From Camels to TGVs

Architizer has a great recap on the history of transportation in the West -- from camels to wishful dreams for an efficient high-speed train network. "In 1855, the US Congress put $30,000 aside for a project known as The U.S. Camel Corps, sending an Army major to what is now Turkey to procure these new forms of transportation, meant to traverse the rugged landscape of the Wild West," Architizer reminds us. "By 1857 the venture was in full force, with the first official Camel Corps being used as the main form of transportation for missions and supply routes in New Mexico, Califonia and Texas." From there to autopia mania to high-speed rail, there is a BIG step. But to paraphrase Mao, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. And a TGV network will happen in this part of the world, no matter how long it takes, or how much naysayers fight it. It just makes too much (business) sense.
image via Architizer