New Lonley Gallon Commercial

[JCagle]

I caught the new "Lonely Gallon" commercial tonight. It's full of lots of nice scenery. In case you don't want to watch tv for hours to catch it here it is:
http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Media/Television%20Commercials%20&%20Video/

[ssmith1627]

Can't hurt to raise public awareness of what the railroads do.   I don't think many people know how much freight moves by rail these days.   They see the trucks every day but most don't pay attention to the trains.   

I do like the commercials myself.  Any my 3-year-old certainly does ! 

Steve

[JCagle]

With all the projects to increase capacity and make routing more efficient it makes more sense to try to get more and more business to make the projects pay off faster. Most of the time you'll see the commercials on news channels and other places where executives and decision makers for companies will likely see them. CSX seems to be adopting a little bit more loose marketing campaign with ads placed on regular show based networks.

[Norm]

I attended a day of training at the NS yard in Louisville back in June. The head honcho for that area (louisville district I suppose-a tall young black man, don't remember his name) said that they move a ton of freight at the rate of 400 mpg or something along those lines.  I can't remember the way they had it broke down, but it was an interesting stat. He said the fuel crunch is creating all kinds of business for the railroads because the trucking companies can't compete with the capacity of the railroads to move more freight with less fuel.                                             

[ssmith1627]

We move something more than 1200 forty-foot containers here from Asia / Indian Sub-Continent in a year.   About 70% of them go over the west coast and then rail to Memphis before a truck move to Knoxville.    If we skip the rail move and just do team drive from the west coast it's double the cost.   Rail is certainly more efficient.   And with some of the ocean carriers having on-dock rail at the ports -- the cargo flies to Memphis.   You can have it there in 4-5 days from the time the ship calls port.

Air freight by comparison is crazy money.   It's probably 5 times the cost per garment of ocean/rail.

Steve

[JCagle]

The railroad also offers the benefit of pretty much seamless service to containers and a schedule that is pretty much dead on. You can pretty much count on the idea that if it gets to the dock on time it will get to you on time. It would be interesting to see exactly how they made their fuel efficency calculation. I know that it is definitely more fuel efficient that trucking. That efficiency wouldn't be hard to get considering that these trains make a lot fewer stops. I also wonder if that figure was for intermodal service, or railroad wide.

[Norm]

He didn't elaborate. I assume it has to do with the number of cars per train. Maybe a hundred car train gets 4 mpg, so a hundred cars going four miles on a gallon equals four hundred miles per gallon total.  I don't know, but I remember the figure he gave, because I tuned out pretty much the rest of the presentation trying to figure it out (but then didn't ask him at the break). We weren't there for the sales pitch anyway, it was to familiarize us with the different car types, the engine, where the fuel cut-off button is, where someone could hide on the train, etc.

[JCagle]

I was thinking something along the same lines. The other option is to calculate it along the lines of car load tons. I guess we will never know. At least they are using the greenness of the railroad to help with PR. Usually the only time people hear about the railroad it's in a negative light like after an accident, or some other kind of mishap.

[ssmith1627]

Or just looked at as a nuisance with the noise.   I really enjoy trains but in Atlanta I had an apartment not 100 yards from the tracks and oh did I hate it.   

The railroads do a lot for this country.  I think there's a huge lack of awareness so they get very little credit for what they do.  I doubt anyone realizes how much freight still moves by railroad and what it would be like on the roads if we didn't have them.

So I'm happy to see some advertising.  Finally, a commercial that isn't annoying to watch !

Steve

[Backyard]

  Here is my fave, as a retired Truck Driver & former tree trimmer for Georgia Power in North Georgia...

Trees Grow Jobs?
I watch & collect video's & pics you guys do as your pass-time...

Visiting NS property
Visits to Norfolk Southern property by journalists and photographers can be arranged provided there is considerable need. Advance notice is required. Visitors must sign a waiver and be accompanied by an operations officer.

It is permissible to photograph Norfolk Southern trains and operations from vantage points that are well away from railroad property. Trespassing on railroad property is a serious offense - one that could expose the trespasser to potential danger.