Us railways. First passenger train in the United States

Trains in the United States are used by a small percentage of the population; many trains and railways in the United States are not in the best condition. Why did it happen? Because the politicians decided that all this is nonsense - to travel by trains. Cars and planes then what for?

By the way, about airplanes. I'm going to fly home in the summer, but my direct flight from Houston to Moscow has been canceled. I am now, as they say, in " active search»Sites with good deals (so that the price is up to $ 1300 round trip and at least a day's flight). So far I have found a website for air tickets aviapoisk.kz with good prices, and a couple more. Where do you buy tickets? Help, kind people, who can do anything! You can use money 😀

Now let's get back to the trains.

Amtrak is engaged in rail transportation in the United States, which carries about 30 million passengers a year (from the bottom of 11 million on the Washington-Boston line). There is also a minor company, Alaska Railroad, which operates only in Alaska.

On the Washington-Boston line, there is an Asela Express high-speed train capable of accelerating to 240 km / h, but its average speed is about 110 km / h (since there are three different sections of the railway with different voltages). This is 50 km / h less than our Russian Sapsan. Railways in the United States have been very poorly funded over the past decades.

Why are railways in the United States unpopular?

Passenger traffic is usually measured in passenger kilometers. For comparison: in Europe, passengers travel by rail more than 1000 passenger-kilometers a year, and in the USA - only 80!

Here is a map of the U.S. railways:

Railways in the United States are almost 3 times longer than Russian ones, but 80% of them have not been used since 1960.

The reasons:

1. Outside the most populated cities, the population density is low, which makes transportation unprofitable;
2. Trains are forced to be delayed because they depend on goods carried by the same trains, and passengers do not like delays;
3. Air travel in the United States is affordable and convenient, airlines are afraid of competition with high-speed trains and are lowering their prices, people travel by air 20 times more often than by train;
4. Traveling by train is more expensive and slower than driving.

Railway stations USA

Most of the stations here are small and unsightly, because were built after the 1940s (when no one cared about the development of railway transport). Those that were built before the 1940s have either already been demolished, refurbished, or abandoned. For example, an abandoned train station in Detroit:

Or in Buffalo:

And here is a functioning station in the US capital - Washington:

Types of wagons in the USA

US trains, like Russian trains, have seating and compartment cars. There are no plazkart cars here. Unlike Russian trains, passengers in seated carriages cannot walk in compartments. I think this is a plus.

The seated cars are comfortable, each passenger has their own socket. All seats are located in the direction of travel. Trains are almost 100% full of passengers.

A compartment for two people (without its own toilet and shower) is almost 3 times more expensive than ordinary sitting cars. The same compartment for four (two adults + two children) is 3 times more expensive than a compartment for two.

The more expensive compartment has its own shower, toilet and sink, as well as air conditioning. The price includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some trains provide free wifi (at low speed) and the ability to sit in a quiet car (quiet car, where it is supposed to behave accordingly).

Boarding the train

American cars are not numbered. The conductor decides which seat to seat the passenger, and either writes the seat number on the ticket, or gives the passenger a tag with his number. The conductor is usually one for two cars. And the driver often works here without assistants. People are waiting for their turn to board, just like in the USSR. 🙂

After boarding, a tag with three letters is attached above the passenger, which designates his final station. For example, for Houston it is HOS, for New York - NYP, for Los Angeles - LAX. The place here cannot be changed spontaneously.

Train schedule

Because There are very few trains, even between some million-plus cities, trains can only run twice a day. And there are directions where trains run only 3 times a week. However, trains run frequently (almost every hour) on the Washington-Boston Expressway.

How much are train tickets in the USA?

• New York - Washington (distance 365 km, 3 hours 30 minutes on the way) - from 49 $;
• Washington - Boston (distance 703 km, 7 hours 45 minutes on the way) - from 79 $;
• San Diego - Los Angeles (distance 188 km, 3 hours on the way) - from 37 $;
• San Francisco - Los Angeles (distance 615 km, 4 hours 30 minutes) - from 59 $;
• Houston - El Paso (distance 1190 km, 19 hours 30 minutes on the way) - from 82 $.

If you are a tourist, then you can buy unlimited travel passes for 15, 30 or 45 days.

Pass prices:

for 15 days - $ 459 (adult), $ 229.5 (children from 2 to 12 years old);
for 30 days: $ 689 (adult), $ 344.5 (children);
45 days: $ 899 (adult), $ 449.5 (child).

There is also an opportunity to save with Amtrak SmartFares (discounts up to 30%) every week from Tuesday to Friday.

California Pass (7 days travel in a 21-day period). The pass is limited to 4 trips each way. Travel at any time of the day is used as a whole day out of these seven. Price - $ 159 for adults, $ 79.5 for children (2-12 years old).

Railways in the USA. Development prospects

In August 2016, the US Department of Transportation allocated $ 2.45 billion to Amtrak. This money will be used to build new stations, modernize trains and railways, and run more than 20 high-speed trains (speeds up to 306 km / h), mainly in the Northeast Corridor (New York - Trenton).

May our trains be the most traveled in the world!

Oksana Bryant was with you, see you on the air!

Wow, almost a verse turned out. I guess I have talent! 🙂

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May 21st, 2017

But really, you don't immediately think about it, but passenger rail traffic in the United States is very poorly developed. Well, there is Europe, what are the distances, but in the United States it would still be decent where to go.

What happened to passenger rail traffic in the United States? The state that calls itself a world superpower and was once a real kingdom of busy steel highways, after the Second World War, in fact, deliberately destroyed the massive transportation of people by rail. The grandiose train stations built in the railroad "golden era" were mercilessly demolished, reconstructed and simply abandoned. The legendary and often fantastical-looking transcontinental trains that were part of Americana, the country's material culture for decades, were simply thrown into the dustbin of history.

Why did it happen?

It will not be an exaggeration to say that to a large extent, the United States should be thanked for its current role as a superpower precisely by rail. Passenger traffic on the country's oldest railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, opened back in May 1830, and it was an event that once and for all changed the way Americans think about their state and about themselves.

The development of steel lines went like an avalanche. Thanks to them, the products of factories, factories and farms began to be promptly delivered to ocean ports for export, bringing the United States money and prosperity to industry and agriculture. People quickly forgot about the Spartan conditions of stagecoaches and began to travel in comfort. Railways have dramatically reduced the distance in the vast country, providing unprecedented mobility of its population, and with it the path to that very American dream. The rails and the seekers of happiness who arrived along them really conquered the Wild West, it was they who made the States truly United.

Golden age

By 1916, the last peaceful year for America, the total length of the country's railways reached a fantastic 409 thousand kilometers. For comparison: in the same year, the length of all similar highways Russian Empire slightly exceeded 70 thousand kilometers. In the USSR - a real railway empire - at the peak of its development, the length of tracks, including access enterprises, was 220 thousand kilometers, and in China, which has launched a grandiose railway construction, now the network of such roads has only exceeded 120 thousand kilometers and should increase by 2050 " only "twice.

A hundred years ago, the United States, especially its eastern half, was entangled in a dense railroad web. Of course, she was far from being optimal. There were many private operators competing with each other in the country, whose railways often duplicated each other. Moreover, the rail boom gave rise to phenomenal speculations on this basis. Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan and J.Gould earned their millions on the railways, and, of course, this method of enrichment could not fail to attract swindlers and adventurers of all sizes.

From time to time, the boom turned into a bubble that burst. Uncontrolled construction for the sake of construction, bankruptcy of banks that issued loans for it, speculation in shares of railway companies were the direct reasons for the stock market crashes of 1873 and 1893, however, despite this, the American rail network continued to expand, reaching its peak before the First World War.

The railroads actually ensured the transformation of the United States into a powerful industrial power, thanks to them, hundreds of millions of acres of valuable land in the center of the country were introduced into agricultural circulation, which, in turn, ensured a decrease in the prices of food and other goods and contributed to the influx of disadvantaged immigrants from the Old Sveta. Railways were at the forefront of progress, were not just a symbol of the country, but also an important stimulus for the development of science and technology, in their office buildings were born modern methods business. Railroads made America America.

In large cities across the country, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, rail operators built grandiose stations - real palaces, equivalents of European castles, transport temples. For an ordinary citizen, visiting them became a real event. Once inside these gigantic buildings, a worker and a farmer, a newspaper peddler and a laundress, an official and a clerk, a writer and a gangster, felt their involvement in a real mystery - the beginning (or end) of the Journey. The future of American railroads seemed bright, but it was just a mirage. Clouds were already swirling on the horizon, and each of them was shaped like a Ford Model T rolled off the assembly lines of Henry Ford.

For about 70 years, until about 1920, railways remained virtually the only means of intercity communication in the United States. With the beginning of mass production of cars, the appearance of buses and the construction of the first highways, the popularity of movement on trains began to gradually decline. The process was slow and not very noticeable at first, especially since in the 1930s, American rail companies began to introduce completely new types of rolling stock and travel formats. Streamline came into fashion - art style, an offshoot of Art Deco, characterized by streamlined silhouettes, a swift aerodynamic image associated with something ultra-modern, even fantastic.

The locomotives of archaic forms were replaced by futuristic locomotives, finished with shiny polished metal and more like the first rockets. The famous trains California Zephyr, Texas Zephyr, Super Chief, Flying Yankee, Rock Island Rocket rushed along the roads of the country faster and faster, in the very names of which their main advantage was encrypted in every way - speed. Speed ​​and comfort. In addition to sleeping cars, which provided unprecedented comfort, the luxurious trains included restaurants, lounge-lounges and even special cars with panoramic glazing, allowing passengers to enjoy the surrounding nature without interrupting small talk over a cocktail. It was a triumph of industrial design, probably the highest point in the development of the country's railways and their swan song.

End of an era

During the Second World War, steel lines received the last impetus for development. Gasoline became a strategic commodity, its vacation was limited, and people again switched to trains. However, with the end of the war and the beginning of rapid economic growth in the United States, railways increasingly receded into the background. Streamline trains, by inertia, enjoyed a certain popularity for about ten years, especially over long distances, but mass traffic was steadily declining. By 1946, 45% fewer trains were operating in the States than in 1929, and then the process of the outflow of passengers only worsened. Along with the number of passengers, incomes of private railway operators fell, their debts grew, the first bankruptcies began, and the state was eliminated from subsidizing rail transportation. He has new favorites.

Traditionally in the United States, the railroad has been a private business. Its successful development was interrupted more than once by crises, but the rail tycoons, losing one or the other of their colleague, all the time scrambled out and continued to earn money on their own. The rail network was excellent, perhaps overdeveloped, and the federal government concentrated its efforts on other infrastructure projects. In 1956, the United States began large-scale construction of a system of interstate highways, the so-called "interstates" - a project that stretched out over 35 years and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. President Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied armies in Europe during World War II, was very impressed by the Nazi autobahns in Germany, and fired up the idea of ​​creating a similar expressway network in his country. In addition to defensive significance, they were supposed to provide simple and increasingly motorized Americans with the opportunity to travel quickly, safely and independently in the United States.

It was a heavy, but far from the only blow that marked the beginning of the complete defeat of passenger rail traffic in America. At the same time, civil aviation entered its new, jet, era. The federal government subsidized its development and the fundamental reduction in the cost of intra-American flights, including through the construction of airports, and not only in large, but also in medium and even small cities and settlements... The last point was very important. After a while, it turned out that literally any town in the entire vast country (or to its immediate environs) could be flown.

Born of the "free market" and earning billions of dollars from it, the private railway companies were suddenly faced with its own grin. Deprived of government support, worried about competing with each other, they were unable to keep tariffs competitive with road and air transportation. A conditional farmer in Nebraska, who earned money and wished to relax somewhere in Florida, found it simply more convenient and cheaper to get to the vacation spot by his own car along the highway or by it to get to the nearest airport and in a few hours, albeit with transfers, to be by the warm blue sea.

Railway companies found themselves in a desperate situation - with an extensive infrastructure, highways that often duplicated each other, rapidly falling passenger traffic and income, and equally rapidly growing debts. Faced with complete indifference from the state, they were forced to start cutting costs: huge train stations-palaces in city centers, in the absence of customers, became an unbearable burden, which they began to get rid of. In New York, in the 1960s, the monumental Pennsylvania Station, which occupied several blocks, was mercilessly demolished, which shocked contemporaries. The famous Grand Central in the same New York was saved only by a miracle.

Their counterparts in other large cities had different fates: some (like Union Station in Washington or Los Angeles), which still retained more or less active long-distance and suburban train traffic, continued to work as intended, others (like in Cincinnati or St. Luis) were eventually re-profiled for other functions - museum or shopping and entertainment. The giant complexes in Detroit and Buffalo were far less fortunate - they were simply abandoned.

Trains were canceled en masse, due to the infrastructure crisis, many remaining trains were running with increasing delays from inconvenient stations on the outskirts of the city, routes were closed, and with them thousands of stations. Passengers simply stopped relying on the railroad as a reliable means of getting to their destination. Rail transport was no longer associated with progress, something modern, consistent with the spirit of the space age.

He was replaced by jet aircraft and his own car, giving Americans, traditionally individualists in spirit, the desired sense of independence, and the infrastructure created by Eisenhower's plan, with interstates literally dotted with motels and eateries, provided the necessary space to realize this independence.

The final blow to private passenger rail companies came in September 1967 when the US Postal Service canceled their services. The postage fees allowed carriers to keep many of the remaining flights close to profitability, and the departure of such an important customer triggered another wave of mass liquidations of familiar routes.

In 1968, in a desperate attempt to save the country, the country's two largest surviving railroad companies - Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central - merged, but it turned out that they only united their own problems. Bankruptcy followed in 1970, but by this time the American federal government had woken up. The aviation and automotive lobby, of course, retained its influence, but even with full consideration of its interests, the Nixon administration realized that the future, and the near future, threatens the complete collapse of the country's railway system, which is fraught with unpredictable consequences. In May 1971, with the formation of Amtrak, the remnants of passenger rail traffic were effectively nationalized.

This was the finale of the American railroad dream. For a decade and a half, what was created in the previous 120 years was actually destroyed. Of the 409 thousand kilometers of tracks that existed in 1916, now only 220 thousand remain. The US rail network is still the largest in the world, but 80% of them have no passenger traffic. Amtrak now carries over 30 million passengers a year - double the number in 1972 (its first full year activity). It would seem that there is progress, but a third of this traffic comes from the small but very busy Northeast Corridor - a high-speed line between Boston and Washington through New York and Philadelphia. Another 5.6 million people travel short distances within California.

The miraculously preserved long-distance trains account for less than half of all Amtrak's passenger traffic: they are very expensive and not very convenient. Over the past 60 years, American railways have made an astonishing return journey from being a means of transportation to a luxury, popular only with tourists.

In the USA, they have become unaccustomed to the piece of iron, and again it will be very difficult to accustom the country to it. The average American will never understand a multi-day trip around the country in a compartment, much less a reserved seat, with obligatory chicken wrapped in foil, boiled eggs and a bottle of whiskey. The future of local rail transport lies only in the resumption of commuter traffic and possible high-speed lines. The high-speed railway in California, which is supposed to connect San Francisco and Silicon Valley with Los Angeles and Anaheim, is already being built, but so far its experience shows only one thing: a new China with its thousands of kilometers express roads every year in the US is not possible. The railway romance will be revived there for a long time and will be very, very expensive.

And what was it for and

Hey! Do you know when the first rail line in America was laid? And who became its discoverer? Today I will talk about American Railways. Do not think that you know everything, I will definitely surprise you.

For example, the American railway sector has always been built and developed much faster than transport in Continental Europe, which I wrote about in. Railways began their development in the 19th century.

Already at the very beginning of the 19th century, American John Stevens created a railway company, which after a while passed into the hands of the Pennsylvania Railroad and became part of it. Then in America, no one knew about the existence of both a practical and a land vehicle, so it was decided to rapidly develop the rail sector.

10 years later, in the 19th century, the first steam-powered rail cars were born. Their creation was given to builders and engineers with ease. It was much more difficult to design the locomotive. But was that enough, did the Americans want it? Where is the comfort and safe movement promised to them?

After the constant fruitless creation of locomotives, John Stephens decided to take matters into his own hands and create the first steam locomotive, and his attempts to create a steam locomotive were crowned with success. These events contributed to the rapid progress in the development of America's railways.

In 1830, the first public railway was opened. Transport was a reliable means of transportation and, moreover, became a serious competitor to shipping. And it still continues. Still, the public thought quite differently. The people believed that steam engines were the sons of the devil, and travelers would receive nothing but a “concussion”. However, the advantages of steam engines over steamers were undeniable. To prove this to themselves over and over again, people arranged competitions between the train and the steamer. The rules of the game were to go through a certain segment as soon as possible. The steamer coped with the task, and came in 3 days, while the steam locomotive covered 545.5 kilometers in just 16 hours.

Until the middle of the 19th century, America's trains did not travel long distances. For example, the drive from Philadelphia to Charleston was eight-track, meaning passengers had to beat train changes more than five times in a single trip. They did the same with the cargo. Who could stand that?

Over the course of 10 years, the length of railways has increased from 64 kilometers (40 miles) to 4.5 thousand kilometers (2755 miles). And before the start Civil War, in the 60s of the 19th century, the length increased to almost 50 thousand kilometers. At that time, railways played a special role. After all, they served as a vehicle for the transportation of weapons and various military equipment (ammunition, food), as well as the transportation of military personnel.

However, the road developed not only because of the hostilities. But also thanks to the rapid growth in the field of agriculture, there was a rapid construction of railways. All due to the fact that farmers needed a constant export of products.

At the end of the 19th century, subways in New York received particular popularity and development. After a while, trams also became popular. And soon they became the only way to get around.

From the middle of the 60s of the 19th century, the "Golden Age" in the field of American railways began. Over 50 years, the railway world has expanded to a global scale: the length of railways has increased from 50 thousand kilometers to 400 thousand kilometers.

The current state of American railways

Today the length of American roads reaches 220 thousand kilometers. It has a width of 1435 mm - this is the European norm. About 180 thousand work on the American railways. employees.

Today, American railways are not among the most demanded and popular types of land transport. It is unprofitable for the state to improve the railway sector, which is why transportation in America has been in a state of immobility for a long time. Domestic flights are in great demand, they are often much cheaper, in addition, they are considered safer and more comfortable than traveling by train. Thus, trains are left to be enjoyed by aerophobes and desperate romantics. But, nevertheless, there is a huge plus for a tourist, a person who visits the country for the first time can use the train in order to study the area and the color of the country in more detail.

