It was Kelly’s “day off,” so the kids and I headed south to explore the New Hope Valley Railway’s “double-headed thunder” steam trains this weekend. For this weekend and next, the NHV has a sister steam engine to its familiar Number 17 on loan, the Flagg Coal Company Number 75. Together, they’ll be pulling the tourist trains in a double-header configuration (my kids would call it by its modern name, a “consist”).
Continue reading
Search Results for: railway
Found 19 search results for railway (this is page 1 of 2).
New Hope Valley Railway
I was hoping to talk the family into going to the New Hope Valley Railway today. It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means they’re selling rides on the track they own.
Trains run all through the day. Unfortunately, none conincide with The Kid‘s napping schedule. So we’re going to have to miss today in favor of the next one, July 4th.
Anyone else who’d like a train ride, get there by 10:00 this morning as the train leaves at 11 and is bound to be full!
How a USB drive sparked the push for Korean peace – Axios
The Korean dynamics are changing at light speed because Kim Jong-un cares far more about economics than his father ever did, per people close to advisers of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Under the hood: A source who has spoken recently with top South Korean government advisers — and who spoke anonymously to preserve their confidences — told me Moon “freaked out” last year when Trump was threatening “fire and fury” against Kim.
Moon saw last summer that the White House and Pentagon were working on military options in the event that Kim threatened the U.S.
So he went into diplomatic overdrive, using the military crisis to present Kim with economic development plans he’d long wanted to deliver.
One story that was widely reported in the South Korean press but didn’t get much attention in the U.S. is that, at their April summit, Moon gave a USB drive to Kim.
“The USB makes the case to Kim — there really is another path for you,” John Delury, an expert in North Korean affairs at Seoul’s Yonsei University, told me. He said the USB, which contained a plan for tens of billions worth of economic development in North Korea including railways and energy, sent the message to Kim: “We’re serious about working with you for what we think is your real ambition — to be a wealthy East Asian country.”
Source: How a USB drive sparked the push for Korean peace – Axios
First thoughts on Anchorage
Next stop, Anchorage!
The family and I made it into Anchorage Saturday afternoon after an 18 hour day of preparing and travel. Getting here took a long time (only slightly less than flying to London, Kelly says) but was surprisingly smooth, all things considered. Our Expedia booking put us on different airlines for each leg and the outgoing one was on United through Houston. I’ve complained before of how airlines are going out of their way to make flying as miserable as possible, squeezing every last cent out of its customers, but our flight didn’t suck as bad as I thought it might. The leg from Houston to Anchorage got us there in under 7 hours, though we weren’t treated to the spectacular views of the area that I’d been told about due to the cloud cover.
Waiting an inordinate amount of time for our baggage at the carousel gave me some time to people watch. I saw a number of bearded young men there, all in the Alaska uniform of the day: ball caps (preferably camo) with cheap sunglasses propped on top. In Raleigh, bearded young men are considered hipsters. In Anchorage, they’re rednecks. It made me wonder what it must be like to be so rigidly conformist, if these guys ever felt trapped in the routine.
Continue reading
The Baffling Economics Of The Island Of Sodor – Forbes
Having spent many nights reading Thomas the Tank Engine to the kids when they were young, I found this pretty amusing.
Being the father of a toddler, I spend a lot of time watching Thomas the Tank Engine. As a writer for a business magazine, my mind can’t help but be puzzled by how the economy of the Island of Sodor actually functions. It seems to me to be dreadfully inefficient, and for the life of me I can’t figure out how anyone on the Island turns a profit – especially the railways.
High Bridge Trail State Park
High Bridge Trail State Park
I write this from cabin 4 of Twin Lakes State Park, located near Farmville, VA. It’s Saturday evening, November 24th, 2012 around 8:49 PM. Kelly and I are here alone tonight, the kids preferring to sleep in their grandparents’ cabin a few meters away from ours. As there is no Internet access here (nor no phones), I am writing this to post later.
We’ve been here since the day after Thanksgiving, having felt the urge to go camping one more time this year but not having the guts to tough out another camping trip when temperatures dip to the mid-20s in the morning. Cabins proved to be a good compromise, with the added bonus that Twin Lakes is closer to home for we Turners (we spent Thanksgiving with Kelly’s parents in Warrenton this year).
Continue reading
Visiting the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon Railway
On Day 3 of our vacation in Sedona we took a trip to see the Grand Canyon, by way of the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, AZ. We got up early to get there as the “cowboy show” at the depot began at 9 AM and the train boarded at 9:30 AM. The twisty Hwy 89 Alternate kept us occupied as it guided us through Oak Creek Canyon, with its varied topography and beautiful views.
Grand Canyon
We made it to the Grand Canyon yesterday. Drove to Williams, AZ and hopped aboard the Grand Canyon Railway for the 65-mile trip to the park itself. Stayed about 3 hours at the Canyon and then returned again by train.
It was a great trip. I’ll blog more about it when we’re not on the way to somewhere else!
Warrenton caboose tour
While we were visiting Kelly’s parents in Virginia we decided to take a bike ride on Warrenton’s greenway path. At the start of the greenway is the Norfolk and Western Railway Caboose 518554, a restored caboose on freshly-laid track where thirty years ago freight trains once served the town. We happened to pass the caboose right as a gentleman appeared to be locking it up, so being the curious sort I asked him what he knew about the caboose.
It turns out the gentleman was Ron Scullin, one of the three main volunteers responsible for obtaining the track and caboose and restoring both to like-new condition. Ron had just finished up with tours of the caboose, which are held once a month, but hearing that we were from out of town, he graciously volunteered to provide a personal tour.
Continue reading
Car smashes into New Hope Valley train
My friend Bryan Johnson took his family for a ride on today’s excursion run of the New Hope Valley Railway and got some unexpected excitement. A station wagon smashed into the side of the train as the train approached the station.
As Bryan pointed out, the New Hope Valley is a big yellow train moving about 5 MPH across a crossing marked with bells and flashing red lights. We’re not talking about the Acela or Union Pacific Big Boy roaring out of nowhere at 80 MPH.
Check out picture one and picture two of the accident scene.
Update: 9 Jun 2009: Passenger Matt Cooley got a video of the crash. Thanks, Matt!