The Atlantic Times :: Archive

The Atlantic Times :: Archive I am pleased to see that rail transportation is returning to some of America's cities. If the average person could give up the idea that the automobile is the only way to go. Naturally this is true in many if not most places but it doesn't need to be that way. Check out this article from The Atlantic Times ... a German newspaper printed in English. I am glad that something is happening in Memphis: Here is an excerpt from the whole article:

Prosaic types in the local transit authority did away with this charming institution of a bygone era, causing lament among true lovers of civilized urban travel. But perhaps this, too, will come back one day, just like the tram with is clang, clang, clang and its ding, ding, ding in Memphis – like those transplanted Melbourne and Oporto trolleys that have contributed so much to the recreation of some splendor downtown and on the banks of the Mississippi.One recent weekend, my wife and I spent the better part of two days traveling the ancient cars – along Main Street and the River Front and to the Medical Center up Madison Avenue. Nowhere else have we ever enjoyed such a splendid and harmonious mix of people all jesting with each other – blacks and whites, locals and strangers, workers, nurses, hotel pages and tourists, old people on an outing and, yes, young lovers too.As they embraced, the compressors kicked into action at every stop, building up pressure for the brakes. Once again we thought of Judy Garland: “Chug, chug, chug went the motor / Thump, thump, thump went the brake / thump, thump, thump went my heartstrings? When she smiled I could feel the car shake.”