Chicago-St. Louis trains begin 110-mph running
Starting today, Amtrak’s Lincoln Service trains will begin operating at 110-mph maximum speeds over Union Pacific’s former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio speedway between Laraway Road, south of Joliet, Ill., and the Alton, Ill., Amtrak station.
I don't use Amtrak nearly as much as I probably should, but this is exciting news that may lead to taking more trips to Chicago.
It's a step in the right direction. This is the only place in our network I'm aware of that we've upgraded to "high-speed", and it took a while.
Pretty sure we contributed to your spend on this line.
Appropriate use of quotes there.
If a certain former governor hadn’t thwarted a federally-funded HSR corridor through the state, I could be riding to & from a conference in Chicago this September. Instead, the state can pay me & my colleagues mileage.
I'm still steamed about that. Rail to MSP might have been a viable option for our visits.
yeah, they had Chicago as a (relatively) high-speed hub, and as far as I know the StL-Chi was the only piece that got developed. It requires updates like grade crossing mitigation, high speed curves, signaling modifications, as well as going to Siemens Charger higher-HP locomotives. There will still be rail traffic to deal with, but higher speeds should reduce that, too.
It would make my visits to Minnesota a lot easier without having a 5 hour drive.
And it would’ve made quick visits to, uh. greener pastures more convenient.
We're on the verge of reform, the bills are in conference committee and the governor has pen in hand, but as I understand it legal sales won't likely begin until next year. But by the end of summer limited possession should be legal and criminal records will start getting expunged. I believe the home-grow provision may also go into effect this year. I guess the black market will have to pick up the commercial slack until licenses are issued and legal sales begin. I was in a tobacco shop a few weeks ago looking for a certain cigar and the owner already has most of his display cases stocked with glass and all other manner of paraphernalia. On a side note, last week my wife and I got robo-texts telling us we should call our state senator to oppose the bill because only BIPOC-owned businesses would be allowed to get licenses. The sender may have been misinforming.
Rollout in Connecticut was slow. It took maybe 18 months for businesses to open. There should be another opening close by but nothing yet.
If it ever happens here, it'll be quick to market because a whole bunch of stores opened up the past couple years selling CBD and Delta-8, including in my town of 3800 or so people. I still grabbed some gummies at the smoke shop in Northfield yesterday, though, even though I am taking a break in case I get offered a job at Generac and they do a pee test.
We went to the Poissonnière’s favorite townie bar* for burgers after her little league game last night. This is the current beer list:
* Yes, my kid has informed opinions about bars. Right now, they mainly revolve around burger & fry quality, interior volume, and jukebox selection.
Having lived very close to the original Ale Asylum location, it will never not be funny that Karben 4 bought their IP.
Yeah, that was a pretty amusing development. I do wish another local brewery was able to take on the now-former Ale Asylum location by the airport, but it sounds like it’ll be turned into an indoor volleyball court or something trendy for the Epic crowd.
I was disappointed when the dairy on the isthmus (just east of Breese Stevens) shut down. It was pretty cool to have that kind of work happening right in the middle of the capital. Perhaps not the best land use for that are, but I like local dairies and I like people getting to see where the things they use come from instead of them being abstracted away. I like MG&E being right downtown for the same reason; it’s a good reminder to conserve.
I'm still trying to decide if I should go to the game or not today. I've got about an hour to decide. On the one hand, Twins game! On the other, Assbats® and getting swept by the Bitch Sox.
Oh, I suppose another plus is I can sit behind the dugout for about $7.
This is the May.
Okay, then, here’s a fun bit of 5/4 trivia:
What did Prince, Paul McCartney, Dave Brubeck, & Irving Berlin all have in common?
None of them have been in my kitchen.
Nailed it, Cliff!
did they all do a cover of the same song?
They may have (presumably some standard), but that’s not the answer I was looking for.
I don't know, but I just really hope I can find a reason to use this image header again. Ah, whatever, I'll just put it in the regular rotation.
Not too regular — the man couldn’t be pinned down by common time!
No worries. It will pop up randomly like notes in a Brubeck piano solo.
I don't use Amtrak nearly as much as I probably should, but this is exciting news that may lead to taking more trips to Chicago.
It's a step in the right direction. This is the only place in our network I'm aware of that we've upgraded to "high-speed", and it took a while.
Pretty sure we contributed to your spend on this line.
Appropriate use of quotes there.
If a certain former governor hadn’t thwarted a federally-funded HSR corridor through the state, I could be riding to & from a conference in Chicago this September. Instead, the state can pay me & my colleagues mileage.
I'm still steamed about that. Rail to MSP might have been a viable option for our visits.
yeah, they had Chicago as a (relatively) high-speed hub, and as far as I know the StL-Chi was the only piece that got developed. It requires updates like grade crossing mitigation, high speed curves, signaling modifications, as well as going to Siemens Charger higher-HP locomotives. There will still be rail traffic to deal with, but higher speeds should reduce that, too.
It would make my visits to Minnesota a lot easier without having a 5 hour drive.
And it would’ve made quick visits to, uh. greener pastures more convenient.
We're on the verge of reform, the bills are in conference committee and the governor has pen in hand, but as I understand it legal sales won't likely begin until next year. But by the end of summer limited possession should be legal and criminal records will start getting expunged. I believe the home-grow provision may also go into effect this year. I guess the black market will have to pick up the commercial slack until licenses are issued and legal sales begin. I was in a tobacco shop a few weeks ago looking for a certain cigar and the owner already has most of his display cases stocked with glass and all other manner of paraphernalia. On a side note, last week my wife and I got robo-texts telling us we should call our state senator to oppose the bill because only BIPOC-owned businesses would be allowed to get licenses. The sender may have been misinforming.
Rollout in Connecticut was slow. It took maybe 18 months for businesses to open. There should be another opening close by but nothing yet.
If it ever happens here, it'll be quick to market because a whole bunch of stores opened up the past couple years selling CBD and Delta-8, including in my town of 3800 or so people. I still grabbed some gummies at the smoke shop in Northfield yesterday, though, even though I am taking a break in case I get offered a job at Generac and they do a pee test.
We went to the Poissonnière’s favorite townie bar* for burgers after her little league game last night. This is the current beer list:
* Yes, my kid has informed opinions about bars. Right now, they mainly revolve around burger & fry quality, interior volume, and jukebox selection.
Having lived very close to the original Ale Asylum location, it will never not be funny that Karben 4 bought their IP.
Yeah, that was a pretty amusing development. I do wish another local brewery was able to take on the now-former Ale Asylum location by the airport, but it sounds like it’ll be turned into an indoor volleyball court or something trendy for the Epic crowd.
I was disappointed when the dairy on the isthmus (just east of Breese Stevens) shut down. It was pretty cool to have that kind of work happening right in the middle of the capital. Perhaps not the best land use for that are, but I like local dairies and I like people getting to see where the things they use come from instead of them being abstracted away. I like MG&E being right downtown for the same reason; it’s a good reminder to conserve.
I'm still trying to decide if I should go to the game or not today. I've got about an hour to decide. On the one hand, Twins game! On the other, Assbats® and getting swept by the Bitch Sox.
Oh, I suppose another plus is I can sit behind the dugout for about $7.
There's no way that is Wally Backman!
https://twitter.com/nodaktwinsfan/status/1654142225230577673/photo/1
I love that Lew Ford is still getting professional at bats at the age of 46 (0-5 with 2 BBs for Long Island)