After making a note to come back and become well versed and inspired by "Great quotes in railfan history", I was quite dissapointed to find myself amist in quotes that, while humorous at times, were far from "Great".

Let's spin the thread in a positive direction and try to preserve some of railroading's greatest quotes - ready?


"... there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
no matter where it’s going." Edna St. Vincent Millay.

"It is more than a machine, it is almost a living being:... it breathes; the steam which issues at regular periods from the pipes, and is condnesed into a white cloud, resembles the quick breathing of a racehorsel" Michel Chevalier (1839).

I'm sure there are a many more inspirational quotes from the likes of Doyle McCormack and others so, with that in mind, I will echo the following quote; "Let's Roll!"


/Mitch

Some of the best ones are by the ol' Empire Builder himself, James J. Hill. These were all collected in a Trains Magazine article many years ago, and I remember (more or less accurately) at least three of them offhand:

"All men who have really lived have had, in some way, their great adventure. This railway is mine."

"I've made my mark on the face of the earth, and they can't wipe it out!"

and my personal favorite,

"The passenger train is like the male teat - neither useful nor ornamental."

But my favorite I found in a history of steam power, and was said to have come from an early-19th century British machine builder:

"I sell here, sir, what all men desire to have: Power."

Of course I can't be troubled to find citations for any of these.

no disrespect meant, but RYPN's value is as a source for preservation topics. These generic threads are chaski or railfan.net material and are great over there.

These quote threads and other monster topics obscure the real news and the real issues that still get posted here every once in awhile.

I may be a lone voice on this, but I loves me RYPN when she's all meat and potatoes. Quiche and pastries belong on other boards, no?

what he said.

I understand yet respectfully disagree - to an extent.

I visualize your fear of a monster thread taking root but I would add that if the thread were to be responded to intelligently it would be invaluable to the hobby.

There is more then machinery that needs preservation. The men and woman of railroading deserve a place in history - and modern times as well.

Granted my quotes were weak but that is precisely why I looked at the "railfan" thread first and why I initiated a more insightful thread. Aarne Frobom quoted a few iconic quotes from James J. Hill, the first two anyway. I think it would benefit the community if such words were as well known to the members of this community so we may better represent each other.

Perhaps words of wisdom from former railroad presidents - David R. Goode, or other respected individuals (your opinion may vary), perhaps from the likes of David Gunn, Alan Cripe, Robert R. Young, James J. Hill, , or in the photographic feilds, perhaps Ted Benson, O'Winston Link, ect.

/Mitch

"A hog can cross America, but you can't."

There is one guy, in my lifetime, who has had a great majority of the memorable rail quotes. He was directly or indirectly responsible for a whole bunch of phrases (and titles) that have stuck with me, and I suspect many others, for decades. He either wrote them himself, or edited them for his publication. And yes, they undoubtedly influenced my thinking regarding rail preservation, so they apply directly to this Board, in my opinion.

"The ivory hunters are coming"
"Who shot the passenger train?"
"The Mohawk that refused to abdicate"
"Steam in Indian Summer"
"Look away, look away"
"The Monsters of Mingo Junction"
"Death of an Old Woman"
"The Diesel from D to L"
"Those Cincinnati Curiosities"
"Thank you, Mr. White"

There are many others, without a doubt. These are a few that have popped into my gray matter without too much hard thinking.

He possessed the ability to craft a few words that could turn a grainy 50-year-old photo into a memorable experience for his readers. I regret never having met him.

JR

John -

The one I liked best from him, addressing a commuter reading his morning newspaper while his train came in was, "Look up brother, she's steam!"

Maybe from the "Steam in Indian Summer" series, and maybe I didn't quite get the words right, but it's the one I remember.

Les

OK - I'm working on justifying this thread's value and place on RPN.
Thanks to those who have thus far contributed.

Here is a unique quote I came across, though not short, it is exquisite.

From William L. Withuhn;
"An essential truth is that most people are intersted in people, not in machines"
From "The Spirit of Steam"

The entire quote:
"A piciture of a machine is one thing, but even the most beautifully restored steam locomotive in action today, able to steam and to run, showing off its fascinating rythms and counter-rythms, is just a machine to most of us - at best, a sort of animated industrial sculpture. It is the people associated with the machine that must give it meaning."

Perhaps it's the relationship to a person, or "the people", or even the company and the history which makes the hobby we enjoy so special and it is this that is often miscommunicated to others when we "talk trains".

/Mitch

Here are two more, same author - William L Withuhn

"Nearly all of us, of all ethnic backgrouds, have a railroader somewhere in our family trees..."

"Steam railroading is important not because it repersents some nostalgic past that, in truth, never was. Steam railroading is important because it was a human tool that radically transformed a continent, affecting everyone."

Quote that next time CNN or ABC comes up to you with a mic after the 3985 runs by!

/Mitch

"I consider this act second in importance only to my having signed the Declaration of Independence; if even it be second to that." Charles Carroll of Carrollton, July 4, 1828.

Mr. Carroll, who was 91 at the time, made these most prophetic remarks when he presided at the laying of the cornerstone of the B&O on July 4, 1828. He was the last surviving signer and the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration, after John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826. Mr. Carroll lwas 95 when he died in 1832.

Incidentally, President John Quincy Adams was invited to the ceremony, but considered the cornerstone laying of the Chespeake & Ohio Canal the same day to be of greater importrance. No wonder he lost to Andrew Jackson that November.

Jackson would become the first President to ride a train when he rode from Ellicotts Mills (today's Ellicott City) to Baltimore circa 1832.