Heads of State Unable to Read a Treaty???

The railroad between Sharona and the front has a number of tunnels, cuts, and switchbacks, especially the Traisum Cut. Those are obviously big enough to pass the large excavators that can fit on the current flatcars (some of which don't fit unless they're broken down), but I seriously doubt that they're big enough to pass even small warships (in either width or height). Your link also said the Canadian attempt had a line that was almost perfectly straight, and I doubt the Sharonian rail is even close. All of those tunnels and passes would have to be enlarged and the curves straightened, which would be a hell of a lot of work, especially since getting it straighter would probably mean going through a lot of hills instead of around. The Canadian attempt was 17 miles; the Sharonian one is about 44,000 miles. I suspect coming up with a modular design would be much faster and cheaper, even if shipping entire warships would be possible eventually.

SCC wrote:

brnicholas wrote:I suspect that would take way to long. Surely someone has a design for a cruiser that can be built in pieces and shipped by rail just like the standard freighters are. Then you don't need to rebuild the whole railway to move forward.

Nicholas

All you need for ship railways are the right line (They MUST be a fixed distance apart the entire time), special rolling stock and engines and some REALLY big cranes.

Here's a link to a Canadian attempt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chignecto_Ship_Railway

It would be easier to transport a shipyard, work force and materials than a modular warship of any size.


See this link -

Liberty Ships Built During World War II Listed by Shipyard
http://www.usmm.org/libyards.html

And in particular this one for St. Johns River Shipbuilding, Jacksonville, Florida.


http://www.usmm.org/l/southe.html#1221


And see also this 1986 NY Times article on the last inland US shipyard.

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/10/us/an ... -ohio.html

"The founder of shipbuilding in Jeffersonville, which today has about 20,000 residents, was James Howard, who came here from Cincinnati, and his Howard works became one of the most famous boat works in America, producing such steamboats as the Cape Girardeau, the Spread Eagle 4, the Ruth 2, the General Lee, the Belle of the Bends and the J. M. White 3, which riverboat historians say was probably the finest, fastest boat ever built for the Western river trade. As steamboating died out, work diminished at the Howard yards, and they closed in 1931.

The shipbuilding tradition was kept up when, in 1938, the Jefferson Boat and Machine Company, which later changed its name to Jeffboat, was formed, its waterfront location including the site of the old Howard works.

The United States Navy ran the yard in World War II, and the yard completed six towboats, 12 tankers, 8 submarine chasers and 123 landing ships for tanks."