When I think of North American railroading, my mind doesn't default to the present - or any entirely consistent time period. In my mind... -Conrail exists. -CSX exists and uses the 90s gray/dkblue/yellow scheme. -NS exists. -BN exists. -SLSF is part of BN. -WP, MP and MKT have merged into UP. -SP, DRGW and CNW still exist. -CP is dominated by multimark SD40-2s. -MILW is part of SOO. -SOO is not yet entirely owned by CP. -CN uses the "sergeant stripes" paint scheme. -ICG exists. -WC, GTW, DT&I, DM&IR, and B&LE all exist. -Guilford exists. -RI has been abandoned. -Amtrak is dominated by Phase 3 (equal width red/white/blue stripes) F40PHs. -VIA Rail exists. -U-boats and Centuries are still in common use. -6-axle hood units dominate. -Most GP7s and GP9s are still highnose. -Mail and milk trains are obsolete. -Double-stacks dominate intermodal service. Anyone else experience something similar?
I'm not sure what you are asking here. Are you saying, "yes it is 2006 but a lot of the good ole stuff is still around"? In my fantacy mind GN acquired the UP.
Yes. In my mind, mega-mergers were not allowed. Thus, BN, Penn Central, et al, will never exist. Railroads are still run as businesses. By long time railroading professionals, who worked up through the ranks. And therefore actually know what they are doing. Instead of being used as milk cows ("assets") as today. Private rail passenger trains still exist, with their wonderful, imaginative paint schemes. Second generation diesels are just barely making inroads. All those colorful original paint schemes still abound. Manned depots and interlocking towers still stand lineside. So there is human activity, and interaction all along the railroad. None of the lifeless miles and miles of miles and miles we unfortunately know today. Boxcab E50
I'm not asking about alternate histories, just if there's a time period so familiar to you that, say, when you think of a lsit of major railroads, or locomotive types, you think of the ones from that time.
In my mind, the following still exist: </font> Frisco is still running, and hasn't yet entered into merger talks with BN yet.</font> MKT is still running</font> Rock Island is still around, but barely.......</font> MP, C&NW, SP and D&RGW are still independent railroads</font> The B&M, BAR, MEC and CV are still running</font> MILW still goes to the Pacific</font> Conrail's motive power roster looks & runs like crap</font> Bicentennial diesels abound</font> KCS is somehow still running, no thanks to W.N. Deramus IV's policies</font> There is a Chessie System and a Family Lines, but NO CSX</font> Norfolk & Western & Southern are still independents, and SOU still has the classiest paint scheme in dieseldom</font>
In my mind: -I don't have a career to take up my days -My biggest stress in life is how late mom will let me stay up. -I have summers off to chase trains -I still ride my bike to chase them -I still chase the BN Stillwater job through the farmland behind those two SW7's -I can still see bright MILW orange/black and bright shiny BN Green/Black everywhere -I only see CN and CP in pictures! Where IS that time machine anyway??
PM-1 just roared by Hoosick, NY behind four FT's on its way from Portland, ME to Mechanicsville, NY on B&M's Fitchburg Division. The Minute Man, currently assigned Budd-built #6000, just flew by on its afternoon run back to Boston's North Station from Troy, NY. Oh yeh, the Flying Yankee is still running between North Station and Portland, the Mountaineer is still carrying folks up through North Conway, NH and over Crawford Notch on the MEC Mountain Division to St Johnsbury, VT, and the joint CPR/B&M Alouette is still running between Montreal and Boston, swapping crews and power at Woodsville, NH. Oh Man, If ONLY....
Well, your question is impossible to answer without alternate history. As the only answer available, is alternate to what exists today. Boxcab E50
I have two. I try to keep up with what is current so whaterver is now, is what there is, warts and all. Then my other defalt is frozen in 1951 and what was then. Clear as mud, huh?
I'm with Triplex, my mind snaps to expect steam engines to blow for the crossings. We are still fighting the Nazi and haven't dropped 'the Big One' yet. Then a deezul horn honks and wakes me up. DRAT!
The strange thing about my "default time", aside from some parts of it being ~1990 and others in the 70s, is that I didn't experience it! I was born in 1985, and I still haven't got to see US railroading in person. Also, it's not the time I plan to model. Since 1997, my goal has been to model Conrail circa 1997. Anyway, the importance to me of the "default time" has been declining, as has my assurance that 1997 is the time I will model (even though they aren't the same time!) I guess I don't make sense. Not even to myself.
The engineer of my "default"(or fantasy) hogs a gutsy 4-8-4 on a fast passenger train. He gets to work on a red and cream colored streetcar with the initials CSL in the circular logo. The car passes by the Santa Fe coach yard adjacent to Chinatown. The reality engineer ran Dash-9s and had to drive 40 miles to work in an SUV. I did get to operate fast passenger trains,but they were commuter trains. I can still see the carmine red and cream trolley at the local trolley museum. Oh well! CT
