"WHAT I MEAN IS THIS: the railroad connects my store...and my business...with every other town and city in the whole country."
"That means I can give my customers the same kind of merchandise---the same up-to-the-minute goods---that folks in the big towns enjoy."
"So you see why I figure that the railroad is really in partnership with me, and with every other local merchant."
"Yes, throughout their whole exciting history, America's railroads have played a big part in helping to develop community life and business."
"The railroads are local business. They employ people wherever they run. They buy supplies in seven out of every eight counties of the U.S. They own property in every community they serve---and pay local taxes. In fact, as much as half the tax money received by many counties is paid by the railroads. And that can't be said of any other form of commercial transportation!"
"American railroads are working to improve still further their essential service to the nation's people, to expand their partnership with the nation's business. The vast amount of new equipment and facilities required will be bought with railroad money, without federal, state, or municipal aid. For the railroads, like other local business, are self-supporting---neither asking or expecting aid from other taxpayers. Safe, dependable, inexpensive---the railroads continue to be the backbone of America's transportation service."
quoted: Association of American Railroads-THE SATURDAY EVENING POST May 4th, 1946
Oh, for crying out loud! That was an advertisement, so quoting Saturday Evening Post is not quite accurate. It had nothing to do with the ad other than to sell the space to the sponsor. More important, your focus, RAILWAYIST, on nostalgia for a time long gone completely overlooks the FACT that the service referred to in that ad exists today and is far superior to that provided in 1946 by America's railroads. It is called UPS and FedEx, both of which can deliver overnight to any part of the United States and do so at incredibly low prices. UPS is one of the, if not the, largest railroad customers, while FedEx, for reasons of its own, chooses not to use rail intermodal service at all. A discussion of why and how these two iconic companies have such different business models might make this blogsite more valuable to its users.