This past December I was watching a Christmas film on Hallmark Channel and was stunned to see a scene from my youth.

You can’t see everything with your eyes on the highway and nobody serves you dinner safely while you’re driving

One character was at a train station meeting a friend who arrived by rail.  It was the Arcade & Attica Railroad.  When I was a boy it was an excursion line for day trips.  Actors would stage a train robbery and a musician would wander the aisles playing old songs on a guitar.

It struck me someone working on the movie must have remembered it and incorporated it into a scene about small town life.

Over the weekend I was looking for details on Idaho’s Thunder Mountain Line.  Apparently it may never reopen.  The Great Recession cut into business and many people simply enjoy the scenery by car but, still.  You can’t see everything with your eyes on the highway and nobody serves you dinner safely while you’re driving.  Kids may never again enjoy the experience at a fading part of what is sometimes called Americana.  A darn shame!

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