Closing Remarks: ‘The Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore’

This is a behind-the-scenes look at my closing remarks, as prepared for delivery, for my Saturday talk before the Dunwoody Preservation Trust.

DUNWOODY, Georgia — The Roswell Railroad, like many railroads, emerged from an era when the country couldn’t get enough of railroads. Anyone who’s read old newspapers can find countless announcements of proposed lines. Some were realistic and perhaps made business sense; others were closer to harebrained schemes that never stood a chance of making it to reality.

At times, backers proposed railroads and even went as far as surveying routes or laying tracks, but the railroads went nowhere. That’s the case for one proposed line in the late years of the 20th century’s first decade.