Has anyone heard what's going on with Miletrak.com? The site disappeared sometime during the last few weeks! Where am I going to figure out my rail mileage if Miletrak goes away?!?!
Jarrod
Posts: 82 | From: San Lorenzo, CA | Registered: Mar 2006
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Remember Mr. Guenzler, unless it's on a screen, these youngsters don't know how to read.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Remember Mr. Guenzler, unless it's on a screen, these youngsters don't know how to read.
Um... Why would I not know how to read on paper also? What a stupid and unnecessary comment.
Posts: 82 | From: San Lorenzo, CA | Registered: Mar 2006
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Well Mr. Jarrod, your earlier comment to the effect of "Where am I going to figure out my rail mileage if Miletrak goes away?" suggested that your primary, possibly even your sole, source for information is the web.
But to be constructive and to enhance Mr. Guenzler's comment, the mileage between any two stations on an Amtrak route is included on that route's timetable published by Amtrak - and copies of those route timetables are available at the Amtrak website.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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But Miletrak - or whatever it was called on On Track On Line - kept track of everything so nicely and conveniently. Actually, I thought it went off line several years ago. All you had to do was enter your dates and endpoints and it displayed your whole history of Amtrak riding. I liked it - and I'm certainly no youngster and when it went off line I couldn't be bothered analog record keeping. I've kept all those ticket stubs though!
Jarrod, all the routes' timetables are available at amtrak.com. As I'm sure you know the mileage from one end point to each stop on the route is on them.
Posts: 326 | From: San Antonio Texas USA | Registered: Dec 2003
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GBN and Smitty are both right -- today's youngsters are literate, but are also wont to get their information online rather than from printed materials. It IS much faster to do it online.
The trouble is that not all information is online, and may never be. Sometimes one has to do one's due diligence in libraries and dusty old archives.
That last is a skill today's youngsters increasingly seem not to have learned, thanks to an educational emphasis on the Internet. (I speak as a former adjunct instructor, and my wife, a librarian, has made the same remark.)
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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For Mr. Guenzler, who compiles his mileage down to the "tenth", only an Employee Timetable will do. But I would think that for most of us the Amtrak mileages will suffice.
I must wonder what was the source this apparently defunct mileage site used.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I have also been a participant at Miletrak, and I am under the impression that Anthony (the site owner) just has not had the time to maintain the site over the past few years. In any case, I am not going to worry about much -- if at all.
-------------------- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's life." Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Remember Mr. Guenzler, unless it's on a screen, these youngsters don't know how to read.
Um... Why would I not know how to read on paper also? What a stupid and unnecessary comment.
Agreed, unnecessary, not to mention ephebiphobic.
The usefulness of Miletrak was to keep all your records in one place. A current Amtrak timetable will NOT have the information you need as it no longer contains mileage for historical routes which the users may have ridden but not collected data for.
Perhaps somebody could contact the site owner and ask whether the information is still available. Perhaps then somebody could take over and provide this useful service.
Geoff M.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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You had me looking up that one, Mr. GeoffM.
OK I'm almost 68, not exactly what could be called "young at heart", and I admit to having a "disconnect' with the young. I still do things the old fashioned way with my bills being received by US Mail and paid using checks. What few times in this life I have attempted to "shop on-line" have always ended up with calling the 800 number to complete the transaction. While here at the Forum, I often cite articles from either The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, it is only after first being exposed to them reading my print editions of both publications. I wouldn't know how, and have no intention of learning, to read a newspaper "cold" from the web. If I were to compile my rail mileage, the source document would be the Amtrak System timetable from which applicable mileages would be entered on a Lotus (I've never had reason to learn Excel) spreadsheet periodically updated with a paper hard copy..
The computer is a great enhancement for such chores as ensuring that 2+2=4. Obviously I use a computer, but my life does not revolve around it.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Each thing has its place, be it good or be it bad. You can't deny young people the chance to use new medium "just because" they're young. Let's face it, a large number of parents rely on their children to set the VCR - or the modern equivalent - which in itself does not mean that that is wrong. It is simply that the older have not, do not, or can not, learn the new technology; not necessarily the case that the young do not favour the older methods of reading books.
By the way, I have no problems with you knowing my full name - Geoff Mayo - though I do not do real eatate (realtor). I simply sign that way because "I just do".
Yes, many of us do rely on computers a bit too much, but you have to remember the young(er) (I'm 32) may not have yet learnt that life lesson. But it's no reason to dismiss ALL youngsters as incapable of reading printed text.
Geoff Mayo.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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I hardly anticipated that my response to Mr. Jarrod would create the "tempest in a teapot" that evidently it has. I would have expected no different response than I received to my comments at this topic over at another site:
Needless to say, I was astounded at the topic originator's "wish list'; evidently he did not find any offense with my response.
Finally, whenever I have occasion to watch the Andy Rooney segment on CBS News' "60 Minutes", I find more often than not he and I are on the same page - and he could refer to ME as a "youngster'.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Hmmm....I could see Mr. Norman being described as an old codger based on this thread. In fact, that is a goal I've set for myself in the not-too-distant future. But I like my ipod - I just load it with my old-fart songs.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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Mr. Norman IS an old fart. So am I (and I am a few months older). Takes one to know one.
I do agree with the fellow in the referenced thread elsewhere that Amtrak ought to provide coach-seat tray tables that are big enough for a laptop. As an old-fart writer I take my laptop on all train trips. Also all car upgrades should include electrical outlets.
The hell with cupholders, though.
And it's WAY past time Andy Rooney should have retired.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:Originally posted by RR4me: Hmmm....I could see Mr. Norman being described as an old codger based on this thread. In fact, that is a goal I've set for myself in the not-too-distant future. But I like my ipod - I just load it with my old-fart songs.
I have selective Old-Phartism -
I definately preferred drum and bugle corps back when they played on two-valved G bugles as they did during my youth, I have experienced the ride on at least one railroad's pre-Amtrak passenger trains, and I believe that I am the very last person to have earned a Masters Degree at the University of Maryland's College of Education submitting seminar papers produced on a manual typewriter.
(If anyone is interested, I can tell you the story of how I produced a 60-page paper en-route aboard Amtrak from Washington, DC to Denver and return.......the part about having notecards taped all around me on the walls of my roomette is a particular knee-slapper!)
That said, I now virtually depend on e-mail and I do own a cellphone......albeit minus the text messaging option. I've not needed that part before and I really don't want to fool with it.
Codgerism, here I come!
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Count me in the Codgerism group too. My cell phone is the original "brick", a decade old, with text messaging disabled. "A phone booth without walls". My son finally showed me how to lock the keys, so I wasn't dialing people by accident when it was in my pocket. I feel like I should say "over and out" instead of goodbye. Roger that. 10-4, good buddy.
Communication technology advances are wonderful. I love e-mail. I can read it without glasses. I don't have to ask people to repeat things because my hearing is going. And it doesn't run out of ink or need sharpening. I can read it when I'm good and ready. A codger's delight!
And for those who care, I'm 62 and my real name is Jerry Peterson. But I would have rather been born TwinStarRocket. But then again, maybe not. Not as much anonymity (especially in Minnesota).
Trains and codgers go well together. One outlet for an entire Superliner coach. My wife just asked, is there anyone out there with a slide rule tie clip. Codgers of the world, carpe diem!
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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I guess I'm getting to be an "Old Codger" too --I just turned 60 in August -- I do have a cell phone, but it is usually off, and I have no interest whatsoever in text messaging everybody I've ever met since high school. I finally got high-speed Internet at home just a couple years ago (I used to have dial-up connection!). I haven't used a slide rule for years and years and years, but I too typed my Master's Thesis with a typewriter (but then had it re-done by a "professional" typist my dad set me up with)
And I STILL LOVE RIDING TRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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At 76, I clearly fall in the old codger group. I own a cell phone but rarely use it. I take it in the car when I'm going more than a few miles away. Also have it with me on train trips, mainly to contact someone who may be meeting me if the train is running late.