The United States of North America has one of the largest rail networks of any country in the world. This network was created in conditions of fierce competition, not systematically and with a certain spontaneity. The lack of planning, which was most clearly manifested in the layout of the railway network, left its imprint on the development of certain branches of the railway economy. In the track sector, in which the process of renewal of fixed assets proceeds more slowly than, for example, in the field of the rolling stock economy, this lack of planning is most evident. First of all, it is expressed in the enormous diversity of the superstructure, in the diversity of even the fundamental dimensions of the transverse profile of the subgrade, in the large diversity of artificial structures, etc.
It is obvious that the diversity in the profiles of rails, especially of the same weight, which generates a multitype nature of switches and fasteners and introduces very serious complications in the maintenance of track facilities and in the work of metallurgical plants, was not caused either by a variety of operating conditions, or by any other practical necessity.

In terms of its technical equipment and methods of maintenance, the track of the US railways is extremely heterogeneous. Along with the use of technically backward and outdated track structures and obviously imperfect methods of their maintenance, track facilities are at a high technical level on some of the most active and profitable roads. There, not only noteworthy track designs are used, but also carefully worked out, especially from an economic point of view, methods of its repair and maintenance.
This experience is of undoubted interest, especially since in terms of load density, axle loads and type of traction, as well as the similarity of climatic conditions, the US railways are much closer to the railways of Russia than the roads of any other country.

As you know, in American practice, the maintenance of the track and structure service includes not only the railway track and artificial structures, but also all other structures and permanent devices located in the right-of-way - office and technical buildings, water supply, equipment, signaling devices, etc. etc.

Electric and diesel locomotives

The development of track facilities is always and in many respects associated with the impact on the track of rolling stock and the practice of its use, as well as with the size of transportation. Therefore, before proceeding to the consideration technical condition the American way, it is necessary to briefly highlight those operational factors, without taking into account which it is impossible to approach its correct assessment.
As is known, the most important operational factors affecting track operation include the type of traction, axial loads of locomotives and wagons, travel speeds and load intensity.
The predominant number of diesel locomotives in operation have axle loads of 28 tons.
Every year the number of diesel locomotives with loads from 29 to 30 tons increases and the fleet of diesel locomotives with axle loads of less than 25 tons is reduced. Carload loads are no less important in terms of impact on the track (Table 1).
Table 1

From table. 1, it can be seen that with the full use of the carrying capacity of the cars, their axial loads do not exceed 22 tons. The only exception is isothermal cars, in which they are equal to 23 tons, but there are only 6.2% of such cars in the total fleet.
Table 1, along with normal axle loads, the loads obtained at the maximum permissible overload of cars are shown, which in the practice of the US railways is normalized by axle strength (neck size) and is indicated on cars as their ultimate load. Maximum loads of wagons are allowed only in exceptional cases.
The weighted average axle load for the entire fleet of freight cars is 19.8 tons. The value of the most common car loads is 19-40% less than the same locomotive loads. For the operation of the track, this circumstance is very important, since at least 85% of the ton-kilometer work is generated by wagons. The axle loads of passenger cars are much lower than that of freight cars, and are in the range of 12-18 tons.
American railways have the highest speeds for both freight and passenger trains.
Axial loads and train speeds determine only the degree of influence of the rolling stock on the track. The number of these influences per unit of time depends on the load intensity.
Due to the unstable size of freight turnover on US railways, the traffic density of individual roads is also subject to some fluctuations. The traffic density of the US railways is more than three times lower than the traffic density of the Russian railways, but it is much higher than the traffic density of the railways. major countries The European Union. Freight density as one of the most important operational factors is taken into account when determining the required bearing capacity of the superstructure of the track.
According to the assessment of the Commission of Interstate Communications, investments in the track and artificial structures are distributed as follows (Table 2).
table 2

198.3 thousand permanent workers (17.6% of the total number of railway personnel) are employed in the maintenance of tracks and structures. These numbers appear to be rather low. However, it should be borne in mind that the roads in the spring and summer periods involve a significant amount of temporary labor. In addition, they often use the services of specialized firms, especially for flaw detection and destruction of vegetation on the canvas.

In connection with the crisis of the American economy and the aggravation of competition between rail and other modes of transport, a drop in the volume of transportation work of railways, and, consequently, a decrease in their profitability, the latter spend a lot of effort on finding such methods for constructing and maintaining the track, as well as mechanizing track works which would ensure its maintenance at an appropriate technical level at minimal cost. The technical measures carried out in this connection are not devoid of certain practical interest.
American Railways have made significant progress in extending the life of wooden sleepers, improving the design and quality of rails, fastenings and switches, using machines for cleaning and compacting ballast, for changing sleepers and laying rails.

Earthen bed.

The design of the subgrade of American railways has certain differences from that adopted on our network. Some of them are noteworthy. So, the minimum width of the main site of the subgrade of single-track main railways is taken as 6.10 m, and 22% of them (major highways) have a width of more than 6.70 m. During construction, the dimensions of the ballast section and the corresponding width of the main site are assigned taking into account the cargo turnover. expected in the 15th or 25th year of operation. This is because the subsequent expansion of the main site is extremely difficult and costly, and is highly disruptive to operational operations.
During construction, a margin is assigned along the width of the main site for erosion, shedding and subsidence of the soil, so that it is 1.5 m larger than the width of the ballast prism at the bottom. When filling from unstable or waterlogged soils, embankments are given a certain margin in width on top against the norm.
Much attention is paid to soil compaction during construction and the use for this purpose of numerous designs of light and heavy rollers. Dumping of soil into the embankment for the purpose of better compaction is allowed only in horizontal layers no more than 30 cm thick. Laying of waterlogged soils in the embankment is prohibited. In arid regions, on the other hand, mechanized watering of the soil by road tankers is recommended to obtain the optimum moisture content for the greatest compaction.
In the occurrence of diseases of the subgrade, the role of poor quality of earthworks and poor water drainage during construction and, especially, during operation of the line is especially emphasized. Under-compaction of soil in embankments during construction is regarded as one of the main reasons (if not the most important) of subsequent deformations.
Methods of rehabilitation and strengthening of sore spots of the roadbed are distinguished by significant features.
However, not all of them can find application on our railways. For example, the terracing of embankment slopes and excavations in order to stabilize them, which is quite widely used on US roads, is ineffective, and in many cases unacceptable. Terraces require careful maintenance and can themselves cause deformations in the event of poor or difficult drainage of water from them. Drainages with stone filling do not find application on our roads due to their rapid clogging. The lack of cement and the results of cementation of large embankments, which have not been sufficiently verified even by the authors themselves, do not allow us to recommend this measure widely in our conditions either. The high cost of soil silicatization with a limited effect when used to stabilize the slopes of embankments and excavations makes this measure, well known in Russia, unacceptable. Finally, piling or old sleepers in the form of a pile barrier, which is widely used in the United States to stabilize the top of high settling embankments, cannot be recommended in conditions of high traffic density on our roads.
When reading this section, a critical assessment of the various measures recommended in the encyclopedia is especially necessary, which in each case should be applied taking into account the specific local conditions and characteristics.

Rails.

US railways use the heaviest rails in the world, and increasing their weight is considered as the main means of strengthening the track. The laying of heavy rails is carried out not only and not so much to improve the safety of train traffic, but to reduce operating costs, especially labor costs for maintaining the track.
According to the observations carried out by AREA, the latter are highly dependent on the weight of the rails lying in the track. So, for example, according to the results of 10-year observations on the Illinois Central railway, the average annual costs on the track with 56 kg / m rails turned out to be, with other conditions being the same, higher than on the track with 65 kg / m rails in terms of labor consumption by 9.5% , by the consumption of sleepers by 22.4% and by the consumption of ballast by 23.5%.

Along with the heavy rails, there is still a large number of light rails. If the length of the first place in the given time takes the weight category from 60 to 50 kg / m, the second place is taken by rails weighing from 50 to 40 kg / m, and only the third place belongs to the weight category from 70 to 60 kg / m. A significant place (12.6%) is still occupied by rails weighing less than 40 kg / m. As for the very heavy rails, weighing more than 70 kg / m, the laying of which began at the end of the First World War, now they are on the way about 6,000 km, that is, less than 2%.
Of particular interest are the AREA recommendations given in the encyclopedia regarding the laying of rails of various weight categories, depending on the load density and speed of trains, as well as the norms of their service life.
The standard rail length of the US railways is 11.89 m, and only last year, after lengthy research by AREA, recommendations were presented to convert to double-length rails - 23.78 m. AREA will be $ 760.4 with rails weighing 57 kg / m with hardened ends and $ 640.5 with unhardened ends, and with rails of 65 kg / m, respectively, 781.3 and 665.9 dollars.
Long welded strings (continuous track) began to be tested on American railways more than a quarter of a century ago. However, with the exception of one road Atchison - Topeka and Santa Fe, which carries out the entire change of rails with new ones with welded rails, on all other roads this event has not yet left the stage of experimental study. In the encyclopedia, this extremely important and interesting event is not given the necessary attention and the information provided is very scanty.
In the section "Rails" a significant place is given to the description of various kinds of rail defects. However, the presentation of this issue is very poor in that it lacks recommendations for preventing the described defects, except for controlled cooling of rails after rolling, as a measure against the occurrence of flocs.
It cannot fail to surprise the reader that in a number of cited standards and technical specifications, some numerical values ​​of some normative data are simply missed when the book is printed, which often devalues ​​them.
Noteworthy is the practice of American railways in sorting rolled rails by carbon content and cutting numbers of rails from an ingot (head, second, etc.), as well as laying them on the road, taking into account the conditions of the forthcoming work. For example, rails with a high carbon content are laid in curved sections, the first rails from an ingot in sections with reduced travel speeds, etc. last years American specialists were guided by the modernization of existing and creation of new rail profiles.

