Off the Publisher’s Desk 5-14-25

All Aboard! 

With all the problems that have been plaguing the airlines recently including several crashes, air controller shortage, and computer failure, I might call on my congressman and ask him to inject more federal funds to update the needed equipment. Or I just might look to AmTrak for a lift.

A railroad was plotted and constructed through this area and communities sprang up around the railroad. In this area it was because of the large forest that covered this area and lumbermen came, cut the trees and needed the railroad to transport the wood products to markets.

My father immigrated to Glenwood City in 1935, from Hortonville, Wisconsin by a steam driven train on the Wisconsin Central line. When I was an eighth grader, my grandfather came to visit us by train, and every Wednesday night we loaded our east bound newspapers on the train at the Downing Junction depot.

If you need to get from one place to another in a hurry, flying is the best way, and probably the most safe, but I like driving.

I have flown, to Hawaii, Paris, Alaska, and several other cities in the lower 48, but my train rides have been very limited. Once to Glacier Park, St. Paul to Duluth, St. Paul to Washington, D.C., and a couple of times on the White Pass and Yukon Route.

I would suggest to congress that they fund more money into upgrading the AmTrak system and speeding it up might help relieve the pressure on the airlines.

If my memory serves me right, the plane ride from St. Paul to Seattle is just short of four hours plus a couple of hours you need to be at the airport before the flight takes off. The train trip takes 38 hours 16 minutes. That alone would suggest why people fly. The train trip from St. Paul to Chicago is over seven hours.

According to reports that I found on the inter-net some 3.5 million people will fly this Memorial Day with 39.4 million traveling by car and 2.1 million using other means of travel.

On another note—Spring has sprung and the grass is growing and I have noticed while traveling around the area, the number of people with riding lawn mowers that have the safety discharge cover removed from the mower or have it tied up, it will not stop any projectile that could injure someone. So do the right thing, keep the safety devises in place.

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton