Sandy Johnston
@sandypsj.bsky.social
Transit geek. Planner. Cat dad. Cubs fan. Deputy Director of Regional Transit Planning at MBTA. Blogging much less than I'd like at www.itineranturbanist.wordpress.com.
Opinions my own.
Opinions my own.
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Metro doesn't really want to be in the land use business though and they are feeling pressure to deliver the voter mandated project list. If you put blinders on and are schedule driven all of your projects have slipped by years and keep slipping.
January 23, 2026 at 1:42 AM
Metro doesn't really want to be in the land use business though and they are feeling pressure to deliver the voter mandated project list. If you put blinders on and are schedule driven all of your projects have slipped by years and keep slipping.
My presumption is that this would be board-driven but it seems like it was presented as a staff recommendation? I am...morbidly fascinated by the dynamics here.
L.A. Metro, the main transit operator for Los Angeles, just voted to oppose SB 79, a law legalizing the construction of housing near stations. You can't make this stuff up. Legislators should remember this the next time they come to Sacramento begging for more money.
laist.com/news/housing...
laist.com/news/housing...
LA transit agency seeks to override state law allowing more homes near train and bus lines
The L.A. Metro Board of Directors voted to oppose implementation of SB 79, calling for a countywide exemption.
laist.com
January 23, 2026 at 1:30 AM
My presumption is that this would be board-driven but it seems like it was presented as a staff recommendation? I am...morbidly fascinated by the dynamics here.
Amusing stories of late-19th-century anti-trolley NIMBYism in Kirkwood, MO in this document: kirkwoodhistoricalsociety.com/wp-content/u...
kirkwoodhistoricalsociety.com
January 23, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Amusing stories of late-19th-century anti-trolley NIMBYism in Kirkwood, MO in this document: kirkwoodhistoricalsociety.com/wp-content/u...
Spelled Art Deco wrong
one thing I am stridently anti-populist on is brutalism. fuck you and your gaudy ass fake columns, your QVC hog architecture. there is one correct aesthetic for government buildings, and it is brutalism.
January 22, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Spelled Art Deco wrong
Interurban remains: the line linking the Shore Line Electric (CT) and United Railways (RI) systems left a couple of causeways across a reservoir in Killingly, CT. www.google.com/maps/@41.843...
January 22, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Interurban remains: the line linking the Shore Line Electric (CT) and United Railways (RI) systems left a couple of causeways across a reservoir in Killingly, CT. www.google.com/maps/@41.843...
Really useful language to summarize something I've struggled with for a long time. I'd add that the *very fact that these two peoples often aren't the same* should lead us to understand geography/ethnic connections as constantly fluid...but we're bad at thinking that way.
it would be good if we had separate words for 'the first people ever to settle a particular territory' and 'the people who were there when the early modern wave of European colonization hit', because 'indigenous' doing double duty for both often confuses people.
January 22, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Really useful language to summarize something I've struggled with for a long time. I'd add that the *very fact that these two peoples often aren't the same* should lead us to understand geography/ethnic connections as constantly fluid...but we're bad at thinking that way.
Yikes, looks like a bridge has collapsed under the weight of a road slug on Portland & Western's Toledo, OR branch. h/t The Lincoln County Scan. www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
January 21, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Yikes, looks like a bridge has collapsed under the weight of a road slug on Portland & Western's Toledo, OR branch. h/t The Lincoln County Scan. www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
South wall of the former Guyon Hotel, 4000 W. Washington Blvd. in Chicago. It continues to deteriorate with no savior in sight. Built in 1927, Jens Jensen (not the landscape architect), architect. It is a riot of terra cotta decoration and deserves a better fate.
January 20, 2026 at 6:35 PM
South wall of the former Guyon Hotel, 4000 W. Washington Blvd. in Chicago. It continues to deteriorate with no savior in sight. Built in 1927, Jens Jensen (not the landscape architect), architect. It is a riot of terra cotta decoration and deserves a better fate.
What an excellent headline, ESPN.
January 20, 2026 at 2:41 AM
What an excellent headline, ESPN.
Newest operational loco: SD-24 in the extremely cool EMD demonstrator livery
January 20, 2026 at 1:08 AM
Newest operational loco: SD-24 in the extremely cool EMD demonstrator livery
Obligatory mini snowcat content
January 19, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Obligatory mini snowcat content
I seem to have lost my heavy-duty winter gloves (I have decent light ones). Anybody have recs? Ideally somewhat windproof.
January 19, 2026 at 2:05 AM
I seem to have lost my heavy-duty winter gloves (I have decent light ones). Anybody have recs? Ideally somewhat windproof.
The amazing McCook quarry
January 18, 2026 at 7:26 PM
The amazing McCook quarry
TIL that to comply with the City of Chicago's anti-steam ordinance the IC originally bought electric switchers for the lakefront yard, but then all involved decided diesels were OK
www.facebook.com/share/1FWfxF...
www.facebook.com/share/1FWfxF...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 18, 2026 at 1:45 AM
TIL that to comply with the City of Chicago's anti-steam ordinance the IC originally bought electric switchers for the lakefront yard, but then all involved decided diesels were OK
www.facebook.com/share/1FWfxF...
www.facebook.com/share/1FWfxF...
