The "Simply...The Yellow School Bus" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking out the window next to my lounge chair, watching the big yellow school bus make one of its runs since school ended this past March.  Bus looked to be only half full, since many parents have opted to have their children stay at home and accomplish their education online.  Needless to say, many are still frightened and worried that their children may be exposed to the COVID-19 virus.  

School bus from 1943.  Tough to tell the color in a black & white photo.

The bus seemed to be filled with happy young faces looking out the bus window, some looking my way as they passed.  Ever since I can remember, America's school buses have been yellow.  The color makes it recognizable to all and perhaps causes some to be more digilent as they pass the bus or approach it coming in the opposite direction.  

A 1955 Steelcraft school bus.

The man who put the idea in people's minds was Frank W. Cyr who was an educator and author from Nebraska.  He did research in ten states to help design a standardized bus and color for school transportation.    It was in 1939, during a meeting at Columbia University, that Cyr aimed to reinvent the fine art of getting to school.  Up until that time children got to school in a variety of ways.  

A 1957 Chevrolet School Bus.

Some traveled in wooden wheat wagons while others road in the back of pick-up trucks with floorboards covered with cow manure.  Mr. Cyr first received a degree in agriculture, then worked for years as a teacher and school superintendent.  During this time he finally decided to address the issue of getting to and going home from public schools.  He knew the economic benefits of public transportation to and from school was a no brainer.  He invited state educators from across the country, engineers from Chevrolet, International Harvester, Dodge and Ford as well as paint experts from DuPont and Pittsburgh Paint to a teachers college to set bus safety standards.  During one point in his meeting he hung up no less than fifty color strips.  After days of meetings and looking at these strips, they attendees were asked to suggest a color for the school bus.  One said red, white and blue to help instill national pride in students.  Eventually the iconic school bus shade of lead-chromate yellow was selected.  Today it is called National School Bus Glossy Yellow.  The color seems to have a psychological effect on those that see the buses.  

School buses as we visualize them today.

An Ophthal- mologist revealed that the color is "right smack in the middle" of the peak wave- lengths that stimulate the photoreceptor cells, known as cones, our eyes use to perceive red and green.  By stimulating two cones, the bus is easy to spot.  Today the colorful vehicle is involved in less that 1% of annual road casualties.  

Smaller sized buses fo transporting fewer children are easier to drive.

Seems that if there is fog or any kind of bad weather, drivers will still be able to see the yellow school buses.  And, if you take notice, large road-building and other outdoor machines are yellow to keep others from accidentally running into them.  Color has always been an important factor in our daily driving.  Traffic lights are red, yellow and green in all US states as well as every country and island my wife and I have visited during our lifetime.  To see a school bus in any other color would be tough to imagine, much the same as seeing a traffic light in any colors but red, yellow and green would be tough to imagine.  

The more modern flat-front school bus.  Easier for the driver
to see when all students are away from the front of the bus.

And, I did read that there is a national routine that school bus driver's are supposed to adhere to; after all kids have de-boarded, drivers must walk the length of the bus to ensure that no one has been left behind.  Hey, I find it easy to fall asleep when riding in a car, so why not tired students at the end of a day.  Once the bus is all clear, the driver is supposed to put a sign in the back window to indicate that the bus is empty.  Have you ever seen these signs?  Quite a bit of effort has gone into the design, color and size of school buses.  But, it is to protect the lives of our children as they head to and from school during the school year.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Start Of The Railroad Through Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The woodcut titled "Railroading In Old Lancaster" on page 12 of the Lancaster New Era from Monday, July 19, 1920 showed Downtown Lancaster with a railroad car from the Lancaster & Columbia Railroad coming across the bottom of the sketch.  The article was part of the "Travels In Old Lancaster" column which is a series of  historic facts and illustrated with reproductions of rare photographs, drawings and woodcuts.  Pretty neat to look South on North Queen Street toward center city and the Courthouse which at one time stood in the center of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

A woodcut showing North Queen Street, looking South, after
the completion of the Lancaster & Columbia railroad. Click to enlarge.

