I must wonder- How powerful might railroads be now, if more of their networks were still in place? They could really give the trucking industry some stiff competition. However, more rails are being lifted every day... Boxcab E50
...And yet, more capacity is needed daily. And while hikers and mountain bikers ride along the best-engineered routes thru the mountains, trains stack up and clog the nations railroad corridors.
To be fair, I think the Milwaukee's pacific extension is the only track of signifigance that would prove more valuable now then it did then. Sure, a bunch of track has been pulled up in the east, but much of it would still be of little value. There are some Grainger lines that it might be nice to have, but many of those are still being operated. I mean really, what railroad folded over the last 3 decades that would have saved BNSF the expense of triple tracking Cajon and double tracking the rest of the Transcon?
One must understand that some Railroads are pretty Stupid than others. While most of our Rail lines are being Abandoned across this country. Others are clogged to the point of no return. More Traffic is pouring into the Rail system everyday. And when some of those lines out their already get clogged,all hell breaks loose. Other older Abandoned lines should be opened up to elevate some of the congestion. Look at the ex-D&RGW's line,Tennessee pass. It just sits Dead when it could be used as a back up line. With the high price of Diesel going through the roof. More and more Freight is being loaded up on the Rails than had ever for seen. Railroads just don't think. There are hundreds of thousands of Abandoned Rail lines that could see Trains again. But our Nations Stupid Railroads don't see that. Opening up an Abandoned line will help relieve some of the pressure points along the line. When you have that many Trains on only one or two Tracks to follow and more are bunching up from behind. You have yourself a major problem on your hands. But the Railroads don't see that. Look what happened Later during the UP/SP Merger. Meltdown!. Later.
Actually, the Rock Island Line to Colorado Springs and Denver might be a decent player. But what I was inferring, was not about missing any transcon. But the distribution network from those still existing. Our railroads have become much like a human body, stripped of most blood transport venues, except major arteries. Boxcab E50
But those lines were of only marginal effectivness even now. Railroads aren't a be all end all for collecting desperate goods. Not when roads will be built anyway. Short haul trucking is extremely competitive still. Which isn't to say we aren't worse off with the tracks gone, but I don't know that those kinds of lines really represent the biggest problem in our transportation network compared to other issues. If Tennessee pass went somewhere worth going at a reasonable expense it would be in use. A couple months ago UP ran a track geometry car over the line didn't they? BNSF has the original Transcon through Raton pass to alieviate traffic, yet they don't use it. The track's there. It's in good shape due to passenger traffic yet they don't need or want it. Why? And I don't think it's fair to blame the UP/SP meltdown on closing secondary lines. UP didn't close much of anything except what? The Modoc? SP had been robbing Peter to pay Paul and struggling to get the Sunset route into something effective. They weren't "closing" major routes wholesale. As for the Rock Island line, I hesitated to mention it, cause I couldn't remember how much of it really doesn't exist anymore, but I made it central to my Fictional model railroad. It's the grainger link on my 3rd US transcon that was carved out of a failing UP.
We really can't know the effectiveness of those feeder lines which are currently gone. I'm really looking at losses of the past four decades. Not just recently. Not just freight use, but also passenger potential. Trucks can certainly get the job done faster. But diesel is now up to $4.09 where I am located, and will it keep rising? That cost alone may bring the playing field much closer. As some truckers are hurting right now. Boxcab E50
I think we need some kind of national "light freight system" to get more trucks off the roads and maximize their fuel efficiency. If all truck trailers were standardized to be able to run on roads and light rail they could do their work around town on pavement of get on the tracks for inter city runs. There's no reason for one tractor to pull one or two trailers from Sacramento to LA when a light rail loco could pull say 25 trailers with one driver. The inter city trucking could co-ordinate with the local trucking so there would be available local tractors to deliver the arriving and departing trailers. The trailers would need to be completely self railing and self un-railing so they could be easily dropped off anywhere along the way and picked up by the local tractor. As the cost of fuel increases the cost of time is not as important, a few more hours in transit is worth the fuel savings. The present railroads are not interested in high value service, they want to maximize the tonnage moved at low rates so either a completely new industry or national network similar to the highway system would be the most efficient way to get this off the ground.....dave
It's ideas such as this, which are a reason I noted the removal of branch lines. Eventually, the taxpayers will be paying to replace a lot of rail routes. Paying dearly. Boxcab E50
