Stories From The World: Vignettes from The Land of Milk and Honey

Insane stuff! What is Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and other Disney parks worldwide like ITTL? Disneyland Paris must've been a success from when it opened, instead of the difficult beginning IOTL.

No idea, but big. There is a bit of an Arms race there too, you see - Walt Disney's Resorts had (I stress had) a huge lead in the world of theme parks until Paramount got the permission to build Paramount Coney Island in 1997 and officially decided to stop screwing around. The Six Flags, Cedar Fair and Universal Studios companies didn't take long to follow suit. Today, Paramount Coney Island is the world's most attended theme park (though if you count it as a whole, Walt Disney World beats it by miles) with a yearly attendance of roughly 35 million, though Walt Disney World combined averages about 60 million a year.
 
FYI, the classes of Amtrak HSR Trains are:

Class A1 (TGV Atlantique)
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier (technology licensed from Alstom)
Built: 1989-1991
In Service: 1991-2016
Number Built: 25 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 10 passenger cars, 419 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Lone Star High Speed Rail System

Class A2 (500 Series Shinkansen)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 1990-1995
In Service: 1992-present
Number Built: 36 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 815 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 200 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line,

Class A3 (ICE 3)
Builders: General Motors EMD, Pullman-Standard, Siemens North America
Built: 1998-2004
In Service: 2001-present
Number Built: 52 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 802 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 210 mph
Location(s) Used: California High-Speed Rail System, all routes

Class A4 (Class 373/1 'Eurostar')
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier, Budd Company, Alstom North America
Built: 1993-1998
In Service: 1995-present
Number Built: 35 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 18 passenger cars, 750 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class A5 (Velaro E)
Builders: General Motors EMD, Pullman-Standard, Siemens North America
Built: 2005-2016
In Service: 2007-present
Number Built: 124 sets
Size: 12 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 604 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: All electrified Amtrak Midwest HSR routes

Class A6 (700T Series Shinkansen)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 2006-2014
In Service: 2007-present
Number Built: 74 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 775 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: All electrified Amtrak Midwest HSR routes

Class A7 (TGV Duplex)
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier, Budd Company, Alstom North America
Built: 2004-2010
In Service: 2005-present
Number Built: 54 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 12 passenger cars, 722 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Lone Star High Speed Rail System, Amtrak Midwest southern routes

Class A8 (Zefiro 380)
Builders: Bombardier, General Electric, Pullman-Standard
Built: 2009-2021
In Service: 2011-present
Number Built: 136 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 900 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph (though capable of 236 mph)
Location(s) Used: California High-Speed Rail System (all routes), Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, some Amtrak Midwest eastern routes

Class B1 (TGV Atlantique)
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier (technology licensed from Alstom)
Built: 1988-1991
In Service: 1991-2010
Number Built: 28 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 8 passenger cars, 322 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Lone Star High Speed Rail System

Class B2 (500 Series Shinkansen)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 1992-1996
In Service: 1993-2015
Number Built: 24 sets
Size: 10 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 492 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 200 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class B3 (ICE 3)
Builders: General Motors EMD, Pullman-Standard, Siemens North America
Built: 1998-2004
In Service: 2001-present
Number Built: 55 sets
Size: 8 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 420 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 210 mph
Location(s) Used: California High-Speed Rail System, all routes

Class B4 (E2-1000 Series)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 2004-2014
In Service: 2006-present
Number Built: 66 sets
Size: 10 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 470 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 175 mph
Location(s) Used: Florida High-Speed Rail Network (all routes), Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class B5 (W7 Series)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 2014-2021
In Service: 2015-present
Number Built: 90 sets
Size: 10 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 470 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 175 mph
Location(s) Used: Florida High-Speed Rail Network (all routes), Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class C1 (LRC-3)
Builders: Bombardier, Pullman-Standard, General Electric
Built: 1981-1986
In Service: 1982-2008
Number Built: 58 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 7 passenger cars, 285 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 150 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Montreal Line, Keystone Corridor, SP Coast Division, ATSF Southern California Division, many Amtrak Midwest routes

Class C2 (ACXT)
Builders: Commonwealth Engineering, Morrison-Knudsen
Built: 1983-1986
In Service: 1985-2008
Number Built: 6 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 6 passenger cars, 230 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 130 mph
Location(s) Used: SP Coast Division, ATSF Southern California Division, UP Southern Nevada Division

Class C3 (LRC-5)
Builders: Bombardier, Pullman-Standard, General Electric
Built: 1989-1994
In Service: 1990-2013
Number Built: 36 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 8 passenger cars, 326 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 150 mph
Location(s) Used: Keystone Corridor, New England Division, Virginia Tidewater and Potomac Corridors, SP Coast Division, ATSF Southern California Division, UP Southern Nevada Division, Pacific Northwest Corridor, Marquette Corridor, NYC Big Four Line

Class C4 (JetTrain)
Builders: Bombardier, Pullman-Standard, General Electric
Built: 2002-2015
Number Built: 144 sets
In Service: 2006-present
Size: 2 power cars, 10 passenger cars, 440 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 165 mph
Location(s) Used: Amtrak Midwest (all routes, though mostly on non-electrified routes), Lone Star High Speed Rail Feeder Lines, Keystone Corridor, Peachtree Line, New England Division, SP Coast Division, Pacific Northwest Corridor, UP Utah-Nevada Division, BN Front Range Division
 
Speaking of the Caesars Palace Forum Center, easily the largest store there is the Apple Store, which takes up three stories, with spiral escalators connecting all three floors. It's the only Apple Store in the USA that is open 24 hours a day, and it's been said the Genius Bar is surprisingly popular even at 3 am (the store has surprisingly busy hours from 11 pm to 3 am as casino workers leaving swing shift from other casinos visit the store to get service or help on their Apple product).

By the way, Caesars was the first casino in Las Vegas to completely do away with slot machines where you insert coins to play--it uses a system similar to casinos owned by Native American tribes, where you preload the money to be wagered into the card and insert the card into the slot machine (and the card also acts as a rewards card). That card preloaded with money is also how you get the casino chips for table games like blackjack, poker, craps, baccarat, etc. Caesars Palace was also the first resort also to introduce mah jong when that became legal for gambling in 2018, and today, the Marc Anthony extension has a HUGE mah jong room, where players can choose between Hong Kong ("Chinese New Style") rules or the Japanese rules of play.
 
FYI, the classes of Amtrak HSR Trains are:

Class A1 (TGV Atlantique)
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier (technology licensed from Alstom)
Built: 1989-1991
In Service: 1991-2016
Number Built: 25 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 10 passenger cars, 419 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Lone Star High Speed Rail System

Class A2 (500 Series Shinkansen)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 1990-1995
In Service: 1992-present
Number Built: 36 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 815 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 200 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line,

Class A3 (ICE 3)
Builders: General Motors EMD, Pullman-Standard, Siemens North America
Built: 1998-2004
In Service: 2001-present
Number Built: 52 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 802 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 210 mph
Location(s) Used: California High-Speed Rail System, all routes

Class A4 (Class 373/1 'Eurostar')
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier, Budd Company, Alstom North America
Built: 1993-1998
In Service: 1995-present
Number Built: 35 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 18 passenger cars, 750 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class A5 (Velaro E)
Builders: General Motors EMD, Pullman-Standard, Siemens North America
Built: 2005-2016
In Service: 2007-present
Number Built: 124 sets
Size: 12 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 604 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: All electrified Amtrak Midwest HSR routes

Class A6 (700T Series Shinkansen)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 2006-2014
In Service: 2007-present
Number Built: 74 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 775 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: All electrified Amtrak Midwest HSR routes

Class A7 (TGV Duplex)
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier, Budd Company, Alstom North America
Built: 2004-2010
In Service: 2005-present
Number Built: 54 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 12 passenger cars, 722 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Lone Star High Speed Rail System, Amtrak Midwest southern routes

Class A8 (Zefiro 380)
Builders: Bombardier, General Electric, Pullman-Standard
Built: 2009-2021
In Service: 2011-present
Number Built: 136 sets
Size: 16 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 900 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph (though capable of 236 mph)
Location(s) Used: California High-Speed Rail System (all routes), Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, some Amtrak Midwest eastern routes

Class B1 (TGV Atlantique)
Builders: Morrison-Knudsen, Bombardier (technology licensed from Alstom)
Built: 1988-1991
In Service: 1991-2010
Number Built: 28 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 8 passenger cars, 322 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 186 mph
Location(s) Used: Lone Star High Speed Rail System

Class B2 (500 Series Shinkansen)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 1992-1996
In Service: 1993-2015
Number Built: 24 sets
Size: 10 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 492 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 200 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class B3 (ICE 3)
Builders: General Motors EMD, Pullman-Standard, Siemens North America
Built: 1998-2004
In Service: 2001-present
Number Built: 55 sets
Size: 8 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 420 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 210 mph
Location(s) Used: California High-Speed Rail System, all routes

Class B4 (E2-1000 Series)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 2004-2014
In Service: 2006-present
Number Built: 66 sets
Size: 10 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 470 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 175 mph
Location(s) Used: Florida High-Speed Rail Network (all routes), Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class B5 (W7 Series)
Builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Chrysler Rail Systems, Budd Company
Built: 2014-2021
In Service: 2015-present
Number Built: 90 sets
Size: 10 passenger cars, all powered, control cabs at both ends, 470 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 175 mph
Location(s) Used: Florida High-Speed Rail Network (all routes), Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Water Level Route, Montreal Line, Buffalo-Toronto route of St. Lawrence River High-Speed Line

