Fw: MTA: MARC Tracker System is back on line and operating properly.

We'll have to see about that...
------Original Message------
From: Maryland Transit Administration
To: stuckonmarc@gmail.com
Subject: MTA: MARC Tracker System is back on line and operating properly.
Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:15 AM

MARC Tracker System is back on line and operating properly.

October 15, 2009 8:12 AM

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Fw: MTA: The MARC Tracker System is temporarily unavailable. We are working toget it back on line ASAP

This implies that, at some point, it was working.

------Original Message------
From: Maryland Transit Administration
To: stuckonmarc@gmail.com
Subject: MTA: The MARC Tracker System is temporarily unavailable. We are working toget it back on line ASAP
Sent: Oct 15, 2009 6:01 AM

ALL MARC COMMUTERS: The MARC Tracker System is temporarily unavailable. We are working to get it back on line ASAP.

October 15, 2009 5:58 AM

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

'You got good boots...'

'That makes my job easy,' said Carlos, the shoe shiner at Penn Station. Five minutes and eight dollars bought me a professional shine that has my brown leather boots looking like new. Try out Carlos' chair sometime if your shoes are scuffed and you have time to burn while awaiting a delayed train (this morning it's the 7:40 to DC).
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

More Dresser on returned locomotives

In case you haven't read it yet, here's the link to Dresser's article in today's Sun about four rehabbed locomotives that are back home at Penn Station. Back but not in service. An MTA spokesman tells Dresser that the engines need to undergo a few more rounds of tests before they're put to work, hopefully as early as next week. The spokesman also tells dresser that "MTA expects to deploy the first two new diesel engines by the end of this year and to add two per month next year." Let's all keep our fingers crossed...

Early

Tonight, for the first time since I started taking it in June 2008, the 440 was three minutes early getting into Baltimore!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines?

The Sun's Dresser has a cautious blog post about the possible return of two electric MARC locomotives. He quotes an Amtrak spokesman reporting that after three years in a repair shop in Delaware, the locomotives may return home to Maryland by the end of the year. The returned locomotives could alleviate crowding and delays, Dresser says. Check out tomorrow's Sun for more details.

MARC conducter keeps me honest

My boyfriend and I try to ride our bikes to work (well partway for me as I bike from my house in Fell's to Penn Station and then take the Penn Line to DC) at least three times a week. When I bike to work I wear gym clothes and change at the office. A friendly Penn Line conductor noticed and inquired about why I'm sometimes in slacks and other times wearing sweats. He gave me kudos on doing the 20-minute ride - with hills.

But now he's keeping me honest. This morning, when I showed up in a silk skirt and flats, he shot me a disapproving look. I explained that we'd done the 40-mile Tour du Port yesterday and my thighs were still aching.

"Forty miles? Then the 20 minutes should have been easy," was his retort. Thanks to the conductor I've got someone to keep me from resorting to laziness in the mornings.