Word: railroad
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...VACATION approaches once again, the prospect of traveling home via Amtrak looms large for many students from the Northeast Corridor. The federally-sponsored and seemingly always-bankrupt railroad has a unique sort of charm. If you like crowded, eternally late trains and continually climbing ticket prices, you'll love Amtrak. Every experienced Amtrak rider has had several brushes with destiny during the long rides to school and back. the railroad comes complete with a stock of weirdos, winos, and generally pitiful people, all of whom seem hellbent on telling you their life stories or annoying you as much as possible...
...federal experts say that U.S. railroads, except for the handful that are in sound financial shape, simply cannot afford to keep their equipment properly maintained. Observed Raymond James, chief counsel and acting director of the Federal Railroad Administration's Safety Office: "The railroad system does not generate enough income to sustain itself. What gives first is maintenance, and it's getting worse." Despite a 10% increase in freight rates in 1974 and an annual expenditure of $9 billion in maintenance, the railroads since that year have reduced a backlog of $4.1 billion in needed repairs by only...
Blanton of Tennessee and Julian Carroll of Kentucky urged the Federal Government to take over the nation's 199,411 miles of roadbed and restore it to good condition. Transportation Secretary Brock Adams rejected the idea. Said he: "Such a move would produce protests from the railroads and the unions, and I personally do not favor it." But he promised to increase the number of federal track inspectors (present total: about 300) and to ask Congress to vote more financial aid for state inspection agencies. Further, Adams pledged to convene a panel of experts to devise safer ways...
Patterson smoked massive quantities of dope. Jim tells the story of the time Bob and four or five of his friends wanted to get high in the Moffat Tunnel, a six-mile-long railroad tunnel beneath the Continental Divide, its western portal across a bridge from the Winter Park lodge. They walked in about 30 yards, sat down in the middle of the tracks with a huge bong, and proceeded to get blown away. Jim, who does not smoke pot, stayed outside in the parking lot, looking at the stars, when from far down the valley he heard the forlorn...
...told police that her hand had been hurt when a trunk lid fell on it, and she could only scrawl. Oddest of all, Matlick failed for nearly two weeks to report that Mrs. Brach was missing. During that time, he says, he summoned her brother Charles Vorhees, a retired railroad worker, to the estate, where they burned two of Mrs. Brach's diaries and her psychic writings. Finally, police say, Matlick flunked two lie-detector tests when asked, "Do you know where Mrs. Brach...