@frankiesaxx And we can totally do alternative fuel for trains.

@ajroach42

have you ever tried the Amtrak sleeper car thing? it's actually surprisingly nice

@mrgah I have! It is!

Something a touch nicer than that, for about the same price, and I'd be set.

I'd be content to do that for all travel.

@ajroach42 @mrgah I really like Amtrak, which is to say, I like trains, a lot. I get the sense that they are really close to being almost perfect, but also, one step behind, for who knows what reason.

It's all very close to "Ooooooh. I live full time on that, and just tour and do workshops", but then they do things like eliminating the car where you could eat alone, which takes it 1/2 step further away for me, rather than closer.

@shoutcacophony @mrgah My dad rants about Amtrak as an example of government interference gone awry.

It's not hard to see his point, even if I disagree with it.

Anyway, I'd love a good modern train system, with a touch of luxury and a reasonable price. Give me that, plus a solid internet connection, my laptop and a camera with a decent mic, and I'd be set. Charge me less than $1000/month, and I'd travel at least 3 months a year.

@ajroach42 @mrgah I think that's sort of "blame-the-victim-which-is-sort-of-also-the-perpetrator", but I can understand the frustration. He should be ranting at congress to stop cutting their funding instead ofc, but welcome to politics in the u.s.

@shoutcacophony @mrgah Yeah, dad's thing was that Amtrak was too slow and expensive (I can agree, more or less) and he blamed that on their monopoly over the rails and the fact that they take government support.

My response was basically that if we vote for people who aren't trying to screw us, Amtrak will get better.

He disagreed, but that's where our fundamental disconnect exists.

@ajroach42 @mrgah Understood. I mean, in theory it'd be great if "Elon will fix everything! :D" was real, but that's sort of "Dr. Seuss for republicans" tbh.

In any case. heh

@ajroach42 @mrgah @shoutcacophony

Amtrak doesn't have a monopoly on the rails they don't own hardly any of the rail infrastructure they run on.

@ajroach42 @mrgah @shoutcacophony

And while we are on the subject of monopoly and government support, let's talk about the $70,000,000,000 USD Highway Trust Fund.

@hhardy01 @shoutcacophony @mrgah I'd rather just not.

@ajroach42 @mrgah @hhardy01

I'd rather not as well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby%2C_the_Scrivener

@shoutcacophony @ajroach42 @mrgah

Just saying that the auto industry receives taxpayer government support orders of magnitude greater than passenger rail.

@hhardy01 @ajroach42 @mrgah OK.

You're doing that "Enough of what you were talking about, let's talk about what I want to talk about" thing.

And the "I just waltzed right past us agreeing, because who needs that when you can disagree" thing.

Again, no thanks, and thanks for playing.

@hhardy01 @mrgah @shoutcacophony Right, but that's not what we're talking about, and I also don't care.

@ajroach42 @mrgah @hhardy01 Nor do I.

@ajroach42 @shoutcacophony @mrgah

Okay enjoy your fantasy of being a super wealthy evil rail baron. Bye!

@hhardy01 @mrgah @shoutcacophony

That is explicitly not what is happening here.

Mostly, we're talking about how Amtrak is neat, and the money that the megarich are spending on amtrak to do opulent things should be used to make it more accessible for poor people.

I'm not sure how you got the impression that we were fantasizing about being rich (other than by not reading what we've said, and then projecting your own thoughts.)

@shoutcacophony @mrgah @hhardy01

But talking to you, thus far, has been super unpleasant.

You wanna try again, and shoot for something a little less off topic and condescending, or do you wanna leave us be?

@ajroach42 @mrgah @hhardy01 Everything Andrew just said, but with a lot less patience

@hhardy01 @shoutcacophony @mrgah I know this as of today, because I was reading about amtrak, but didn't realize it previously.

@ajroach42 @mrgah Same! I'd *much* rather be paying "rent" to federal, kind-of-mixed-economy Amtrak to some landlord. Or being locked into a FT job and a mortage. Etc.

That + riding out the winter and summer somewhere -- affordable short-term housing, RV (that can handle housing a studio, that's its own topic), something -- and I'd be set.

@ajroach42
I too wish train travel was more ubiquitous in the states. I have back issues as well and being able to get up and move around at will would be amazing for long trips.

@Brennan Yes. Several thousand dollars from what I gathered.

@ajroach42 @Brennan when I last looked into this, the Amtrak towing rate seemed surprisingly reasonable. You don't have to do it in the super luxury way, although of course WSJ is more interested in reporting on that.

I like the idea of cross-country hackathons where we attach a private car to an Amtrak train.

@npd @Brennan @mrgah I wonder if freight companies will tow private cars, and what the difference in cost would be.

@arlowrey Right, what I'm hoping for is something a little less "I'm rich and I can do this cool thing" and a little more "here is this cool thing that lots of people can do thanks to economies of scale."