The story that went with the sketch talked of the large eight-wheel train car that passengers can now take via the Lancaster & Columbia Railroad.  The fast and comfortable rail car is not excelled by any other in the United States.  It now takes only two days to make the journey from Lancaster to Pittsburgh, PA.  But, after reading the next sentence of the story, I realized it wasn't meant to be for 1920.  The story about the new train was from an advertisement in the Lancaster Examiner of eighty years before that, in 1840.  "Back in those days Lancaster was the most important inland city in the Union and had a population of 8,000.  The rail line was said to be the most costly and valuable public line ever made in the United States.  The city of Lancaster paid for most of the construction of the part that ran from the bridge on the Big Conestoga through the city along the right of way now used by the Pennsylvania Railroad (as of 1840).  In the woodcut that was featured in the article, the station would have been found in the North American Hotel, where the Brunswick now stands (in reference to 1920).  Close by the locomotive in the woodcut stood the "Pioneer Hotel" and directly south where the drug store looms up, once the Museum, was the car office.  It was in 1831 that the railroad was brought to Lancaster after several meetings yielded a petition to the Pennsylvania Legislature for and on behalf of the citizens of Lancaster, to alter the present route of the railroad so as to make the City of Lancaster a point according to the directions of he act of General Assembly.  It was in 1934 that the fight was won and at a council meeting on October 3, 1834, 'it was resolved by both councils that a committee be appointed to wait on the governor at Columbia and invite him to the hotpitalities of the city.'  According to the files of the Lancaster Examiner the Governor was 'waited on' and the whole party took a trip to Philadelphia on a car drawn by one of the old engines, 'John Bull.' It was during the World's Fair in 1893 that the 'John Bull' passed through Lancaster once again under its own power to Chicago where it made one of the most interesting of the exhibits."  In the same newspaper of July 19, 1920 was an article by "The Scribbler."  Many of my stories in the past have referenced Jack Brubaker who is today's "The Scribbler" in the Lancaster Newspaper.  The 1920 Scribbler wrote of "Getting Up" in the morning and how aggravating it can be.  "But, it's nicer to lie in bed" he tells his readers.  He then goes on to tell of Samuel Clemens and how he wrote of rising early to see the sun rise.  He also said that if Samuel Clemens would have had the chance to rise early in Lancaster County, he would have made the Garden Spot his permanent residence.  "He would have enjoyed the rattle of wagon taking the milk to the creamery, the crowing of the roosters, the lowing of the cows, the barking of the dogs, the crying of the baby in the next house, the scream of the whistle of a distant locomotive, the jolting racket of the heavy team taking the grain to the mill for chopping, the morning songs of the birds and the laughter and chatter of the children would have banished sleep from the city dweller no matter how drowsy.  And, once awake the sting in the nostrils from the smoke of the fresh-made fire in the kitchen and the appetizing odor of the morning meal would have spurred even the lazy Mark Twain into dressing.  Samuel Clemens would have loved the Red Rose county had he been able to visit our town."  "The Scribbler" has been a part of our newspaper since the early 1900s and the stories of today are just as intresting as they were back then.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Trying To Remember Riding The Trolley" Story

Foreword:  Talking with my friend Jere about the trolleys that ran in the city of Lancaster.  I really don't remember ever seeing a trolley car or even the tracks along the streets of the city of Lancaster.  Jere remembers riding on them from time to time until the tracks were finally removed from all the streets in and around Lancaster.  Now, we are only a month difference in age with me being his junior, but I still can't believe I don't remember something as momentous as riding the trolley as a young boy.  We lived a block away from each other while growing up, but never really knew each other until we entered first grade together in 1950.  My story today will give you a look at trolley service in Lancaster County.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the stagecoach route that took visitors between the county seat of Lancaster to nearby Millersville.  Up until 1874, the 4.5 miles between the two locations was accomplished by riding the horse drawn stagecoach from downtown Lancaster to Millersville Normal School.  It was the only way for students at Millersville to get back to the city of Lancaster.  Then in 1874 a horse-drawn streetcar, or trolley, service began between these two terminals.  In fact, special arrangements were made at the beginning and end of the school year by adding a baggage car so students could transport their luggage.  

