Thread: Why Dirigibles?
View Single Post
Old 05-13-2018, 01:06 PM   #43
Crystalline_Entity
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: England
Default Re: Why Dirigibles?

Quote:
Originally Posted by khorboth View Post
I see a lot of "how" but not much "why"

What if in the 1760's, the British Empire decided that the colonies should have more rail lines?
I agree with maximara, I find this very unlikely. The first public passenger-carrying railway was in England in 1825, and I can't see an economic benefit to developing one in the colonies in the 1760s, even if the technology had existed. Railway development in Britain was normally done by private companies, rather than by the government (which led to lots of competing lines), so I don't think that there'd be any centrallised planning of colonial railway lines you could blame on an imperial government. The primary aim of the empire was to make money, at least in that era!

For airships to be viable you need to come up with a plausible way of hobbling heavier-than-air travel. Maybe aluminimum is classed as a strategic resource, and not available for commerical use, so aeroplanes have a very limited niche? Transoceanic civilian travel is then done by airship.
Crystalline_Entity is offline   Reply With Quote