Partial South Shore cab ride video, really emphasizes how slow and inefficient the routing into South Bend Airport is
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRib...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRib...
See the South Shore Line Railway from their Train number 22!
YouTube video by Russell Sharp Train Videos
www.youtube.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Partial South Shore cab ride video, really emphasizes how slow and inefficient the routing into South Bend Airport is
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRib...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRib...
Nice video on the last days of electric power on the Milwaukee Road, focusing on some of the technical and asset condition factors that led to the demise of electric traction. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2fA...
MILWAUKEE ROAD ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES - COLOR MOVIE FILMS
YouTube video by Charles Smiley Presents Videos
www.youtube.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Nice video on the last days of electric power on the Milwaukee Road, focusing on some of the technical and asset condition factors that led to the demise of electric traction. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2fA...
Tonight's other layout accomplishment: getting my Chicago & Eastern Illinois GP-35 and GP-7 speed matched
January 15, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Tonight's other layout accomplishment: getting my Chicago & Eastern Illinois GP-35 and GP-7 speed matched
Finally tracked down a Bachmann 70-tonner in the livery used by the Salzberg shortlines. Runs ok but a little loud. The plan is for this to eventually get custom decals for the Fort Dodge, Des Moines, & Southern, a former interurban eventually merged into C&NW.
January 15, 2026 at 12:29 AM
Finally tracked down a Bachmann 70-tonner in the livery used by the Salzberg shortlines. Runs ok but a little loud. The plan is for this to eventually get custom decals for the Fort Dodge, Des Moines, & Southern, a former interurban eventually merged into C&NW.
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Exactly this.
I've met plenty of people who ride MTA buses to the Bee-Line (or vice versa) for their commute because it's a single $3 fare instead of the exorbitant Metro-North fare.
That not only costs them extra hours a day, it costs the public: trains are cheaper to per passenger than buses!
I've met plenty of people who ride MTA buses to the Bee-Line (or vice versa) for their commute because it's a single $3 fare instead of the exorbitant Metro-North fare.
That not only costs them extra hours a day, it costs the public: trains are cheaper to per passenger than buses!
Except commuter rail. The LIRR and Metro-North are actually part of the problem. $243.50 for a monthly pass to get from Yonkers to Grand Central, and then another $120+ a month in subway rides to get beyond Grand Central really is an affordability problem.
On today's meeting, MTA's board chair said (paraphrasing): "Transit is not part of the affordability problem; transit is part of the affordability solution.”
and you know what? that's right.
and you know what? that's right.
January 14, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Exactly this.
I've met plenty of people who ride MTA buses to the Bee-Line (or vice versa) for their commute because it's a single $3 fare instead of the exorbitant Metro-North fare.
That not only costs them extra hours a day, it costs the public: trains are cheaper to per passenger than buses!
I've met plenty of people who ride MTA buses to the Bee-Line (or vice versa) for their commute because it's a single $3 fare instead of the exorbitant Metro-North fare.
That not only costs them extra hours a day, it costs the public: trains are cheaper to per passenger than buses!
Apropos of the earlier conversation about the unpleasantness of the potential 125th St subway-elevated transfer, the elevated station does need an enclosure...how about taking inspiration from Chicago? You can call it 125th-Manhattanville-Columbia ;-)
January 14, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Apropos of the earlier conversation about the unpleasantness of the potential 125th St subway-elevated transfer, the elevated station does need an enclosure...how about taking inspiration from Chicago? You can call it 125th-Manhattanville-Columbia ;-)
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Governor Hochul will announce an extension of the Second Avenue Subway to 125th and Broadway in her State of the State address on Tuesday. buff.ly/2qxRQs6
Westward Ho! Hochul Proposes to Extend Second Ave. Subway Along 125th Street to Broadway - Streetsblog New York City
The next step for the Second Avenue Subway is west across 125th Street to Broadway, Gov. Hochul will announce Tuesday.
nyc.streetsblog.org
January 13, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Governor Hochul will announce an extension of the Second Avenue Subway to 125th and Broadway in her State of the State address on Tuesday. buff.ly/2qxRQs6
Building a train bridge was always the logical option.
New cost estimates have revealed that the funding gap on Washington and Oregon's joint megaproject to widen I-5 between the two states has grown to anywhere from $5 billion to $13 billion. The project as we know it is likely doomed.
www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/12/t...
www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/12/t...
The Pacific Northwest’s Biggest Highway Project Could be Cooked » The Urbanist
# New cost estimates on the long-planned Interstate Bridge Replacement over the Columbia River reveal a funding gap that could range from $5 billion to a staggering $13 billion, an amount that neither...
www.theurbanist.org
January 12, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Building a train bridge was always the logical option.
OPINION: Rather than reflecting some sort of democratic ideal of local control, Boston’s process empowers those who already have housing to block housing for those who do not.
Boston’s broken land use system blocks the homes we desperately need - CommonWealth Beacon
Rather than reflecting some sort of democratic ideal of local control, Boston’s process empowers those who already have housing to block housing for those who do not.
buff.ly
January 12, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Who should I be following on Iran?
January 11, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Who should I be following on Iran?