Conductors wait for passengers at South George and
West Frederick in Millersville. Circa 1908. Electirfied line.

The trolley would leave from the Brunswick Hotel in downtown Lancaster and stop at the corner of South George and West Frederick Streets in Millersville.  The trolley cars were stored, serviced and painted a few blocks away on Frederick Street at the trolley car barn.  That building still stands today.  The ride took about 30 minutes.  

Trolleys were stored in this building in Millersville.

In 1891 the line was finally electrified.  Then in 1899 the Conestoga Traction Company, or CTC, began operating throughout the county.  At the peak of its service in 1913, forty trolleys ran through the city of Lancaster while serving 12 million passengers yearly.  Four years later there were 38 different trolley companies that served southeastern Pennsylvania.  The CTC used downtown Lancaster as the hub of seven main routes that traveled throughout the county.  The trolleys were by this time the size of a city bus that traveled to surrounding towns and farm villages using a hub and spoke approach.  More lines were added by building them or buying existing lines from competitors.  By 1908 locations such as Columbia, Strasburg, Adamstown, Blue Ball, Leaman Place and Elizabethtown were all accessible by trolley.  

The trolley routes in Lancaster County.

Eventually the trolley ran through Amish farm country to Coatesville, Quarryville, Pequea, Manheim, Lititz, Ephrara and Terre Hill.  The trolley ran on tracks located along the side of the road where automo- biles ran.  The CTC transported human traffic as well as freight, milk and produce on its many routes.  Special trolley cars, known as "combines" were built to carry passengers and freight together.  One of the most popular trolley lines was the Rocky Springs Park line that carried patrons to the amusement park to the south of the city of Lancaster.  

The trolley station at Rocky Springs Park.

The Rawlinsville line ran only ten days a year to transport people to the annual Christian themed Rawlinsville camp meetings.  There was a junction in Martic Forge, where my future wife lived, where the trolley line split off and climbed 552 feet over 1.25 miles as it left the gorges of the Pequea Creek on its way to Rawlinsville.  

The stone abutment outside of the Martic Forge.

A stone abutment outside of Martic Forge is one of the few remnants of the original trolley line.  The trolley tracks from years ago were much different than the railroad tracks of today.  The tracks were laid in a more "casual" nature which at times caused "seasickness" when the cars swayed back and forth.  The hilly areas of Lancaster County were famous for this effect.  The last car to run from Pequea to Millersville was on October 15, 1930.  

This is the trestle bridge at Martic Forge.  The road to
the left takes you to the house where my wife lived.

As buses began to replace trollies in Lancaster, the Conestoga Traction Company reorganized into the Conestoga Transpor- tation Company. Trolley lines all over the county began to stop service in the 1930s.  By the late 1940s the CTC had only one trolley line running; the line to Rocky Springs Park.  Then on September 21, 1947 that line closed also.  Most trolley cars were burned, but a few still exist in museums with one car that runs a short one-block route every Sunday in the summer in the town of Manheim.  I was 3 years old when the trolley was discontinued, thus my reason for not remembering ever riding on a trolley.  Now, for Jere, his memory is much better than mine...or he's just saying he remembers to get one up on me.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy

Cattle graze near the trolley tracks in Martic Forge in 1905.

The trolley traveling along the Pequea Creek.

Northbound trolley car loaded with summer passengers in 1907.

Trolley tracks are removed along King Street in downtown Lancaster
on July 14, 1947.  I was approaching my  third birthday at the time.

The trolley cars were pushed off the rails and burned.

This is a 1926 trolley car that is still in use in Manheim, Pennsylvania.
It runs a short one-block route every Sunday from June to September.
The station is located at 210 S. Charlotte Street in Manheim, PA.

