In an era of railway mediocrity, epitomized by Amtrak, it’s easy to forget that train travel was once a romantic adventure. Riding the rails to Boston in 1924, George Gershwin listened to the roar of the steam engine and the turn of the wheels and found the inspiration for “Rhapsody in Blue,” his hymn to urbanizing, Jazz Age America. “It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer,” he told a biographer, describing the moment of creation. “I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise.” W. C. Handy and other African-American musicians heard a similar sound on the Illinois Central, the Midwestern line that spirited them away from the Deep South on the Great Migration that began during World War I. They married the whistle and drone of the locomotive to the plaintive chants of sharecroppers and invented the “city blues.” Steve Goodman, a little-known composer, was inspired by a journey on the same line to write a dirge that became one of the anthems of the Vietnam War era — “The City of New Orleans.”
Here's a 'bricks and clicks' retailer's page for such:
Gilbert, Thanks for the 'heads up'. I was away on Sunday and missed the book review. But, thanks to you, I didn't! Tom
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Thanks, GBN. Gonna buy this book (yes, book-not into that Kindle thing yet) for sure. Here's another passage from the review for those still not sold on this guy's love of trains and prose style:
Zoellner’s most lyrical chapter recounts his leisurely journey from New York to Los Angeles aboard a series of regional trains — including the Cardinal to Chicago and the Southwest Chief to Los Angeles. “Peer under the surface of almost any American city that lies away from the Eastern Seaboard,” he writes, “and you are almost certain to find a railroad buried in its nativity story.” America’s trains transformed a country of small farmers and shopkeepers into an industrial powerhouse, forged a sense of nationhood and inspired some of the country’s most memorable art and literature. Zoellner celebrates the opulent stations that awed travelers in the first half of the 20th century and laments the rise of the interstate highway system and the airline network, which have nearly driven the railways out of business. Today the country makes do with Amtrak, scraping by on government subsidies, and with depots like Penn Station, a subterranean afterthought below Madison Square Garden. “The lighting is sterile white, the ceilings are oppressively low and the air is dank,” Zoellner writes. “The trains are shut away in the basement, as unseen as sewerage.”
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:..and laments the rise of the interstate highway system and the airline network, which have nearly driven the railways out of business
The captioned quote simply shows me the trite knowledge Mr. Zoellner has, or chooses not to have, what the railroad industry is all about today.
Here is an industry, to which I have committed some 12% of my equity portfolio, that now handles a greater volume of freight traffic than it did during WWII - and with a workforce only 10% the size of that back then.
Yes, public preferences for other transport modes - principally private modes - did put the railroads out of the passenger transport business - save what survives as wards of the State. Have there been 'slow orders' along the way? You bet there have; such as through the 1960-85 'Dark Ages' for the industry as it reshaped its physical plant, as its employees and their representatives realized that 'statesmanship' rather than 'confrontation' is what will save this industry, and as regulators accepted that the markets will determine the price for the industry's transportation services rather than 'fiat' (and I don't mean some silly looking automobile) driven by 'one man one vote', the Renaissance began.
The photos of Cajon Pass Mr. Mayo included at another topic are certainly indicative of what railroads are all about today - not Mr. Zoellner's work.
I'll limit my reading of the work to what's available either at the Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
quote:
The photos of Cajon Pass Mr. Mayo included at another topic are certainly indicative of what railroads are all about today - not Mr. Zoellner's work.
I'll limit my reading of the work to what's available either at the Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.
Mr. Zoellner should have been at the Spencer event. The banquet was held in the Salisbury station with wide open view of the track. As the NS speaker started to make his remarks, he stopped as an NS freight sped through (easily 50mph)with six units and a very long double stack train. After it passed there was a moment of silence and then the very large crowd erupted into applause. Wrinn of course accused the speaker of planning it. Shortly thereafter another freight and the Piedmont went through. The point is, while not the magnitude of Cajon, or Powder River basin trackage, railroads are alive and well.