I love actually experiencing the 21st Century. Right now I'm hurtling through the suburbs of Lyon at 265 km/h (down from 300 km/h earlier) on my way to Provence. The Eurostar from London started with an insane scrum at St Pancras—they really mean it when they advise you to arrive 75 minutes before departure—but it arrived at Paris Gare du Nord a minute early. The only impediment to getting onto this train came in the form of several consecutive people who couldn't figure out how to get RER tickets from the machine. Pro tip: use exact change. Also, note to SNCF: your tickent machine UI sucks.
I expect I'll have more interesting things to write about tomorrow as I explore Aix-in-Provence. Monday mid-day I'll relocate to Marseille, then fly back to Chicago through Heathrow on Tuesday.
For now, I'm going back to my book.
I went out to Suburbistan to have dinner with an old family friend, and he surprised me with an unusual and very cool heirloom that his own father, Bill, left him:
That's an HO-scale model that Bill built out from kits probably back in the 1970s. Must have taken him weeks, with the detailing and the weathering. I thought putting it in front of a 1970 edition Britannica fit pretty well.
But since I went out to Suburbistan, Cassie had to wait bloody hours for dinner. She didn't seem to mind getting a little couch time afterward:
Today I'm working from home so she doesn't see any need to follow me around. And she's about to get a 30-minute walk, which should help with any residual feelings of neglect that may linger from yesterday.
A few weeks ago I planned a PTO day to take a 25 km walk tomorrow along the North Branch Trail with pizza at the end. (I'll do my annual marathon walk in October.) Sadly, the weather forecast bodes against it, with scattered thunderstorms and dewpoints over 22°C. But, since I've already got tomorrow off, and I have a solid PTO bank right now, I'll still take the day away from the office. And autumn begins Sunday.
Good thing, too, because the articles piled up this morning, and I haven't had time to finish yesterday's:
Finally, Washington Post reporter Christine Mi spent 80 hours crossing the US on Amtrak this summer. I am envious. Also sad, because the equivalent trip in Europe would have taken less than half the time on newer rolling stock, and not burned a quarter of the Diesel.
Our lead story today concerns empty suit and Chicago Transit Authority president Dorval Carter, who just can't seem to bother himself with the actual CTA:
From the end of May 2023 to spring 2024, as CTA riders had to cope with frequent delays and filthy conditions, Carter spent nearly 100 days out of town at conferences, some overseas, his schedule shows.
Most of Carter’s trips between June 2023 and May 2024 were for events related to the American Public Transportation Association, a nonprofit advocacy group he chaired in 2022 and 2023. Carter spent a week in Pittsburgh and another in Orlando, six days in Puerto Rico and five days in Washington, D.C. He also took trips to Spain, New Zealand and Australia.
In total, Carter was out of town for 97 of the 345 days Block Club reviewed, according to his schedule. That means he spent 28 percent of that period outside of Chicago.
Block Club previously reported that Carter used his CTA-issued card for rides just 24 times between 2021 and 2022. CTA records show the number of times Carter swiped his work pass increased to 58 in 2023, according to a July op-ed piece in the Tribune.
Spain, I should note, has possibly the best train network in the world outside Japan, so maybe he learned something there? But as is typical with municipal barnacles, grifting along in high-profile city jobs, his office won't say.
In other news:
Finally, Pamela Paul imagines how the RFK Jr campaign looks from inside his head—specifically, to the worm encysted in his brain.
Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Big Time Brewery & Alehouse, 4133 University Way NE, Seattle
Train line: Sound Transit, U District
Time from Chicago: about 4 hours by air
Distance from station: 300 m
Let me start by saying Seattle had beautiful weather last week...until just before I arrived on Thursday. That didn't stop my friend and me from visiting Seattle's oldest brew-pub, just off the University of Washington campus. As you can see, though, we opted to sit inside, and we left Hazel at home.
Now, it's important to understand as you read what follows, my friend does not like beer. Wine, sure; cocktails, no problem; beer, never. So don't take her comments as indictments of what I thought were perfectly serviceable drinks.