Rail fastenings.

For a long time, the American Railways believed that the existing type of crutch attachment of rails to sleepers, which is extremely easy to manufacture and use, fully satisfies the operational requirements. In recent years, without stopping work on improving it, they began to search for new, more advanced attachment systems. Screws, spring crutches and a separate type of attachment with spring clips used on bridges, in the places where block sections adjoin turnouts, etc., are increasingly being used on American roads. In addition, rubber gaskets are increasingly being used between the sole of the rail and the lining or between the lining and the sleeper.
Unfortunately, the encyclopedia does not provide any data characterizing the performance of all these new designs.
More interesting is the chapter on butt joints, which contains a number of practically useful information not only on their design, but also on their care during operation.

Path connections.

The switch economy of the US railways is characterized by a wide variety of brands of crosspieces (13 marks - from 1/5 to 1/20 inclusive) and the use of blind intersections at various angles. This is due to the lack of unity between the numerous industrial plants producing track connection structures and between individual customer roads belonging to different companies.
A common feature of the shooters is the use of claws made of track rails of a conventional profile, which have relatively weak lateral rigidity. To reinforce them, longitudinal steel strips have to be riveted to the neck on one or both sides, and to reduce the amount of work on sharpening the foot of the wit, running on the foot of the frame rail, the wit are placed slightly higher than the frame rails (by 6 mm). At the same time, it is ensured that it is impossible to spread the frame rail during the rough movement of the band along the edge, but on the other hand, an artificial skew of the path is created within the limits of the arrow, which worsens the conditions of movement. In addition, to ensure the reliability of the translation of both wits, it is necessary to install up to seven connecting rods with long wits. Thus, this decision cannot be considered entirely successful. In the USA, the root attachment of the witches with a liner, folded bead and a spacer sleeve is the best possible for articulated points. The arrows in the USA are made without carriages and without a bent. Crutch attachment to the bars.

To increase the permissible speed of movement along the conversion curve on the US railways, the laying of symmetrical transfers of various brands is used. The flatter of the standard turnouts - mark 1/20 - allows movement along the conversion curve at a speed of up to 85 km / h. Recently, the Erie Railroad has begun to lay symmetrical 1/24 type turnouts from rails weighing about 70 kg / running. m, allowing a speed of up to 127 km / h.
In order to improve the points in the USA, they began to use curvilinear rails, trimming frame rails to cover the points of the points, several connected strips at the point of the points (to stabilize the track width in this place), rollers to facilitate the transfer of points, making frame rails and points from high-carbon steel and from heat treatment, the use of special props with wedges for clamping frame rails, etc.
It should be noted that switch props used on Russian railways with horizontal bolts passed through the neck of the frame rail better secure the switch against theft.
The predominant design of crosspieces in the USA is a prefabricated one with a manganese insert; solid and prefabricated rail crosspieces are also used. On station tracks, there are so-called self-guarded crosspieces with flanges without counter rails. Such crosspieces are inapplicable in our conditions due to the different widths of the tires for locomotive and carriage wheels.
Crosspieces with a movable guardrail are widespread in the USA (for turnouts with a rare passage of trains along a side track), as well as blunt crosspieces with moving cores (in cross turnouts and blind intersections). The latter design is very positive, since it ensures the passage of the rolling stock along a blunt crosspiece without harmful space, that is, it eliminates the danger of derailments.

Sleepers.

Due to the high costs of sleepers on the American railways, great attention is paid to increasing the service life of sleepers. In the last eight years, the annual change of sleepers did not exceed 3% of the number lying on the way. This means that the average service life of sleepers is already over 30 years. In the previous decade, the change of sleepers was on average 4.4%, that is, the average service life was at the level of 23 years. Such significant achievements in improving the service life of sleepers in one decade deserve serious attention.
More than 20 tree species are used for sleepers in the USA. The vast majority of sleepers are made of hardwood. In the post-war period, 40-47% of the total volume of laid sleepers was made from oak, from pine - 20-26%, from fir -8-10%, from larch - 3-4%, from eucalyptus - 6-8%, from various deciduous breeds (maple, birch, beech, etc.) - 6-7%.
Out of the total volume of the supplied sleepers, 78% are stacked of bar type and 22% are hewn into two edges.
The removal of sleepers from the track occurs for a variety of reasons. Their specific value in the total output varies over a very wide range. So, for example, according to AREA, the yield for rotting was 55.5%, for cracking - 16.8%, for mechanical wear in the lining area, including for a split from crutches - 20.8%, rolling stock rails - 4.2%, for natural defects - 0.2%, for breaks - 0.1% and for other reasons - 2.4%.

However, these data, depending on climatic and operating conditions, are subject to very large fluctuations. So, for example, according to the Santa Fe railway, on which 80,362 sleepers taken out of the way were examined; by the type of defects, they were distributed as follows: rotting - 3.8%, mechanical wear in the lining zone - 20.2%, longitudinal cracks (split of sleepers) - 31.5%, cracks at the end - 29.2%, fracture - 1 , 9%, damage from rolling stock derailment - 9.5%, flakes along annual rings - 3.9%.
US Railways avoid laying untreated sleepers. The percentage of laying the latter has not exceeded 1-2 for a long time. Due to the high average service life of wooden sleepers and a fairly even distribution of forest resources throughout the country, the US railways consider it economically inexpedient to use any substitutes for wooden sleepers, including the laying of reinforced concrete sleepers. Therefore, they are not covered in the encyclopedia.
In the area of ​​sleepers, the most interesting are the issues of increasing the service life of sleepers on the American railways. In addition to the manufacture of sleepers from hardwood, the most important measures aimed at solving this problem, the Americans include:
high requirements of technical conditions for the supply of sleepers, developed by AREA, and careful control over their observance by road inspectors;
exact implementation by sleepers impregnating factories of all established rules for storage and impregnation of sleepers;
impregnation of sleepers, as a rule, with highly toxic oily antiseptics;
execution of all required mechanical processing of sleepers before impregnation (drilling holes for crutches and screws, plumbing in the area of ​​pads, etc.);
preliminary tattooing of hard-to-impregnate wood species;
implementation of preventive measures to combat cracking of sleepers, consisting in driving end brackets when stacking sleepers for air drying or using waterproofing coatings for sleepers with heated bitumen or special mastics;
mandatory implementation of preventive measures to combat mechanical wear of sleepers.
These measures, in addition to increasing the weight of the rails and improving the maintenance of the track, especially the ballast layer and drainage systems, are reduced to an increase in the area of ​​the linings, the indispensable drilling of crutch holes before impregnation, the use of sheathing crutches, the laying of spacers under the rail linings and, finally, to the gluing of the rail linings to the sleepers. , excluding their vibration during the passage of trains.
Extremely great attention is paid to the careful handling of the sleepers after they have been impregnated, especially when loading into rolling stock and unloading onto the track.
In the encyclopedia, all these recommendations, which are of great practical importance, are presented very schematically and incompletely. However, this gap is partially filled by the fact that for a number of them the current standards and technical conditions are given, familiarity with which, despite the fact that they are designed for specific conditions, is certainly useful.

Ballast materials.

At this time, the route to the USA by the type of ballast is distributed as follows: crushed stone from hard rocks - 15%, crushed stone from limestone - 9%, sorted crushed gravel - 18%, open pit gravel - 11%, blast furnace slags - 14%, even if rocks (ore waste) - 7%, fuel slags - 18%, sand and other materials - 8%.
The requirements for ballast materials are usually differentiated depending on the turnover of the lines and the speed of the trains. In the manufacture of ballasts, it is possible by artificial means to achieve a more complete compliance of their properties with technical requirements. Therefore, as a rule, ballast materials in their natural form are not recommended for lines with a large cargo turnover.
Simultaneously with the use of high-quality ballast materials, American railways pay great attention to the establishment of such dimensions of the ballast prism, which ensure high and long-term stability of the track.
In this case, it is believed that the additional consumption of ballast materials pays off by savings in track maintenance costs. For mainline railways, AREA recommends that the maximum thickness of the ballast wedge under the tie is 75 cm, taking into account the pillow. On the main lines of the Pennsylvania Rail. The thickness of the crushed stone ballast is assumed to be 46 cm, and the cushion - 30 cm.The width of the shoulders of the ballast prism, on which the lateral stability of the track largely depends, is recommended to be set from 15 to 30 cm, the steepness of the slopes is taken equal to 1: 2 and 1: 25.
The American experience in the construction of a ballast prism is of certain interest for domestic railways. Of interest is the use of bituminous coating on some American railways as a means of protecting the ballast layer from pollution, which, according to the encyclopedia, also helps to reduce cracking of sleepers and their longer work without tamping.

Travel work.

US Railways use a variety of track repair and maintenance methods and have many-sided experience in organizing and mechanizing track work on crushed stone.
In the field of work organization, the ongoing process of consolidation of work departments and the use of traveling detachment brigades of about 5 people on the current maintenance of the track is of great interest. They perform the necessary minor work in the entire work department. The development of this system is facilitated by a decrease in the annual volume of work on the current maintenance of the track. The latter is caused, on the one hand, by a drop in cargo turnover and an increase in the bearing capacity of the superstructure of the track and, on the other, by the transition on many roads to periodic continuous lifting and tamping of the track.
In recent years, fully mechanized crews of about 40-50 people have begun to use fully mechanized teams of about 40-50 people for work on continuous lifting and tamping of the track, especially accompanied by changing rails, cleaning and adding ballast. Such crews perform about 2 km of continuous ascent with tamping of sleepers per shift. These mechanized brigades are subordinate to the road. With a large length of roads, on average, one such brigade is created per 2 thousand km of track. Repair teams of remote and near-city subordination in this case are eliminated.

