Me four.
I try to teach about Operation Lifesaver and vandalism crimes and such.
I try to educate about the dangers of text messaging to, my best example, the Sept. 12 Metrolink 111 crash.
I'm trying to sway the group of kids toward the good side of railroading and how to act smart around them.
In fact my oral report this month is a disguised Operation Lifesaver "unofficial" presentation.
I also share my experiences on the railroad with them too.
I try to tell them about my work at the Monticello Railway Museum, and how great preserving railroading is.
And how World War 2 would not have been won if not for the railroads.
Schools need to educate kids on more than just the Transcontintal Railroad, they need to teach about the war effort, the troop trains, the way railroading shaped a country.
Honestly, we did not settle the west with Conastoga Wagons, did we?
No, goods were shiped by rail.
How did our stoves get to local department stores in 1929?
It sure wasn't by highway or truck, they were not good at that time, it was the railroads, delivering on the promise. Reliable and Efficient.
How did people get to the World's Fair in St.Louis?
By train of course, there was no American Airlines or Southwest, there was the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Cotton Belt.
Truth to be told, there wasn't always an Air Force One either, there was business cars, with platforms, yes I know, what a shock the president actually stood outside in the open at one point in time.
Fast and Comfortable.
Of course railroads did decline in the 1960's-1970's, but like any great story, it had it's start, boom times, bad times, a second chance, and one day, long from now will have an end too.
Railroads are coming back, sure they are not as glorious and beautiful as they once were, nice Red Boxcars with passenger train logo's on them have given way to plain brown ones with Zephyr the graffiti artists latest work, Bright Red cabooses have given way to FREDs, and streamlined F7's having given way to wide nose pigs, but there is also good to it too, 1,500HP has given way to 6,000HP beasts, Dark Territory has given way to Centralized Traffic Control, and now we have Positive Train Control too, Crossbucks were once a big improvement to a crossing, now it is the opposite with gates and light the better choice.
In many ways railroading has risen and fallen, much like the world really.
Have a Great Year Guys, and never be shy to show who you really are, we like trains, and we are a railfan community, nothing can ever break that, if you think you don't have friends with common interests at school, remember you have plenty of them here!
Good Luck every one,
Woody
