Photo of the Week #27 – Union Station, Washington, DC

Every major and most small cities and towns had railroad stations, often the focal point of the town or city. Once upon a time (it seems like a thousand years ago) the passenger railroad was the major transportation mode in this country. Then, along came the automobile, buses and the airplane. While in many parts of the world, notably Europe, Asia and Japan, the railroad has continued to thrive; in the U.S. it fell on hard times and has been struggling to gain a minor foothold again. America’s love affair with automobiles and fast air travel contributed to the demise of the once “iron horses” that carried people from coast to coast.

Union Station, like Grand Central and Penn Stations in New York City and similar stations in other major cities, is a remnant of a time long past. Small cities and towns, for the most part no longer have active stations, many don’t even have tracks that pass the old stations. Those stations have either become small local museums, restaurants, commercial buildings or, in the case of Winchester, Virginia, the home of the Winchester Little Theater where I was the primary sound designer for about ten years.

Union Station is still a pretty busy train station, however, with one national and two international airports and Interstate’s 95, 270/70 and 66 serving the city, trains only serve a very small part of the traffic they once did (per capita) and still could. Union Station is a monument to a time past. It has a certain elegance, both outside, as you can see, and inside. Perhaps, with the changes in society, the inconveniences that have been added to air travel due to heightened (and likely to never be significantly reduced) security and the increasing costs of flying due to numerous factors, including security and fuel costs, the railroads may realize a resurgence in popularity. I’m lucky enough to remember and have ridden on trains pulled by the old coal-fired steam locomotives, the proverbial “choo-choo” train. Now, I have to search out a touristy, scenic short-line train that may still use an historic steam locomotive. May Union Station and its counterparts live on.