This is one more view of the Square in Downtown Lancaster.  This shows buses,
and a trolley car right center.  Notice the traffic tower that is circled next to the
monument in the center of the Square.  It was there from 1929-1943 to help with traffic.

The "It Was So Much Fun Typing The Word 'Cabooses'" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sun was shining brightly as I pulled into the parking lot of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.  Cold January day, but I had plans for a special visit with a former student.  The lot was empty and after checking my watch, realized I was a bit too early.  Backed the car from between the white lines and headed a quarter-of-a-mile east to a place I had wanted to visit for years...The Red Caboose Motel.  

Sign at entrance to the Red Caboose Motel

I had passed the place over a hundred times and always said to myself that I must stop sometime and take a few photos...so, I guess today is the day.  Headed east from the Museum and in a few minutes pulled into the parking lot.  "Lancaster County's Red Caboose Motel offers a little bit of train history tucked away among the peaceful Amish farms of Strasburg, PA" it says in an online advertisement for the motel and today I am going to see exactly what goes on at the place.  

The Red Caboose Motel lobby. 

It was back in 1969 that Don Denlinger placed a bid of $100 on nineteen 25-ton N-5 cabooses (yes! that's how it's spelled) that were being sold as surplus from the Pennsyl- vania Railroad.  Six months later he was the proud owner of 475 tons of steel railroad cars that followed the rest of the train down the tracks.  The web page for the motel says that "Hard work, sweat, perseverance and prayer paid off and the official grand opening and open house was on Mother's Day 1970."

One of many rows of cabooses.

During summer months I have always noticed many people walking around the grounds of the motel with the myriad of cabooses in the background and wondered if it was something I might want to try.  Grabbed my Nikon and got out of my car for a trip around the grounds.  I had read that tens of thousands of travelers, rail enthusiasts and even locals have stayed at this place since it opened, and hopefully I would be able to snap a few photos of the place today.  

An Open House sign sat outside this caboose.

Four years ago the Prickett family bought the motel from the original owner, Donald Denlinger, and operate it along with the Casey Jones' Restaurant which happens to be two Pennsylvania Railroad P-70 coaches that were built in the 1920's.  The kitchen for the restaurant is a box car that connects the two coaches.  Originally, Don had painted all the cabooses red, but today they vary in color depending upon the railroad line they represent.  

Interior of caboose.  Bed, bathroom and double bunk on
the left with table and chairs and double bunk on right.

The oldest caboose is from 1898.  The grounds sport a few rows of tracks that hold the many cabooses with space between them for patrons to park their cars.  I began to document each caboose until I realized that was just going to be impossible and who would want to look at all those photos anyway.  After about a dozen cars I just enjoyed looking at the cars and the different logos on them until I came to a car that had a sign in front that declared "Open House."  

Another row of motel cabooses.

Walked up the steps and into a motel room that at one time might have visited more states than I had ever seen.  Entered into a very small area that had a double bed on the left with a few chairs and table on the opposite side and a TV on the wall.  I assumed it was the master bedroom and living quarters.  Directly behind the bedroom was a very small bathroom with a mirror outside the bathroom door.  

Outside of the restaurant cars.

The rear of the car had bunk-beds on either side which would hold a total of four people.  Above me were windows that gave light to the room.  A phone and a light or two added necessary evening light to the room.  If you suffer from claustrophobia and have a couple or three very active children, this isn't your dream vacation spot to stay, but for something totally out of the ordinary, you'd love it.  After my photo shoot was over I found my way to the nearby farmers field where I managed to find a few weeds to feed to the resident alpacas.  A few minutes later I was back once again, standing at the front desk at the Railroad Museum waiting to visit with my former student.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Inside one of the dining cars.

Two more rows of cabooses.

A friend greeted me!

The "The Building Of Our Nation's 1st Highway" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the birth of America's first highway known as the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike and later renamed the Lincoln Highway.  

