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I was in Sheldon, IA this past weekend where I snapped some non-digital photos of the joint CMO/MILW depot there in town (still in remarkably good shape).  It's an interesting "corner" design with half aligned on the MILW secondary main (now ICE) and half aligned on the CMO main (now UP).  Sheldon is now the western terminus of the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern, and hats-off to that community for keeping the depot up.At breakfast I got to talking with some locals, and we began to speculate on what would've happened with the US rail system had WWII never happened?  Suppose one of the several plots to eliminate Hitler actually succeeded prior to 1941 (there were a number of high-ranking German officers who plotted his removal well before the failed attempt in '44).  Suppose the Japanese emperor had a change of mind, or perhaps if the German-Italian alliance wouldn't have been in-place, leaving Japan alone to face the US, Britain and the Commonwealth and France combined - perhaps Japan would've backed-down?  How would peace in the 30's and 40's have affected American railroads?  Here's what Carl, Bill, Mary and I came-up with:1.) The interstate highway system, envisioned originally to facilitate a more rapid overland transportation system in-case of a foreign invasion, may have been delayed in its creation.2.) Joseph Stalin, and his brutal policies within the USSR, may have been assassinated or driven from power, as his purges made many, many enemies for him inside and outside the party (he was terrified of an internal coup - that was the cause for the purges).  This certainly would've delayed the development of the arms race, and that may have allowed more governmental funding for infrastructure improvement/development.3.) Without the severe wear & tear on the physical plants of the railroads, the railroads would not have emerged from the late 40's in terrible condition (like the PRR, NYC and MSTL to name only a few that I can think of).  Perhaps this would've allowed the railroads to better compete with trucks by allowing more investment in equipment upgrades, ROW upkeep and improvements in traffic control/scheduling/routing?  Maybe this would've delayed "merger madness"?4.) Without the war industries, there may not have been as much business for the railroads to serve in that period.  There was a huge drain on manpower as the result of hostilities, and had war not occurred, the rail industry wouldn't have lost so much of its workforce.  The war effort, and the "war scare" prior to the US entry in 1941, did help pull the US out of the depression by the drive to prepare for war (armaments production and strategic infrastructure developments).Does anyone have ideas?
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