Of particular interest are track lifting systems on crushed stone ballast, methods for cleaning crushed stone, the latest auto-rail cars, including those with devices for switching to road traffic, as well as the use of cabins trailed to cars intended for workers' housing and office premises.

Consideration should be given to the specificity of the conditions for maintaining and repairing track on US railways. For example, the low traffic density allows the use of track repair technology, designed for long-term occupation of hauls. Certain methods and techniques require a very critical approach in assessing their usefulness, for example, a method for cleaning a crushed stone prism, in which an increase in the drainage properties of ballast is achieved mainly by moving pollutants into the lower layers of the ballast prism.
On the American railways, a lot of attention is paid to the destruction of vegetation within the ballast prism, on the shoulders of the roadbed and in the right-of-way. This experience is of undoubted practical interest.
In the fight against snow drifts at large stations, snow blowers on trackless running and electric heaters on switches are widely used.
In terms of the saturation of the track facilities with machines and mechanisms, in terms of the degree of mechanization of various track works, the US railways occupy one of the first places in the world.
The most widespread use on the railways of the United States was received by vehicles, mainly motorized tires of all types, intended for transportation to the place of work of workers, track
materials and equipment, as well as for control purposes.
Huge purchases of vehicles are due to the adopted system of organizing work on the repair and maintenance of the track, based on the use of specialized teams.

A large number of machines and mechanisms are purchased for compaction, cleaning and leveling of the ballast layer.
A wide range of machines is used for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the subgrade. These include bulldozers, heavy-duty scrapers, planners, draglines, tractor-mounted shovels, spreaders, trenchers, road rollers, self-dumping platforms and others.
The introduction of mechanization made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of repair and maintenance of the track, raise labor productivity and significantly improve the quality of track work. The Commission for the Study of the Economic Efficiency of Track Mechanization on Pennsylvania and Some Other Roads found that the introduction of mechanization led to a decrease in the cost of work in relation to the manual method of performing them in the following amounts (in%):
Change of rails to 31-35
Tamping sleepers for 26-29
Loading and unloading operations at 77-117
Ballast replacement by 40-48
Drilling rails for 26-50
Unscrewing and screwing nuts 7-19
Digging ditches and ditches at 221-225
Destruction of vegetation on. ... ... 200-400

Ways to quickly release the tracks being repaired from various machines and mechanisms used in these works deserve serious attention, through the use of special designs of removable devices, special cranes for cleaning cars from the track, sprinkling earth on embankments in order to arrange platforms for placing machines, etc. The experience of mechanizing track work in the United States is so significant that even a general acquaintance with it is not devoid of significant interest.

Artificial constructions.

The construction of new man-made structures in the United States is not being carried out due to the cessation of railroad construction. However, a fairly large amount of work is being carried out there on the reconstruction, strengthening and repair of bridges and tunnels.
The lessons learned are reflected in the AREA guidelines, which are of considerable interest. These recommendations are provided in translation without significant abbreviations. Unfortunately, the encyclopedia lacks standards for the design of artificial structures.
Bridge piers on US railroads are typically made of stone, concrete, or reinforced concrete and are either solid or hollow. Prefabricated supports are used in some cases only for overpasses. Recently, more rational designs of intermediate supports for bridges made of metal and reinforced concrete cylindrical shells, bulls in the form of high grillages on reinforced concrete and metal piles have been used.
Overpasses in number and length make up about 60% of all structures; most of them are built of wood, in second place are reinforced concrete and in third place metal overpasses.
Much attention is paid to the issues of wood preservative and waterproofing of massive structures.
For the construction of flyovers and piling works, timber impregnated with antiseptics is supplied, which, as a rule, does not need further processing at the construction site. There are detailed instructions on how to antisept bolt holes and other places where the impregnated layer would have to be disturbed for some reason during construction.

The use of reinforced concrete beam spans, including prefabricated ones, is limited to spans of 18 m. There are structures with direct attachment of the track rail to a beam or slab, which is a promising solution for the conditions of Russian railways.
Prestressed spans are almost never used.
It should be noted the use of high-strength bolts for metal spans as joints, as well as the beginning introduction of aluminum alloys.
The ballast trough on metal and reinforced concrete spans is often made of wood, which, from our point of view, is irrational.
Unfortunately, the issues of organizing the current maintenance of artificial structures are not reflected, and the impact on bridges of heavy loads and high speeds of their circulation is not covered. Meanwhile, it is known that on a number of American bridges, which suffered from some design flaws, these circumstances led to the appearance of significant defects.
Pipes under railroad embankments are common on US roads. Nowadays, they often resort to their device when backfilling existing overpasses. Along with other types, corrugated iron pipes with a diameter of up to 4.5 m, as well as antiseptic wood pipes, are widely used. For the construction of pipes under the existing embankments, slots, the tunnel method, and the method of pushing pipes with jacks are used. Heads are not suitable in all cases.

In some cases, according to American experience, it turns out to be expedient to replace the existing tunnel with a deep excavation using modern powerful earth-moving tools.

Building.

This refers to locomotive and wagon depots, freight stations and their equipment, power plants and boiler houses, passenger stations, wagon scales, prefabricated railway buildings and equipment for supplying trains with ice. In addition, heating and ventilation systems, equipment for electric lighting, floor structures, platforms, gates, windows, skylights and others.

It is known that in the practice of construction of industrial, railway and residential buildings carried out in the United States, there are quite interesting solutions in relation to design standards, reducing the weight of structures, increasing their durability, rational use of materials used for the construction of buildings, and much more.

Considerable attention should be paid to equipment, location of liquid fuel supply points, pumping stations and fuel storage.
In the practice of American construction, precast concrete is used comparatively in small sizes. The necessary base for its manufacture has not yet been created there.
For the purpose of possible redevelopment of the premises of the locomotive depots during operation, some internal walls and partitions are made movable or collapsible, allowing for their relatively easy rearrangement or removal.
The workshops are heated by the device of radiant systems, consisting of heating devices (pipes, radiators) built into walls or floors, heated by steam, hot water or by air. With radiant systems built into floors, a continuous supply of warm air is provided, rising from the floor, resulting in normal temperature the working area is more stable.
For heating industrial buildings, reinforced figured glass is often used, made in the form of hollow blocks and stacked, like brickwork, in the openings instead of bindings.
Radiant heating and shaped glass are not new to Soviet builders, but American practice indicates the advisability of their wider distribution.
Transportation of goods in container semi-trailers, which are also used now in some European countries, this method of transportation of goods consists in the use of covered carriages on a tire run, called container semi-trailers. Their unloading is carried out by tractors specially designed for this purpose.
In the AREA recommendations for this section, the types of warehouses, the design requirements for them and the materials from which they should be erected, fire-fighting measures, etc. are given.
Conveyors operating under the influence of the weight of the goods transported by them are widespread.
Special requirements are imposed on the design and construction of floors, walkways, driveways, etc., so that the surfaces of the pavements on which vehicles move are level and durable.
Equipment for the mechanization of loading and unloading operations is basically the same as on the railways of Russia - forklifts, truck cranes, tractors with trailers, electric cars, etc. premises. The vertical movement of goods is carried out in the same way as ours, with the help of elevators.
The encyclopedia emphasizes that in recent years, American thermal power plants have achieved great perfection.
When designing stations, it is recommended to pay special attention to economic efficiency and structural strength. The following characteristic remarks are made: “Many people consider architecture the main indicator of culture, yet usually buildings are not built to create architecture, but for some practical purpose” or “all railway buildings are not built for decoration, but in order to use them and exploit them. "
The need to create comfort for passengers is pointed out, which does not mean architectural decoration, but the satisfaction of their practical needs.
The stations are provided with air conditioning equipment, automatic lockers and other luggage storage devices. Tickets are sold automatically using electrical equipment, which significantly speeds up passenger service. Vending machines that dispense drinks and water are of great use.
AREA's recommendations for the renovation of railway stations provide general requirements that must be taken into account when designing. Here, special attention is paid to the need to create convenience for passengers and ensure cleanliness and order.
The encyclopedia pays great attention to the economic side of the construction and operation of buildings. However, it does not provide any specific comparisons, calculated data, etc.
With regard to prefabricated buildings, it is indicated that they can be made from a wide variety of materials. However, only metal and timber prefabricated structures are mentioned. The delivery of structures is carried out by special firms and concerns with a high degree of technical readiness, in which they do not need to be completed at the assembly site, and installation, in the presence of an experienced manager, can be carried out by low-skilled workers.
The types of roofing materials and the requirements imposed on them generally do not differ from those used in Russia. Recently, in the United States, they began to produce roll roofing from inorganic artificial fibers - glass threads coated with bitumen. The mesh fabric is laid in one layer and heated bitumen is rolled onto it using a roller. The encyclopedia indicates that this type of roof can be glued to both wet and dry surfaces. This roof is of certain interest, but the data on it in the encyclopedia does not cover the entire practical side of the matter.
Much attention in the encyclopedia is paid to the issues of equipment for electric lighting. Factors influencing the design of electric lighting for railway stations, workshops, commodity yards, etc. should be considered in sufficient detail. To get acquainted with the recommendations for the maintenance and repair of lighting equipment. Some new methods of illumination, in particular due to improvements in the design of incandescent lamps by arranging reflectors in the bulb itself, etc. The norms of illumination in various rooms, which are of practical interest, are also interesting.

