RAIL PROFESSIONALS, RATHER THAN RAIL ENTHUSIASTS. The Overhead Wire issues a transfer to a transit nerd quiz.

You know you are a mass transit geek if…

10. You get almost giddy at the idea of a compressed-natural-gas-hyrbrid-electric-powered city bus.

No, but a dual-mode trolleybus with an auxiliary diesel appeals.

9. The number of transit maps you own exceeds the number of cities you’ve actually visited.

No, although I know somebody for whom this might be true.

8. When visiting a new city, you make a point to ride its light rail, subway, bus, or ferry system. Even if–especially if–you have no where to go, because, well, duh.

Guilty as charged.

7. You know that intra-city buses are not much better than cars in terms of per-passenger-mile fuel efficiency, but still love them anyway.

Bleah.

6. You used subway tiling in your latest home renovation project. In the living room.

No. The hall is a gallery for South Shore Line posters.

5. You keep a running list of the transit systems you’ve ridden. With pictures.

Guilty as charged.

4. You know what a PCC car is, and where you can still ride one.

Here's a better description of the car, and with one running 25 miles from here, another occasionally running at East Troy, and a fleet in Kenosha, you bet I have ridden more than one.

3. You’ve had the yes, but the highway system was subsidized, too argument more times than you can count.

Afraid so, but if somebody wants to buy me a Sprecher, or a peppermint mocha twist, and then entice me into that conversation, I promise not to get nasty.

2. Your entire knowledge of the Spanish language consists of: No se apoye contra la puerta (Do not lean against the doors.)

Quiero comprar un burrito con salsa caliente, por favor.

1. You are convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but wholeheartedly believe in the National City Lines conspiracy.

I will brook no argument to the contrary about Oswald's guilt, Sprecher or mocha or other inducements notwithstanding.

Roger Rabbit is a cartoon. The conspiracy is a canard. (Scroll and scroll.)

The last sustainable trolley companies were collateral damage in the New Deal. As I noted,

I've commented frequently on the Public Utility Holding Company Act (keep scrolling) and welcome recognition of its side consequences, particularly when it comes from sources that would ordinarily object to iconoclasm where Saint Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose obsession with Samuel Insull led to the passage of the Act, is concerned.

Offers of Sprecher or coffee, or, with Christmas coming, Peppermint Patty or Tom and Jerry to debate that are welcome.