Since I know a little about trucks I will try and answer some of that.For every hopper bottom railroad car you see holds about the same as 4 trucks.So say you had 100 hoppers of corn on a train,would be about the same as 400 trucks hauling corn.I dont know how much fuel a train uses,but a truck uses about 100 gallons a day and can go 700 miles,in 10 hours.I doubt a train can go much more than 60 MPH,and in mountains lots slower than a truck,of course fast down the other side.Anyway say on flat ground a train can do real good and run 700 miles in 10 hours.All thats needed now is how many gallons of fuel it takes to move a train 700 miles on flat ground.My guess is 1/2 the fuel it takes 400 trucks.If I can go 700 miles on 100 gallons of fuel in a truck,moving say 50,000lbs,700 miles a day,or 1400 miles with a team in 24 hours(and 200 gallons of fuel),I think the train is going to be quite a ways back there.Say the train does 1000 miles in 24 hours,somehow I doubt that even.So just a real rough guess,Im thinking it takes somewhere between half the fuel to run the train,maybe less than that.One of the new locomotives holds 5500 gallons of fuel,say you have 4 0n the train that would be 22000 gallons,the 400 trucks use 40000 gallons per 700 miles,dont know how far the train can go on 22000 gallons of fuel though.Trains cannot go everywhere a truck can,so there always will be a percentage of travel a load must be on a truck,some things would rot before a train got them there,so that has to be considered.Trucks have their place,trains have theirs.Sure more could be put on trains,but it would overload the system they have and be even less efficient.Trains take a good while to load and unload,costing quite a bit in labor most of the time.Then if you were able to put everything on trains,you would put 8 million truck drivers out of work,and there would be truck stops,tire dealers,just a lot more people out of work as well.That would be devastating to the economy worse than the automakers.
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Today's Featured Article - Show Coverage: Journey to Ankeny - by Cindy Ladage. We left Illinois on the first day of July and headed north and west for Ankeny, Iowa. Minus two kids, we traveled light with only the youngest in tow. As long as a pool was at the end of our destination she was easy to please unlike the other two who have a multitude of requirements to travel with mom and dad. Amana Colonies served as a respite where we ate a family style lunch that sustained us with more food than could reasonably fit into our ample physiques. The show at Ankeny
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