THE NOIR SIDE OF RAILROADS PART I

Railroads present an interesting portrayal of the American landscape.   Danger, grime, loneliness, isolation, anomie, and a sense of foreboding are all themes one sees in pictures, movies, and music.  There are, of course, happy scenes:  The Little Train That Could comes to mind but for every child like cartoonish song, there are ten Strangers On A Train,

The Commuter,

or Union Station

that bring it all back to fear and murder.  Even cartoons are not spared.  

And for every Chattanooga Choo Choo sung at a 1940's high school re-union,

there is this melodic descent into hopelessness and despair:

Nothing destroys your inner fortitude more than knowing you are locked up for the next 20 years while watching a train full of rich people drinking coffee and smoking cigars as they chug past your 5 X 5 prison cell oblivious to your existence.

         Ditto the literary side.  One of my favorite novels ever is The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton, he of Jurassic Park and Andromeda Strain fame.  

And the most famous name associated with high finance is not JP Morgan or David Rockefeller but Jesse James.  

Go figure.   

    I am sure there are positive images of railway mode of transportation but you have to look for them.  Here are a few sampling and you see why happiness and trains are not often if at all uttered in the same breath.  

No matter.  The message is clear:  something bad is about to happen and there is nothing you can do about it.  Call it fate.  But all is not lost.  

About as beautiful a woman as you will ever see!  The railroad tracks are the second most dangerous image in this picture.  And I like it that way.  (yelusworkout.com).