The Three R's of railroading - 'Responsible, Reliable, and Really Useful,' as given in the movie 'Thomas and the Magic Railroad' - Brief Article

Railway Age, August, 2001

One of the benefits of having a pair of two-year-old boys is that you become exposed, willingly or not, to all sorts of children's materials--toys, books, videos, etc., etc. Most are outgrown quickly, but others seem to have lasting value, even a lesson or two for us all-wise adults.

A generation of children and parents are being exposed to railroads by a popular import from Britain. You probably know him: He's blue, has three driving axles, and a high-pitched whistle. He's Thomas the Tank Engine, and he runs around the mythical Island of Sodor with a bunch of other equally-colorful steam locomotives, pulling an odd assortment of freight and passenger cars. "A Day With Thomas," held at tourist railroads around the U.S. and featuring a working 0-6-0T that looks like the "real" Thomas (don't tell your kids that), attracts tens of thousands of people. There's even a movie, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad."

What significance, you're probably wondering, does this children's entertainment have to the railroad industry? Plenty, actually. If you pay close attention to the dialogue in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, there's a brief scene featuring "Mr. Conductor," played by Alec Baldwin, in which he is asked by his boss "Sir Topham Hatt" (otherwise known as "The Fat Controller") to recite the Three R's of railroading.

If you don't know the Three R's of railroading, you should: Responsible, Reliable, and Really Useful. They're a simple, elegant way of saying all those more-complex terms that railroad management likes to use when describing how they've improved operations and service to shippers-terms like "service quality," "service by design," improved equipment utilization," "customer-focused," "improved train velocity," "better yard throughput," or "fluid, high-performing network."

If you want an example of a Class I railroad that practices the Three R's of railroading, take a close look at CSX Transportation (p. 29). The story of how CSXT emerged from its post-Conrail-split service problems to where it's now looking for ways to grow business rather than concentrate on regaining lost business is really a story about committing-seriously-to those Three R's.

"There are hundreds of things you can measure on a railroad," CSXT President Michael Ward told me. What Ward and his operating team did was simplify. They boiled down those hundreds of measures to a list of roughly 20 basics-things like cars on line and average terminal dwell time. Doing that put the operational problems in a more manageable context, making them seem less daunting.

Responsible, Reliable, and Really Useful: A good description of CSXT today, and ideals to which every railroad can aspire. Thanks, Thomas.

William C. Vantuono

Farewell, "bus on the tracks"

I SPENT THE FIRST 25 YEARS OF MY LIFE IN NEWARK'S North Ward. As a child in the 1960s, my favorite activity was going to Branch Brook Park with my father and sister on a Saturday afternoon, and then going for a ride on the City Subway down to Penn Station. We'd board a Public Service Coordinated Transport PCC car, which I called "the bus on the tracks," at the Davenport Avenue stop. After a swift ride down the line, which included the mysterious tunnel beneath Raymond Boulevard, we'd venture upstairs to the train platforms at Penn Station to spend a few minutes watching grimy old Pennsylvania Railroad GGIs rumble in, pulling equally grimy, old passenger coaches.

After an ice cream (a vanilla dixie cup with a wooden spoon-remember those?), we'd hop back on the City Subway. The best part of the journey home was waiting for our PCC to come screeching around the turning loop in the bowels of Penn Station, headlight blazing, looking and sounding like a lurking-but friendly, of course-monster.

When I was old enough to ride a bike around the neighborhood, I'd pedal down to the turning loop at the end of the line at Franklin Avenue, just to watch the PCCs whip around the loop, wheel flanges squealing like crazy. Years later, I rode the PCCs to undergraduate classes at Rutgers University-Newark.

Those childhood rides on the Newark City Subway were my introduction to railroads. The sights and sounds of those venerable old PCCs made for many pleasant memories. To this day, the sound of squealing wheel flanges is music to my ears.

That's why I'm a little sad to see the PCCs go away. New Jersey Transit, which kept them rolling along in fine fashion on the City Subway, is replacing them with state-of-the-art, low-floor light rail vehicles, part of a $188 million improvement program (p. 52). After 47 years of service, the PCCs were scheduled to turn their last wheels on the City Subway on August 24 (though NJ Transit may find uses for them elsewhere).

Farewell, old friend, and thanks for the ride.