Class C1 (LRC-3)
Builders: Bombardier, Pullman-Standard, General Electric
Built: 1981-1986
In Service: 1982-2008
Number Built: 58 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 7 passenger cars, 285 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 150 mph
Location(s) Used: Northeast Corridor, Empire Corridor, Montreal Line, Keystone Corridor, SP Coast Division, ATSF Southern California Division, many Amtrak Midwest routes

Class C2 (ACXT)
Builders: Commonwealth Engineering, Morrison-Knudsen
Built: 1983-1986
In Service: 1985-2008
Number Built: 6 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 6 passenger cars, 230 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 130 mph
Location(s) Used: SP Coast Division, ATSF Southern California Division, UP Southern Nevada Division

Class C3 (LRC-5)
Builders: Bombardier, Pullman-Standard, General Electric
Built: 1989-1994
In Service: 1990-2013
Number Built: 36 sets
Size: 2 power cars, 8 passenger cars, 326 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 150 mph
Location(s) Used: Keystone Corridor, New England Division, Virginia Tidewater and Potomac Corridors, SP Coast Division, ATSF Southern California Division, UP Southern Nevada Division, Pacific Northwest Corridor, Marquette Corridor, NYC Big Four Line

Class C4 (JetTrain)
Builders: Bombardier, Pullman-Standard, General Electric
Built: 2002-2015
Number Built: 144 sets
In Service: 2006-present
Size: 2 power cars, 10 passenger cars, 440 passenger capacity
Service Top Speed: 165 mph
Location(s) Used: Amtrak Midwest (all routes, though mostly on non-electrified routes), Lone Star High Speed Rail Feeder Lines, Keystone Corridor, Peachtree Line, New England Division, SP Coast Division, Pacific Northwest Corridor, UP Utah-Nevada Division, BN Front Range Division

Very interesting description. Basically, the trains would be virtually identical to European and Japanese models, just changing the interior, electrical and mechanical structure of the same. Some questions, the units of the Acela Express OTL did not get to be developed? And what model is the ACXT. They are similar to Turboliner, Turbotrain or even to BR HST? And have plans to made something like a Transcontinental High Speed Line or even a Maglev system?

Still on tracks, i would like to know how is New York Subway in TTL. I do not know if the system in TTL have the same problens of OTL by 1970s and 1980s.
 
Still on tracks, i would like to know how is New York Subway in TTL. I do not know if the system in TTL have the same problens of OTL by 1970s and 1980s.

I figure that the OTL Program for Action that was cancelled due to New York's fiscal crisis gets completed ITTL.
 
Very interesting description. Basically, the trains would be virtually identical to European and Japanese models, just changing the interior, electrical and mechanical structure of the same. Some questions, the units of the Acela Express OTL did not get to be developed? And what model is the ACXT. They are similar to Turboliner, Turbotrain or even to BR HST? And have plans to made something like a Transcontinental High Speed Line or even a Maglev system?

Still on tracks, i would like to know how is New York Subway in TTL. I do not know if the system in TTL have the same problens of OTL by 1970s and 1980s.

The trains used by North America's HSR lines are based on designs from many of the other systems around the world, which is logical since all but Russia's system IOTL use the same track gauge and nearly all of them use 25 kV power supply at either 50 or 60 Hz. The differences in early models were minimal (aside from being 200mm wider and 160mm taller, the Amtrak's 500 Series Shinkansen trains are identical to those made in Japan), but starting with the A3 and A4 series, the differences got notable. American Eurostars handily out-accelerate their European counterparts, primarily owing to computerized traction control (developed and made with pride by Research in Motion, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada :)) while the A3 uses brushless AC traction motors of a General Motors EMD design that happened to be rather superior to the Siemens units. The Velaro E was designed specifically for American usage, as was the 700T Shinkansen, and both are rather larger in dimensions than European counterparts, and most use heavier lower floors to reduce the center of gravity, as the axle load limits of American HSR lines tends to be rather higher than the Europeans. The basic designs are pretty much starting points, but every train gets improvements - as American railroads tend to be really rough on their equipment by European or Asian standards, electrical systems on American trains are much tougher to handle the stress, and all American HSR trains have disc brakes with anti-lock braking and power car-equipped ones have dynamic brakes as well, with the electrical components in most cases being liquid-cooled. Interiors are indeed more upscale, with larger windows, leather seats on most trains, AVOD systems and headphones and 120V power outlets, and newer ones have 4G wireless internet.

The Acela Express of OTL's basic design is the Bombardier JetTrain (Class C4), but with the electric power cars replaced by CODOG systems, twin small 350-hp Navistar VT350 turbodiesels for low-speed operation and a 4800-hp Pratt and Whitney Canada PW150 gas turbine for full power. The JetTrain also has the first coach of the train permanently coupled to the power car and has powered trucks to allow greater usage of the power on hand. Both IOTL and ITTL, the passenger car design of the JetTrain (and OTL's Acela) is derived from the LRC, though JetTrain versions are taller by 18 inches to give greater room inside the cars, giving JetTrain power cars a height of 14' 11" and the passenger cars 14' 5".

The ACXT is a variant of the NSW Railways XPT from Australia, itself a derivative of the British Intercity 125, but American ones use Caterpillar engines instead of Paxman Valenta units. They were noisy but quick, and they were used by California's state passenger railroad authority in the 1980s as a way of tasting the viability of a high-speed project. After they were retired by the state of California in favor of the electric HSRs and the JetTrain they were sold to Mexico for service between Mexico City and Guadalajara, Acapulco, Puebla and Veracruz, where they remained working until they were replaced by an electrified line in the early 2020s.

The first operational Maglev route in the Americas was the New York Maglev, opened just in time for the New York Olympics in 2012. It runs from Newark Airport through Newark's Union Station and the Seacaucus Junction to Penn Station, though the Crosstown Tunnel to Grand Central, and through the 63rd Street Tunnel to Queens, before looping through Queens via the Jamaica LIRR terminal to John F. Kennedy International Airport. While the line has been both a commercial and operational success, so far its the only Maglev line in North America, though a plans exist for such lines in Seattle, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto and Mexico City. (The New York Maglev is more similar in basic design and principles to the OTL Incheon Maglev in South Korea than the Shanghai Transrapid, though it is a full magnetic levitation system.)
 
May 6, 2016
Levi Eshkol Ashdod Nuclear Generating Station, Ashdod, Israel
8:25 AM


"This must be something typical of Israelis, messing with a really good thing." Dr. Kolaleh Mirai commented somewhat in awe of what had risen out of the sand dunes to the north of Israel's largest port. Iran had facilities like this as well, but as had become typical of the Israelis, they had taken something impressive and taken it rather further than before.
"We need all the help we can get with fresh water, even with graphene, and we were perpetually short of electric power, and producing it from diesel fuel is kinda wasteful, what with the price of it these days. Besides, Israeli nuclear engineers have few rivals." Dr. Julia Azoulai commented with a smile to her Iranian visitor. "But we do know here that our Iranian counterparts are not fools."
Dr. Mirai accepted the slightly corny attempt at fence-mending in large part because Dr. Azoulai knew why her counterpart was there for. Both women were in positions that had once been unthinkable, both university-educated women in charge of multi-billion-dollar nuclear power stations, the Iranians seeking to develop their nuclear industry that much more and the Israelis more than willing to provide that information, a sign of how much had changed among two nations who had long hated one another....a hate that was in the past now. Both women knew that a Jewish community had existed for centuries in Iran, and Iran had been a major pusher for the settlements between Israel and its Arab neighbors a generation before, a series of agreements that had once been highly controversial but today revered as some of the best decisions Israel had ever made, a situation widely felt in Iran - Iran's actions and steady opening of its society in the 1980s and 1990s and its working with the more forward-thinking Arabs had built them a bridge to the West that Iran had milked for all it was worth, a situation the Israelis approved of, and a situation that allowed an Iranian to have a guided tour of an Israeli nuclear power plant.

The Ashdod Nuclear Power Plant was in itself something to behold. A three-reactor complex located north of Ashdod's port, the facility used Canadian-developed Advanced CANDU nuclear reactors, but the Israelis had taken pretty much everything else and done it in their own way. The power station didn't have cooling towers but rather had a facility where hot steam was used to heat up vast quantities of seawater for flushing through the adjacent graphene water desalinization plant. The triangular-shaped facility had the primary control stations in the middle between the three reactors, with the turbine halls on the outsides of the reactors and the fuel handling buildings between the reactors themselves. Israel's nuclear center at Dimona made the uranium used at Ashdod using laser uranium enrichment, a technology partially developed in Israel as part of their nuclear weapons program. The process was much more efficient for creating lower-enriched uranium than traditional centrifugal enrichment, and it resulted in lower costs involved. The power plant and water desalinization plant produced 3300 megawatts of electric power and 650,000 cubic meters a day of fresh water, and like a lot of modern Israeli facilities had been designed to be incredibly secure from any form of intrusion - old habits died hard in Israel - and very well designed, with the turbine halls clad in brilliant glass allowing two of them to have views of the Mediterranean Beach in front of the plant, and with a structural ring around the power plant's reactors and primary control centers similarly made with glass fronts, but with high-end solar cells on the roof, which combined with lithium-ion batteries and small gas turbine generators provided ample emergency power. The facility's control systems and interiors were more like a high-tech laboratory, and the use of seawater for cooling purposes didn't stop at reducing the heat of turbine steam, with the facility using cold water cooling for the interior to reduce the power station's hotel power demands. The control stations used three-piece rotating shells that acted as screens in place of traditional computer monitors. The result of this and huge screens showing information and dozens of computer readouts for various reactor readings led to the reactor control rooms looking like the bridge on the Starship Enterprise, complete with comfortable leather chairs. Many different nuclear power stations in modern times tried to win style points, namely because the nuclear industry and those who supported it knew well that PR was everything for this industry, namely because of the huge costs involved in building facilities like this one.

