226E

[Roy]

Thanks, Neil.

[rogruth]

So why are we not using more natural gas?
I realize there would need to be a transition
and that some places in the world would never
change but why isn't more effort going into a
change to natural gas?
I admit to not knowing much about this.

[Neil]

Actually we are increasingly using tremendous amounts of natural gas. It's actually cheaper in most areas than coal. You can transport it through pipelines rather than trains or trucks, for one thing. It's places like China and India that are using coal because it is cheaper there, and there are few pressures from health oriented organizations to change that practice.

Coal kills many more people than does natural gas both in production and as consequence of its use as a fuel. Coal fired electricity has dropped dramatically in the last decade or so, as a consequence of the ability to inexpensively extract natural gas through fracking and other modern technologies.

Of course, right now we have a president and an entire political party that are in denial about the health consequences of coal. They are utterly ignorant or intentionally obtuse about obvious facts that are well known to scientists and physicians. I'm not talking about climate change but simple epidemiology and clinical medicine. Obviously, there are consequences of this shift for those involved in the coal industry, and some provision needs to made for economic buffering of the effects of change on the workers in these industries, in my view. Needless to say, the owners of coal mines are not on board with this, which is completely understandable. But they can be compensated as well if it saves lives.

[rogruth]

Neil,
Thank you. I don't think that we can do much about climate change but I do agree that making these changes for the reasons that you
have given are very worthwhile. I would guess that even without the participation of China and India there would be changes for the
better for the rest of us. But would their use of coal in manufacturing still allow them to make stuff cheaper than those not using coal?

[HONDO74]

I removed what I had posted because it became apparent the thread took a turn and drifted away from what was the original intent of the OP.

In the late 30s and 40/41 Lionel was getting heavy into scale detail. I sometimes wonder where it would have advanced to if it had not been interrupted by WW2 ?

[Roy]

In the late 30s and 40/41 Lionel was getting heavy into scale detail. I sometimes wonder where it would have advanced to if it had not been interrupted by WW2 ?

That's hard to say. There was such variety in the prewar line. Much disappeared after the war. Plus, there was a new focus on plastic. Lionel managed to avoid some of the potholes of plastic that Flyer fell in to.