Interesting perspective..
Workin' on the railroad: Today's builders hurdle barriers unknown in transcontinental era
Modern complications Meyer said the process of building a modern rail line - even a small, locally operated line - is more complicated in some respects than laying the transcontinental railroad. Before beginning construction, UTA was required by federal law to complete a two-year study of the environmental effects of building commuter rail and also had to outline how it would "mitigate," or help to lessen any impacts. After that, UTA worked six months to obtain approval from 43 cities and jurisdictions to build commuter rail. Now, it is in the middle of a two-year process of diverting utilities that run under the commuter-rail line. UTA has had to deal with oil pipelines, as well as fiber-optic, sewer, water, natural-gas and power lines. Rails are being laid, but along the way, the utility work must first be done. "You name it, we've got it," Meyer said. "It's not a small thing." With the transcontinental railroad, very few, if any, environmental clearances were required, according to historical reports. It was all about building as fast as you could to obtain money from the federal government to build more, said Guisto. In fact, Guisto said that many historians attribute the demise of the great herds of American bison to the railroad, which made the West more accessible for people to settle. The herds were essentially hunted to extinction by hunters and the settlers, he said.
Laying rails With commuter rail, the only delays have been because of strict safety requirements that prohibit when, and where, work can be done. Also, the train tracks cross over 43 different roads. UTA has had to limit its work because of that issue, said Meyer. But what of the 10-mile record? Historical reports say it was a well-orchestrated endeavor. Thousands of men and horses, wagons and equipment were used to place wooden ties, lay the rail, then hammer it in with spikes. Only a handful of local and out-of-state workers, and a few big machines are used to lay track for commuter rail. Meyer says that a crane is used to pick up the concrete ties, place them, and then pick up the rail. Metal clips are used to connect the rail to the ties.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
Thanks for sharing that. The cool thing about it is that every question that I came up with while reading the first two paragraphs (nimby's, regs, enviro, equipment, conflicting users) was answered in turn, by the remainder.
Good read.
Have fun with your trains
Having significant experience with building railroad in the U.S. and overseas -- at present I have a hand in the construction of more than 1,000 miles, much of it on all-new alignment -- I think it had to be much, much, more difficult in 1869 than now. Logistics, finance, and instantaneous communications, things we take for granted, did not exist or were extremely difficult at that time. The environmental regulations we face are not an unreasonable or onerous challenge, and the other political considerations generally come under the heading of Property Value. All of the problems we face we know in advance can and will be resolved, whereas the early railroad builders were taking a sizeable step into the unknown.
What was accomplished in 1865-69 on the first transcontinental and subsequently on the other transcons was unparalleled before or after, in this country at least.
S. Hadid
thanks for posting - I 'm glad someone did some follow-up on what I initial thought was a stupid question.
dd
Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.