"The Israeli ACR is able to be refueled at full power?" Dr. Mirai asked.
"Oh yes, the Canadians did a great job on that part of the design. We didn't change anything there, aside from the actual handling robots, of course."
"Downtime?"
"The design plan is for a 21-day downtime every three years, and 1.5% per year forced outage. I personally think that forced outage number is pessimistic, honestly, considering the facility's design. The Canadians overbuilt the design, I suspect that being both for safety reasons and because that part of the world has a really awful climate."
"I doubt that has all that much to do with it, I must say." Dr. Mirai commented. "Regardless, we want to develop reactor types that can be refueled while still operational, namely because of the technical challenges in starting a reactor with an older fuel load." Dr. Azoulai knew that problem well - all reactor operators did - and had a solution in mind.
"This facility runs on low-enriched uranium, and what we do if we are trying to get a slow startup going is we release small amounts of neutron poison out of individual valves intro trouble areas. The reactor control systems we have here are able to detect which fuel bundles have high heat conditions." Neither scientist had to explain that just about any nuclear reactor had a lot of power created through the fission of plutonium that was a natural by-product of the fission of uranium. Plutonium created energy far beyond the low-enriched uranium used in just about any power reactor, and that showed up as a high-heat condition. "We use gandolinium nitrate as a water-soluble neutron poison, and we know that Iranian facilities use this material for emergency shutdown purposes."
"Gandolinium nitrate is a very potent neutron poison, and a jammed valve here would result in a reactor that can't be started until you flush the primary reactor coolant loop. It's a very tricky process to control, I would bet."
"But completely idiot proof."
"There is that, but I'm sure that with a facility as magnificent as this one the concern would be a problem getting the reactor to start."
"True, but we don't have a solution to that just yet."
You don't? Now now, that's a surprise. "Good thing I came, then."
That statement for Dr. Azoulai's attention. "How so?"
"We developed a way of moderating our research reactor at Bushehr using sodium polyborate mixed with helium gas inside graphite-ceramic tubes. We have been able to insert these into reactors directly onto hot spots, and we control the temperature of the graphite-ceramic tube to control its level of neutron absorbtion, while also allowing us to adjust the density of the sodium polyborate inside of the control tubes. We need a stronger effect, we reduce the intake temperature of the tubes and increased the borohydrate content in the solution. Our labs in Tehran are working on the best way of calculating the proper solutions, but if we can get that, we can create a system that can effectively handle hot spots inside of the reactor, particularly in conjunction with the hafnium flux point reduction systems our designs use."
The Israeli scientist was impressed. Dr. Mirai was correct about the problems that the use of gandoliunium nitrate could cause, and the design of the ACR-1000s used at Ashdod and Orot Rabin was designed with room in the calandria for such rods, particularly if the expansion and contraction of the rods could be controlled. And it would have to be, wouldn't it? Otherwise, you get a pressure leak, which with the PWRs the Iranians use could be disastrous. Dr. Azoulai was mulling the possibilities when her Iranian counterpart spoke again.
"I was going to propose a trade when I make my report to Tehran."
"That trade being?"
"That IEC and NECI trade technology for technology. Iran has a great interest in the use of laser enrichment to improve the quality of the low enriched uranium we produce, because our Natanz facility continues to give us headaches. I'm sure Israel would have a use for the moderation systems we have developed." A pause. "I know the decision is not yours, Dr. Azoulai, but do you think that the IEC would go for such a move?"
"Depends on the terms."
"That would be negotiable, of course."
"But Iran is willing to license this to us? You know that it will be used on our facilities, and we then will get...."
"I would imagine that IEC and NECI could speak to our colleagues in Canada about retrofitting this to other designs like it, such as all of the Asian Heavy Water Reactors being planned or built in Japan and Korea and Taiwan, and Canada's own heavy water facilities."
"I can not give you an answer for sure, but I have no doubt that the technical staff at IEC would love to have such a technology, particularly since sodium polyborate is cheap and we won't be wasting it when we do startups or fuel replacement. Whether that's worth us giving up one of our major technologies for uranium enrichment is a tough question."
"But surely Israel will want to be told that they have another safety system for their huge nuclear power station investments, no?"
"Of course, but they know that the laser enrichment is a major advantage in the market for nuclear fuel."
"Then you get to license the safety system in return for a reduced license cost, and we adapt it for both of our facilities, just to show the Americans, Europeans, Canadians, Indians and Japanese that they are not the only ones who know a thing or two about nuclear power stations." The Iranian woman grew a smile on her face. "After all, the old stereotypes of both Jews and Persians are rather broken by the idea of them developing nuclear reactors and the advanced metallurgy and molecular physics involved in their operation, no?"
Dr. Azoulai smiled at that. "I will most certainly present your idea to my superiors in my report."
"And I will do the same."
 
And since we have a lot of people interested in what the railroads of America look like today (and I've handled Amtrak in a previous post :)), this is the world of freight railroads in America today.

America's freight railroads found themselves fighting World War II as much in many ways as the country's armed forces did, handling more cargo and passengers than ever before in a hurculean effort that earned them sizable sums of money but wore down their infrastructure, and the advent of long-distance trucking in the 1930s, which grew exponentially with the building of the Interstate Highway System starting with the Transport America Act of 1956 (which provided billions in subsidies to railroads, but which did nothing to deal with the underlying issues the railroads faced) kicked that into high gear. Passenger train traffic suffered from the same problems by the late 1950s as well, as jet airliners and ever-more-efficient air travel stole passengers away from even the finest passenger trains, and the expanding usages of cars for commuting and electricity for home heating took away many of the railroads' traditional customer bases. By 1960, the still highly-regulated railroad industry, particularly companies with increasingly-unprofitable lines, was simply unable to compete in many areas of freight transportation, even as the Transport America Act allowed firms to get into innovation, and men like Robert Young and Alfred Perlman at New York Central, William Graham Claytor at Southern Railway (Claytor would later lead Amtrak as well), John Ingram at the Rock Island, Benjamin Heineman at Chicago and North Western, Donald Russell at Southern Pacific and Louis Menk at Northern Pacific, took as best advantage of it as they could. But the combination of hard-shelled management, restrictive union rules (firemen were not eliminated from most railroads until the mid to late 1960s, despite being almost entirely unnecessary with the use of diesel locomotives) and the inability to make their own freight rates caused many problems in the industry, and those railroads stuck with large unprofitable operations found themselves with albatrosses they simply could not shake, regardless of equipment modernization. To many lines, mergers were the answer.

The mega-merger movements that began with the merger between the Virginian and Norfolk and Western railroads in 1959 grew to include some huge players, the largest successful private-sector led ones by far being Burlington Northern (from the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and Spokane, Portland and Seattle) in 1970 and the Union Pacific's acquisition of Missouri Pacific in 1980, but the actions of Union Pacific's executives during the Missouri Pacific takeover and during the years of merger debates with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific during the 1960s and 1970s came to light in January 1980, causing the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission to resign in disgrace (he would later be convicted of bribery) and Union Pacific's relations with rival railroads to dramatically sour. After the Union Pacific Bribery Scandals of 1980 rattled the ICC to its core and resulted in the Staggers Act for railroad deregulation in March 1981, Several other huge merger proposals - Southern Pacific and Santa Fe and Chessie System and Seaboard System most of all - were killed before they ever happened, namely in an attempt to keep competition in as many markets as possible at a time when freight railroading in America, thanks to bulk cargo movements, containerization and piggyback traffic, was growing rapidly. While mergers were effectively halted by the Bribery Scandals, agreements between railroads were not, and while smaller mergers continued to happen in the years after, the way most companies fought back was with other moves. SP's takeover of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas in 1976 and agreements with the Rock Island in 1981 gave Southern Pacific a main line from its sunset Route at Tucumcari, New Mexico, to Chicago, making it overnight a major rival to the Santa Fe, while the Railroad Alliance, formed in June 1982 between the Rock Island, Erie Lackawanna, Denver and Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific, was effectively a merger without it actually becoming one.