Devices for equipping and cleaning rolling stock.

We are talking about equipment, construction, construction and operation of outfitting facilities for diesel locomotives, storage tanks for diesel fuel, oils and water, organization of cleaning and washing of locomotives and passenger cars, construction of pipelines. A significant place is devoted to the issue of treatment of water consumed by diesel locomotives and steam locomotives. In addition, some data regarding separation and other methods of purification of oil products, sewage water and collection of oils during these operations.

Along with issues of significant interest, such as the original designs of devices for supplying diesel locomotives with diesel fuel, oil, water and sand, as well as the organization of in-line cleaning of rolling stock, chemical treatment and water treatment, pump design, a device for cleaning the inner surfaces of pipes and others, you can consider descriptions of well-known methods of equipment and devices. The latter include such issues as methods of manufacturing and construction of metal tanks, pipelines, inside the boiler water treatment, the use of mobile refuellers to supply diesel locomotives with fuel, etc.

Signaling and radio communication.

These are rules and recommendations essentially close to technical specifications for the construction, verification and maintenance of signaling devices installed by the signaling section of the Association of American Railways; they are mandatory for all US railways.
A characteristic feature of the rules and recommendations is their kind of declarativeness, expressed in the fact that certain requirements are determined by the rules, but for the most part without specific indications of measures to ensure them. These very roads are given ample opportunity to determine for themselves the methods of solving certain operational and technical problems.
More stringently regulated standards for the inspection and testing of systems. It usually provides precise instructions on the purpose, procedure and timing of inspections and inspections.
Signaling on US railways is high speed. The presence of a large number of private companies has resulted in a significant number of waveforms and types of signals. So, for example, there are semaphores with wings moving upward - semaphores in the upper quadrant and with wings moving downward - semaphores in the lower quadrant. However, it should be noted that when equipping new and renovating old signaling systems, semaphores are usually replaced by traffic lights.
The desire to convey to the driver the most accurate speed instructions, in turn, predetermined the need to create a relatively large number of signal readings. Complicating the American signaling and the fact that here in the traffic lights tried to largely repeat the night readings of the semaphore signaling. However, in devices of recent years, such signaling is no longer used.
Work on US Railways is currently ongoing to adapt signaling to high-speed traffic requirements and, in particular, to traffic on points and turnouts designed for high speeds.
High travel speeds and the resulting large braking distances lead to the need to equip self-locking systems with multi-block delimitation and multi-valued signaling. Some roads are equipped with the usual three-digit alarms on the tracks and multi-digit alarms at the approaches to the stations.
The Illinois Central Railroad, when equipping one of its sections with a four-digit auto-lock with a locomotive signaling, originally solved the issue of the fourth indication of floor signals, using a flashing yellow light for this indication. This made it possible to dispense with one searchlight head with a four-digit signaling.
It is necessary to consider the description of the modernized centralization dispatch systems used on railway lines with medium and small traffic sizes, including on lines where only 3-4 pairs of trains circulate per day. During the construction of dispatcher interlocking on such lines, one proceeds from the need to reduce the cost of dispatch interlocking as much as possible by rejecting those of its elements that can be dispensed with with little traffic. Here they refuse to install pass-through signals, equip a squeeze switch at one end of each crossing, and only the second end of each crossing is included in centralization.
Particularly effective, apparently, will be the equipment of control centers of the modified type on newly built railways, since here, with a reduced operational staff from the very beginning of the opening of traffic, the need for housing construction is correspondingly reduced.
Also briefly mentioned is the multi-channel centralization dispatch systems, which allow a large number of control and notification codes to be simultaneously passed along the same circuit.
A characteristic feature of the locomotive signaling used on US railways is the repeating nature of its signaling in relation to the readings of floor signals. Locomotive signaling is also used as an independent signaling system without floor signals, and in conjunction with floor signals. Locomotive signaling is usually equipped in combination with hitchhiking and high-speed auto-adjustment. In recent years, a number of roads have been equipped with separate sections of locomotive signaling without hitchhiking. Of particular interest are new developments in the use of locomotive signaling on the humps.
The complex of signaling devices used on the US railways also includes such devices as indicators of rolling stock devices, landslide fences installed in mountainous areas, signaling of the movement of mudflows, high water levels, signaling of monitoring the position of bridge supports and shifting of support parts. bridge supports. Recently, the overheated axlebox control alarm has begun to spread, using infrared rays transmitted by floor-standing installations. Signaling of the latter type did not have time to get its reflection in the encyclopedia. All of these alarms are usually associated with signal readings, and in some cases, appropriate instructions are also transmitted to nearby stations.
A new element in level crossing signaling is the speed-selective control of guardrails at level crossings. Here, with the help of track circuits equipped with time-delay devices, the speed of approaching trains is controlled so that the start of operation of the guarding devices is approximately the same for both low-speed and high-speed trains. There are also crossing signaling systems that start their work when the train approaches the crossing and stop it after certain time in the case of a train stopping at a crossing without crossing the latter. With the further movement of the train, the guarding devices resume their work.
Comparatively widespread in recent years on the railways of the United States began to use automation of control of hump retarders. Here, electronic calculating devices of the simulation type are usually used. With these devices, on the basis of information about the resistance of the cut to movement, its length and weight; The output speed of the cut and the degree of its deceleration by the retarder are set on the degree of filling the subhill track with cars and, accordingly, the distance and characteristics of the route.
Recommendations for increasing the limiting shunt sensitivity of rail circuits are of interest.

I have long wanted to tell you about an interesting expedition undertaken by the railways of the USA, Sergey Bolashenko, widely known in narrow circles, a fan of railway transport. My longtime readers remember that I was going to the States a couple of times, but (unfortunately) I haven’t gotten ready yet - and instead, two Chinese expeditions took place, where I traveled through the Celestial Empire on 17 different trains 27 thousand kilometers from tropical Hainan to northern Manchuria. Only here with the Tibetan highway there was a bummer.
But Sergey found enough perseverance in himself, made a visa and flew to the States for a month, where he traveled the railways from ocean to ocean using the Amtrak Rail Pass, then leaving voluminous notes about the expedition in 10 parts.

New York Long Distance Train at Miami Central Station

Inside the post, I made excerpts from his large notes - on some aspects of the railway and life in the States in general, as seen from the side of a traveler from Russia. Plus some cards from the same place. There are about one and a half thousand photographs in his notes, and it will take several days to read them, therefore I have here - just a short and very incomplete digest.

But first - very important preamble, since an unbiased consideration state of the art railways in the USA is causing a lot of shit in a certain category of commentators.

The fact is that the history of the railways of the North American United States is very dramatic and in 180 years has gone through extreme points of the state - from the largest and most advanced transport system in the world to a marginal set of passenger lines, expelled from the centers of most major cities and survived the so-called ... The Great Rail Pogrom, which lasted for fifteen years (1956-1970). So, when it comes to this and the modernity of American railways, one category of commentators, when mentioning the problems of railroad transport, falls into natural hysteria and begins to react extremely inadequately.

I mean not even our Americanophiles, but Russian and late Soviet neophytes, immigrants, Russian-speaking emigrants from the USSR and post-Soviet countries who moved to the States since the 70s. XX century and up to now. This is a separate and special category of people, which is sharply divided into two categories, approximately in a 40/60 ratio.

The first part of this category is people who are normally integrated into the American economy and do not experience psychological problems with memories of Russia or the USSR. These include, for example, my old friend jurassicparkcam , with whom we made an epic expedition in 2008 " " in the subarctic and northern regions of Norway.

The second part - immigrants who tried to perceive the new American mentality as "their new home", but never managed to say goodbye in their minds to old habits. They have a poorly hidden dislike for their former compatriots, who for some reason imperceptibly got out of the terrible ass of the Nineties and now live not at all as badly as the "new emigrants" would like (and even vice versa). Such neophytes are under pressure from a foreign language environment, and therefore they live mainly in the Russian-speaking blogosphere, leaving bilious comments there and demonstrating hysterical reactions to almost everything Russian - from "the daughter of officers in the Crimea are starving" to "you have hipsters lynched by the KGB."

The transport of the USA is no exception. Any mention of problems in it and the state of the railway knocks out some unknown phase in their heads and they immediately break into a hysterical scream in style " and you yourself, that everything is good ??? everything is bad with you, everything is dying !!! but everything is great with us, we only fly here, we only go on highways in cars and we do not need any railways! no one drives them here, except for outright assholes and the strangest types!". Moreover, when you communicate with real American railroad workers, there is no such thing, the discussion is calm and without straining. But with neophytes - just put out the light!

This is such an objective phenomenon, druzia. I already had enough of it in earlier posts, with four such neophytes for the period 2010-2013. I even had to say goodbye, and therefore - small disclaimer.

1. For adequate readers.
Everything that is quoted here is the private and subjective opinion of one of the travelers, which does not claim to be the ultimate truth. It focuses on just one part of the American transportation system, namely the railways.

2. For anxious idiots and politicized murzilki .
Everything that is quoted here is not intended to deliberately cause hysteria in you and offend your best New Homeland in the world. These are just observations of a common traveler, and should be taken calmly. If a parent starts beating you from reading this and you hit the lintel painfully, take a sedative. We sincerely sympathize with you in advance and will certainly reassure you if you start to rage.

