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Trains Magazine 1959 July The LA Story Speeding up to London
Trains Magazine 1959 July
July 1959Volume 19 Number 9
NEWS - - -5
NEWS PHOTOS - - - -8
MADISON AVENUE IN 1924 - 14
THE L.A. STORY---16
TRAINS GOES OVERSEAS - 2 24
PHOTO SECTION- - - 29
INTERURBANS WITHOUT JUICE 40
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?- 45
CELEBRATION OUT OF GEAR - 46
Railway post office 52Second section56
Of books & trains 56Running extra57
Interchange58
COVER: British Railways Castle-class 4-6-0 Earl Cawdor, by G. F. Heiron. Plus L.A. map detail.
ISOLATIONISM COSTS TOO MUCH
AMERICANS enjoy a well-earned reputation for hospitality and industrial know-how, and since the war, overseas railroaders have taken advantage of these traits to the hilt. Our retarder yards, diesel shops, mechanized offices, and welded-rail crews have played host to literally hundreds of serious, questioning executives, staff personnel, and apprentices from virtually every land outside the Iron Curtain. And we have had a machine worth showing, too. We operate the longest, heaviest, fastest freight trains; we were the quickest to upset the anarchy of steam; we can produce a ton-mile for less money than anyone; and without state subsidy or ownership, freedom from taxes or lack of competition, we've sustained the only continental railway network with an operating ratio of less than 100 per cent.
The kickback was that U. S. railroaders became isolationists. And still are. We laugh at primitive coupling systems found abroad; dismiss such developments as diesel locomotive hydraulic drives as too fragile for our heavy-duty services; and of course shudder at nationalization.
But time is running out on isolationism, in or out of railroading, and the industry's thinkers are now beginning to pack their bags and apply for passports. We've discovered, for one thing, that the zealousness with which Russia beat us to the draw in the space race extends also to her railways. And, item by item, we've begun to lose the prestige of leadership. A 3300 h.p. six-motor British cab unit ranks as the most powerful single-unit diesel in the world, at least in power input to generators . . . the French have pushed a stock electric locomotive to 205 mph . . . German Federal has automated a hump engine. Moreover, there has been an extraordinary postwar surge toward co-operation and co-ordination in Western Europe despite the barriers of language, international boundaries, varying labor situations, and customs.
Take the word of Paul V. Garin, Research & Development Manager of Southern Pacific's Mechanical Department. Recently back from Europe, he's submitted a paper on his experiences to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers which might well be stamped REQUIRED READING for all of us concerned with American railroading, circa '59.
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