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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| Sammy's Personal Train to Run Again | |
| 2008-08-20 | |
| Iraqi railway officials say Saddam Hussein's personal luxury train will return to service next month. Officials say the 23-car train will ferry passengers from Baghdad to Basra. The late Iraqi dictator used the French-built train only once, in the late 1970s. Since then it has been kept in a secret place in Baghdad and was protected from looting following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Ya gotta wonder - somebody protected this big train, but not the museums and antiquities? And where do you hide a train a quarter-mile long?
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| Posted by:Bobby |
| #5 I wouldn't mind riding on it, just to say I had, but my personal all-time favorite is the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge, just for the scenery if nothing else. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-08-20 19:36 |
| #4 too bad we didn't bring it over here for use. AMTRAK is swamped with passengers and no new rolling stock in the short term; pulling old stuff out of whereever they find it and refit it for use. Yeah i know it would need some mods to run on our tracks, but it would help. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-08-20 14:44 |
| #3 I'll take a pass on the Basra express. My personal FAVORITE! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-20 14:38 |
| #2 Yes, Jack, but some rail yards contain valuable stuff (here anyway - automobiles and the stuff you can haul off like spare tires and batteries), stuff to loot, like washing machines and refrigerators, and some interesting chemicals (polyvinyl cloride, clorine, acetone). I would've thought all the rail yards would be looted and something like Sammy's train discovered and torched. I read an article by a guy who managed their rail operartions for a period of time (around '04 or '05) and recall one of the more interesting cargoes was wads and wads of cash... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-08-20 12:57 |
| #1 Assuming it was coupled up when in storage. Probably was de-coupled in sections and hidden in rail storage sheds at the rail yard. Who'd amongst us would have said: "Hey, lets go to the rail yard and steal Sammy's train" instead of saying: "Hey, remember all those rare pots and jewels in the museum. Must be worth something and easy to swipe." |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-08-20 10:21 |