Where the problems the mergers sought to fix was in the Midwest and Northeast. After Robert Young's suicide in 1958 put Alfred Perlman in charge of the New York Central, the northeast began shifting. The New York Central made a quite determined effort to take over the Baltimore and Ohio in the 1960s, but this ultimate failed, with the controlling interest in the B&O taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio in 1963, ultimately resulting in the creation of Chessie System in 1971. Facing problems, the mighty rivals of the Northeast - the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad - began merger talks in 1962, to the shock of the industry. The ICC approved the merger in 1966....but only if the company impressed the bankrupt New York, New Haven and Hartford and Central of New Jersey into the system. The NYC balked loudly at this, pointing out that the Pennsylvania by 1966 was nearly insolvent and it was a similar story with the other railroads the ICC was demanding get involved in the proposed Penn Central company. Seeing it as a highly likely possible disaster, the NYC bailed out and stuck it out on its own, while the Pennsylvania, whose merger hopes being dashed ultimately killed them, declared bankruptcy on January 18, 1970, declaring its intention to sell off its system in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy scenario. The state of Pennsylvania rapidly halted that, providing sufficient help to the Pennsylvania to allow it to keep operating, but by the early 1970s the company's long-suffering infrastructure was getting downright dangerous. The Pennsy's bankruptcy immediately dragged just about everyone else in the region into bankruptcy with them - the Lehigh Valley, Reading Company, Delaware and Hudson, New Haven, Central of New Jersey and New York, Susquehanna and Western all declared bankruptcy in the winter or spring of 1970, largely as a result of the loss of the Pennsylvania's interchange traffic. The NYC and Erie Lackawanna held on valiantly, but the destruction wrought by Hurricane Agnes in June 1972 did both of them in due to extensive track damage, and both declared Chapter 77 bankruptcy in July 1972. While the situation wound its way through the courts, state halls and Congress, the situation in the Northeast got downright dangerous. On April 18, 1973, the situation went from bad to worse when a broken rail on the Pennsylvania Railroad's southern Tier main line just west of Columbus, Ohio, derailed a train with over three dozen tank cars of toluene, gasoline and liquid styrene into highway bridge abutment, causing a massive wreck that soon added three massive explosions from ruptured tank cars, killing eighteen people (and causing the greatest single loss of life in a day to the Columbus Fire Department, which lost eleven firefighters) and injuring over 160 others. But that was nothing compared to what happened in Monaca, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 1975.

On that day, the PRR-owned Monaca Bridge failed underneath a coal train and a train carrying industrial chemicals, including liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide and benzyl chloride, causing some 91 freight cars (including 42 tanker cars) and eight locomotives to plummet into the Ohio River, where most of them were broken open by the heavy coal cars landing on them. The result was one of, if not the worst, environmental disasters in American history - the disaster effectively killed all life in the Ohio River from western Pennsylvania to southern Indiana and severely polluted the drinking water of over five million people, causing 87 civilian deaths (along with four train crew members) and sickened as many as 200,000 people. When the ICC investigation into the disaster discovered that the bridge was structurally deficient and that the Pennsylvania knew of the problem, the company was jackhammered with class-action lawsuits, and on September 27, 1975, the Pennsylvania was ruled ineligible for organization and ordered to be broken up and sold off. The disaster, however, put paid to that idea, as the populations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, understandably livid over what had happened in Monaca, angrily made it clear that they would not allow any of the Pennsylvania's operations to continue under new owners, and fought it viciously in the courts. The damage was done, and while the other railroads of the region bore no responsibility for what happened in Monaca (and both Erie Lackawanna and New York Central, along with Chessie System, earned major commendations for hauling in relief supplies and assisting with both mitigation and recovery efforts), they too took awful beatings from the court of public opinion. Wedged between a population already furious from the political mayhem of mid-1970s America, a desire not to see major transportation corridors rendered useless and railroads struggling to stay alive, the only option was nationalization.

Consolidated Rail Corporation, better known as Conrail, was the result, and with it was a complete re-organization of America's Northeastern Railroads. New York Central, Erie Lackawanna, Chessie System and Norfolk and Western were all part of the play. The Hail Mary toss of the crumbling Milwaukee Road into Conrail in the winter of 1976-77 changed Conrail's missions dramatically, but it entered the system nonetheless, and Conrail's operations began on September 1, 1978 - and with the company spending over five billion dollars on much-needed modernization between its founding and 1990. Conrail's problems and the mounting issues at other railroads ultimately brought on the Staggers Act in March 1981, dramatically deregulating the railroad industry.

Conrail was state owned from Day One, but the trend of employee-owned railroads, which had begun with the Chicago and North Western in 1972, swelled rapidly, and after the failure of the Santa Fe-Southern Pacific merger, the Southern Pacific was sold back to its employees in 1984. Employee-owned Southern Pacific, however, became the story of a lifetime, and its legendary boss, Donald Russell, said of it in 1989 (months before his death at age 90) that "I never imagined our boys and girls would truly put the world on their shoulders like they have, but the proof is in front of me, and its incredible." While the employee-owned Chicago and North Western and Delaware and Hudson had reputations for being very good places to work and pushers of technology, they had nothing on the hustling SP of the 1980s and 1990s, led by Robert Krebs and Joshua DeVaughn and chasing every nickel they could, while raising a public profile. The idea of public image being important was for most railroads driven in by public fury after the disaster at Monaca, and it showed - many railroads became loud supporters of local businesses, proudly spoke of the communities they served, backed local development efforts (up to and including in some cases fighting for local interests against bigger firms) and flashy paint schemes and advertising campaigns. The paint scheme idea was first thought up by John Ingram at the Rock Island, who had the railroad's rolling stock painted in bright blue and white paint and bold "THE ROCK" lettering. It didn't take long for that to catch hold - Santa Fe's silver and red "Super Fleet", Conrail's blue and silver "Mercury" trains, Southern Pacific's flashy "Daylight" paint schemes, Chessie System's beloved "Chessie Cat", Burlington Northern's "Hustle Muscle" units, New York Central's "Silver Lightning" locomotives and Southern's "Southern Serves the South" logo being splashed across everything the railroad owned was was the result. When combined with ever-improving safety records, substantial profits and massive growth in traffic resulting in new hiring, it resulted in the railroads themselves seeing their public profiles improved dramatically in the 1980s, helpful as America moved into an industrial boom during the time period.

Such was the growth in demand for rail transport, brought on by containerization, growing bulk traffic, the railroads' ability to move even huge loads (like the Boeing 737 airliner fuselages carried by Burlington Northern from Kansas City to Seattle for assembly into complete aircraft) led to huge growth in rail traffic in America, with the total tonnage moved by the railways growing nearly four-fold between 1975 and 2005. As this traffic grew, so did shippers' demands, but also in many cases did the desires of many involved to assist in this endeavor. The selling of the Lehigh Valley Railroad to Norfolk and Western as part of Conrail's organization personified this - the last in a long series of massive mergers by the Norfolk and Western (which from the late 1950s to late 1970s went from small-sized but highly efficient coal-hauler to a major player in the Midwest through its flurry of mergers and acquisitions), the N&W used the Lehigh Valley as its way to serving New York City and expanding beyond its traditional port base of Norfolk, and in the process found cement maker Heidelberg and steel maker Bethlehem Materials wanting to assist in the process. The N&W ended up rebuilding every inch of the Lehigh Valley's New York-Buffalo main line with their own proprietary design of reinforced-concrete crossties and 175-pound rail, which when combined with the standard of service expected of the N&W turned the Lehigh Valley from a somewhat-slow anthracite hauler into the corridor of some of the fastest freight operations, with by the mid-1980s Norfolk and Western piggyback, container and refridgerator trains moving at as much as 80 mph on the route, something unthinkable fifteen years before. As the merger movement came to a halt and the growth in traffic increased, the railroads resorted to ever-greater pushes against their competition, seeking both to increase the total market and their share of it.

The result was two decades of a horsepower race among the builders of diesel locomotives (General Motors EMD, General Electric and Chrysler-Alco were joined in 1991 by Morrison-Knudsen in this regard) and railroads responding to ever-bigger demands for motive power with rebuild programs, major growth in electrification (Conrail by far was the largest user of this, though Southern Pacific, New York Central, Burlington Northern, Southern, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National all also built hundreds or thousands of miles of electrified main lines in the 1960s to 1990s) and huge system growth, with everything being done from four-track main lines in the West (Union Pacific's Overland Route today from Cheyenne, WY, to Omaha, NE, is four tracks) to the reactivation of complete rail routes (Burlington Northern did this in the late 1980s, re-activating the entire former Northern Pacific Railway Stampede Pass route across the Washington Cascades from Seattle, WA to Missoula, MT), along with the creation of many smaller companies to rebuild lines (or in some cases build from scratch, though this was fairly rare) left behind by other railroads - the Wisconsin Central, Iowa Interstate[1], Montana Rail Link, Texas and Pacific, New England Central, Oregon and Pacific and Indiana Interstate came into being as a result of this. The horsepower race swelled by the early 1970s to the point where the three major locomotive builders offered 3600-horsepower locomotives (The EMD SD45, Alco Century 636 and General Electric U36C), while horsepower-hungry roads resorted to other ways, such as Southern Pacific's famed Krauss-Maffei ML4000 diesel-hydraulics (SP bought these in 1961 but sold them on to Canadian National in 1967, who operated them and 22 additional units until 1989) and Union Pacific's General Electric-built gas turbines (which operated on UP until 1969 and then, after being sold and rebuilt for the use of methanol fuel, the 25 'Big Blow' units served the Erie Lackawanna from 1972 until 1991). Electric locomotive technology advanced far faster than the diesels did - GE's E33, E44, E60 and EP70 electric locomotives, as well as EMD's GM6C/GF6C twins, GM10B and GM20BC electrics all proved to have power far beyond diesels of the time - up to 12,000 horsepower for the GM20BC - and when combined with the fact that most American railroad electrification projects included their own power stations and supply stations, meant that the efficiency of these units was excellent, though the huge capital cost ultimately slowed many electrification projects.

