Re: GM killed US rail network

Hi Skip, There is an excelent video by Sky City Productions (see www.skycityproductions.com)titled "This was Pacific Electric" that is very accurate as to all of the many reasons that the Southern Pacific R/R (that owned the Pacific Electric) wanted out of the interurban business. It is interesting even to my wife (who is NOT a railfan) to watch it. I belong to the Orange Empire R/R Museum in So. Calif. and we have the entire Redcar fleet of the survivors and many of them operate on our railroad. It is amusing to us how many people visit our museum and tell us about how Firestone,the oil companies, and General Motors all wanted to "kill off the Redcars" to provide a market for their busses. Even 60 Minutes came out years ago and interviewed our museum's president,and when Tom told them what were the REAL causes of the Redcar's demise, that interview ended up on the cutting room floor. It is sad that we once had the world biggest mass transit system (almost a thousand miles and two thousand trains a day), tore it all up, and now are in the process (at GREAT EXPENSE) of replacing what we one had in the 1920s. (So much for the forsight of our city fathers). Brian Norden can give you more info if needed as he is one of our directors of our museum and has forgotten more about this subject than I know. Regards, John