Trains, almost an accident?

DOWN THE ROAD
A PIECE
By Milt Gross

Were trains almost an accident?

Many members of my family earned their livelihoods from railroads. But when I look at the history of wagons and coaches, autos and trucks, and railroads, it seems to me that trains nearly by accident snuck into a segment of history no other means of transportation was filling.

They had wagons for freight and coaches for passengers, pulled by horses, an ancient power of transportation. Before long, cars and then trucks showed up in our history of getting around.

But why the train? Easy answer. A more speedy way of getting there and getting goods there was needed. The train met that need. It met that need because cars, trucks, and buses weren’t on the market at that moment in our history.

I just finished a book about a small railroad that carried passengers in summer and freight all year from Oakland to Greenville. Made sense. Autos were still in the future, along with larger modes of highway transportation. And because motor vehicles were not yet ready to go, highways weren’t either.

If I’m doing my math right, which is possible, about 60 years poked in before motor vehicles – and roads – were on the scene. Let’s think about trains for a minute. They are heavy, engines and cars alike. They require much steel for their roadways. In Maine, like other places, cars and roads eventually shoved trains aside.

In Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia and on a path to Chicago, trains run a lot. Both freight and passenger. When I was a kid, we walked over to our local station to watch those western passenger trains stop and then start again with the passengers who had just gotten aboard. Those passengers ride all night before reaching Chicago. Comfortable cars, beds, dining cars, and all that makes a train comfortable.

The tracks run a few miles south of a turnpike and is near a turnpike during their entire path west. Why the trains? Because trains were invented before motor vehicles. I had a choice in traveling between Philadelphia and Chicago, train, auto or bus, or airlines. But what if Henry Ford, or whoever was really first in the motor vehicle industry, had come along before trains?

Answer: probably no trains.

I’m not saying trains have no purpose. I have no idea of the equivalent power of an engine compared to an auto, bus, or truck, but – think about this – one engine can pull a long string of passenger or freight cars. No bus or truck can do likewise.

One final thought about trains: probably no other means of transportation carries with it the number of fans than does a train.

Dolores and I last year drove clear to Boothbay to ride an old coach behind an old steam engine. We’ve also ridden the old coaches from Belfast through Brooks. We won’t forget either adventure.

For your railroad adventure, you can drive to one of those places or buy or borrow your copy of “The Old Somerset Railroad”.

Milt Gross can be reached for corrections, harassment, or other purposes at lesstraveledway@roadrunner.com.