As a college instructor, I was using a manual typewriter (not electric) well into the 1980's until a son finally convinced me that a computer would make it so easy in doing tests, hand-out sheets, etc. For several years, I was not connected to the internet.
I still use topographic maps and route guides on the train rather than a GPS device. I too like to watch Andy Rooney on Sunday nights. I sometimes play piano at a local weekly senior luncheon that I attend. This week I did several very old songs (they love the old-time stuff). Probably very few of you folks would have known "Silver Threads Among the Gold", "Love's Old Sweet Song" , "Seeing Nellie Home", or "Sweet Genevieve"!
Text messaging is foreign to me. Not long ago I inquired of my daughter-in-law how it can be possible when two or three letters are on the same key!! Shows how primitive my knowledge is regarding modern communication!
This thread, as many do, has wandered off track. Maybe a new one on this latter topic should be started.
Posts: 127 | From: Worcester, Massachusetts | Registered: Jan 2007
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As of now, many of us codgers around here have weighed in showing our astonishment how younger persons (note my absence of the "flameword') are so completely tethered to their electronic devices.
Again from the "other site", note the immediate response to the originator from member "gprimer", a young adult who always posts in a respectful manner, where obviously he cannot imagine this young family off traveling without an array of electronic playthings:
posted
As long as most everyone else is off the subject, I will contribute off the subject as well. I'm 48 years old.
I have a cell phone for calling out only. I only turn it on if I need to make a call, which is about once per week or less. I do not even know what my phone number is. I suppose it can send a textr message, but I don't know how to do it, nor do I care to learn how to.
I teach high school. While some students still do excellent research, I have seen a dramatic down turn in the quality of research since the internet has become popular.
I thought drum and bugle corps still used two-valve bugles. I never understood why. It seems to me, they should use real bugles (no valves) or just use modern brass instruments (cornets, trumpet, tubas, etc.). Using a hybrid never made sense to me.
Posts: 446 | From: Phoenix, Arizona | Registered: Jul 2000
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I can just picture RRRich texting his wife, "I'm just getting on the train now," "I'm in my roomette now," "it's time for a glass of wine," "it's time for another glass of wine," "iks tine fo nuther glas of ine," and so on . . .
My wife ought to meet Konstantin. She, too, only calls out on her cell phone and won't turn it on so others can call her. If she and Konstantin ever ran off together, nobody would be able to find them.
I, however, depend on my T-Mobile Sidekick. Being a deaf person, I can't make or receive voice calls, but text messaging (with a real keyboard, not that cell phone stuff) is a lifesaver for me. Got muscular thumbs, too.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Well, I may as well check in as belonging to the "dinosaur" set. At 66 (67 soon), I do rely on my cell phone, but not for texting, and now feel totally lost when my computer crashes. Not into things like "facebook" and "my page" however.
-------------------- Ocala Mike Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Absolutly nothing, Chris but isn't it fun to read? As to children not reading I beg to differ. My grandchildren are all avid readers,My grand daughter in addition to being "attached" to her books plays soccer, plays 3 instruments, is in the school band and choir and drama. Her friends are all pretty much the same. I would bet that kids who don't read come from families where reading is not a priority.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by chrisg: What does all this have to do with Miletrak.com?
Chris
Careful, Chris. A comment like that will get you to codgerism faster than you can look up ephebiphobic!
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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I, too, qualify as an old fart as much by actions as by age. I'm an early baby boomer and now eligible for Social Security.
I text because it is one of the best ways to communicate with my two oldest grandchildren.
The next oldest, a third grader, likes to take on extra credit homework questions. His strategy is to "call 'Papa' (that's me) and if he doesn't know, I'll try the internet."
That status (and ability) is not likely to last long, but I'm enjoying it now.
Sorry about the off topic, but that's the way we codgers are.
-------------------- Railrev Escondido, CA Posts: 99 | From: Escondido, California | Registered: Jul 2003
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