Muzzle Not The Ox

[Anonymous]

Interesting, ww.

What strikes me is the eloquence of this man.

And regardless the technology available to the railroads, the larger forces have prevailed. I think of the post currently running about commuter service - the inherent centralizing force that rail represents trying to make it in a time of decentralization.

[wallyworld]

On the evening of April 25th, Robert Blinkerd, Vice President of Baldwin, stood before the New York Railroad Club to deliver a speech. The year was 1935. I recently reread this speech and everytime I read it I am equally astonished but in the way only 20/20 hindsight can provide.His speech is in the link below. What really gets me that he makes a fairly compelling case for steam but how wrong-headed he was. I think if I were in that audience, I would be inclined to agree with him. Frightening thought.
http://yardlimit.railfan.net/baldwindiesels/ox/page11.html
His speech struck me as we seem to be on the edge of a equally major tecnological and social transition in this country. Reading this I realized technology has a life cycle-youth-adulthood-old age. Whether it is the use of alternative fuels for motive power, passenger rail or new technologies, there is always someone who refuses to recognize changes happening before their eyes. Maybe I am one of them-who knows?