good trains and bad trains

Trains. The word summons up an image powered by some of America’s favorite mystiques: our childhood infatuation with the little engine that could and Thomas the tank engine; nostalgia for the age of steam and manifest destiny; and the promise of a sleek, techno future with trains levitating to destinations at rocket speed. (As a character from the Dick Tracy comic strip once said, "He who controls magnetism, controls the world!") In an era of climate change and sprawl, trains deserve much of this good will.  But railroads also have a history that is problematic in part, and, in some of their operations, a cloudy present. I wanted to write a bit about rail good and bad. I hope to follow it up with a post on how to improve good rail: a kind of trains plus agenda.