Each year begins on January 1 with New Year’s Day and ends on December 31 with New Year’s Eve. A majority of people around the world stay up all night to celebrate the exact time when the clock strikes at midnight ending the year before and starting the year ahead. Most people dress up and attend a party. Some parties are private while others are public like the most popular party at Times Square in New York City, New York. With twenty four time zones, the celebrations happen each hour around the world. The celebrations begin in cities like Wellington, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, and end in cities like Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii.
How about riding a train from the old year to the new year?
The place is Boyertown, Pennsylvania. What is special about Boyertown? Well, it is not a famous town, but it is the home of the Colebrookdale Railroad. What is special about the Colebrookdale Railroad?
It is December 31, 2025. I arrive at 10:00pm and park my car in the parking lot. As soon as I step out of my car, everything changes. I see a clock, and it says, ‘It is 10:00pm. The day is December 31, 1925’. Wait! What happened? I heard somebody say, “We will soon say goodbye to 1925 and hello to 1926.” Did I go back in time? I walk to the Victorian train station to get the ticket to ride the train. I look around and see Model T Fords arriving at the station. I see other classic cars, but they are not classic cars. It is 1925. I board the train, and I go to my seat at a table in a first class car.
The train leaves Boyertown at 10:30pm. Where are we going? Ladies and gentlemen, we are headed to 2026. Well, at this time, we are going to 1926. We are going down the track seeing nothing but darkness with an occasional site of railroad lights at the grade crossings. I see people walking up and down the train ready to ring in the new year.
Then, the time comes. It is official. We have officially ridden the train from the old year of 1925 to the new year of 1926. We were the last people to ride the train from the old year and are the very first passengers on the train in the new year.
Well, the train returns to the station in Boyertown. We deboard the train on January 1, 1926. I walk away from the station, and things change. What happened? I see a sign that says, ‘Happy New Year 2026’. I am back to the present. It is said that the Colebrookdale Railroad is a railroad that takes you back in time. A ride on the New Year’s Celebration train, you are not just riding history. You are a part of history as you ride from one year to the next.
John Cowgill: Stories of the Railroad 