I tried a flight along with an unpretentious Caesar salad, starting with the Big City Pilsner (4.8%), which I thought had good malt, wasn't overly sweet, had a long-ish finish. [She: "I'm trying to think of what kind of sock this tastes like..."] The Primetime Pale (5.2%, 35 IBU) had a very hop-forward beginning and a long finish; I liked it. [She: "This is water wrung from a sock someone wore for the entire Appalachian Trail. Maybe with a broken toenail clipping."] The Scarlet Fire Northwest IPA (6.8%, 70 IBU) had a great, full-hop balance; a good PNW beer. [She: "This is like an iced tea that someone left in the sun all day and it went cloudy."] I finished with the Coal Creek Porter (5.5%, 25 IBU), which had chocolate and coffee at the beginning but an odd tart note and just enough hops. [She, pulling a face: "This tastes like vinegar and chocolate, and not in a good way."]
Well, my friend, I know what I'm not getting you for Christmas this year.
Pity the rain didn't let up. I think Hazel would have liked watching the people go by on University Way. Maybe next time.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside only
Televisions? A few, avoidable
Serves food? Full pub menu
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
CityNerd lays out the economic benefits to people who live along the Amtrak Northeast Corridor from going straight to 600 km/h magnetic levitation trains instead of just to 300 km/h high-speed rail:
The infrastructure desperately needs some kind of an upgrade, though. It's approaching 100 years old, to the point where a single blown circuit breaker in New Jersey can halt trains from Boston to Harrisburg.
Last weekend, California governor Gavin Newsom (D) announced that the San Francisco-San Jose heavy commuter rail line had entered the late 19th century (in a good way):
On Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority named its new CEO, Ian Choudri – and today, Choudri joined Governor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco to help celebrate the debut of Caltrain’s new electrified train fleet that will transform rail service in the Bay Area and play a key role in California’s high-speed rail system.
The electrification project and electric trains were supported by more than $1.3 billion in state funding, including more than $700 million from high-speed rail, and will serve as the Bay Area’s connection to California high-speed rail. Caltrain’s electrification and high-speed rail are key projects as part of Governor Newsom’s build more, faster infrastructure agenda.
The Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project converts the Caltrain corridor between San Francisco and San Jose from diesel to an electric service that reduces emissions and enhances capacity. It also equips the corridor to accommodate future California High Speed Rail service. Caltrain estimates that corridor electrification will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 250,000 tons annually, equivalent to taking 55,000 cars off the roads.
The trains look suspiciously like Germany's. (Hmm, I wonder why? Though CalTrain's sets come from Salt Lake City.)
Governor Newsom seems to think that electrified heavy rail somehow puts the Bay Area ahead of the Western World. Streetsblog SF corrects the record:
It was hard not to snicker. As should be obvious to anyone who's spent time in Europe, Asia, or even New Jersey—or anybody familiar with California's rail history—there's nothing innovative or pioneering about Caltrain electrification.
The truth is, running wires over trains so they go faster and don't pollute is just boring, meat-and-potatoes transportation.
There were also electric trains between the Bay Area and Sacramento. There was electric service throughout Marin. And of course there was the famous Red Car electric rail system throughout Los Angeles. But unlike in the Northeast and Europe, nearly all of California's electric rails of old were ripped out and replaced with highways. Today, it's generally accepted that destroying these railroads was a colossal act of civic vandalism.
California should build on what it has accomplished with Caltrain, but state leaders don't need to pretend that it's "pioneering." They also don't need to mess around with unproven technology and distractions such as hydrogen trains and hyperloops. Humanity solved short-to-medium-distance intercity transportation in 1879 when Germany's Ernst Werner von Siemens invented the electric train. Rail electrification using overhead wire is mature, proven technology that just works.
The entire project cost about $1.8 billion, showing that it could cost not much more to electrify the tracks outside my house. (San Francisco to San Jose is about 66 km, while Chicago to Kenosha is 83 km—but Waukegan is 20 km closer.)
Maybe someday we'll electrify Chicago's commuter trains. Of the 785 km Metra operates, the Metra Electric line already has 51 km of fully-electric right of way, and the Rock Island district will start running battery-powered train sets in four years. Meanwhile, I'll keep watching the 40-year-old F40PH locomotives pulling the 65-year-old carriages past my house. (At least we'll get new ones...someday, maybe even this decade.)
Meanwhile, on September 21st, I'll take a 320-km/h train built in the last 10 years. I'm so tired of waiting for my country to get out of the 1950s. CalTrain's electrification is encouraging.