The entry of Morrison Knudsen to the locomotive world in 1991 with the powerful Caterpillar-engined MK5000C drove the power race to the ultimate heights, with the GE AC6000CW, EMD SD80MAC and Alco Millenium 250DP pushing the envelope for single-engined diesel power. The growth of power matched the lengths and speeds of trains, with even heavy bulk trains in Midwestern and Eastern locations by the 1990s moving at speeds of up to 65 mph for the heaviest manifest and bulk trains and as much as 90 mph for light load and high-speed trains. Cabooses, which disappeared from many mainline trains in the early to mid 1980s, re-appeared in many cases a decade later with modifications - remote-controlled diesel engines and air compressors were installed in many of these in an attempt to improve braking performance, a precursor to the remote-controlled mid-train designated power units that grew into the trains in the mid to late 1990s. Computerized load tracking and package tracking systems were soon integrated into the railroads, aiming to allow the railroads to work with companies like FedEx, UPS, DHL and Purolator to handle packages directly to destinations. At the same time, the development of dozens of trucking co-operatives was something railroads, Southern Pacific and New York Central most of all, absolutely loved and encouraged as a way of expanding railroad business far beyond large companies and contracts to just about anybody with any size load.

[1] This Iowa Interstate is not the OTL one, which is primarily former Rock Island tracks, but the former Chicago Central lines, which run pretty much parallel to OTL Iowa Interstate lines
 
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And to give people an idea of what it all looks like here, here's some pics to help with that.... :)

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A New York Central EMD SD70M at a terminal in Muncie, Indiana

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Conrail EMD SD80MACs leading a manifest south of Hartford, Connecticut, during the winter

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Three Santa Fe EMD SDF50-2 diesels leading the Super C container train near Flagstaff, Arizona

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A Chessie System GE ES44AC image
 
Largest Cities in North America, 2030

1) New York City
- City: 9,424,650
- Urban Area: 27,289,360
- GDP: $1.876 Trillion
- GDP/capita: $68,738
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Finance, Media, Professional Services, Biotechnology, International Trade, Tourism

2) Los Angeles
- City: 5,955,810
- Urban Area: 20,783,170
- GDP: $1.323 Trillion
- GDP/capita: $63,658
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Entertainment, Media, Aerospace, International Trade, Tourism

3) Mexico City
- City: 9,164,850
- Urban Area: 20,644,600
- GDP: $855.7 Billion
- GDP/capita: $41,450
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Finance, Energy, Media, Professional Services, Education, Printing and Publishing

4) Chicago
- City: 3,637,700
- Urban Area: 10,970,650
- GDP: $668.2 Billion
- GDP/capita: $60,907
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Finance, Trade, Transportation and Distribution, Professional Services, Printing and Publishing

5) San Francisco Bay
- City: 951,920 (San Francisco), 1,197,560 (San Jose), 642,090 (Oakland), 372,750 (Stockton)
- Urban Area: 10,744,380
- GDP: $705.5 Billion
- GDP/capita: $65,664
- Dominant Economic Sectors: High Technology, Professional Services, Research and Development, Electronics, Tourism

6) Washington-Baltimore
- City: 805,750 (Washington), 694,530 (Baltimore)
- Urban Area: 9,778,690
- GDP: $601.5 Billion
- GDP/capita: $61,512
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Government, Professional Services, Tourism, Biotechnology, Metals, Automobiles

7) Toronto
- City: 3,572,800 (Toronto), 1,052,250 (Hamilton)
- Urban Area: 9,547,350
- GDP: $717.9 Billion
- GDP/capita: $75,195
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Finance, Energy, Media, Entertainment, Professional Services, Automobiles

8) Boston
- City: 786,280
- Urban Area: 8,310,390
- GDP: $510.2 Billion
- GDP/capita: $61,395
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Education, International Trade, Research and Development, High Technology

9) Philadelphia
- City: 1,958,740
- Urban Area: 8,133,660
- GDP: $490.4 Billion
- GDP/capita: $60,394
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Information Technology, Food Processing, Professional Services, Pharmaceuticals

10) Detroit
- City: 2,701,180
- Urban Area: 7,921,320
- GDP: $521.8 Billion
- GDP/capita: $65,873
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Automobiles, Aerospace, Rail Vehicles, Metals, Research and Development

11) Dallas-Fort Worth
- City: 1,422,290 (Dallas), Fort Worth (904,450), 476,700 (Arlington)
- Urban Area: 7,606,810
- GDP: $494.7 Billion
- GDP/capita: $65,035
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Energy, Professional Services, Finance, High Technology

12) Houston
- City: 3,395,580
- Urban Area: 7,445,280
- GDP: $470.1 Billion
- GDP/capita: $63,142
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Energy, International Trade, Transportation and Distribution, Aerospace

13) Miami
- City: 827,750 (Miami), 340,070 (Fort Lauderdale)
- Urban Area: 6,941,960
- GDP: $455.4 Billion
- GDP/capita: $65,600
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Finance, Professional Services, International Trade, Media, Tourism

14) Atlanta
- City: 688,280
- Urban Area: 6,551,120
- GDP: $388.5 Billion
- GDP/capita: $59,305
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Electronics, Transportation and Distribution, Trade, Media, Information Technology, Professional Services

15) Seattle
- City: 878,700 (Seattle), 336,040 (Tacoma)
- Urban Area: 6,176,730
- GDP: $410.9 Billion
- GDP/capita: $66,524
- Dominant Economic Sectors: High Technology, Aerospace, International Trade, Research and Development, Biotechnology

16) Guadalajara
- City: 1,884,610
- Urban Area: 5,965,300
- GDP: $235.8 Billion
- GDP/capita: $39,531
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Electronics, Automobiles, Professional Services, Textiles, Food Processing

17) Montreal
- City: 2,275,520
- Urban Area: 5,689,840
- GDP: $426.1 Billion
- GDP/capita: $74,889
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Finance, Aerospace, Pharmaceuticals, Media, Professional Services

18) Denver
- City: 864,690
- Urban Area: 5,317,270
- GDP: $319.7 Billion
- GDP/capita: $60,126
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Mining, Energy, Professional Services, Transportation and Distribution, Metals, Automobiles

19) Vancouver
- City: 1,025,350
- Urban Area: 4,678,620
- GDP: $346.6 Billion
- GDP/capita: $74,082
- Dominant Economic Sectors: High Technology, International Trade, Entertainment, Media, Aerospace

20) Phoenix
- City: 1,917,590
- Urban Area: 4,649,250
- GDP: $281.8 Billion
- GDP/capita: $60,611
- Dominant Economic Sectors: Aerospace, Mining, Finance, Electronics, Chemicals
 
Just curious, why do you feature trains so prominently in the Land of Milk and Honey timeline?

Transportation infrastructure is pretty much what I know best - I am a university-trained civil engineer and paid for my education by being a brakeman and conductor for Burlington Northern in the 1990s. The people who watch this thread also seem to like it a lot, too. :)

You have any details you want to see fleshed out?
 
Transportation infrastructure is pretty much what I know best - I am a university-trained civil engineer and paid for my education by being a brakeman and conductor for Burlington Northern in the 1990s. The people who watch this thread also seem to like it a lot, too. :)

You have any details you want to see fleshed out?

Well, I would love to have other stories from around the world as well.
 
May 14, 2016
Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York
1:14 PM


CRACK!
The sound was unmistakable, and the sight of the busted bat along with the sound made the massive crowd packed into Yankee Stadium on this Saturday afternoon go absolutely nuts, as one would rightly expect. The Red Sox had come to the Bronx, and the Yankees had no intention of allowing their rivals to beat them in their building if they had anything to say about it. The presence of the Red Sox's ace pitcher David Price didn't matter a lick to the Yankees or their fans, and the crack had made sure that the Red Sox were being served notice. Outfielder Brett Gardner had led off today, and the expectation had been that Jason Bennett, the Yankees' first baseman, would be second up to prepare the field for designated hitter Alex Rodriguez. But Price's third pitch to Bennett had been a little low but right in the center, Price's four-seam 98-mph fastball meant to get Bennett off his game, but Price had miscalculated, and Bennett had got it right on the bat sweet spot, and both men knew right away that this was not a good thing. The bat broke into three pieces from the combination of Bennett's hard swing and Price's monster pitch, and the ball soared on a fifty-degree angle slightly to left field, and while Chris Young went back for it, it didn't take him long to realize that that shot was gonna go some distance beyond Yankee Stadium's 399-foot left-center wall, which it did. Bennett was barely past first base when he realized that he didn't have to hustle the bases on this one. The roar of the capacity crowd inside of Yankee Stadium made that one blindingly obvious. Gardner got to home plate well ahead of his teammate, with the crowd still roaring as Bennett made it to home plate, with A-Rod, who had been waiting his turn on deck, more than happy to wave his teammates right back into the dugout.