And another important note.
Sergey is a fan of railway transport with the presence of a large dose of maximalism and a lover of extreme judgments. His favorite thing is " extreme ride with maximum economy in conditions half-starved existence". We, his colleagues in ferroequinism, have known this for a long time and are making a discount on it (however, not all - he has a lot of harsh critics, he is quarrelsome and sometimes very conflicted comrade). So, when you read his notes, accept this. No need to get excited about this, react calmly. But in his notes there are many valuable and well-aimed observations, he systematically and purposefully climbed into those numerous places in the States where fans of glamor and standard points do not go.

Third note, technical.
Comments on the author's photo in italics- mine.

* * *
Well, now - a selection of quotes from Sergei's notes :)

First - summary map its routes in the States, the railway lines traveled:

1. First impression: simplicity and provinciality!

I expected to see a "showcase of an advanced country" here - a grandiose terminal that boggles the mind. I was sure that there would be crowds of people here in a huge futuristic space filled with colorful lights and sparkling fountains. That there will be endless rows of outlets, the most modern technical achievements. This is what, for example, Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv looks like. [...]
In fact, apart from the huge queue at border control, everything here resembles a Russian provincial airport - for example, Kazan, or even Tyumen-Roshchino. Of course, in appearance and "spirit", but not in passenger traffic.

2. In America, everything is different. Much will be missing here.

There will be no kilometers, kilograms, meters or liters. The USA is almost the only country in the world that retains its own units of measurement. There will be no worldwide measurement of temperature - the Fahrenheit scale is used. For me, perhaps the most difficult thing is the lack of kilometers. The American mile is 1609 meters, it is inconvenient to calculate in your head. All road signs and stuff are just miles away.

3. First impression of NY city:

The temperature is easily subzero. There is snow in places, but less than in Moscow. Dirty and neglected. Do not compare with European civilization. At first glance, America looks like some kind of third world country! Although so far I can only see one of the districts of New York. The most amazing thing is that the atmosphere seems provincial. Meanwhile, New York - although not the capital of the United States, is sometimes called the capital of the world. It is the center of business and financial activity.

When I left the residential area, companies of black youth, often talking loudly, began to meet towards me. Their appearance did not inspire anything good. There is a lot of rubbish in the streets. Pedestrians do not comply with traffic rules, they cross regardless of traffic signals.

4. Impression of NY metro:

They often write about that. that the New York subway is dirty, neglected. In many ways, this is true. In an amicable way, a lot of work would have to be done here: remove debris from the tracks, wash and paint the stations, and improve their appearance. At some stations, reconstruction work has been carried out - but there are few such stations. At the same time, most of the metro stations are about a hundred years old. This fact is impressive and they are perceived as a historical landmark. The metro is very extensive, especially within Manhattan (central part of the city). It works well.

There is graffiti in the tunnels. But there are no extraneous drawings at the stations and on the cars. There was a time when the carriages were painted. Now they are fighting hard with this. It is not accepted to get on the subway without a ticket. Beggars walking on wagons were encountered, but much less frequently than on Moscow trains.

The composition of the metro passengers is very contrasting. There is a contingent of "homeless" kind. But there are civilized people in ties. In Moscow, there is a large percentage of those who believe that it is “not according to their status” to ride the metro and poison the city with cars. In New York, motorization is being fought more actively. Traffic jams are not noticeable here, and about a third of the available cars are yellow taxis.

People of European appearance, in my estimation, are rather a minority in the metro. Most are blacks and Asians. The same is true for the whole city. English however, prevails everywhere. In the machines for buying metro tickets, you can choose, among others, Russian. In Russian, among many others, some metro announcements are duplicated. Their presence here pleases.

2. One of the largest railway stations in the world, Penn Station (for train departures) is located in the basement of this stadium, on the right side of the street.

3. But this is how it was from 1910 to October 1963. The demolition of the legendary "Penn Station" then caused a tremendous wave of indignation, nevertheless, predatory American developers destroyed it, constructing ordinary buildings on this site. It was with this epic demolition that the regular hail movement in the States began, and after that, Grand Central was still saved.

5. Trade:

One of the many strange features of the United States that distinguish this country from the "normal" world: in almost all of the country, stores do not write the true price. It is customary to indicate it without the "sale tax". At the checkout, you have to pay more than what is written on the price tags. How much more depends on the state. According to sources known to me - from 7 to 13 percent. The tax rate may vary for different products. The tax is absent in only five states: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. They write the true price there.

6. First boarding the train:

Until recently, I did not understand whether the number of the carriage was indicated on the ticket. As a result, it turned out that no. On cars in America, only the serial number is present, but not the number of the car in this train. Unlike Russia and Western Europe, there are no route boards or route plates here.

It turned out that the standard procedure for boarding a carriage is as follows: a conductor stands at an open door, who makes a decision about which carriage and where to send the passenger. This train has one conductor for two carriages. Passengers are either given a tag with a seat number, or the seat number is written on the ticket. Then a tag with the three-letter code of his destination station is attached above the seat taken by the passenger. It is impossible to change the seat in the future, unless the carriage becomes almost empty.

4. Trains to Penn Station are underground. American railroad fans call this place the "rat catacombs" after the demolition of the old Penn Station.

7. A brief introduction to what the American rail network is

It is the largest in the world. The length of the railways is about three times longer than in Russia. About 80 percent of American railways have no passenger traffic. There is no commuter traffic at about 99 percent. Approximately half a percent of the network is electrified.

[...] The most massive destruction of passenger traffic took place in the 1960s. Then the ideology of car worship prevailed. US leaders announced that every family now has a car, so public transportation is no longer needed. This thesis is erroneous, wild and criminal, leading to a decline in the quality of life and the decline of the country. But they realized it too late.

For several years, passenger traffic has dropped dramatically. The reason is the widespread cancellation of trains. Since the 1970s, the network of passenger routes, reduced to a minimum, has kept almost the same level. There are local cancellations, but also local openings of new routes. Unfortunately, there are more closed routes than restored ones.

8. The attitude of the authorities towards the railway:

By no means always and not everywhere in the local government are progressive leaders who understand the importance of passenger rail transport and strive to restore passenger traffic. There is also a backward leadership "stuck" in the 1960s when passenger transport was destroyed.

Even the initiative of the federal authorities to restore passenger trains does not always find support at the local level. According to Y. Popov, at least three cases have been known in recent years when the federal government was ready to provide funds for the launch of passenger routes: Milwaukee - Madison in Wisconsin, Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati in Ohio, Tampa - Orlando airport in Florida. But the governors of the respective states refused to accept this funding, since their states, and not the federal government, would have to subsidize transportation in the future.

9. The first long-distance train in the program:

At Washington station, all through trains change from an electric locomotive to a diesel locomotive. The stay here is long - about 20 minutes. For the period when the locomotive is uncoupled, the main lighting and power supply to the sockets are turned off in the train. [...] I am glad that every passenger is provided with an electrical outlet.

The train was already full on departure from New York, and in Washington it was packed to 100 percent occupancy. At least sedentary. It is difficult to say how busy the "sleeping" (compartment) cars were. Passengers with tickets for the sitting carriage are not allowed to enter the sleeping carriages. [...] However, in general, American seated cars are comfortable, much more comfortable than our "interregional" ones. In addition, Americans are very quiet and calm people, so there are no extraneous noises that interfere with sleep. Later I became convinced of the correctness of the proverb "The first pancake is lumpy": all the other American trains left a pleasant impression and seemed so comfortable that I did not want to leave. On this train, for the first and last time during the entire journey, I was not at the window.

5. Arrival of the New York train at the station. Miami Central.

6. Suburban 2-storey building in Miami under a diesel locomotive.

10. Train occupancy New York - Miami.

I was hoping that after Orlando, the last major city before Miami, the train would be freer. But it was not there! An even denser crowd entered the seats of those who left in Orlando. The boarding process is strict: people stand in line, lined up in a long line. No one walks freely on the platform.

"Mercantile capitalists" not only canceled more than 90 percent of the previous number of trains that ply the vastness of America in the best years. But they also do not want to add cars to the few that still exist. Meanwhile, the population of the city of Jacksonville with its suburbs is about one and a half million inhabitants, Orlando - about the same, Miami - five million! Normally, trains would have to run on this section twenty times a day, not twice.

7. Railway crossing in the Orlando area.

11. The mentality of blacks on the train.

[...] After Jacksonville, I settled down at the window at place number 19 - although, in theory, I had no right to do so. Seat number 20, which was assigned to me in New York, in Orlando was taken by a shabby-looking Negro. He began to impose communication on me: he asked who I was and where I was from, where and why I was going, and so on. This is not typical for a white American, but blacks have a slightly different mentality.

12. Languages ​​in Miami.

The percentage of blacks in Miami, it seemed to me, is less than in New York. There is a significant number of Hispanics here who are neither white nor black. Almost the majority of Miami residents speak Spanish among themselves.

In Miami, various official inscriptions and advertising signs in Spanish are quite common, and sometimes only in it, without duplication in English. However, inscriptions in Spanish are also found in New York. Some inscriptions are also duplicated in Haitian Creole. It is a dialect of the black population of Haiti, which is based on French. Due to the fact that part of the population is of Haitian origin. IN public life predominantly English. In shops and cash desks, unfamiliar customers are addressed in English.

13. Reversal loops and triangles.

Immediately after departure from Miami, you can view the carriage depot from the windows, where double-decker cars of the Tri-Rail suburban line and Amtrak cars are served. Despite the low traffic size in comparison with Russia, the carriage depot is impressive in its size. Yet the passenger rail infrastructure in the United States is well developed and could handle much more traffic.

