What a Way to Run a Railroad - An Alternate History of Eastern Railroading
- Thread starter Binky the Clown
- Start date
Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't updated this TL in awhile. I've been busy with my job and I've also been on vacation for the past week, but I haven't been slacking off. On the contrary, I've been going through most of my railroad books and writing down important facts and statistics that I plan on using for my TL. 
I often like to think of the L&N and the Southern as southern counterparts to the PRR and the NYC. Both the L&N and PRR were railroads who relied on bulk commodities and had fairly stagnant corporate cultures, while the Southern and the NYC relied on merchandise traffic and tended to be innovators.
I'm glad that there's people on AH.com who are interested in railroad history. Infact, my first Alternate History was railroad-related - I actually posted it on a railfan site. Back then, I didn't understand things like the butterfly effect, so quite a bit of it is convergent. I made several posts under the username GulfRail about a scenario in which the Pennsylvania and the New York Central didn't merge, and what effects I thought that would have on the railroad scene in the east. If you guys want to see the ramblings of a 17-year old railfan, feel free to check it out. I made several posts, so you might have to go through multiple pages.
Fun Fact: I currently volunteer at a restored ACL depot outside of Saint Petersburg.
I often like to think of the L&N and the Southern as southern counterparts to the PRR and the NYC. Both the L&N and PRR were railroads who relied on bulk commodities and had fairly stagnant corporate cultures, while the Southern and the NYC relied on merchandise traffic and tended to be innovators.No problem.I didn't know you were a railfan...sorry for bumping.
This should be interesting.
I'm glad that there's people on AH.com who are interested in railroad history. Infact, my first Alternate History was railroad-related - I actually posted it on a railfan site. Back then, I didn't understand things like the butterfly effect, so quite a bit of it is convergent. I made several posts under the username GulfRail about a scenario in which the Pennsylvania and the New York Central didn't merge, and what effects I thought that would have on the railroad scene in the east. If you guys want to see the ramblings of a 17-year old railfan, feel free to check it out. I made several posts, so you might have to go through multiple pages.
Fun Fact: I currently volunteer at a restored ACL depot outside of Saint Petersburg.
My Grandfather was a conductor on the original Norfolk Southern, ACL, Santa Fe, And Seaboard. And he basically have the entire national passenger train schedule memorized, He regularly could cut 2 days of travel time for troops on leave in WW2 by creative routing.
I demand a Nickel Plate-wank!
We must see hundreds of 2-8-4 Berkshires roaming the rails!
We must see hundreds of 2-8-4 Berkshires roaming the rails!
Funny you should mention the Nickel Plate: I'll be addressing them later ITTL.
This is awesome. My Uncle is a Natural Gas Shipper, and works a lot on these lines. It is nice to see a timeline exploring it. I have noticed the common belief that the U.S. Rail System is bad, when really it simply has different priorities. The American Freight Rail System is the cheapest in the world as well as one of the best. Other nations have a much higher reliance on truckers than us because of their weaker rail systems. Now, I want to see U.S. Freight rule the day, show all of them Europeans and Asians what we think of their fancypants maglev/bullet trains.
Hey, this is kingbaldrick here. I'd like to apologize to everyone who's been waiting so patiently for an update. I've been suffering from a bit of writers-block lately, so I've been having trouble getting my ideas out of my head and onto paper. In addition, I've also started another semester of college, so I'm probably going to be less active on AH.com in general. I am thankful for the positive response I've gotten from my TL so far, and I hope that I will be able to publish another update sooner rather than later.