Project CARRYALL

In 1962, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway began planning a new railway between Needles and Barstow through the Bristol mountains in California. The straighter, more level route would be 15 miles shorter than the old line, shaving 50 minutes off the trip. But getting through the mountains would require either drilling a tunnel or excavating a new pass; the railway judged the cost of doing either with conventional means to be prohibitive.   So, in December of 1962, the Santa Fe Railway contacted the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), to ask if the job could instead be done with hydrogen bombs.

That inquiry was just what the AEC had been waiting for.^[Ki]

Atomic Machines

I have a guest post today at the excellent blog Alternate History Update.   Atomic Machines: an Atompunk Sampler briefly discusses some of my favorite products of Atomic Age imaginations.

Strike from Space

I recently had the pleasure of reading Strike from Space: A Megadeath Mystery, by Phyllis Schlafly and Rear Adm. Chester Ward, published in 1965 by Pere Marquette Press.   Despite the title, it is (the authors assert) non-fiction.

The Atom Blanket

Here's an oddity.   While skimming old Newsweeks, I found a photo from the AP in 1954 of an "atom blanket".