That was a good lesson in "what ifs?" Like much of history it points to those deals made over whisky and card games in the back of saloons and in elegant parlors. Thanks for introducing us to another area of railroad history, TH.
The geographic unstability was the San Andreas fault line. One has to understand that seismically active fault is very close to the Northwestern Pacific mainline.
I think if the Santa Fe had merged/acquired the Rio Grande and had its second transcon to Northern California, I can't really see a BNSF merger going. Burlington Northern would still have merged as James J Hill intended - perhaps earlier. UP and SP would have merged - also earlier. And Santa Fe would control Rio Grande and Western Pacific - giving three main western railroads - with decent competition on the routes into california, since from say Oakland you could ship on either UP or SF etc. I do wonder how a truly transcontinental merger would have gone eg. A Southern and Pacific Merger between SP and Southern Railway - I wonder if this would have triggered various other mergers between western and eastern railroads?
Alternate history CNW grabs the siskiyou line in the 80's xD There was a trip my friends and I took to Sacramento back in like 2019? And set all alongside the tender of their Cab Forward were pedastools meant then to soon hold original hand drawn maps (like 20+ that were found in a bank vault) that Judah (the guy who did CP's route) had drawn during his many trips along the us alone/alongside his wife across the entirety of the Sierra mountains while planning his railroad. . . I never got to see the exhibit though lol. Maybe if someone has some photos, that would be cool :) Don't forget the railways legitimately attempting to get from ports along the Oregon coast to eastern Oregon over the Coast Range and into the tops of the Cascades! Imagine the railway that went from Newport through Albany and then past what's now Detroit Lake actually getting track laid on the grading they did over the mountains (that i have seen a few photos of from the 60's) without their ships providing funding to the railway constantly running aground on the same exact rock 3 times LOL! Imagine the line from Salem-west over the mountains actually coming to fruition! Or even better yet a line directly from Eugene/Springfield over the cascades into bend! Now that's a line i thought about fan fic-ing in HO xD
This installation was of largely unbuilt routes. When/if I make another, it'll be about built and later abandoned routes. The San Diego line falls more into the second category.
That was a good lesson in "what ifs?" Like much of history it points to those deals made over whisky and card games in the back of saloons and in elegant parlors. Thanks for introducing us to another area of railroad history, TH.
The geographic unstability was the San Andreas fault line. One has to understand that seismically active fault is very close to the Northwestern Pacific mainline.
I think if the Santa Fe had merged/acquired the Rio Grande and had its second transcon to Northern California, I can't really see a BNSF merger going. Burlington Northern would still have merged as James J Hill intended - perhaps earlier. UP and SP would have merged - also earlier. And Santa Fe would control Rio Grande and Western Pacific - giving three main western railroads - with decent competition on the routes into california, since from say Oakland you could ship on either UP or SF etc. I do wonder how a truly transcontinental merger would have gone eg. A Southern and Pacific Merger between SP and Southern Railway - I wonder if this would have triggered various other mergers between western and eastern railroads?
It seem everyone forgot the second transcontinental railroad as well
Alternate history
CNW grabs the siskiyou line in the 80's xD
There was a trip my friends and I took to Sacramento back in like 2019? And set all alongside the tender of their Cab Forward were pedastools meant then to soon hold original hand drawn maps (like 20+ that were found in a bank vault) that Judah (the guy who did CP's route) had drawn during his many trips along the us alone/alongside his wife across the entirety of the Sierra mountains while planning his railroad. . . I never got to see the exhibit though lol.
Maybe if someone has some photos, that would be cool :)
Don't forget the railways legitimately attempting to get from ports along the Oregon coast to eastern Oregon over the Coast Range and into the tops of the Cascades! Imagine the railway that went from Newport through Albany and then past what's now Detroit Lake actually getting track laid on the grading they did over the mountains (that i have seen a few photos of from the 60's) without their ships providing funding to the railway constantly running aground on the same exact rock 3 times LOL!
Imagine the line from Salem-west over the mountains actually coming to fruition! Or even better yet a line directly from Eugene/Springfield over the cascades into bend! Now that's a line i thought about fan fic-ing in HO xD
Didn’t you say at one point that the Rock Island was once planning a transcon? How far did those plans get?
They made it to Tuccumcari, NM where they connected with the Southern Pacific.
You didnt go over The San Diego and Arizona route, the last transcontinental route to be built
This installation was of largely unbuilt routes. When/if I make another, it'll be about built and later abandoned routes. The San Diego line falls more into the second category.
@@thetrainhopper8992 Thank you for the response. Im not sure if I missed you saying that during the video but thank you
Can you post the link to the map you made for this?
Possibly. If I do, the link will be in the discord. I'll have to upload the map to a different account first.
Its up in the Discord in the New Videos tab.