I have painters painting and I'm coding code today, so I'm just noting a couple of interesting stories for later:
- The New York Times explains how the warming climate could send seven systems over the tipping point into unrecoverable damage.
- Bloomberg CityLab climbs through the $80 million effort to make Chicago's Merchandise Mart last another 90 years.
- National governments trying to protect their own railroads have derailed private cross-EU night-train service, hurting passengers.
- The City of Chicago could have to pay over $100 million to the thieves who stole our parking meters in what continues to be the stupidest, and possibly most corrupt, municipal contract in the city's history.
Finally, a pilot ferried a Cessna 172 from Merced, Calif., to Honolulu in 17½ hours last Tuesday, a feat that I would categorize as "stupid risky" rather than "brave." I have a policy never to fly beyond gliding range in a plane with one engine, which means even around Chicago I don't fly more than a few kilometers off shore. Sure, a Cessna 172 can easily get from Chicago to Grand Rapids on a standard load of fuel, but why on earth would you risk ditching even 10 km offshore. This guy flew over 2,000 km from the nearest shore. And it wasn't his first time.
Yesterday, Cassie and I walked 16.4 km (just over 10 miles), including a 10 km walk that I'd planned only to be a bit less than 7 km. I wanted to stop by Ravinia Brewing's Logan Square taproom, but alas, when we got there, the patio was closed. So we went to Burning Bush instead. In all, we spent most of the day outside in the perfect weather. We'll do more of the same today, just not quite as much walking.
Another brewery that didn't make the cut for the Brews & Choos Project—it's too far from the nearest Metra station—made the culinary news Thursday when the state fined them for their latest infusion:
The state has fined a suburban brewery an undisclosed amount after they served a special infusion of Jeppson’s Malört with cicadas, celebrating the insects’ 2024 emergence. Noon Whistle Brewing Co. in Lombard made headlines in May for combining Chicago’s infamous liquor with bugs foraged from a neighboring park.
The Illinois Liquor Control Commission’s March report includes a blurb that does not mention Noon Whistle, but it refers to a licensee selling an infusion containing cicadas: “The licensee was cited for the violation and was provided education on the issue.” A message to an ILCC rep wasn’t immediately returned. Noon Whistle’s co-founder Mike Condon confirmed the fine over email and wrote he preferred not to share more info.
Chicago went through a phase, in the late 2010s, when bartenders were gleefully infusing spirits, like bourbon, with pork. There weren’t reported fines. However, presumably, they weren’t hunting pigs and curing their own bacon. They weren’t hunting wild pigs, they were buying a product from a store or butcher. There’s no such facility to procure food-grade cicadas.
Cassie, for her part, enjoys the occasional cicada. She snapped one up just this morning on our first walk. It was still buzzing when she swallowed it, so I can only guess how it felt going down. I'm sure Malört would not have made it better.
Welcome to a second visit to stop #77 on the Brews and Choos project, previously reviewed in August 2022.
Brewery: Banging Gavel Brews, 6811 Hickory St., Tinley Park
Train line: Rock Island District, Tinley Park
Time from Chicago: 35 minutes (Zone 3)
Distance from station: 100 m
I'm re-reviewing Banging Gavel Brews after only two years because they didn't have an indoor space until December. And just look at that beautiful building! (Yes, I say while blowing on my fingernails, that is in fact my photo from Thursday evening.) Maybe it was the contrast with the exurban nightmare I visited just an hour earlier, maybe it was the perfect summer evening, maybe it was the delicious croquette I ate, but this place just shot into the Top 10 with one visit.
They really did an excellent job with the renovation. I wish I'd seen inside the house in the 1860s when Karl Vogt went bankrupt building it. Or in 1912 when it had four small apartments, or in the early 1950s before Tinley Park disappeared into Suburbistan.
They still have the huge beer garden to the east, and a huge fire pit on the north. Since it wasn't busy Thursday evening, I had my 2024 Trolley Beer (APA, 5.25) and by Clouding the Issue (DDHNEIPA, 7%) on the porch, watching the sunset and the occasional freight train. After, I walked three minutes to the platform, hopped on the Rock Island, and made the connection to the UP-N to home with minutes to spare.
The Rock Island has the most frequent service of any line except for the BNSF, with stops close to six other really good breweries. I may make a day of it again this summer.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? Yes, avoidable
Serves food? Full menu
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes