Hate to be that person but timing cars between mile markers gives you average speed, not the speed at any one point. A train could be doing 40 at the marker and 55 by the middle, and you'd never know it from a stopwatch. Your mileage may vary depending on track, but on a grade or coming out of a curve that average can hide a lot. Still beats eyeballing it though, so I get why Dale's trick stuck. And for what it's worth, most crews I've been around just radio the dispatcher or check the event recorder if they need real numbers.

Did that tour get you hooked too? I know what you mean about seeing old bindings in person, it really does make you look at your own stitches differently.

Those 2 year stickers are there for a reason, not fine print nobody reads. Neighbor got lucky-ish, she's only got curling, not a grease fire. Ceramic is worth the extra cash, no way around it.