Train Question

[ffutures]

For the adventure I'm writing I want to give the name of a (preferably non-existent) American railway company of the late 19th century, to be owned by a Tom Swift style engineer. Basically I want somewhere where there would be long straight stretches of track, running E-W, which could be used for running high speed trains bearing catapults used to launch primitive spacecraft.

I did a quick web search and can't find the one I came up with, which was the Great Arkansas Railway Company. Can someone who knows something about trains check this for me and make sure I'm okay? Or suggest a more suitable area if Arkansas seems silly for some reason?

Comments

[ckd]

Most of them had more "region" or "endpoint & endpoint" type names, so you'd get California Pacific or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.

Perhaps the New Orleans & El Paso? Texas should give you lots of E-W track opportunities there.

[captboulanger.livejournal.com]

The Arkansas area is rather hilly. What you'd need for flats would be Nebraska or Kansas or the Dakotas.

The major railway in the area (it went west from Omaha, Nebraska) was the Union Pacific, so something like the "Kansas Pacific" or "Nebraska Pacific" would be close enough to be recognizable, but not right on, if that's what you're liooking for.

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

Arkansas isn't flat -- the Ozark and Ouachita mountains cover the western half of the state (and in the eastern you have numerous tributaries of the Mississipi River). Here's a map, if you'd like a look.

I'd suggest eastern South Dakota. Big, and flat as a board. Western Kansas is also very similar, and Eastern New Mexico lapping onto western Texas is not only flat but dry -- no rivers to cross. Though admittedly the tivers in South Dakota and Kansas run almost exclusively east-west and you can find long stretches of dry land between them.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Arkansas is an Ozark state, which means that lots of it has big ups and downs. I would say Kansas or Nebraska would be better bets. The Interstate from Omaha to Denver (and presumably, the railroad that came before) is almost entirely straight, both left-right and up-down.