Yankee Stadium, called "The Cathedral of Baseball" by Yankees fans - though one wouldn't dare do that anywhere near any Mets and Red Sox fans - was one of the oldest stadiums in Major League Baseball, dating to 1923 despite having been rebuilt first in 1974-75 and then again in 2007-09, the first time done to improve the condition of the stadium and the second time done to prepare for the New York Olympics, with all of the baseball games played there or at Citi Field in Queens. The stadium's 2007-09 renovations done a lot to rebuild the place, with the facade made to look more like the original 1920s design (which had been radically altered by the 1970s renovations), adding many few facilities and adding an additional 4,100 seats, pushing the Stadium's capacity back beyond 60,000. It had needed that - New York sports teams never had any difficulty filling their venues, the Yankees least of all - but the rebuilt stadium had been meant to show off both the Yankees and New York, and did that well, and the new facilities had included a station on the adjacent New York Subway and the TriboroRX subway line, both of which ran adjacent to the stadium. South Bronx had been the focus of major urban renewal efforts since the 1980s, and it showed in the areas around the stadium. New York had long taken to heart the idea that it was only as prosperous as its worst neighborhoods, and South Bronx had been one of these. But as other parts of New York got crazy expensive, The Bronx's new residents had taken to keeping the place as a middle class neighborhood, and its new and refurbished housing was designed with this in mind. The tenements of the past either got rebuilt or demolished, and South Bronx in particular, a part of the city racked by gang problems and arson in the 1970s, now was rapidly becoming a center of life for middle-class New Yorkers, who by this point had long accepted that Manhattan had few places even remotely affordable - even once-troubled Harlem was getting pricey. South Bronx's shopping districts also reflected this, with big money being spent on the job to allow thousands of shops and stores catering to the middle-class residents. There were a few expensive ones, but the majority of the shops in the region were aiming for a middle-class demographic. The buildings had gotten taller, but they remained primarily aimed at families who lived middle-class lives and couldn't afford expensive places but still needed room.

And for many of these people, weekends would be spent either at Yankee Stadium or at one of many recreation centers. Subways made it possible for people to go to places all across the city, but the Bronx had plenty to options. The many swimming pools the city had - a legacy of New York city builder Robert Moses, who had a love of swimming and had made sure lots of such facilities existed - saw use in the winter, while often as not many of the facilities became skating rinks in the Winter. Between that and the massive Kingsbridge Armory - a legendary former army installation that became a major ice skating center - hockey had more of a catch in the Bronx than in many other places in the city, even if the Rangers played at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan and the Islanders at the Atlantic Fieldhouse in Brooklyn. (The Kingsbridge Armory had a sufficient following that the Rangers had played pre-season games there, and their public practices rarely had any seats empty.) Traffic was still a mess - there weren't a whole lot of places in New York where it wasn't - but many of the redevelopment plans had included walkways above the roads to give people more room to spread out without getting into traffic. Middle-class residents of New York tended towards smaller cars than the North American norm, particularly hatchbacks like the Ford Focus and Fiesta, Mazda 3, Chevrolet Sonic and Renault Megane and small sedans like the Chevrolet Cruze, Dodge Dart and Honda Civic. The smaller cars simply made more sense in the congested city. More than a few also used small SUVs or vans, and many single people (or at least people who needed to go places by themselves) used motorcycles for that, though New York had a love/hate relationship between its drivers and its motorcyclists. Many others took mass transit to work, which as with most parts of New York was very good indeed.

The Bronx was, like most places in New York, culturally and ethnically diverse, with about 40% of the Bronx's population being Hispanic, 30% White, 20% Black and most of the rest Indian, with a handful of Asians and Native Americans. While some neighborhoods were massively slanted to one group or another, the population density of the area made that difficult at the best of times, and in New York, shared passions and beliefs made this easy for most. The city had a diverse and vibrant cultural scene, and while this was in many ways concentrated in Manhattan, for those who had more interest in working-class cultures, you had to venture outside of Manhattan for that most of the time. Hip-hop had been born here, and in modern times contemporary Hispanic hip-hop and the ever-greater fusion of modern pop music with hip-hop and electronic styles had also seen more than a few of its players come from New York. The city's cultural vibrancy also contributed to what people dressed like and acted like, and nowhere was this more pronounced than in diverse areas like west Brooklyn and the Bronx. The vibrancy didn't mean, however, that the shared passions didn't exist.

And the Yankees were one of these.

No sooner had the first home run come than Alex Rodriguez took a second home off of David Price in five pitches. Price redeemed himself somewhat by striking out the next two Yankee batters and grabbing a ground-ball and throwing to first for the third out, but he was still down three runs to the Yankees, who were hard to hit off of. Michael Pineda, the Yankees starting pitcher today, made sure of that in the first - he gave up one hit to Red Sox mega-slugger David Ortiz, but struck out Josh Rutledge, grounded out Pablo Sandoval and limited Cameron Joshua to a towering fly ball that nonetheless made it maybe twenty feet past second base. Price was back for the second inning, but again the Yankees ripped him - this time, Mason Williams got Price's sixth pitch of the inning and drilled it not five feet from Price's left hip, which led to Hanley Ramirez racing to get the ball and missing by inches, forcing Jackie Bradley Jr. to run forward to grab the ball and throw it, and while his throw was right on Williams still got to second. Carlos Beltran's pop fly to center was grabbed by Rusney Castillio, but after Gary Sanchez got another of Price's fastballs right on the mark to bounce the ball off the wall in left-center for a triple (which also sent Williams home to make it 4-0 Yankees) and his changeup was slugged for a double by Jacoby Ellsbury (which sent Sanchez home, making it 5-0), Price was out, going to backup Koji Uehara. That didn't prove to be good news for the Yankees, as Uehara pitched four innings while only giving up one home run - this time Sanchez got it - and the Red Sox went to work wearing down Pineda. They had some luck at this - Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vazquez got on base, which allowed one of Ortiz's huge hits to score both of them, followed by Dustin Pedroia's solo homer in the seventh to make it 5-3 Yankees - but when the Yankees came back in the eighth, with Beltran up first. He drove it hard to the left for a double, followed by Craig Kimbrel walking Sanchez, followed by a single to left by Ellsbury to load the bases. That was bad....and then it got worse, as Gardner was up, and his second pitch was caught right near the end of the bat and sailed over the left field with twenty feet of air to spare to finish the game off. It was indeed just another game in the Bronx....
 
May 16, 2016
San Francisco International Airport, San Mateo County, California
7:20 AM


The whining sound was unmistakable, the sound of turbojet engines on a low throttle setting, in this case inside of the sleek pods that hung under the wing roots of the huge jet that drifted down towards runway two-eight left, wings spread wide. The big white jet wore the globe logo of Pan American World Airways, the vast international airline that flew out of San Francisco and other American cities to places all around the world, doing so with a legendary reputation for quality service, and today was no exception, as the jet's 236 passengers were all sitting in comfortable leather seats, waiting for their turn to get off the plane and trusting the plane's pilot fully to land them safely.

That job had long been entrusted to Senior Captain Peter Newson, who after almost twenty years flying the Boeing 2707, was on his last flight, now two days shy of seventy years old and with fifty-one years of flying under his belt, thousands upon thousands of hours at the controls of an airplane, airplanes that had started with tiny Cessnas and trainers in Colorado, graduated to F-4 Phantoms over Vietnam, F-14 Tomcats over the Atlantic Ocean and then over thirty years of wearing the blue uniform of Pan Am, starting in the Boeing 747 and then moving up to the supersonics as soon as they entered Pan Am's service. Along the way, Captain Newson had earned a reputation as the best pilot of the 2707 in the world, so much so that all of Pan Am's pilots had learned from him. Captain Newson, as always, gently drifted the 2707 down using the throttles, knowing that the big supersonic glided very well indeed with its wings wide and thus gently drifting in with the throttles would make for glassy-smooth landings. He didn't disappoint here, as there was hardly a bump from when the plane landed, less than two hundred yards from the runway's west end, before its pilot engaged its brakes and used thrust reversal to slow the big jet down on the runway.
"The grand master of the skies." Co-pilot Sarah Miller commented next to Newson, marveling not for the first time at just how well the pilot could fly the big Boeing.
"I always aim to please." Peter commented with a smile, but Sarah knew he wasn't actually happy.
"You could fly this monster blindfolded, you know, and probably still pull off the grease job."
"Twenty years at the controls will help ya some with that." Peter said somewhat slyly. Sarah took that as a sign to say her peace.
"You really are gonna miss this, won't you?"
Peter ignored that question for a moment while he drove off the runway onto the taxiway, choking up a little as he did so. "It's been my life for fifty years, Sarah, and I've loved every minute of it. To be able to not fly any more...." He trailed off. Sarah couldn't say a word, because she knew that anything she could say would not help the Captain's feelings. "It's like a part of me has passed, you know."
"I do, yes." Sarah genuinely did. Half the age of her co-pilot, she too loved flying since she was a little girl, riding in her father's Cessna 172. There was genuine respect for Newson - few at any level at Pan Am didn't immensely respect him - and she could genuinely understand the pain of retirement. She simply sat at her seat checking around the aircraft as she let him drive the 2707 for what was almost certainly the last time.

