The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on January 13, 2009, 02:54:23 PM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x53803
Oh my.
The primitives seem to be short of things to be indignant about today.
Maybe they haven't seen the story yet about the Iranians burning posters of 0bama.
Democrats_win (1000+ posts) Mon Jan-12-09 03:43 PM
Original message
Several hundred miles of idle boxcars at various spots around nation.
http://cbs4denver.com/local/union.pacific.boxcars.2.905...
"One Thornton (Colorado) community is upset over a new, not so attractive, addition. They are now neighbors with dozens of empty boxcars, no longer used by Union Pacific railroad....
"Union Pacific says it wants to move the boxcars as soon as possible, but it's a function of the bad economy. They say they have several hundred miles worth of the boxcars idled at various spots because they are not being used. They say until business picks up, they have to put the boxcars somewhere."
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Notes/editorial:
A. A local TV station ran this story and they made several mistakes. 1.This "herd" of boxcars stretches for about 4 miles now, not one mile.
2.They incorrectly gave the address of where the cars stop. It is at 168th avenue (not 160th)where they stop because someone paved over the railroad tracks at this location.
3. In the original report the Union Pacific spokesman said there are 423 miles of boxcars spread out in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. The article says "several hundred miles."
B. It's ok if the boxcars are there in the winter because everything is brown. But if they're still there in spring and summer, people will really be pissed.
C. If a normal person had graffiti like this on their property, they'd be given a ticket. Why not the railroads?
D. Colorado's politicians need to force the railroad to either move the cars or sell them for scrap. The railroads are owned by the richest people on earth. This isn't right that they're ghettoizing our neighborhood. People here pay premium prices for their homes and high property taxes. This is just a taste of how worthless our politicians are in Colorado. They do nothing except make laws for Sunday liquor sales. I guess they figure we won't mind if our standard of living craters if we're all drunk like them. Make sure you get on the Democrats in Washington before they become do-nothings like our Colorado Democrats.
EmeraldCityGrl (752 posts) Mon Jan-12-09 03:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. Bring them here...we can use them as shelter for the growing homeless population
Steepler0t (311 posts) Mon Jan-12-09 04:04 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. funny...kinda
I was actually thinking of this, I remember the old pictures of boxcars turned into apartments, was thinking how nice one of these abandoned ones would be fixed up.
Gotta love this economy.
EmeraldCityGrl (752 posts) Mon Jan-12-09 04:16 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Seriously, there are some really creative ways to make these livable AND environmentally friendly.
Steepler0t (311 posts) Mon Jan-12-09 04:01 PM
Response to Original message
2. Know anyone with a jackhammer?
Rent a jackhammer and pull up that paved over track so the cars can move on?
Just kidding, but your local govt. needs to clear that pavement off the track.
And the rail corps should try at least to keep their rolling stock painted also, some cars you see probably have not had a paint job since they were built.
Regardless, I would much rather have trains around then to scrap perfectly good rail and force more heavy trucks on the road to eat gas.
Rail freight is still troublesome but a lot better for the environment.
So silly that one intersection is tying up 400+ miles of rolling stock..
grasswire (1000+ posts) Mon Jan-12-09 04:10 PM
Response to Original message
4. I'll take one.
I'd very much like to have one. I hope they don't destroy them.
TwoSparkles (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-13-09 12:13 AM
Response to Original message
7. Is it me...
...or are the articles getting eerily worse and worse with each passing day?
Several miles of unused rail boxcars. Abandoned airports in small towns.
Geez.
These stories sound like something out of the Great Depression.
nocaster (341 posts) Tue Jan-13-09 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
8. My local rail yard is full of empty container carriers. They were parked right before Christmas and they are still just sitting there.
Oh my.
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Well, that certainly exhibits a prime example of DUmmie ignorance and selfishness in full flower. It sounds like their knowledge of the economics, ownership, margins, profitability, and business cycles of American railroads is about as shallow as the gene pool from which their defective DNA was assembled.
