skymiler

I believe there are 4 others: Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans.

Albany just punished their kids by canceling a trip to Durham in the fall to play Duke, supposedly due to this law. This is probably the only chance those kids had to play a powerhouse on national TV, not to mention robbing them from a trip to an historic arena. Once in a lifetime opportunity for those kids gone, not because of the law but because of a bunch of political pandering.

PTC is not simple and has not been around for decades. When the Rail Safety Improvement Act was passed several years ago, PTC did not exist. Several attempts by numerous railroads have tried implementing various types of what we know today as PTC. in the late 90's CSX experimented with CBTM which was similar to PTC. They finally figured out that the technology was not sound (at the time) or cost effective to implement. BNSF has also been experiencing for years with similar results.

This is true. A lot of that is due to the whole County Fair area being a dead zone and the fact that TR has 4 trains. It moves people (what one's are there) through the que really quick.

Not wanting to start a big argument here but you sure seem to know a lot or have some serious opinions about a coaster you haven't ridden since its opening season in 1994. Here are a couple of corrections to some misstated comments you made above: 1.Thunder Road (1976) is not the oldest coaster in the park. That honor goes to Gold Rusher(1973) then followed by what used to be called Scooby Doo, now Woodstock Express (1975) 2. Removing TR doesn't leave 1 wooden coaster. It leaves 2. 3. The Hurler is not taller (83') or faster (50 mph) than TR (93' & 58 mph) 4. Old School wooden are still very popular. See Holiday World. They have the best collection with a couple consistently ranked in the top 10 year every year. 5. TR demise has certainly caused a lot of interest. Have you not heard of the on line petition to save TR?

Unfortunately I believe it's coming down. There's quite a bit of room on the other side of TR (not including the turn around) that can/will be available for expansion. I'm thinking the whole County Fair area will look totally different in a few years. I believe the Action Theater will be re-purposed or removed, Southern Star, Bumper Cars, Yo-Yo, White Water Falls and Putt-Putt all are likely removed, replaced etc.

Trust me, The Hurler was not built to be rough, nor was it touted that way. The Hurler was themed after Wayne's World and it was a play on words that this coaster will make you hurl. Rough coasters give you headaches, not stomach aches. In general, you are correct, most coasters are bumpy, but Hurler today is much worse than it was when you rode it during its opening season. Most coaster enthusiast I've heard agree that TR is in much better shape and would rather see the Hurler demolished. TR just happens to be in the location where the park is expanding.

Thunder Road hasn't run backwards in several years. Regarding Hurler, yes it's still called that and it's no comparison to TR. IMO, Hurler is much rougher and in need of more TLC than TR. If Hurler and TR locations were reversed, I'm sure Hurler would be on the chopping block.

If you're like me, it's iconic in a nostalgia type of way. It was my 1st big coaster as a child growing up, so I'll always have that. There are 2 other clones at Kings Dominion and Kings Island so it's not iconic to many. Now days though with the maintenance required, the fact that there are many bigger coasters in the park and people are not paying to come ride Thunder Road it kind of makes sense. Removing can help expand the park out as TR sort of prevented this in that direction. I believe Cedar Fair has stated they intended to make Carowinds their Cedar Point of the South, so maybe coupled with the Fury 325 build this is a step in that direction.

Norm 21499, I agree with you. If that's all that happens then I will be upset. They could have accomplished the expansion to the water park without removing Thunder Road. I'm still holding out hope that when it's all said and done, as much as it sucks to lose an icon to the park we'll be pleasantly surprised with what's announced to replace the out and back racer.

Can't believe no one's mentioned the closure of Thunder Road on July 26th. I hope Cedar Fair's future plans are worth the removal of this piece of history.

A little off topic but I figured the experts here could provide an answer. I recieved an email today from The New American Airlines stating that my US Airways Dividend Miles had been rolled over into the AAdvantage Program. I now have a new account number and my balance of miles has been transferred. Seems seamless and easy right? The problem is the email said that my miles expire on 4/3/16. Is this a change from the old American program? I've had a balance of miles for several years now with US and don't recall ever losing unused miles. Am I wrong or missing something?

I know Delta purchase a lot of 717's from Southwest to help replace an aging CRJ fleet. I wonder if US/AA has any plans to replace their aging CRJs and Dash 8's?

I know it's probably been posted before but can someone give an update with timeline on the different construction projects involving CLT? Particularly interested in: Rental Car Facility New ATC tower 4th parallel runway Terminal, concourse expansions People movers etc. Thanks!

Well I can only speak for myself, but I've chosen COS 3 times over Denver. By the way, you also have regional airports within 100 miles at PUB (Pueblo) and LAR (Laramie) that fly United Express.

Colorado Springs and its airport is as close to Denver as any of Charlotte's surrounding airports.

Colorado Springs (COS) is a decent size airport and only 70 miles from Denver. It's size is comparable to GSO and some of the other's you mentioned.

So what happens to the site/building now?

Splitting hairs, but the CSX yard there is called Tryon Street Yard. You forgot the street.

Guys, the NS has control over the diamond that CSX traverses. You have to know that NS will consider CSX concerns relating to traffic over this area because CSX controls many other diamonds that the NS traverses. As much as these two RR's compete, they also look out for each others interest (as much as possible). Both are not to concerned with what a bunch of pro passenger rail fans want. They do strive to be good corporate citizens but at the end of the day both are publically traded and have major stock holders to report too.

Very well said. I'm glad you posted as I didn't have time to go into that great of detail.

CSX owns and maintains this main line as it does 23k other rail miles. I know all about Seaboard and many of the other predecessor roads acquired through numerous acquisitions and mergers. I'll say it again, there's not a single class 1 railroad that wants passenger or commuter service crossing or traversing their mainline. SAL, ACL and all the other railroads dropped passenger service decades ago. They weren't profitable. The only thing the federal government did was nearly bankrupt the railroads through heavy regulation.

It's simple, the CSX business model is hauling freight, not passengers. Anytime there is a passenger train in the way, CSX trains are not moving. You won't find 1 class railroad that likes having passenger service cross over its rail lines. Also, this CSX mainline is owned and maintained by CSX. It was built with CSX money, not government handouts. I would say this gives CSX the right to be difficult.

I travel weekly. Can't think of another airport where I've seen this. In regards to western airports, I've flown through Denver, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego and San Francisco's airports. I don't remember seeing it there. I couldn't tell CLTs was any cleaner than the other airports. As heavily traveled as ATL is, their bathrooms seem just as clean to me.

Off topic just a bit, but flew through Charlotte this week and was curious about one thing. Does any other US airport have tip jars and employee's stationed in the restrooms to hand you paper towels? What does everyone think about that? I personally think it cheapens a great airport. I'm a former Charlottean and take a lot of pride in my home town. I think a lot of the restrooms in the terminal need some upgrades as well. Back to more recent topics.....hope the whole airport authority is resolved (favorably) for the city soon. Also, I don't feel threatened by Miami or the new merger eliminating CLT as a hub as long as current US Airway officials remain in charge.