The huge jet drifted up to the gate at San Francisco's International Terminal, stopping in exactly the right spot without any help needed from the aircraft tug that was waiting underneath the jetway. Both jetways quickly extended to the doors of the jet, and out of respect Sarah handled the announcement that Pan Am Flight 140, Hong Kong to San Francisco, had arrived at San Francisco's International Airport and that it was just after 7:30 in the morning local time, and thank you for flying Pan Am. She did that and just sat back, the flight engineer as well, as the pilot sat in the command seat, leaning back, fighting back tears. Neither had anything to say, because they couldn't think of anything appropriate. Finally, Sarah spoke.
"Take all the time you need, Captain."
Peter nodded his understanding at his co-pilot and watched both her and the flight engineer, a younger man named David Adams, leave the cockpit and head out of the aircraft. Peter simply sat back, eyes wet, as his eyes went to all of the times he had flown over the years. His exhilaration at flying for the first time on his own. The first flight in the Phantom, and the first time being fired off of a carrier in the TA-4 Skyhawk. Being hit by anti-aircraft fire over Vietnam, and still keeping complete control of the airplane, even managing to return it to the carrier. Flying the F-14, all of the times joking and enjoying life on the carriers with his backseater. The move to Pan Am when he got married and his wife couldn't take him being away for months at a time, and coming to enjoy the feel of making something as big as a Boeing 747 fly. The first time taking the 2707 to over Mach Two over the Atlantic. It all made him feel rather better, at least enough that he could get his jacket and briefcase and head out of the cockpit.

But the veteran captain had a surprise waiting for him at the end of the jetway.

Standing there, along with his wife, two sons and daughter and five grandchildren, was his Navy backseater. Cameron Murray had flown with him since the F-4s, and while he had retired to a life after flying long ago, he hadn't ever forgotten the pilot he had flown so many hours with. One other man and woman were standing there as well, wearing immaculate suits. As Peter walked up to them, Cameron and Peter's eldest son Nicholas ripped off salutes that would have impressed Kipling. Understanding what it meant right away, Peter returned the salute just as crisply. His son spoke next.
"Welcome home, Commander."
"Thank you, Nicholas." Peter smiled at that, eyes somewhat teared up. He had hardly said that when his beloved Natalie ran into him for a big hug and a kiss. Peter hugged his wife for a few more moments, noticing the other man and woman walk up. Cameron introduced them.
"This is Rosalynn Walker, President of Pan American World Airways, and Jonathan Stahlner, the Chairman of the company's board of directors." Peter followed his long-time friend's hand and kissed the woman on her right hand before shaking the man's hand.
"Captain," Jonathan spoke with the utmost respect, "I want to say thank you for your service to Pan Am. A Captain of your caliber deserves a personal thank you for everything you have done for our airline."
"Thank you, Chairman." Peter was a bit choked up. "Forgive me for not being at my best, but I am going to miss flying."
Jonathan understood. "Of course, Captain. I highly doubt my thanks are going to make up for not being able to fly any more, but if they contribute to it even in some small way, I'm happy."
"Captain, I wish to ask you one last thing before we let you move on to a hopefully happy retirement." Rosalynn spoke.
"Of course, Madam President."
"This 2707 is due to go for an overhaul in a month's time. If you allow us to, I am going to have this aircraft renamed Clipper Peter Newson, as a sign of respect for one of our best pilots. I will also be honored if you and your wife would christen the jet when it returns to service." Peter was surprised at the request.
"Name the aircraft after me....?" He was surprised. "I mean, I...."
"If you do not wish us to do so, I will not be offended in the least."
"No, it's not that, madam President." He paused. "I am just stunned by the request."
"Of course, Captain."
Peter turned to his right. "What do you think, honey? Do you think we can have a Boeing 2707 named for me?"
Natalie made a show of me thinking about it for a moment. "I believe we can manage." Peter laughed at that, as did Pan Am's two most senior corporate officers.
"In that case, President Walker, I will be honored to christen Clipper Peter Newson as a number of Pan Am's international fleet."
"Thank you for allowing us that honor." Jonathan said, shaking the hand of his retiring pilot. Peter teared up a little bit again.
"Thank you for allowing me to enjoy thirty years at the controls of your airplanes, Sir."
"You're very welcome, Captain."

An hour later, Peter, escorted by his family, were leaving the terminal, along with his co-pilot on his last flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Totally unbeknown to Peter, Nicholas had a surprise for his father. Sarah was in on it as well, and she had gone off to go get the surprise as Peter's family arrived at the car park for the pilots who flew out of the airport. As befitting his status, Peter had a primo parking spot right near the elevators into the car park, and sure enough his Packard Clipper was waiting there for him just as he had parked it. But Nicholas had a surprise for his father.
"Thank you for being here today." Peter said to his eldest son. "It means a lot to me, knowing that my family is still happy to support me in my retirement." He paused. "It's gonna be hard for me, adjusting to life after flying." Another pause, and an ironic smile. "I guess I gotta get myself a rocking chair now."
"Yeah right, Grandpa." His eldest grandson, fifteen-year-old Ryan commented. "You couldn't just sit there if you wanted to. You'll be one of those grandfathers who is out skydiving and running marathons and being more like Mike in Breaking Bad."
"Uh, no on the last part." the younger son Joshua said. "But I do think that Grandpa will want to keep his mind and body moving for as long as humanly possible."
"You got that right." Peter smiled at his sons and grandson joking about his retirement. He was about to speak again when Nicholas spoke again.
"Dad, me and Josh and Michelle did decide to get you something that will hopefully help you with your retirement a little bit."
Peter was surprised by that. "What have you got in mind on that, Nicholas?"
"You think you're ready to see it now, Dad?"
Peter smiled. "Most definitely." Nicholas had a big smile open up on his face as he pulled a walkie-talkie from his pocket.
"Bring it around, Sarah." Nicholas hadn't hardly finished the sentence when the sound of a car engine firing up loudly rattled loudly through the parking garage. Peter commented on that right away.
"What the heck have you guys got me?" He barely had time to finish his sentence when he saw it.

'It' was a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette, a hardtop with the removable roof panel, which in this case of course had been removed and was stashed in its spot behind the seats, decked out in Lime Rock Green with a brown leather interior. Peter noticed Sarah behind the wheel and Cameron in the passenger seat as she drove it up, parking it in front of them. Nicholas spoke before Peter could.
"Thanks for the help, Sarah."
"Any time, Nick." Sarah handed the keys to Nicholas before walking up to Peter and extending her hand, which Peter shook heartily with a wide smile.
"Happy retirement, Sir."
"Thank you, Sarah. My airplanes are in good hands."
"And I will make sure it stays that way." Sarah smiled and headed past the group of them to the elevator. Peter watched her go, then turned back to his children, and then to his new car. Nicholas spoke next.
"You ready to fly in a different way, Commander?"
Peter's head raised up, a smile growing on it. "Just as soon as you hand me the keys."
 
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May 21, 2016
Empire State Park, Lackawanna, New York
11:18 AM


"And may we continue to seek out the best in ourselves, the people we love, the places we travel and the city, state, nation and world that we are the stewards of, so that our future can be as bright as the sunshine which we enjoy today, in this beautiful place, for today is yet another day for which we hopefully will all long remember. Thank you." Terry Pegula stepped off of the podium in front of the new entrance center to the Bethlehem Waterfront Park with a massive grin on his face, embraced by his wife just as he got off the podium, and with the Governor of New York and the mayors of both Lackawanna and Buffalo ready to shake his hand. This happened frequently with the latter two, but for Governor Cuomo, with whom Pegula had in the past been at odds, to be as happy as he was was to Pegula a bit of a surprise, even if Cuomo was a good chap with different opinions.
"Another fine speech as usual, Terry." Byron Brown, the Mayor of Buffalo, was his usual happy self. Him and Pegula were good friends, the former having been a major supporter of the latter's ascent into Buffalo's Mayor's office and then a long-time supporter of Pegula's wishes to transform Buffalo which, to be fair, weren't unpopular with many local residents, who all liked the jobs that many of Pegula's plans provided, in some cases in big numbers.
"You shouldn't brown-nose with the media this close by." Pegula commented with a grin.
"For something like this, one doesn't often give a damn." Brown answered with a smile of his own. "Anyways, what you've done here is magnificent."
"I am proud of it, but you know that we ain't done just yet, Byron." That drew a laugh from Governor Cuomo, who spoke kindly, accepting that while him and Pegula didn't always see eye-to-eye, one didn't have to to be happy for what was now here and to understand that Byron, a political ally of Cuomo's, did at times find himself in a rock-and-hard-place scenario. Cuomo also had to admit that Pegula and the handful of other supporters of modern Buffalo had shoveled a vast sum of money into the city in the last couple decades.
"You're being honest with me, Mr. Pegula?"
"Governor, you know that as much as you and me don't agree sometimes, I have no interest in making an ass of myself over making a city whole again. Agreements or not, when the result of our efforts is something like this, I personally could care less who takes credit."
Cuomo was actually surprised by that statement. "For something like this, I would have thought anybody would want to take credit."