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We just need to keep said containers handy for when we ship all the dissenters off to Uncle Wally's Holiday Camp. :-)
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Why else do you think they're being staged in areas with high populations of useless DUmp monkeys.
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Why else do you think they're being staged in areas with high populations of useless DUmp monkeys.
Quiet...you're going to spook'em. ....and when they break out in a sweat.
...sheeeesh.....what a smell.
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Quiet...you're going to spook'em. ....and when they break out in a sweat.
...sheeeesh.....what a smell.
I'm sure that VRWC R&D is coming up with a way to hermatically seal the containers.
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I thought we were just going to drive them into a deep lake?
I'm sure that would violate some EPA regulation or another. Not the disposing of the box cars, the disposing of the other biohazard.
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Somebody must have been reading "The Boxcar Children" series to their kids. :whatever:
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I'm sure that VRWC R&D is coming up with a way to hermatically seal the containers.
They've got a pretty good handle on that, except for how to clean them out when we finally open them back up a couple of years later.
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I thought we were just going to drive them into a deep lake?
You really don't care about sportfishing, do you?
DAT, that's what the big incinerators at Toole are going to be used for . . . once they get done with any remaining chemical weapons stocks.
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I wouldn't mind having a couple either. Trains go by here a couple times a day, I kind of like it and I have a free (and almost endless) supply of railroad ties which make wonderful fence posts and flowerbed dividers. I think a boxcar would make an awesome chicken coop. I know you can buy old flatbed cars for bridges which I'd kill to have spanning my pond (it would sure make it easier to get to my main coop which is on the other side) but last time I checked they're about $10,000 which is too rich for my blood. Maybe after the Messiah ascends to the throne and makes the world a better place.
Cindie
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I wouldn't mind having a couple either. Trains go by here a couple times a day, I kind of like it and I have a free (and almost endless) supply of railroad ties which make wonderful fence posts and flowerbed dividers. I think a boxcar would make an awesome chicken coop. I know you can buy old flatbed cars for bridges which I'd kill to have spanning my pond (it would sure make it easier to get to my main coop which is on the other side) but last time I checked they're about $10,000 which is too rich for my blood. Maybe after the Messiah ascends to the throne and makes the world a better place.
Cindie
Think of it . . . unicorns, rainbows, puppies, lollipops, and flatbed cars for everyone! :tongue:
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I wouldn't mind having a couple either. Trains go by here a couple times a day, I kind of like it and I have a free (and almost endless) supply of railroad ties which make wonderful fence posts and flowerbed dividers. I think a boxcar would make an awesome chicken coop. I know you can buy old flatbed cars for bridges which I'd kill to have spanning my pond (it would sure make it easier to get to my main coop which is on the other side) but last time I checked they're about $10,000 which is too rich for my blood. Maybe after the Messiah ascends to the throne and makes the world a better place.
Cindie
Good God, how many chickens you got? You can probably house several thousand hens in a boxcar, if not more!
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I know....3 boxcars in an "H" shape....weld up the outside doors of 2 cars.....cut a hole in each end of the middle car to line up with the doors facing inward......leaves the use of doors on either side of the middle car......instant housing for the camps.
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Good God, how many chickens you got? You can probably house several thousand hens in a boxcar, if not more!
Actually you need to plan about 2 sq. feet for each chicken (i can get away with a little less since mine free range) but you also have to plan for nesting boxes, feeders/waterers, brooders, perches and storage for feed and straw. Well, mine is a business, not a hobby so I treat it as such. I have around 150 but I also have customers who have little concern (or awareness) that during winter/molt hens produce less eggs and expect their standing order all year long so I have to have a core group of chickens always at their peak (which also means I have a group always ready for the freezer...or the Rooster & Hen Retirement Home & Bunny House for the lucky few that become pets and get to live out their lives beyond their usefulness). Their first six months from the time they start laying is the most productive but I usually keep mine for a couple years, sometimes 3 if I have a hen still producing or an excellent broody hen.
Cindie
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oh my... wait until they find out about the thousands of containers and ships that are idle in asia because imports have dropped, we are making China, their workers paradise a much poorer place. How terrible.