Trains

I love trains. I have no idea why, I just do. The first time I rode a train, I was fourteen years old and it was a trip my eighth grade class took. We drove to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and took the Agawa Canyon train into Canada. It seemed like a really long ride. I suppose it kind of was, especially to a teen. It was a challenge to get used to walking around the train, with it gently rocking from side to side as we rode down the track. At one point, we travelled over a railroad trestle that had a curve in it and we could see both ends of the train as it went around the curve. Looking down was not especially exciting. When you think about the fact that you are perched on a set of relatively narrow rails above a several hundred foot drop, it is a bit disconcerting. I was able to make a second trip up Agawa Canyon, this time with my family. It seems kind of strange to drive several hours just to ride a train for several hours, but I'm wondering if it might be the gentle rocking of the train car that intrigues me.

Originally, the train was made up of stagecoaches. I'm sure that even though cinders, ash and sparks flew onto the first passengers, it was intriguing to them too. It probably felt like they were flying along compared to being pulled by horses that tired easily and needed rest. I understand that some of my ancestors used the rails to travel from Arkansas to Indiana more than once. They didn't ride the train; however, they loaded their wagon and set the wheels on the train rails. It was pretty risky, if you ask anyone. It would definitely mean being on alert to when the trains were running and getting off the tracks in time.
Train robberies became quite common in the days of the old west. Jesse James and other outlaws kept the local law enforcement busy. Payrolls and mail were prime targets. So much has changed since the early days of the train, now most trains run on diesel fuel—not many use wood or coal anymore. The speed has increased to the point that there are trains that can travel over 300 mph. Until the widespread use of the automobile, towns grew up primarily along the train route. There were, and still are, hobos that follow the trains. It used to be they had their own codes and they also had a unique brotherhood.

Have you ever met any of the people who build model railroads and ride every chance they get? A train is more than just a means of transportation or of hauling goods from place to place; cars and planes do the same thing, but don't have quite the same appeal. Trains hold a special place in the history of our country. Thousands of people worked to lay the rails from Missouri to California. Good shares of those people were immigrants and yes, they weren't treated very well, but they came to America to live out a dream and many did eventually. Many also died in the process. 
Whenever you ride a train, there is so much history that is encapsulated within the ride. E. M. Forster expresses the appeal of the train so well:

 "Railway termini ... are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas we return."