Advertisement for buying
shares in the highway.

Ground was first broken in 1792 for a roadway that was touted as the first "engineered" road in the nation.  Engineered meant that it was surveyed, graded and paved with packed gravel stones for its entire length which was from the town of Columbia, Pennsylvania, which is located at the western most terminus, to Girard Avenue in the Parkside neighborhood of Philadelphia.  Its total length was 73.33 miles, but was 62 miles from Lancaster to Philadelphia.  The new road was too expensive for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to build so it was built by a private company known as The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company.  The cost was $465,000 or about $9.5 million today.  Shares of the "Company of the Lancaster and Turnpike Road" were first issued on March 16, 1795.

A toll stop leading to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike.

 I found a listing for shares in the Phila- delphia & Lancaster Turnpike Company dated May 24th, 1796 that were listed for $100 and could be paid in three monthly installments.  The new turnpike had "Toll Gates" that were placed approximately every 10 miles, but many driving on the road took side roads to circumvent the gates.  People who did so were at the time known as "shunpikes."  

This photograph shows the highway looking west in 1929.

There were those that were exempt from paying tolls such as anyone who live along the turnpike, anyone passing from one part of a farm to another, anyone on their way to a funeral, anyone on their way to church, anyone engaged in military service or on their way to vote in an election.  Eventually the turnpike was absorbed into the transcontinental route known as the Lincoln Highway or in Lancaster County as Route 30.  

The tourist attraction known as the Amish Farm and House.

The highway was formal- ly dedi- cated to President Abraham Lincoln with several statues of Lincoln placed along its eventual total 3,389 mile length.  Along the highway in Lancaster County sat the SkyVue Drive-in Theater which opened on Tuesday, May 23, 1950.  It was one of my favorite places to allegedly watch an outdoor movie.  It eventually was torn down to make room for  Lancaster's first Outlet Mall in 1985.  

The Highway today.

The mall became competition for the tourist dollars with the Amish Farm & House along what by this time was known as Route 30 instead of the Lancaster to Philadelphia Highway.  Today Tanger Outlet Center sits in the spot once occupied by the Outlet Mall.  If you have ever driven the once gravel stone turnpike, now paved Lincoln Highway, or Route 30, you probably have no idea what it must have looked like when it first traversed Lancaster County.  Hard to think it was the very first turnpike or highway in our nation.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Travel In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Through The Ages" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Watching a few airplanes land at the Lancaster Airport.  I'm always amazed as to how easy it looks when the plane lands and both wheels hit at the exact same instant.  I know it is the skilled pilots that make it look easy, but it is still fun to watch the planes land.  I was recently talking with our friends Jere and Sue about a fellow high school classmate who was a pilot for Allegheny Airlines for many years.  Jere said, "Wow, how long ago was that?"  Well, the company operated out of Pittsburgh, PA from 1952 to 1979 and was the forerunner of US Airways which eventually merged into American Airlines.  Our friend Dave became a pilot after we all graduated from high school in 1962.  But, flying was perhaps the last step of my story today, since I have found a few photos to share showing land transportation throughout history.  Nothing spectacular, just the same routine transportation that has probably been a part of just about every city in the United States. Started with pathways that connected the Susquehannock Indians whose main village was Conestoga in what is now Manor Township, Lancaster County.  The village thrived from about 1690 to 1740 and was the center of trade with settlers as early as 1696 when William Penn, James Logan and four colonial governors of Pennsylvania visited Conestoga.  Today the hamlet of Indiantown is probably the actual site of the original Conestoga.  From Conestoga there were about six or seven paths that led in different directions.  

