6 ms·

How the ‘Sunset Route’ Railroad Helped Diversify California

28 points by samclemens 6y ago

throwaway4892 6y ago
Diversity = race riots and black on white hate crimes: >https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/ https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/ Bring back segregation.
WalterBright 6y ago
The impact of the transcontinental railroads far exceeded the dreams of even its most ardent supporters.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  One of my ancestors worked for Southern Pacific (not a software, but a choo-choo, engineer). His family was able to live in affordable nowhere[1] because taking the train was going to work. Before becoming a telecom provider, SPRINT was "Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal" and allowed railroaders to chat long distance with cow-orkers without dealing with Ma Bell. And the sons of Pullman porters And the sons of engineers Ride their father's magic carpets made of steam [1] Fun fact: Coalinga was originally "Coaling [station] A", retconned to sound more spanish. The spaniards themselves usually just named places after whichever saint's day it was when they first passed through. (Thomas Guides used to show rancho property lines in southern california; many of their borders go back to the original 18th century land grants)
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    I'd give up writing software to drive a steam locomotive.
    - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
      If I didn't need the money. Software pays better. Other than that... oh, yeah.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
kccqzy 6y ago
Amtrak has a route guide for the present-day Sunset Limited, which also touches a bit on its history: http://testsite.itworksdc.com/amtrakconnect_6_30/static/route-guides/Amtrak-Sunset-Train-Route-Guide.pdf http://testsite.itworksdc.com/amtrakconnect_6_30/static/rout... (not on Amtrak's official website because Amtrak inexplicably removed all their route guides)
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  "inexplicably removed" — if I have this correct, a big difference between here and the US is that here, freight traffic pays the passenger company to use their network. In the US, I believe Amtrak has to pay the freight companies to use their networks. (a bigger difference is that one of the things we use our supercomputers for is to calculate a nationwide multimodal schedule that not only integrates trains, buses, boats, etc., but also differs minimally from the previous year's combined schedule. That'd probably run afoul of antitrust in the US)
otterley 6y ago
True story: Sunset Magazine (which is still being published today) was originally published by Southern Pacific Railroad to attract newcomers to California - and to take the Sunset Route to get there.
- giobox 6y ago
  If in bay area, the magazine has a long association with a ranch in Ben Lomond (Santa Cruz County) which is now a really nice state park, the ranch house itself open to public. The original publisher lived here while making the magazine etc. https://hilltromper.com/article/quail-hollow-ranch https://hilltromper.com/article/quail-hollow-ranch

28 points by samclemens 6y ago

Diversity = race riots and black on white hate crimes: >https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/ https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/ Bring back segregation.

WalterBright 6y ago

The impact of the transcontinental railroads far exceeded the dreams of even its most ardent supporters.

082349872349872 6y ago
One of my ancestors worked for Southern Pacific (not a software, but a choo-choo, engineer). His family was able to live in affordable nowhere[1] because taking the train was going to work. Before becoming a telecom provider, SPRINT was "Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal" and allowed railroaders to chat long distance with cow-orkers without dealing with Ma Bell. And the sons of Pullman porters And the sons of engineers Ride their father's magic carpets made of steam [1] Fun fact: Coalinga was originally "Coaling [station] A", retconned to sound more spanish. The spaniards themselves usually just named places after whichever saint's day it was when they first passed through. (Thomas Guides used to show rancho property lines in southern california; many of their borders go back to the original 18th century land grants)
- WalterBright 6y ago
  I'd give up writing software to drive a steam locomotive.
  - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
    If I didn't need the money. Software pays better. Other than that... oh, yeah.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

kccqzy 6y ago

Amtrak has a route guide for the present-day Sunset Limited, which also touches a bit on its history: http://testsite.itworksdc.com/amtrakconnect_6_30/static/route-guides/Amtrak-Sunset-Train-Route-Guide.pdf http://testsite.itworksdc.com/amtrakconnect_6_30/static/rout... (not on Amtrak's official website because Amtrak inexplicably removed all their route guides)

082349872349872 6y ago
"inexplicably removed" — if I have this correct, a big difference between here and the US is that here, freight traffic pays the passenger company to use their network. In the US, I believe Amtrak has to pay the freight companies to use their networks. (a bigger difference is that one of the things we use our supercomputers for is to calculate a nationwide multimodal schedule that not only integrates trains, buses, boats, etc., but also differs minimally from the previous year's combined schedule. That'd probably run afoul of antitrust in the US)

otterley 6y ago

True story: Sunset Magazine (which is still being published today) was originally published by Southern Pacific Railroad to attract newcomers to California - and to take the Sunset Route to get there.

giobox 6y ago
If in bay area, the magazine has a long association with a ranch in Ben Lomond (Santa Cruz County) which is now a really nice state park, the ranch house itself open to public. The original publisher lived here while making the magazine etc. https://hilltromper.com/article/quail-hollow-ranch https://hilltromper.com/article/quail-hollow-ranch