There is a U-turn loop near the train station in Miami, with the station at the center of the loop. Most likely, not only locomotives, but also wagons are unrolled on the loop. Both when driving from Miami and when traveling to reverse side all the seats in the carriages were located in the direction of travel. For America, this is standard: it is customary for the seats in passenger cars to be directed in such a way that the passenger sits with his face in the direction of travel. None of the 11 long-distance trains I traveled on had seats that were not in the forward direction. All locomotives have cabins pointing in one direction.

How it works is amazing for us. The reversal loop and the reversal triangle are scaled objects that require a large area. Plus a considerable amount of time and fuel consumption for movement along the loop. A loop or triangle can be found near any major Amtrak terminus.

8. On the platform of Washington-United station.

9. Inside the Everett train station.

14. Feature of US railways: there are a lot of single-level intersections of railway lines, and very few multi-level ones.

Almost every Russian or European railway junction of four or more directions has an overpass where the lines intersect. How many nodes of four or more directions do we have without different-level intersections? I remember Sonkovo, Gotnya, Roslavl (I'm not sure - if there is no overpass now, it was), Faience, Balashov, Kulunda, Yegorshino. Also Mikun - but still, two lines from this station are not completely full-fledged, but dead ends. Most likely, this is a complete list for the Russian Federation.

I have not seen the tiered line crossings at most of the Eastern US hubs. Even in such large nodes as, for example, Jacksonville, Orlando. One of the few tied junctions on the New York-Miami route I've seen north of Rocky Mount. It is combined with a bridge across the river. Other multi-level intersections are often also combined with bridges across rivers.

10. One-level (!) Intersection of the railway with the city tram network. G. Tampa, Florida.

15. The passage of the car on blind intersections, especially made at a right angle, passengers feel it clearly. Such a shake-up cannot be confused with anything. At the same time, conventional rail joints are almost invisible. The design of American cars is at a high level, there is almost no knocking of wheels characteristic of our trains.

11. "Blind" (unconnected) intersection of railway tracks. It is used mainly because the paths belong to different private companies, the networks are not uniform.

16. Marginal savings on the edge.

There are very few staff on America's railways. There are crossings everywhere, on which there are no buildings. They work automatically. Lots of access roads adjacent to the railway tracks.

The stations have extremely low track development. Only the essentials have been left behind. Engineers often work with one person. At marshalling yards, shunting diesel locomotives often do not have a driver. They are controlled remotely.

As you know, the US rail network does not have a single owner and a single governing body. There is a Federal Railroad Administration as part of the Department of Transport. But its ability to run railways is limited.

12. Pacific Passenger Line Los Angeles - Seattle. Left - Pacific Ocean, by the coast - campers of vacationers.

17. Types of stations.

There are two main types of train stations in the United States: huge, beautiful, and monumental - if they were built during the best times of passenger traffic (before the 1940s). And small primitive "boxes" that do not correspond to the scale of the city in which the station is located. The second type is railway stations built at a time when passenger traffic became minimal. Unfortunately, this type of train station prevails.

Old, luxurious in terms of architecture, train stations have been demolished somewhere, re-equipped for another use, somewhere they are in an abandoned state (Detroit, Buffalo). The operating station in the millionth Jacksonville is a building comparable, for example, to the station at Shatura station in the Moscow region.

The third type, a modern but large and beautiful train station, is rare. An example is Everett Station near Seattle.

13. Los Angeles United Station.

14. Washington Union station managed to survive in the old version, survive the Great Pogrom of 1956-70 and now pleases everyone with its architecture and power

15. Station of the small station of San Obispo, California.

18. General impression of the railroad in the USA: everything is bad.

It is sad to see to what level rail passenger traffic can be destroyed. Unfortunately, looking at the United States, one can assume that commuter trains in Russia outside the suburbs of large cities have no chance of being preserved. If here, in a rich country, there are none (except for the suburbs of the largest cities), then where is Russia, where there is less money ...

Russian railways still have "where to go." To bring Russian railways to the level of American ones, you need:
cancel 90 percent of those long-distance trains that are currently running. IN Krasnodar region(Adler, Anapa and Novorossiysk) about 30 trains arrive from other regions of the country every day - let there remain two trains Moscow - Adler and one Samara - Adler. Anapa and Novorossiysk "will manage". The Trans-Siberian Railway runs on average 10 pairs of trains per day. Let there remain one pair every day Moscow - Novosibirsk, and one pair every other day Novosibirsk - Vladivostok. We will leave one of the five trains to Vorkuta. And on all sorts of less significant lines, any kind of passenger trains are an unaffordable luxury.

We "optimize" not only passenger traffic. Why do we need so many staff? The position of a siding officer or a small station will go down in history. All small stations are automated, and station buildings, as unnecessary, are put up for sale or demolition. We drive trains in one person, and control locomotives remotely during maneuvers. We dismantle the second tracks everywhere, except for the most intense sections, and sell the rails for scrap. All lines with a small amount of movement are mercilessly dismantled! [...]

19. Washington DC and blacks.

The number of blacks in America is surprising. In Washington, according to official statistics, there are more than half of them. In appearance, in some areas - the overwhelming majority. I'm not racist, but still tense. Their appearance is usually unkind, and sometimes just aggressive. The fact that the majority of the population in the US capital is already black has made me uneasy and grim. I have nothing against blacks in Africa. But this part of the world is traditionally perceived as a "Caucasian" territory.

20. White and black.

The white population here is very quiet, "correct" and law-abiding. They are completely devoid of any emotions, do not deviate from the standard programmed behavior. The black population is sometimes "creepy" in appearance. However, there are no signs of vandalism here, with the exception of the rare "graffiti". Crime in America is low, you can walk around the cities at any time of the day.

16. The train station featured in the cult TV series Santa Barbara, California.

21. Police and their presence.

Difference from Russia in better side- there are no idiotic "frames" at the entrance to the metro, railway stations and even airports. There is no dominance of idle security guards. There is not an abundance of police on the streets - at least when compared with the south of Russia, or with places like Uzbekistan. However, the United States is a police country.

If nothing is violated, the police will not touch. It is not accepted here to stop and ask for documents for no reason. But if something is violated, their actions will be extremely harsh, much worse than ours. The US police have remote stun guns. This is a very painful special tool that we do not have.

In Russia, a police officer will not use weapons to the last, even in the most extreme situations. Here - they shoot, without much hesitation. I remembered the incident shown on our television in Washington. The police shot a black woman who disobeyed the order to stop.

17. Prison in San Obispo.

22. Replacing trains with a bus.

The Empire Builder train from Seattle to Chicago is on the first track. A survey of conductors confirmed that this was the train. But the boarding does not start, although the time before departure is critically short!

Passengers in the waiting room are perplexed. Station workers say something to them. It was difficult to understand the full meaning, but the hated word "bass" (bus) slips through. What I had feared for a long time happened. Instead of a train, passengers will be put on a bus. But why, if the train is at the platform ?! Passengers began to be pushed onto the bus. It was promised that the bus ride would not be long. Heavy reflections: where will the bus take you to? Fortunately, not very far. At 17:30 we turn sideways from the multi-lane road, and soon arrive at a large modern station building.

18. San Obispo Station on the Pacific Passenger Line. It was here that N.S. Khrushchev spoke with ordinary Americans in 1959.

23. Landing procedure.

Boarding the two-group train to New York-Boston began not in the usual twenty minutes, but ten minutes before the scheduled departure. The passengers moved slowly. First, passengers with children were ordered to go, then everyone else. Ticket control in Chicago is threefold: when entering the waiting area in front of the “gate” for boarding, when leaving it on the platform, before entering the carriage. Most passengers instead of tickets have printouts with a barcode, which is read by a scanner.

Everything here is almost as strict as on the railways of China! I have not been to China, but I know about the Chinese landing control procedure: it is almost the same as at airports. In China, the population is large, not distinguished by discipline, the passenger traffic is huge. Therefore, there is a need for tough order on the railway. Why is it here, where the passenger traffic is small, civilized people? Why is there no free access to platforms and trains, as in Russia?

19. Boarding a long-distance train at the Los Angeles United station.

20. This is how Americans travel for one and a half to two days on long-distance trains - those who did not pay very high prices for a ticket in a compartment. The reserved seat is not there

24. Manual turnout archaic on the main (!) Lines.

14:24 stopped at a double-track junction - as always in America, without staff. The exit is at mile 277. Countdown from the north side. The name of the junction is not posted anywhere. After stopping on a side track, a woman from the train crew got out of the car, wearing the "Amtrak" uniform. She shifted the hand switch so that the main path could be passed. Then she returned to the carriage. You can hear the railroad workers talking over the radio with the dispatcher or the machinist.

At 14:37, an oncoming passenger train from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles proceeded to the south at considerable speed. There is no way to deploy the locomotive. Therefore, diesel locomotives are at the head and tail of the train. We move forward for a short time, stop again - just behind the northern mouth of the siding. Another employee of the train crew got off the train - this time a man. He turned the switch to the main track, returned to the carriage. Let's go further.

21. Manual translation of switches on the main Pacific line for the long-distance passenger train LA - Seattle.

23. Remains of old America before the Great Rail Mayhem. The photo shows the world's second largest abandoned railway station in Buffalo.

Of course, what I have told you is no more than 1/30 of what the author of these notes wrote about American railways.