These pathways eventually became roads such as U.S. Route 222, PA Route 741 and current routes to Philadel- phia, Willow Street, Strasburg and Gap.  The eastern-most route led to Chester, PA and was known as the Conestoga Path.  Naturally, walking, horseback riding and small utility wagons were the earliest means of transportation along these paths.  Then, in the mid-to-late 18th century, Conestoga Wagons, with their distinct curved floors and canvas covers arched over wooden hoops became a common sight on these pathways.  They carried farm products and goods from cities to rural communities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and Virginia.  The wagon got its name being it was made in towns along the Susquehanna River where Native Americans using the Iroquois language lived.  "Conestoga" is the word to describe "people of the "cabin pole", thus the Conestoga Wagon.  

The Susquehanna Canal in Columbia can be seen here.

These wagons eventually turned into stage coaches and other types of animal-drawn means of transpor- tation.  Also during this time was water and canal transpor-
tation with boats and barges that carried goods along a variety of canals.  The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal to Baltimore was opened in 1840 on the west side of the Susquehanna that had canal boats going north to south near Columbia, Pennsylvania.  

Early railroad train crossing the Conestoga River in Lancaster.

The first railroad to pass through Lancaster County was the Philadel- phia and Columbia Railroad that opened on March 31, 1834.  It was constructed by the state as part of the Main Line of Public Works, a rail and canal system to connect Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.  

Lancaster trolley line.

The principal trolley company in Lancaster County was the Conestoga Traction Company that started in the early 1900s and continued into the late 1940s.  The first vehicle, or automobile, was built in 1769 by Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, with the first American car built by Oliver Evans in 1805.  Henry Ford launched his motor company in 1901 with the sale of the mass-produced Model T.  They naturally were found all over Lancaster County.  Well, I'm sure I must have missed some type of travel in Lancaster, but I believe my story today will give you a fairly good look at travel in Lancaster through the ages.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of any ordinary guy.

The Strasburg Railroad passes a young Amish boy in this photograph.  Click to enlarge.

A Lancastrian shows off his 1940s Cadilac

Two Amish boys demonstrate their transportation with this gas-powered wagon.

The "Worse Trolley Accident In Lancaster County" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading one of the many Facebook pages that I enjoy which tells the history of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I came across a story that I thought I would try to research and write about it in my own words, but I was unable to find any other information about what was perhaps the worst trolley accident in the history of Lancaster County.  I found the story very interesting and thought that many of you who enjoy the history of Lancaster County as well as our country might also enjoy the story.  The story's title was "How millions of potato bugs conspired to cause the worst trolley accident in Lancaster County history."  It reads:

View of the Susquehanna River from Chickies Rock.

August 9, 1896 began like any other Sunday.  Towns- people attended worship services.  Families gathered at noon for a meal together.  As the day slipped into the afternoon, children swam in local creeks as adults sat on their front porches sipping lemonade.  That evening at Chickies Park (spelled Chiques at the time), overlooking the Susquehanna River, there was a sacred band concert of spiritual music.  Then, like today, Chickies Rock was a popular summer destination.  In fact, at the turn of the 19th century, there was even an amusement park near the overlook.  People could ride the hub and spoke network of trolley lines from almost anywhere in Lancaster County to visit.  Sadly, no remnants of this amusement park remain today.  

Photo circa 1894 which shows Pennsylvania Traction
Company car No. 2.  The destination sign reads, "Lancaster
and Columbia" and "Chickies Park - Marietta."

Towards the end of the concert, there was a severe storm which delayed the arrival of the trolley from Marietta.  It was common practice not to operate the trolleys during a thunderstorm.  When the four-wheel car No. 61 of the Pennsylvania Traction Company arrived after the storm, with Adam Foehlinger as motorman and Harry Hershey as conductor, the car was engulfed by passengers eager to get home.  The trolley's capacity was 28, but possibly 80 adults and children climbed aboard.  Every seat was quickly filled, then the aisles as was every bit of space on the front and back platforms.  About 10 pm, the overloaded car started its downhill ride towards Columbia.  At Klinesville, about a mile from Columbia, two women signaled to get off.  However, due to the weight of the car and the wet rails, the trolley was unable to stop at the crossing going an extra 150 feet before coming to a full stop.  

