It takes a lot to laugh, but it takes a train to cry, especially when you have those Disappearing Railroad Blues on
NATIONAL TRAIN DAY!
Other than subways and commuter lines, our mighty railroads are mostly a thing of the past, victims of age, neglect, the automobile, airplanes, and a national attention span reduced to the length of a digital download.
No more lonesome whistles calling to the heartbroken at night, no more mighty locomotives steaming into small towns like gleaming steel dragons and making little boys dream of St. Louis.
Trains once moved everything and everyone in this country, and every great city had cavernous railroad terminals and vast train yards. American Railroad History is rich and colorful, and all the best songs are about trains.
Today we remember the dining cars, the Pullman cars, the passenger cars and the freight cars that took Americans wherever the tracks led, and we salute the people who built and ran them.
•Suggested Activities: Playing train sounds on harmonica, watching “The Great Train Robbery.”