----- Original Message -----
From: "John David Galt" <jdg@...>
To: <18xx@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: [18xx] Double yellows -- design effects?


>> David Hecht wrote:
>>> The UP, I believe, once laid ten miles of track in a single day,
>>> a record that has stood the test of time.
>
> Steve Thomas wrote:
>> It's true that UP once built about that much track in a single day. But
>> a
>> few days later, Central Pacific's track layers decided to go for the
>> record.
>> During the first attempt, something went wrong and the attempt was
>> aborted,
>> but they had another go next day and took the record, also with about 10
>> miles of track built.
>
> I have the impression that neither of these really represented a
> sustainable
> rate of building track -- they were front-loaded, one-off stunts
> comparable
> to Henry J. Kaiser's stunt of building a Liberty ship in one day during
> WW2.
>

Well, of course. The point is, it couldn't have been done at all under
present legal, regulatory, and social conditions.

As we like to say in my circle: if we can put a man on the Moon, why can't
we...put a man on the Moon?