The red marking shows where the accident happened.
Chickies Park is center-right, to the north of Klinesville.
Columbia is bottom right.  Click on the image to enlarge.

The car was then backed up so the women could disembark.  Underway again, the trolley began to move forward on the steep slope increasing in speed.  Problems for the overloaded trolley worsened as millions of potato bugs swarmed over the rails making the overworked brakes ineffective.  The increase in speed caused the trolley pole to leave the overhead wire, cutting the electricity and plunging the interior into darkness.  With no brakes and in complete darkness, the passengers broke out into screams.  The trolley eventually hit 60 miles per hour.  On a curve, the wheels left the rails.  

The worst trolley accident in Lancaster County history
killed six and injured 68 people on August 9, 1896.

The car careened wildly across a road, snapping off a gatepost, then sliding on its side for 75 feet, striking a tree, then a trolley pole, and dropping over a 30-foot embankment.  It ended on its top, with the wheels and motor high in the air.  The accident killed six people including the mayor of Columbia, H.H. Heise, motorman Foehlinger and passengers William Piknerton, Henry Smith, W.J Ludlow and William Metzger.  In addition, another 68 people were injured.  After the accident, a safety switch was installed at Klinesville with all trolley cars required to stop there.  Damage claims from the tragic disaster aided by company mismanagement forced the Pennsylvania Traction Company, which had operated the line, out of business.  The Marietta to Columbia route was later folded into the Conestoga Traction Company.

As you have read, this was a terrible tragedy for Lancaster County   I was born in the mid-1940s, about 40 years after the accident happened.  In the 1930s, trolleys were being discontinued and by the 1940s the pattern continued until trolleys were obsolete by the end of the decade.  I was a young child when trolley transportation was stopped and most tracks were removed from the streets of Lancaster.  Never once did I ever hear about this terrible accident in nearby Columbia/Marietta.  The photographs that exist to document the story are amazing and the only link I have to what happened when I was a young child.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Travel Through The Ages" Story

A favorite TV show of mine.

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with my wife about the TV show that we enjoyed that only lasted for a few short months, Pan Am.  Show was based on Pan American Airlines as it operated in the early 1960s at the beginning of the commercial Jet Age.  We never had the chance to fly anywhere until the mid-1980s when our children were old enough to travel to Disney World in Florida.  We never thought we would be able to afford to fly, but by that time in history, flying was more affordable to the America family than ever before.  I recently read a summary of travel throughout history beginning in the 1900's.  120 years ago about the only means of transportation was the horse and buggy.  In the 1910's travel was possible across the oceans on ocean liners and when Henry Ford began mass producing his automobile, land transportation soon became easier for those that could afford the luxury of an automobile.  In the 1920's travel became affordable on the rails.  In the 1930s the airplane became accessible to the masses, but was still expensive.  The 40's found that most families could afford to purchase a family car for the first time.  The 1950's ushered in an era when the car was still the preferred and most inexpensive way of travel, but flying became cheaper.  In the 60's, even with plane tickets costing on the average of 40% more than they are today, it was still a neat way to travel.  The 70's saw a slight shift away from flying due to the thought that flying was a luxurious method of transportation.  That, plus the airlines began moving their seats closer together so they could get more people on the plane.  Oh for the 70's and the amount of leg space they had back then, even with the reduced amount.  Affordable flying came about in the 1980's when the average American family, such as mine, could afford airline tickets to go to Disney World.  Once again the leg space was reduced to make up for the cheaper prices.  

