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OK quiz kids, this trivia is really not impossible.
Q: What NCAA Division One conference has the greatest percentage of their schools served with rail passenger service - Amtrak or regional agency?
I don't know the answer; I'm not enough of a sports fan to be that concerned. But let me pass out one hint: the Ivy League is Division One.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Could well be it, Richard. Of the seven schools comprising the Ivy League, six, or 86%, are readily accessible by rail (Cornell?; not really).
Now, how about the major athletic powerhouses.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Rutgers - New Brunswick, NJ (Amtrak and NJ Transit) Maryland - College Park, MD (MARC) Penn State - No Ohio State - No Michigan - Ann Arbor (Amtrak) Michigan State - E. Lansing (Amtrak) Indiana - No Purdue - W. Lafayette (Amtrak in Lafayette) Northwestern - (Amtrak in Chicago...... Metra probably closer to the Evanston campus) Illinois - Champaign-Urbana (Amtrak) Wisconsin - No Minnesota - MSP (Amtrak) Iowa - Iowa City - sort of if you count the Hawkeye Express shuttling fans from satellite parking to the stadium! Nebraska - Lincoln (Amtrak)
10 of 14
ACC
Boston - Amtrak Syracuse - Amtrak Pittsburgh - Amtrak Virginia Tech - No Virginia - Amtrak Wake Forest - No UNC - Chapel Hill - No NC State - Amtrak Duke - Amtrak Clemson - Amtrak Georgia Tech - Amtrak Florida State - No Louisville - No Miami - Amtrak Notre Dame - Amtrak/South Shore
10 of 15
SEC
Florida - No Georgia - No South Carolina - Amtrak Auburn - No Alabama - Amtrak Mississippi - No Mississippi State - No LSU - No Texas A&M - No Arkansas - No..... except for A&M excursions Missouri - No Kentucky - No Tennessee - No Vanderbilt - Music City Star commuter trains
3 of 14
PAC-12...... no passenger trains to Oregon State, Arizona State, Boulder, CO or Washington State.
8 of 12
I'll stay with the Big 10 in terms of MAJOR conference schools.It's Friday and my mind is numb.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Richard, I'm afraid my cooler is presently "out of stock" of any Kistler varietals. Hopefully in about two weeks, it will have some Virginia varietals, such as King Family Viognier, in there (that trip will be drive).
Something tells me, Mr. Presley has "covered the waterfront" on this one. The Big 14 (whoops Big Ten) raised their percentage with the "upstarts", as 75% of 'em have rail service. Of course, "back in my day" all Ten of the Big Ten had rail service.
While hardly a powerhouse, we should note that the Ivy League actually had a TV contract with a sports network named Versus about five years ago. That came to a halt when NBC bought it up and rechristened it NBCSN. So I guess their BCS is six of seven with rail.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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As a highly biased ACC fan (Clemson over USC any day), my creative accounting says the ACC has 13 of the 15 towns served by Amtrak. Winston-Salem is served by a NC Amtrak Connector shuttle (senior fare $1.20) from High Point, NC. Louisville is served by and Amtrak Thruway bus connection. And, perhaps somewhat of a stretch, Chapel Hill is a short 12 mile taxi ride to the Durham station., closer than many have to drive to their station in larger cities. So that makes 13 of 15!
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Ahhhh........ Mr. Palmland, using connecting buses and even a taxi to improve the ACC's standing is a bit questionable....... kind of like the sham classes UNC-Chapel Hill used for its' athletes for 18 years or so.
Actually - I considered using thru-way connections in my list but that opened more variables than I could accurately consider. There is, for instance, a thru-way bus to Louisville, KY as well. 14 of 15 then for the ACC........... and you know, I think that there is even a connecting bus from Blacksburg, VA to Roanoke to the Lynchburg Amtrak station now also.
Too many variables...... and as a University of Maryland graduate, I dislike that Maryland left the ACC. That Louisville (who had been denied by the Big 10 and Big 12) was invited into the ACC to replace Maryland merely adds insult to injury!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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And I'm still struggling with Boston in ACC. I know it's on the Atlantic but I've always thought of ACC as southern. Maryland is certainly preferable to Louisville, as a Baltimore resident for 15 years.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Boston in the ACC doesn't confound me nearly as much as Pittsburgh!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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As you are from the Carolinas, have you ever had a chance to take the U. of South Carolina Gamecock "Cockaboose" train? That would be the stadium train I would want! Possibly there is a membership, involved, and not everyone can get in?
It's funny, Kistler Vineyards is 7-9 miles away in Sebastopol (my old home town), but I haven't been able to find Kistler wines in any local wine shops. However, considering the cost of a bottle of their wine, I probably would have to take out a bank loan in order to stock up.
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Yukon - The cockaboose looks like fun but in my entire life I have attended exactly two Division I football games live and in person.
As an undergraduate marching band member at a Division II school I have many of those games under my belt before and since.
I've seen many DI basketball games live...... and from many summers working with competitive drum and bugle corps I have been at DCI events in many Division One stadiums..... including the two where I have also seen football games.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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PAC 12 USC Expo Line UCLA Gold Line Stanford Caltrains bus connection California Capitols/San Joaquin bus connections Oregon bus connections in Eugene Oregon State bus connections from Albany Colorado bus connections from Denver Utah bus connections in Salt Lake City Arizona Trolley to Campus in Tucson Arizona State Sun Light Rail Washington Bus in Seattle Washington State bus from Spokane
Chris
Posts: 711 | From: Santa Ana | Registered: May 2003
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It's funny, Kistler Vineyards is 7-9 miles away in Sebastopol (my old home town), but I haven't been able to find Kistler wines in any local wine shops. However, considering the cost of a bottle of their wine, I probably would have to take out a bank loan in order to stock
Richard
Would you believe it? there are two retailers who have several Kistler varietals in stock "most of the time".
One Standard Market, stocks their lesser Coastal varietals, both Chard and Pinot, "on the shelves". The other, Binnys, stocks their higher end such as Durrell, but those "are in the cooler" where the minimum for anything in there is $100. You are escorted, and you have to impress the Steward "you're serious". Fortunately, I make the cut.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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The only PAC 12 school that isn't close to an Amtrak station is WSU, which is ironically located in (George) Pullman WA. In 2016, Sound Transit will open the University extension of the light rail system which will connect King Street Station with the UW. Trip time will be about 15 minutes.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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Mr. Palmland, As a fan of the Big 10 practically since birth (my dad was a student at Purdue when I was born), I would gladly trade you Maryland for Louisville.
Now, what can I get for Rutgers? Maybe something I could trade to the SEC for Missouri.
-------------------- Railrev Escondido, CA Posts: 99 | From: Escondido, California | Registered: Jul 2003
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Maryland for Louisville would be a good trade. I would enjoy being a graduate of an ACC school again!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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