Show e Good Bye Old Pal Well We'll ell M Miss You Written after last D R G Passenger Train left for North on Saturday Aug 27 1949 Were We're glad you did a bit more whistling than usual when you pulled into town this old pal and also when you pulled out on your last trip from here into Salt Sall Luke Lake But we couldn't help thinking that you whistled to tc tos I s sort rt of hide a sorrow you and we were feeling because of your last run It was sort of like our boys when they left for t the e training camps and the hell of war They whistled they sang they j joked ked but it was only to cover up a sorrow that could well have overwhelmed them and us There are those among us down here who remember when the first passenger train pulled into town old pal They recall the joy oY of the populace then and they won wonder del why there t lere is not more manifest sorrow now that you have made your last trip For years your coming to town was the big event o of nearly every day and especially of Sunday Large crowds gathered at the depots each Sunday to see you pull in from the north to buy the morning paper or perhaps buy a bag of peanuts from the vendor who always rode you in those days Young fellows gathered at the depot to meet the girls who gathered there to be met Yes your coming to town served as a u starter for many Sunday night dates and sweet romances You were wele twins in those days and often the two of you met and passed each other in one of our Sanpete communities Of course that town felt especially lucky as its people could meet both trains at once You and your twin used to be a lot bigger too As boys and men in the fields and hills we always counted of the Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- your our cars as you pulled into our part valley times there were si six sometimes eight or ten And when students would be coming home for Christmas vacation you had as many as 18 and 20 passenger cars Those were great days for you old pal and for us Then there were the regional basketball games You always took our teams to the more distant towns and brought them back again And for a special game you made a special trip just lust to take fans from Mt Pleasant to Ephraim or Manti or from Ephraim and Manti to Mt Pleasant Our roads were pretty bad in those days Often they were impassable even to a man on horseback say nothing of ofa a horse and buggy or a team and wagon Then when we wanted to get from one town to another if if we if-we we couldn't afford to ride we walked along your tracks You paid a lot of taxes in our county an anti and some of those taxes ware used to build better roads roads which now have put you out of business because people have chosen chosen chosen cho cho- sen to use other means of transportation such as private cars and buses We cant can't feel that your quitting your trips down here is going to be any great catastrophe cat but nevertheless we feel feela a bit less important as communities and as people now that we eve will no longer hear your morning and afternoon whistle Just as you once took the place of the pony r express the stage coach and the oxen-drawn oxen freight wagons so other means of transportation have now taken your place But you were a great very great improvement over your predecessors both as to time and to cost also as to convenience and com com- fort Perhaps our private cars are today more convenient but they trey are also more costly As to comfort there is difference difference difference dif dif- dif dif- ference of opinion But we are going to miss you and and well we'll notice morein more morein morein in the months and aid years ahead than we do right n w. w Many of us have so far failed to realize that you are gone for forthe forthe forthe the last time No longer can we rush to the depot to mail maila a letter at the last minute No longer can we board you for fora a safe trip when roads are icy and dangerous No longer can we buy a ticket at the local depot for a long trip to distant places on you and your and your cousins which go to all parts of the nation You rendered a real service during wartime when gas and tires were rationed and no new cars were available to replace those smashed up on the highways You hauled our boys buys away in answer to Greetings from the President letters You brought many of them home again some of them in boxes You have done much old pal for the development of this valley and of valleys on south You have done much for forthe forthe forthe the happiness and convenience of the people who live here We Ve regret very much to see you go If someday a situation arises where we cant can't afford the luxury of our private cars carsto carsto carsto to take us to and from towns along your route we hope you'll take pity on us and come back to render a cheaper and safer transportation service There are two other items in connection with your coming coming com com- ing to the valley old pal which we cant can't help but recall the traveling salesmen with their bags and the old hacks which met you at each town Sometimes young boys could earn a nickel or maybe even a dime by helping the salesmen get g t their ba bars bags s from the depot platform into the hack and from the hack into the community hotel And nd those were mighty 1 big g nickels and dimes in those days And if no tra tra- men happened into town the hack driver might let letsome letsome letsome some of the boys ride back to town with him Yes cId pal well we'll miss you We hope we haven't made a mistake by failing to patronize you that will be of oE great cost to toIs us Is in years ahead We Ve cant can't help but feel that had you run run on more convenient hours and made yourself a abit abit abit bit more attractive you would have had much more of our patronage in recent years Perhaps it would have been sufficient sufficient sufficient suf suf- to enable you to keep making your tr trips ps down here r I who knows But now you are gone No more will our valley resound resound resound re re- re- re sound with your early morning and afternoon whistles No Nomore Nomore Nomore more will men and boys in the fields and hills count your cars or estimate the time by your coming and going or watch the steam escape from your whistle and then listen to see how long it takes for the sound to reach them And because you are gone something seems to have gone out of our lives Goodbye old pal Well We'll miss you |