BLESS ME THIS IS PLEASANT, RIDING ON THE RAIL. The weekend's weather featured one blustery Saturday, just right for winding up a conference, and one cool sunny Sunday. Compare and contrast: making 300 km/h on a German Inter-City with riding a hayride car (a flatcar fitted with railings and bales of hay) behind two interurban coaches on a preservation railroad. But both are applications of the electric railway principle. And there were several well-restored examples of the interurban art form placed in the sunlight. Pictures later. Today is another good day for research.