Any ideas for a new passenger train I can introduce in my TL's 1948?

How about the ATSF upgrading the San Diegian by electrifying their route to compete with the new SP route?

As for new passenger trains... A route from Los Angeles to Mexico City seems logical, especially with the Mexican oil boom you plan on writing.
 
Possible Locations for my TL's Steamtown, anyone?

I would prefer it

So far I have:
- Ex-DL&W yards in Scranton
- Ex-CNJ yards in Ashley
- Ex-NYO&W branch yard in Scranton.

Any other ideas? Ideally, it would be in NE Pennsylvania, but other ideas for in the Northeast are welcome.
 
If anyone has ideas, here are some railroads I am unsure about in the merger eras.

Baltimore & Ohio
- Option 1: Merged into New York Central, retaining the NYC name
- Option 2: Remains independent by absorbing the RDG/CNJ
- Option 3: Becomes part of my TL's Chessie System. Which ITTL is all the Van Sweringen roads plus the Lackawanna

Reading/Jersey Central
- Option 1: Merged into B&O
- Option 2: Acquired by the PRR when they fall in the 70s

Wabash/Lehigh Valley

- Option 1: Merged into the PRR
- Option 2: Merged into Canadian Pacific

Boston & Maine
- Option 1: Merged into the PRR
- Option 2: Stays independent, unlike the New Haven, by absorbing the Maine Central and B&A

Sorry about a late reply but life has kept me away from the interwebs for a while...but, fwiw at this point in time, I would say:

-B&O almost HAS to have RDG/CNJ. Without their access to the port of New York/New Jersey, an independent B&O is a really sick man, indeed. Even as a merger partner, it wouldn't be worth near as much to either the NYC or the C&O. They are going to get it for a song, either just before or from the bankruptcy court.

-If anyone else gets the RDG/CNJ I can't see any regulated environment letting the Pennsy get ahold of it. The monopoly of coal lines and NY/NJ access would be too overwhelming. Expect a chorus of singed cats no matter what.

-WAB/LV makes perfect sense with the PRR, and there was a sufficient otl relationship that you can pull it off easily enough imo. But...with the CP? Now that is intriguing! I have to admit that I haven't caught up on all the missed posts in this thread so let me ask, does CP still have otl Soo Line (WC, DSS&A, MStP&SSteM)? If so, acquiring the WAB will provide CP with not only access to Chicago from the east, but St. Louis and Omaha. That leaves a tantalizing gap between Omaha and the Twin Cities. Two candidates to close that "iron circle" that spring to my mind: the Chicago Great Western (which iirc, you have had part of the AT&SF?), or...the Minneapolis & Saint Louis. The Louie becomes a trunk line! I think this intrigues me the most on this list.

The B&M has a chance at independence with an all-northern New England (MEC and B&A) merger...but where have you put the Delaware & Hudson? A combination with that (or with whoever has that, if not the NYC) would make for a nice New England regional, or access to New England for someone. (Fwiw, I always thought that would combine well with the ERIE.)
 
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When do you think that should happen? and where could I start?

Perhaps we could see the NdeM split up earlier than OTL?

Probably in the 30s starting off either by SP or ATSF, depending on the season they could be Pullman sleepers or tourist coaches. After the Oil rush, the train could be upgraded as a diesel streamliner and ideally cut the travel time under a day with improved equipment and track conditions within Mexico.
 
It was part of the Southern Pacific system that connected San Diego to Yuma where the SP was.
It was prone to washouts, fires, rockslides, and other hazards, it ran until 1978 when a tropical storm caused major portions of the line to be damaged beyond it could be repaired economically.
The Metropolitan Transit System bought the right of way and used them to build the San Diego Trolley System.
So I have always wondered what if the SP was able to improve the railroad so that it could withstand the damages it received.

It was a long, hard (and international) route to get to a place that the AT&SF got to with water level ease. Another problem is that it was only of value for longer haul, eastbound traffic (AT&SF just had to take traffic to Los Angeles, and add it to traffic to/from there.

It would be possible to upgrade, rebuild, and improve it into an reliable route (in a geographically terrible area), but I cannot imagine that game as being worth the candle. Unless San Diego becomes the container port LA has, there isn't enough traffic going in the right direction.
 
-WAB/LV makes perfect sense with the PRR, and there was a sufficient otl relationship that you can pull it off easily enough imo. But...with the CP? Now that is intriguing! I have to admit that I haven't caught up on all the missed posts in this thread so let me ask, does CP still have otl Soo Line (WC, DSS&A, MStP&SSteM)? If so, acquiring the WAB will provide CP with not only access to Chicago from the east, but St. Louis and Omaha. That leaves a tantalizing gap between Omaha and the Twin Cities. Two candidates to close that "iron circle" that spring to my mind: the Chicago Great Western (which iirc, you have ad part of the AT&SF?), or...the Minneapolis & Saint Louis. The Louie becomes a trunk line! I think this intrigues me the most on this list.

