Railroad references in Ayn Rand books

The railroads are at best a MacGuffin.  If Rand had come along twenty years later she would have chosen to write about airliners.

 

also, good books don't need to be rewritten for modern audiences.  Start with a blank page if you want to cover the same points, and you'll likely write a better book.

I wonder if any readers here have actually read all 1168 pages of "Atlas Shrugged"?

In the internet age, attention spans are often measured in mere seconds.

I've read Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged several times all the way through. I don't recall Anthem. I'm always looking for good epic novels does Anthem fit that bill or is it more of a short story?
You keep reading Rand Ace and people are going to accuse you of being selfish.
I think the issue with getting the Atlas Shrugged produced was the Rand society or who ever it is that holds the rights to her work wouldn't let anyone make the movie without a guarantee of following the plot and story line accurately without any exclusions or changes. Kind of a Howard Roark deal. Like you said it is a long and detailed read so to make the movie without changes would have created a 6 hour film. The only compromise was allowing it to be released in three parts. I believe the Rand Society also placed a limit on how long the production company could hold the movie rights and insisted they meet certain scheduling deadlines, forcing a timely completion of the project, which I think started in 2008. Not sure when the final part of the movie will be released.

I'm a voracious reader and will read anything, especially if a good friend suggests it.  Back in high school someone gave me their copy of Atlas Shrugged, and I read it through.  The only reason I didn't quit halfway through was I didn't have the money to buy a better book as I was saving for flying lessons and college with nothing left over.  Disregarding the socioeconomic parable, I found the characters dry and lifeless and couldn't care about any of them.  Keep in mind, I still read as much as I can, and first read The Lord of the Rings trilogy in sixth grade, so heavy reading has always been one of my favorite activities.  I would rather retread the Twilight series than another Rand book.

Anthem is a short read. It was an earlier work. When we were required to read it in a high school English class, I though it was just weird. But now it means something to me. After reading "Atlas Shrugged", I wanted to re-read Anthem to see if it had a vague railroad reference as I thought I remembered.

 

Yeah, maybe I'm one of those selfish radicals who believes in pursuing individual goals in an increasingly socialistic world ... !

Atlas Shrugged was required reading by my 11th grade English teacher. I should mention that was back in 1964-5, as those of you who have read it might doubt, highly, that a public school would make Atlas Shrugged required reading.

 

By the way, my 11th grade teacher was one hot looking woman, just out of college a couple years.

 

Who is John Gault?

Don't you mean Galt?

 

There's an H.O. modeler who has the John Galt Line. The website is a pretty elaborate tribute and has the look and feel of an operational branch line. It's at http://www.jglrr.com

 

As for the book, I have Atlas Shrugged somewhere in my collection. Haven't finished it. Saw Part 1 of the movie, haven't seen Part 2 yet, and Part 3 has been funded and will be coming. Part 1 seemed too condensed but I actually liked it. It was less about trains than government overreach, but that's a discussion for another type of forum.

 

I tend to agree with Ms. Parker-"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." 

 

That being said, like any other part of popular culture, I'm not surprised that people work railroad references from the book into their model worlds.

 

Jeff C