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Re: Union Pacific seeks bond funds for overhaul of Sierra route
Author: RRGary
Date: 02-13-2008 - 09:37
Couple of points here:
The section track between switch nine and shed ten had the tendency to be pita to maintain and keep clear in the wintertime do to their being right up against the "wall" of mountain named Smart's ridge.
As for ripping out that section of DT to move the rail elsewhere, that may be bogus as at the time of the "temporary" abandonment, not one word of moving that many miles of rail and trim tos southern climates was not to be heard.
As for using the tax payers money to build (rebuild?) the DT over the summit, keep in mind the UP's biz slogan is "Building America." Keep in mind the words not seen could be "with someone's else's (anyone else's) money."
The route on the hill that was abandoned was the original transcontinental route that wended its way around the outside of the mountain.
This was a true pita to maintain, that is why the expenditure to drill tunnel #41 was made. A tunnel is easier to maintain (a straight bore through a mountain)than a circuitous, rising and falling elevation with reversing curves inside of man-made sheds.
Drilling the hole in the hill is what got Donald J. Russell his job as pres of the SP a few years later fwiw.
As for high speed convenient passenger service over the hill to lessen hiway traffic, that is another entirely different ball of wax.
I'm done for a while.
RRGary
The section track between switch nine and shed ten had the tendency to be pita to maintain and keep clear in the wintertime do to their being right up against the "wall" of mountain named Smart's ridge.
As for ripping out that section of DT to move the rail elsewhere, that may be bogus as at the time of the "temporary" abandonment, not one word of moving that many miles of rail and trim tos southern climates was not to be heard.
As for using the tax payers money to build (rebuild?) the DT over the summit, keep in mind the UP's biz slogan is "Building America." Keep in mind the words not seen could be "with someone's else's (anyone else's) money."
The route on the hill that was abandoned was the original transcontinental route that wended its way around the outside of the mountain.
This was a true pita to maintain, that is why the expenditure to drill tunnel #41 was made. A tunnel is easier to maintain (a straight bore through a mountain)than a circuitous, rising and falling elevation with reversing curves inside of man-made sheds.
Drilling the hole in the hill is what got Donald J. Russell his job as pres of the SP a few years later fwiw.
As for high speed convenient passenger service over the hill to lessen hiway traffic, that is another entirely different ball of wax.
I'm done for a while.
RRGary
