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| Re: R-42 Retirement Run (1537880) | |||
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Re: R-42 Retirement Run |
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Posted by Steamdriven on Tue Feb 11 16:59:15 2020, in response to Re: R-42 Retirement Run, posted by r33/r36 mainline on Mon Feb 10 19:21:29 2020. For many of us, the point of the R32s isn't that they're better/best/good or even meh subway cars today. They're obviously not, especially when fitted with screeching brake shoes (which could be fixed, if MTA cared). The point is something else entirely.They were Made In USA, made to last, made with pride. The design was done by some guy whose Dad was probably a mill worker and who lifted himself up to be an engineer. The steel came from ore mined in the USA (plus chromium and nickel from across the world, yeah). The steel itself was made in a huge furnace with an American Flag out front, was welded by Joe and machined by Johann America. That steel was a better grade than any subway car needs, it's still a brilliant mirror-like metal after half a century of abusive chemical washes. It shines with pride. The Budd company was owned by managed, crewed and stewed by for and within the USA. Those cars didn't have to be built that well, but the Budd Company was proud of their work, and their country. Sure, we can become a country whose remaining industries are management, finance, Hollywood and reality TV, served by an army of attendants and chauffeurs where the only remaining stable jobs are in government and drug rehab, where it is all kept afloat by borrowing from China and the GCC, until the day they don't want our paper. Or we can build that, design this, mill and machine, program and invent, and be our own masters. It's an old subway car. It's also a milepost. Do we continue on the track of hollowing out the USA, or do we go back to building a brilliant future? |
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