Trains for Nature: Railroads and the American Land

What did America lose with the decline of the passenger train? Much more than most Americans think, observes Alfred Runte, a leading historian of our national parks. Including parks and wilderness, the greatest loss has been to the American land. No technology was ever more respectful--protective--of what it means to have a national landscape. In song and story we call it America the Beautiful. And yet we let our best beautifiers disappear. Now the landscape suffers in our mindless rush to get rid of old technology and blindly embrace the new. Wind farms and solar power plants cajole us to redefine beauty itself, allowing access even to protected wilderness. No railroad ever asked for that'

Originally published in 2006 as Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation, the book today is even more timely, now we see what policy-makers have in mind as replacements for railroads. Offering a new preface and epilogue, Runte stands his ground. Absent restraint, no technology is practicing conservation. Railroads renew the hope that the trains, i.e., the restraint, we so carelessly threw away may still be restored to preserve the remaining glories of our continent

An internationally recognized expert on national parks and railroads, Alfred Runte is based in Seattle, Washington. He was among the principal advisers to Ken Burns's PBS documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), and appeared in all six episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series. His other books include Trains of Discovery: Railroads and the Legacy of our National Parks; Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness; and the fifth edition of his critically-acclaimed National Parks: The American Experience. He was the recipient, in 2021, of the Stewart L. Udall Award from the Western National Parks Association in honor of his lifetime commitment to parks and wilderness.