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Re: SMART (Ain;t it just awful?) Update
Author: Al Stangenberger
Date: 11-22-2013 - 19:41
KRK Wrote:
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> You know something folks, I don't cry about a
> bunch of rich Marin County whiners who have to
> fight the traffic on U.S. 101 every day. They had
> a GREAT system that was paid-in-full that worked
> well that most of their grandparents rode. But
> they got nimby disease and ripped it all out.
> Here, take a look back yourselves and see what I
> mean:
>
Come on, Ken - the people of Marin County did not rip out the NWP system, that was a business decision by the SP / NWP. I suggest re-reading Hilton's book on the electric interurbans in America for a more dispassionate analysis of the economics of running an interurban after the rise of the automobile (and of course building the Golden Gate Bridge).
For "what could have been" - the demise would certainly have been delayed by several years if the system had lasted beyond December 7, 1941. This would also have been the case with the IER operation in the East Bay, and the Sacramento Northern. But the ultimate outcome probably would have been the same, witness the abandonment of the Key System bridge trains in 1958.
As a native Marinite (Tam '61), I think your characterization of the Marin County populace at the time of the NWP abandonment as a "bunch of NIMBY's" is way off the mark. When I was growing up there, there were a lot of working folks who were my neighors, and their children were my classmates. The county was not a bunch of yuppies, that came later. Fortunately I had left by then..
-------------------------------------------------------
> You know something folks, I don't cry about a
> bunch of rich Marin County whiners who have to
> fight the traffic on U.S. 101 every day. They had
> a GREAT system that was paid-in-full that worked
> well that most of their grandparents rode. But
> they got nimby disease and ripped it all out.
> Here, take a look back yourselves and see what I
> mean:
>
Come on, Ken - the people of Marin County did not rip out the NWP system, that was a business decision by the SP / NWP. I suggest re-reading Hilton's book on the electric interurbans in America for a more dispassionate analysis of the economics of running an interurban after the rise of the automobile (and of course building the Golden Gate Bridge).
For "what could have been" - the demise would certainly have been delayed by several years if the system had lasted beyond December 7, 1941. This would also have been the case with the IER operation in the East Bay, and the Sacramento Northern. But the ultimate outcome probably would have been the same, witness the abandonment of the Key System bridge trains in 1958.
As a native Marinite (Tam '61), I think your characterization of the Marin County populace at the time of the NWP abandonment as a "bunch of NIMBY's" is way off the mark. When I was growing up there, there were a lot of working folks who were my neighors, and their children were my classmates. The county was not a bunch of yuppies, that came later. Fortunately I had left by then..