You just knew they weren't going to make less money, right!  The economy seat frenzy began in the 1990's and smoking was no longer allowed on planes, even in the restroom.  Flying became almost a normal thing to do for the average American.  Airport security changed after 9/11/01 with long lines at check-in as they searched both the suitcases as well as the body.  Economy seating exploded making it harder and harder to enjoy a luxurious experience unless you could afford the more than double-the-price 1st class tickets.  We are now in the Modern Age of flying with in-flight connectivity offered along with satellite entertainment options; naturally with an additional cost.  The older airplanes are now being put to rest and newer ones are in the air.  The modern renaissance of flying has begun.  But, you know, Carol and I still loved the Pan Am TV show and seeing how it used to be.  Made us realize how good we have it today even if you did have more leg room and a finer meal back in the late 50's and early 60's.  It was a more simpler way of life.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Highways Before Concrete And Blacktop & Travel Before Motorized Vehicles" Story

An historical marker along the
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike.
Click on photos to enlarge.

It was an ordinary day.  Driving through mile after mile of Lancaster County rich agricultural farmland on what at one time was the beginnings of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  What many take for granted now was at one time, as early as 1714, just a patchwork of rutted roads that linked thriving Philadelphia to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It was back in 1791 that Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin told residents of south-eastern Pennsylvania that a better road connecting Philadelphia to Lancaster was needed.  Not quite sure why Governors before Mifflin never decided to build the road sooner since a request for the road was put in form of a petition in 1730.  Well, finally on April 9, 1792, the state voted to allow Mifflin to select a company for the construction of what eventually would be known as the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  

Old photograph shows how the turnpike was built.

The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company raised the initial capital by selling stock in the project.  The initial turnpike road was completed in 1794 with a road paved with stone and overlaid with gravel.  The 62 mile turnpike cost more than $450,000 which was unheard of at the time.  To get that money back the Company charged a toll through toll gates located every ten miles along the route.  Naturally Motels, Strip Malls and plenty of McDonalds sprung up along the way.  

Another old photograph shows mules pulling a canal boat
along a passageway in Pennsylvania.

Nah!!  That didn't come until later, but small inns and taverns were conveniently located along the route to make traveling easier for weary travelers and their horses.  During the summer of the first year over 1,000 Conestoga Wagons traveled the turnpike each day carrying produce, meat, dairy products, grain, leather, lumber as well as plenty of liquor from Lancaster to Philadelphia as well as points along the way.  Toll fees were based on what was being transported along the turnpike.  

This old postcard shows travel by the Pennsylvania
Railroad at their shops in Altoona, PA.

Didn't take long for the turnpike to expand and in 1804 the turnpike ran as far west as Pittsburgh.  Over the next 30 years more than 3,000 miles of roads were built to help transport goods from point A to point B.  Then came the railroad and canals which could move freight much faster and more efficiently than a horse-drawn wagon on a stone paved road.  Then in 1808 Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of Treasury suggested it would be faster to take materials from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia by going down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf of Mexico, and up the Atlantic Ocean; a total of 3,000 miles.  

An early tollgate in Bedford, Pennsylvania

Cheaper than going by land the 300 miles from one city to another?  That seemed prepos- terous to many in the state so they proposed to create the first National Road which would be constructed by the Federal Government.  Sounded pretty good for Pennsylvania, but Jefferson - and well as other Presidents until Andrew Jackson - feared what would happen if the Federal Government funded a road for Pennsylvania.  

Cars lining up for the opening of another link in the turnpike.

Luckily Congress felt it was worthwhile and voted for the construction of the road which would travel to the Ohio Valley and the money would come by selling public land in the new state of Ohio.  Eventually this road, known as the National Road, or Cumberland Road, stretched from Cumberland, Maryland to Ohio.  This new roadway was used to transport goods as well as carry the U.S. Mail.  

And naturally, gas stations were needed along the turnpike.

Many early traders and settlers passed along the route during the nineteenth century and was the beginning of our National Highway System.  Along this route eventually came an "S" Bridge in Washington County and the first all-metal arch bridge, built in the United States, in Fayette County.  The early nineteenth century was a period of intense turnpike road building and by 1831 there were about 2,500 miles of turnpike roads in our country.  When you consider what we have today, those 2,500 miles of turnpike roads are just a drop in the bucket and my trip along the original turnpike that ran through Lancaster is rather minute as far as roads go.  But, I'm enjoying my ride anyway. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.