The Empire State Park was a vast new park meant to be another link in the newer chains of parks, beaches, recreation centers, marinas, sports fields and nature preserves that today marked the east shore of Lake Erie south from Buffalo. The land had come from Bethlehem Materials, who had once operated a massive integrated steel mill on the site, who after moving the mill to a new site further inland had sold the land to Pegula for a cheap price, on the condition that it would be used for public attractions and that the company's name be in plaques on the site, two conditions that hadn't been hard to arrange. The biggest and most important thing of this particular park was a vast size - two and a half miles long and over a mile wide, occupying 1,727 acres, Empire State Park had been built huge because Buffalo, seeking to replace a decline in the city's industrial foundation, had sought to find new sources of employment. Pegula's rival, Ken Blackfield, had kicked the ball rolling twenty years before when he bought the decaying Buffalo Central Station and rebuilt it to its former grand stature in time for high-speed trains to arrive in Buffalo from Canada, followed by from Albany five years later. Pegula had risen to Blackfield's challenge by buying the Buffalo Sabres and building the new First Niagara Center to house them, and then earning vast kudos by backpedaling on plans to demolish the old Buffalo Memorial Arena. It had at first pissed people off when its ground floor had been turned into a pair of department stores and a handful of other stores....until Nordstrom and The Hudson's Bay Company moved in and decorated their stores, both taking great care to make sure the history was retained. (The latter had even made a point of commissioning a row of statues of the legendary players from the Sabres' history in front of their store.) Pegula had outbid Blackfield for the Buffalo Bills, after which Blackfield focused on building multiple new huge commercial and housing projects and loaning the city the money for its light-rail transport project and funding the building of the waterfront parks, the last of which had been the impetus for Pegula to one-up his rival.

The huge park included four vast swimming pools along the lakefront, allowing the same artificial beach to be used for both the lake itself and the pools, the pools also able to be used as ice hockey rinks in the winter. The ship canal in the middle of the park had been turned into a tidal pool (complete with a pumphouse to not allow the water to become stagnant) and five massive wind turbines were lined on the west side of the canal. Inside the rest of the property, landscaped trails, hundreds of transplanted mature trees and beautiful grass fields with many small hillocks and no less than twelve statuesque pieces of art, which Pegula's wife Kim had selected herself - which the city didn't object, because Pegula was paying for them. Four smaller ponds were also part of the plan, and small creeks to connect them were also part of the new park, these crossed in several places by new bridges. The Empire State Museum of Art had been the biggest portion of the project, the museum sitting directly at the end of the ship canal, and it had been stocked with items both donated by Buffalo residents and loaned from other museums, while the Museum's curators sought out pieces of their own. A wealthy Buffalo car enthusiast had loaned to the museum a number of beautiful cars, including one of only four Pierce Arrow Silver Arrows known to exist. The south end of the park was marked by four baseball diamonds facing towards one another and a conservatory for exotic plants and animals. The pathways were paved with tarmac, with brick sections at pathways. The approach to the Museum was by a walkway - no cars were allowed in this park - that had a fountain pool in the middle of it and was paved with red granite, leading to the museum. The whole works had been designed and built at truly vast expense, but Pegula, who had led for its creation, spent a sizable sum of the money to build it and had started the trust to maintain the park, donating $110 million to it, hadn't cared, and the City of Buffalo's own massive contribution seemed to them to be chicken feed to what they figured that they could draw with this place. The place was hooked to downtown Buffalo via the city's light rail lines, and there was under construction a station for the Amtrak Empire Corridor high-speed trains, which ran just a few blocks to the east of the park. Pegula was funding that too, along with a sizable residential and commercial development that was on the site of what had been a small rail junction and a truck repair facility. With Buffalo Botanical Gardens on one side and Empire State Park on the other, wealthy locals and some newcomers were already lining up to put down deposits on Lackawanna Place, as it was called.

"I'll claim credit for being a builder of a new Buffalo." Pegula commented to the governor.
"You've already put down a massive claim to that title, Mr. Pegula."
"Regardless, I've still got work to do, and my wife and I want to bring some new money to town next, and hopefully some glory at the same time."
"I'm guessing the glory has something to do with the Sabres, Bills or both?"
"I think you know the answer to that question, Mr. Mayor." This was Kim Pegula. "Except we gotta go through the Maple Leafs to do it." That drew a laugh from all, including Cuomo.
"Yeah, they're kinda the pain this time, aren't they?"
"We beat them in the regular season, you know." Mayor Brown commented with a smile. He was surprised when Kim shook her head.
"We got lucky on that one. Tavares and Ghost Bear both rang shots off of the posts in overtime in that game before Jack buried the winner."
"Who cares? We won, didn't we?"
"One is much more likely to succeed by making their own luck than relying on it to help you." Terry pointed out.
"Some friggin' help you guys are." Byron commented with a grin.
"Mr. Pegula is right, you know, and projects like Empire State Park prove it."
Pegula decided to play a card right then and there he'd held in his deck for a while. "To be fair, what made the most difference for us here in Buffalo is the trains." He paused. "Though I'd really rather not admit it, Ken got me a good one when he took over the Terminal. The trains make it possible for one to come here for a day trip from New York City, and that has made a world of difference to our attempts to draw visitors. We don't have to rely on Toronto so much any more, and that helps. But this is a city with an industrial past, and I do want to try to revive that somewhat."
"You wouldn't make a statement like that without having something in mind, Mr. Pegula." Cuomo commented with a smile.
"No, but I have two major proposals that locals have brought to my attention in recent times, both of which are fabulous ideas." He wasn't surprised when his wife spoke first.
"Stephen McMahon, Jessica Akiyama and Khalil Townsend are wanting to move into their own business, and they've come to us interested in having us invest in their efforts. The designs they showed us for their clothing designs are absolutely incredible. We were going to plan to say yes if they located here in Buffalo. They approved the idea, and proposed that they call one of their first lines the Empire Exclusive, and we'd really like it if we could have the state help us with the promotional efforts." The Pegulas were not surprised at the stunned faces. The three names in question where three of America's finest tailors of men's clothing, Townsend being one of those personally tutored by the legendary British tailor Ozwald Boateng and Akiyama being one of those most common custom tailors for Hollywood's elite. "Empire Exclusive clothing for men, made in Buffalo, New York, to be sold to discerning customers all around the world, crafted by three of the greatest tailors in the world. It sounds like something fabulous to me."
"I'll say." Mayor Brown commented with a grin. "I can't speak for the others, but if you would Mr. Pegula, please inform them I will most certainly be one of their first customers, and that I will seek to provide them with any assistance possible."
"I second that notion." Governor Cuomo commented. "I'll be happy to help."
"The second is a rather bigger notion, and one which goes back to the history of this city." Terry spoke. "You all I assume know of the Pierce-Arrow company?"
"Of course." Cuomo commented. "They were a major maker of luxury cars here before the Depression. I'm guessing somebody has a plan to set something like that up here?"
"Yes. The group speaking to both me and Ken about this has a chassis design for a revolutionary car design, making an electric car that also has a pair of mini gas turbines for boost power and for when its out of energy. They have hired the guys at Pininfarina design studio in Italy to create a bodywork design for it, and they are looking for additional investors. They were looking to create their own name, but they have talked about reviving the Pierce-Arrow name as a way of linking to the finest luxury cars of America's past, like what Cadillac, Lincoln and Packard do all the time."
"Less of a mass market project and more of a Rolls-Royce rival, then." Cuomo commented.
"Yes, exactly. They want to make the cars here, and both Ken and I have agreed that a property in Cheektowaga that he owns would be an ideal spot for it. We don't know the specifics of what will be needed to make this all work yet, and so I can't give you specifics as of yet. I can provide the land, and our first desire to have an exit from Interstate 90, which runs through the middle of the spot, and potentially financial support for the enterprise." Pegula had chosen the last words carefully, knowing Cuomo would have conditions for the latter request.
"I hope you are not asking me for big money for a car factory that will make quarter-million-dollar luxury sedans, Mr. Pegula."
"I propose that the state loan the enterprise money. No grants, I know that Albany would never approve of that. Instead, we seek a no-interest loan that still requires the sum to paid back to the state by the firm."
"And you couldn't get that from a bank?"
"The problem is that the amount of money in question is substantial, and while I and Ken and several other investors are investing in the firm, the costs of developing this vehicle are considerable. What I essentially propose is that the State of New York effectively underwrite the cost of building a brand new facility for these cars to be built." Cuomo looked hard at Pegula.
"So, you propose to have Albany provide nine figures to build an ultra-modern car plant that will create fine luxury cars, hoping that it works." He paused. "Do you know this will work, Mr. Pegula?"
"No, Sir, but it won't just be the State's money being used here. There is nine figures of investor money planned for the project, far beyond what we would be asking from the State of New York."
"In the form of a loan, you say?"
"Yes, Governor Cuomo. A loan which if it is not paid back will mean the rest of us will have taken a bath on the enterprise as well. I know it's a rather big...." Cuomo cut him off.
"Get me a business plan to show off to the Assembly, and you should be able to get your loan, Mr. Pegula." Cuomo smiled. "So long as you are taking the risk as well as the state, I don't think it inappropriate to make investments in our state's future. But you know that I will have to sell the plan."
"I will do my best."
 
Quick question for all the people following this thread: Is there anything you guys wish to see explained or pointed out?
 
Quick question for all the people following this thread: Is there anything you guys wish to see explained or pointed out?
Well, I liked the initiative of this thread, and I like to know about the transports, technologies and cities in ITTL, beyond the stories shown. Of course I have a great curiosity about the railways, but other things are also interesting to see.
 
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