Must be some kind of genetic imprinting through generations of home-for-the-holidays trips, but trains and Christmas seem to go together, a fact some railroads take advantage of.
One of those is the Canadian Pacific Railway, which first dispatched its Holiday Train 10 years ago (that’s the train at LaCrosse, Wisc., in 2004). Decorated from locomotive to caboose (yes! it has a caboose!) with thousands of lights, it appeals to home-decorating fanatics as well as train nuts. The train includes a box car that serves as a stage for noted Canadian talent (train fan Neil Young has yet to appear on the train but one can hope), and serves as a fundraiser for food banks in each community in which it stops.
The Holiday Train’s only Iowa stops will be in Mason City and Marquette, where it will stop at the Riverfront Marina at 9:45 p.m. Dec. 10.
According to CP: “This is a free event. In return, non-perishable food items or a cash donation in support of the local food charity are requested…Guests are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy numerous festivities prior to the arrival of the train. Warm beverages and snacks will be sold to keep the crowd warm. All proceeds will benefit the Clayton County Food Shelf.”
The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying.
The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.
The allegations raise serious questions about the accuracy of the organisation’s latest World Energy Outlook on oil demand and supply to be published tomorrow – which is used by the British and many other governments to help guide their wider energy and climate change policies.
Jeff Barger spent seven days flying to and through seven airports, without ever leaving them (except for the flights, of course). The result wasn’t the Day 5 civic disturbance you might expect, but a philosophy of life for travelers, even when they’re not traveling:
The effort was launched by family members of the 50 people who died when Continental Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo, N.Y. (One person on the ground also died). Skiles compared the cockpit atmosphere during that flight’s final moments (the low-hours crew responed improperly to icing, and the first officer was recorded saying she’d never flown in such conditions) and that aboard 1549, headed by the now-legendary Capt. Sully Sullenberger:
“We were doing our jobs. We are trained professional pilots,” said Skiles, 49. “…That’s where the experience requirement comes in. Having been there before — not particularly with that incident, but with smaller things. Having a little bit of experience in aviation, that’s just another reason to keep your calm. In situations like that, it’s difficult to do. But it’s a little bit easier to do if you’ve had similar circumstances in the past.”
“What we’re saying is you should have your similar circumstances without 50 to 100 paying passengers behind you…..you used to have five years or more in the industry before you could even look at getting a job at a regional airline, like flying into Greenville-Spartanburg. But because they’re not really desirable jobs anymore — they pay, literally, fast-food wages — you cannot get trained, professional pilots for those wages anymore.”
