The Ghosts of the Trains

You park your car in the lot next to the rail trail.  You get out and walk to the old train station that now serves as a rest stop for those using the trail.  You sit on the bench to take a brief rest, and then… it hits you.  You look left.  You look right.  It is just a trail that was once a right of way of a railroad line, but the tracks were taken up many years ago.  You look at the old train station… and it hits you again.  You begin to imagine the days when the trains passed through here.  You hear the whistle.

Wait!  There is no train here.  The tracks have been gone for years.  The whistle blows again.  You look around, and passengers are arriving at the depot.  The train arrives.  People get off and on the train.  The platform is full of people.  Where did the come from?

“All aboard!”  The conductor shouts.

The train starts to pull away, and the people are leaving the station.  The train is gone, but all you see is an empty rail trail and an old train station.

Imagine the days when the rail trails were once rail lines where people rode the trains and where freight trains rolled along.  Imagine the days when those old train stations were the center of activity in the town where the ticket master sold tickets and where people sat and waited for the trains.  These are the ghosts of the trains.

The photo is of the old train terminal at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey.