4 ms·

So I took a consulting job in a small town in Illinois called Quincy. I couldn't fly there without connecting in St. Louis, but I could take the train from Chic

by Loughla 7mo ago

So I took a consulting job in a small town in Illinois called Quincy. I couldn't fly there without connecting in St. Louis, but I could take the train from Chicago. It was billed at 6 hours. It absolutely left on time but had to wait for three freight trains on the way. 9 hours later we got to the "station". One of the other passengers said that their previous trip was cancelled and Amtrak bought everyone bus tickets. In the Midwest, there are no guarantees with trains other than you'll get there. Eventually.

stockresearcher 7mo ago
Quincy IL, the capital of Forgottonia. Used to be a bigger city, was destroyed by politics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgottonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgottonia
- Loughla 7mo ago
  From talking to people there, it seems like Quincy itself was less destroyed by politics and more just sort of left to rot by families with "important names" in the area who are resistant to change. No idea which is accurate, that's just a consistent theme from almost every conversation when I was consulting there.
  - SoftTalker 7mo ago
    Common pattern in small-ish towns, where there is a core of older wealthy people who are stereotypical NIMBYs running everything, and who want to keep their quaint little town as it is. Problem is that forces all the young people to move away to find opportunity, and then 50 years later the town is dying.
    - Loughla 7mo ago
      Yeah if I can add. The lack of anything for someone 18-24 years old there was kind of startling. There is zero incentive for youth to stay in that town other than family, I suppose. But the weird thing was, it was kind of a joke. Nobody took it seriously. They just kind of laughed and rolled their eyes. It was weird.
linsomniac 7mo ago
>So I took a consulting job in a small town in Illinois called Quincy. Adams Internet/Telco/Fiber? Same. It always impressed me how early they were to fiber to the home down there in southwestern IL. ~15 years ago I made that same trip: Chicago down to Quincy then over to Steeleville and then to St Louis to drop off the rental car and fly back home. They really make the Coop system work out there.
- Loughla 7mo ago
  Not them but I was legit impressed by the fiber coverage. They have towns of like 30 people with gig access, and all the roads between access points as well. It's kind of astonishing. Seeing their setup is actually what spurred me to put together a coop at home to run fiber for the county. Adams definitely knows what they're doing when it comes to managing resources in a rural area
  - linsomniac 7mo ago
    The even more impressive thing is that they've had gig fiber for at least a decade, 15+ years. My town (nowhere near as rural) got us gig to the home municipal fiber 3-4 years ago, so 15 years was really impressive. I used to do sys admin consulting for them, they had really great people.
Melatonic 7mo ago
Freight is all you have in some places in the midwest. Ohio, for example, used to have some very cool passenger railway stations. Unfortunately now there is basically zero passenger rail in the entire state.

by Loughla 7mo ago

stockresearcher 7mo ago

Quincy IL, the capital of Forgottonia. Used to be a bigger city, was destroyed by politics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgottonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgottonia

Loughla 7mo ago
From talking to people there, it seems like Quincy itself was less destroyed by politics and more just sort of left to rot by families with "important names" in the area who are resistant to change. No idea which is accurate, that's just a consistent theme from almost every conversation when I was consulting there.
- SoftTalker 7mo ago
  Common pattern in small-ish towns, where there is a core of older wealthy people who are stereotypical NIMBYs running everything, and who want to keep their quaint little town as it is. Problem is that forces all the young people to move away to find opportunity, and then 50 years later the town is dying.
  - Loughla 7mo ago
    Yeah if I can add. The lack of anything for someone 18-24 years old there was kind of startling. There is zero incentive for youth to stay in that town other than family, I suppose. But the weird thing was, it was kind of a joke. Nobody took it seriously. They just kind of laughed and rolled their eyes. It was weird.

linsomniac 7mo ago

>So I took a consulting job in a small town in Illinois called Quincy. Adams Internet/Telco/Fiber? Same. It always impressed me how early they were to fiber to the home down there in southwestern IL. ~15 years ago I made that same trip: Chicago down to Quincy then over to Steeleville and then to St Louis to drop off the rental car and fly back home. They really make the Coop system work out there.

Loughla 7mo ago
Not them but I was legit impressed by the fiber coverage. They have towns of like 30 people with gig access, and all the roads between access points as well. It's kind of astonishing. Seeing their setup is actually what spurred me to put together a coop at home to run fiber for the county. Adams definitely knows what they're doing when it comes to managing resources in a rural area
- linsomniac 7mo ago
  The even more impressive thing is that they've had gig fiber for at least a decade, 15+ years. My town (nowhere near as rural) got us gig to the home municipal fiber 3-4 years ago, so 15 years was really impressive. I used to do sys admin consulting for them, they had really great people.

Melatonic 7mo ago

Freight is all you have in some places in the midwest. Ohio, for example, used to have some very cool passenger railway stations. Unfortunately now there is basically zero passenger rail in the entire state.