On the passenger rail side, If Seaboad Coast Line had retained it's NY to Florida passenger service instead of signing it over to Amtrak (SCL was one of the few railroads still making a small profit on long distance service). Years back I remember reading that if it had not been for the big wreck of 1968, involving two SCL streamliners at Winter Haven, Florida..... SCL may have continued in the passenger market, just as the Southern Railway did.
What could have been!
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I find it quite fascinating, that when you are free-lancing a model railroad what you are essentialy doing is creating an alternate history, though usually on a smaller scale than what one normaly thinks of (however, without violating forum policies, even the ever-popular Hitler Wins scenario contains some interesting railroad speculation in itself with its three-meter gauge system as proposed by Hitler, which seems to prove something about his character).
At that, my hope for this thread is to set up discussion about alternate railway histories, such as the hypothetical circumstances in which steam could have remained in opreation into the present day U.S. and what would have happened had Amtrak never formed.