the radar of the MSM. If this photo c...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/07/riptrack-tip-of-hat-to.html

A quick note that the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) has a link to a letter from Federal Railway Administration's Joe Boardman concerning railway worker protecti...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/07/fra-safety-concerns.html

Rail ridership is way up, WAY up, due to fuel price increases. You may not realize how much higher it is, because for what ever reason, the MSM has not covered that story. Here are some examples...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/06/you-probably-already-realize-that.html

Matt Rose, Grand Pharoah of the BNSF Railway, was quoted today in an interesting Associated Press article that ran pretty much nationwide concerning the future of railroads . Long story short, h...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/05/future-looks-good-how-about-present.html

This month marks the 139th Anniversary of the driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, Utah. Many people today easily acknowledge the significance of the occasion so many years ago, but ...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/05/last-spike.html

It looks like rail. If you hit it with a hammer, it would sound like rail. If it got up and walked, it would walk like rail. And, if it could speak, it would even talk like rail! But today, what...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/04/steel-is-not-steal.html

It doesn't add up! Class Ones are pulling down big bucks. Trains are pounding heavily used tracks into the ground. Must be that the railroads are spending big bucks this year for maintenance, r...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2008/04/record-profits-but-reduced-capital.html

Yep, I am still here, and even kicking! It has been quite some time now, and the only story I can tell is how things have been just this side of frantic. I have told several customers that the am...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-demise-has-been-greatly-exaggerated.html

Ah, July! Fireworks, baseball, barbeques, and, of course, the Annual Ripper Awards! Think of these awards as our own kind of Fireworks! Some believe that a Ripper is really a particular kind of ...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2007/07/nominees-for-07-rippers.html

The fact that I have not posted has not meant that there is no news of interest to report. For example, there is an item about the continued efforts to force the Class One Rails to scrap their Fu...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2007/06/dm-e-goes-after-private-equity.html

During the predawn hours, when the human mind hangs in that zone that is not quite dream, not quite fully aware, new thoughts often emerge. Before I fully awoke this Memorial Day morning, my new ...

http://riptrack.blogspot.com/2007/05/memorial-day-2007.html