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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   3387 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 17, 2025

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I know on repositioning cruises (where the goal is to keep costs low) they travel at about 16 to 18 knots so 13 under sail power would be a pretty substantial portion of the propulsion fuel needs.

Similar to this, I'm always surprised more US goods aren't long hauled by trains, too. It seems crazy that it's worth 50 people to haul two containers each rather than one train to hail 100 cars but the busy interstates suggest I must be missing something.

If there was a rail line running along every interstate, it probably would be.

Well. Maybe not? You’d still need similar personnel to get supply from the railheads to each Wal-mart and gas station. We just load the trucks up earlier.

USA actually uses way more freight rail than comparable countries. It's just mostly a different basket of goods getting hauled that way- and partly to different places, the rail system was built when population distribution was way different.

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