Yes. So I may have TTL be WC, DSS&A, MStP&SSteM, and WAB going to the CP.

While the CN can o with SP to get the MILW stake instead. As CP already has too big control in the Midwest.
 
I'm also unsure of what to do with the Missouri Pacific now that BN is no longer butterflied ITTL.

So far, I saw it getting the CGW then joining with C&NW.

I was thinking I could have it be absorbed into the Union Pacific. Whereas the MKT instead goes to BN with ATSf getting the SLSF.

Or the MoPac could be semi-independent by going elsewhere other than CNW as it becomes part of the UP.
 
@Andrew Boyd, what railroads exist in ITTL 2019 and lines that would be incorporated. I think in made a map of them to give a better vision. And what yould be electric routes and HSR lines?

And did you take the drawings o send to you? What are you planning make?

And what you think about the Boston & Western railroad?
 
@Andrew Boyd, what railroads exist in ITTL 2019 and lines that would be incorporated. I think in made a map of them to give a better vision.
Ok, first of I was thinking Santa Fe gets the Frisco. Then the M&StL and a Wabash line from La Plata, MO to Aida, IA to connect it all.

Southern Pacific absorbs the Cotton Belt. Then uses the Trona shortline to make the Las Vegas lines. Whereas further east, they'll likely get the Rock Island, and sell of that railroad's line to Illinois Central.
 
This is something I've been pondering for a while.

An airport serving as the base for a vast intermodal facility. Including a new Union Station, train-truck-plane transfer, the works.

So far, I've thought of Midway Airport as an ideal example for Chicago. With JFK International being the counterpart for New York. Whereas @isayyo2 has proposed Oakland International as one for the San Fransisco area with BARTs, streetcars, and in my TL four railroads: Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Rio Grande, and Union Pacific (through owning 50% of the Central Pacific).

Other ideas are welcome on this front.
 
So far, here are the airports I can imagine being the base for major intermodal transit in both freight and passenger. Complete with a Union Station in the same building as the airport. If anyone has an idea for which airport would work best for such a thing, go ahead and comment.

- New York, NY
- Chicago, IL
- St. Louis, MO
- Atlanta, GA
- Denver, CO
- Ft. Worth/Dallas, TX
- Los Angeles, CA
- San Fransisco, CA
- Portland, OR
- Seattle, WA
- Miami, FL
 
Do you guys think I should have Truman de-regulate the railroads? If so, maybe in 1948, and then what de-regulations should I allow?

I've usually contemplated Eisenhower doing something alongside the interstate highway program, but Truman works as well. What is your focus though? If you're looking for it to meaningfully prevent the decline deregulation is going to have to let railroads negotiate freight rates much earlier. Loosening anti-trust in terms of intermodal operations and involvement with utilities might help in some places, but the big issues with regulation really was freight rates being so inflexible as to make abandonment more palatable than the investment needed to compete successfully with trucking.

It's a bit of a trope at this point, but what I always picture as making a real difference would be the interstate program being accompanied with something to subsidize loans to railroads, deregulation of freight rates and increased scrutiny of both abandonment and mergers.
 
It's a bit of a trope at this point, but what I always picture as making a real difference would be the interstate program being accompanied with something to subsidize loans to railroads, deregulation of freight rates and increased scrutiny of both abandonment and mergers.
That's mostly what I had in mind. But I have also considered letting the railroads set their own passenger fares.
 
Passenger fares had more flexibility as things were iirc, and would imo be a given if freight was deregulated. Fares were n't relaly the issue here, and what inroads CAN be made to saving passenger traffic will, imo come from infrastructure investment. Even with these changes I don't think the prospects for private sector passenger service are all that good - maybe good enough that we don't get Amtrak, but a (generally, there will certainly be locations where things work out fairly well if the railroads know they're stuck with passengers and have access to funds) thriving, healthy and privately driven American intercity passenger system seems like a stretch in any scenario where the Interstates and jetliners exist.
 
Passenger fares had more flexibility as things were iirc, and would imo be a given if freight was deregulated. Fares were n't relaly the issue here, and what inroads CAN be made to saving passenger traffic will, imo come from infrastructure investment. Even with these changes I don't think the prospects for private sector passenger service are all that good - maybe good enough that we don't get Amtrak, but a (generally, there will certainly be locations where things work out fairly well if the railroads know they're stuck with passengers and have access to funds) thriving, healthy and privately driven American intercity passenger system seems like a stretch in any scenario where the Interstates and jetliners exist.
Well, the TL it built from the ideas here does have trollies build lines into suburbs. Not to mention the streetcar conspiracy being exposed.
 
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