Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

thetransitguy.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 218 posts

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#111

Post by bluGill »

pizzathyme wrote: post #49
shortformblog wrote: post #39

The irony being, of course, that it is surrounded by an area where it is basically impossible to get by without a car. My wife and I once left Gatlinburg after a week there and our tire blew out on the way out of town. It was a Sunday morning. Literally our only option to get it replaced that day was a Walmart location 15 miles away. So we had to wait for AAA for an hour and a half to tell us we were stuck using a do…

Exactly, more rails would not be useful because there is lower density in the US. Denmark is 141 persons/km^2, whereas the U.S. is about 36 persons/km^2 (census data). Even if you built train lines everywhere outside urban areas, any stop you step off at would still require a 20 minute drive to get to where you are going. (Or in your case 15!)

The US is a very large country. If you limited your population density numbers east of the Mississippi and the fast west coast from California to Washington you will discover population densities very similar to parts of Europe that have great transit.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#112

Post by sandworm101 »

ethbr1 wrote: post #103
sandworm101 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it does sound like you didn't know how to repair a flat. Any hardware store and most gas stations will have either a plug kit, or some of that horrible blow-in sealant in a can. Either will get you back on the within an hour. (Fyi, if anyone reading this does ever use that sealant stuff, when you get to a proper repair shop TELL THEM about the sealant before I pop the bead and spray it all over the shop.)

Ref for anyone reading, plug kits + a DC-powered inflator should live in all your cars. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ocVkYAAaVg Turns an "omg" problem into "eh, hold my beer..." for 99% of tire punctures.

I would add a jumpstart kit and/or cables, preferably with the knowledge of how to use them safely. (Even teslas occasionally need to be jumped.) On long drives I also bring a small fire extinguisher (I take the one from my kitchen). Never had to use it but you don't need it until you do.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#113

Post by bluGill »

sarchertech wrote: post #84
jancsika wrote: post #35

In real life freight trains have the right of way in the U.S. In other words, the Dollywood Express would be a lot less fun if it spent half the day waiting while trolls unload corndogs from two-person handcars randomly distributed along the track.

Yep. My wife and I took the train from Atlanta to New Orleans once, we spent 50% of our total time waiting in multiple places for freight trains to pass. We got in 4 hours late if I recall and nearly all of that was waiting for freight trains.

The freights respond if Amtrack would keep their schedules things would work, but once a train is late they have to do extra work to find places for that train that isn't running schedule. (and one badly maintained local railroad early in the trip is enough to ensure Amtrak is always late)

I'm not sure who is right in the above, but it is important to at least consider all sides of the argument.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#114

Post by bell-cot »

WorldMaker wrote: post #91
bell-cot wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in the day, America's RR's ran their own passenger services (no Amtrak), on their own track, and generally gave right-of-way to the passengers. They got out of that business because it was losing ridership and money.

When they started getting rid of passenger service had a lot less to do with losing ridership and money and lot more that cargo contracts paid a lot more and with a lot more regularity. The "Robber Barons" get that nickname for a lot of reasons, but one of them was using public land and eminent domain tactics under the "public utility" excuse of providing passenger service for a time for an area, while negotiating fo…

I kinda doubt that the RR's - especially the long-established ones of the north-east - would have spent the vast sums on opulent passenger terminals, fast luxury trains, and high-density passenger service if passenger service was merely a legal necessity for their freight businesses.

Flip-side, I have heard that the phase-out RMS ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mail_Service ) cut the RR's passenger train revenue by about 1/3. Few business models can survive a 1/3 revenue cut.

BTW - at the high end, airplanes were at least as damaging (to passenger rail) as cars.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#115

Post by anonymars »

jonah-archive wrote: post #5

I've ridden it before, it's really fun! The two locomotives are Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikados built in 1938/9, more details here: https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Canada&... I think my favorite part is when the announcer explains the emergency stop system, and clarifies that getting a cinder in your face doesn't count as an emergency (IIRC they have safety goggles you can wear if you're concerned about it…

I love steam trains in the abstract, but was appalled at how filthy it was. My skin and clothes were covered in soot and I pulled my shirt up to my mouth to try and avoid breathing it in and coughing.

That said, Big Boy 4014 is traveling between Cheyenne and Denver next month (https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm)

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#117

Post by shortformblog »

sandworm101 wrote: post #85
shortformblog wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We know how to change a damn tire. We just couldn’t easily buy one because Gatlinburg didn’t have any garages open on Sunday morning.

But it does sound like you didn't know how to repair a flat. Any hardware store and most gas stations will have either a plug kit, or some of that horrible blow-in sealant in a can. Either will get you back on the within an hour. (Fyi, if anyone reading this does ever use that sealant stuff, when you get to a proper repair shop TELL THEM about the sealant before I pop the bead and spray it all over the shop.)

Our tire was shredded so that would not have worked.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#118

Post by hirvi74 »

cleverwebble wrote: post #71

I grew up in a town called Seymour, which is in the same county as Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. It's Dolly country. She's a hero - she's done so much for her community. Much of the money you spend at Dollywood goes to help so many public causes. One of them is the Imagination Library, which gives out free books every month from birth to 5 years of age. I was one of the first families that got to take a part in it. I cert…

Fellow native Tennessean here, as well.

Words cannot describe the love and admiration myself and the vast majority of Tennesseans have for Dolly Parton. She is the closest thing to a living Saint that many of us will ever witness.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#119

Post by ethbr1 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #112
ethbr1 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ref for anyone reading, plug kits + a DC-powered inflator should live in all your cars. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ocVkYAAaVg Turns an "omg" problem into "eh, hold my beer..." for 99% of tire punctures.

I would add a jumpstart kit and/or cables, preferably with the knowledge of how to use them safely. (Even teslas occasionally need to be jumped.) On long drives I also bring a small fire extinguisher (I take the one from my kitchen). Never had to use it but you don't need it until you do.

As my father quipped, 'It's amazing how much luckier well-prepared people are.'

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#120

Post by sarchertech »

bluGill wrote: post #113
sarchertech wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. My wife and I took the train from Atlanta to New Orleans once, we spent 50% of our total time waiting in multiple places for freight trains to pass. We got in 4 hours late if I recall and nearly all of that was waiting for freight trains.

The freights respond if Amtrack would keep their schedules things would work, but once a train is late they have to do extra work to find places for that train that isn't running schedule. (and one badly maintained local railroad early in the trip is enough to ensure Amtrak is always late) I'm not sure who is right in the above, but it is important to at least consider all sides of the argument.

Oh yeah I’m sure there’s plenty of blame to go around. But for passenger service, you really can’t have a system where being 5 minutes late compounds into an hour late because then it’s a positive feedback loop and there’s no way to recover.
Post reply on HN