The turn of a century isn’t always the most indicative of the times. The year 1905 was a striking year in American history, when one stopped to examine the events of the time. The truth of that period wasn’t found in the firsts, such as the Wright Brothers flight in 1903, nor was it found in immense undertakings. It was anchored in the daily live of ordinary Americans.

In 1905, the automobile was a funny contraption, rather like a self-propelled buggy. Ten to fifteen miles per hour top speed was common. Americans wanted to use the motorcar to replace the horse. Actually, most Americans didn’t have the horse to replace it with. It’s really hard to keep a horse in a city apartment, and it isn’t much easier on the small lot surrounding a bungalow. Getting around town, down to the store, off to church, over to the railroad station was something one did afoot. The motor car was a device that could be kept in front of your house, didn’t need to be fed hay, didn’t leave large droppings, could be started quickly without requiring a saddle, and could be left for days at the station while you traveled. Small wonder everyone wanted one in 1905.

Between 1905 and now, people turned more and more to their autos. We built highways, streets, driveways, and garages. We went from the typical household in 1905 not having an automobile to the average household in 2005 having more than two. We do most of our personal transport in automobiles, and I’m as guilty as the next guy. Given the choice of riding a train to a convention in Sacramento and driving a car, I took the car. Much of that was due to the train not coming within a hundred miles of my home and finding myself afoot in Sacramento in the wee hours of the morning. Then, too, I could transport boxes of magazines to the convention in the car.

Thus it is we live our daily lives and don’t question how we get from place to place. We take the car. We have arrived at a point where there are often no alternatives. I have no bus or other public transport service near my home in town. It never occurred to us to at least retain some vestige of public transportation. Keeping it would have been easier than rebuilding it, but this is all that’s left for us to do.

Today, according to the US Department of Energy, 27 percent of our energy is expended upon the transportation of people and freight. Of the fuels used in transportation, 61 percent is gasoline, 24 percent is diesel, and 9 percent is jet fuel, all of these from petroleum. That’s 94 percent, total. Of even greater interest is that the largest, single transportation means is the automobile, accounting for 34 percent. Light trucks (pickups, SUV, vans, and light deliveries) make up another 25 percent, adding up to a total of 59 percent. Trains and buses are lumped together and, in their entirety, only consume 3 percent of the transportation fuel.

This means that what is carried on trains uses an astonishingly small amount of the petroleum in our country. There are 217 million highway vehicles, from motorcycles to buses and trucks, but 60 percent of them are personal vehicles. While most of the 130 million personal vehicles can carry five or six people at least, the majority are found moving while carrying only one or two. As we watch the flow of commuters to and from work, we see horrendous amounts of energy wasted on gridlock.

Model railroaders are in a position to perhaps better appreciate what trains can do for us. Because of their incredible efficiency, trains offer us a reliable method for commuting. We can expect more initiatives for high-speed interurban rail service. In 1905, Americans looked to metropolitan and interurban rail service to get them around better. That’s something we have in common with our counterparts of a century back. I think I’d like to get back to the idea of the motorcar as a small runabout for doing local errands. The rest of the time, I really would like to ride on trains.

So what’s up in the new year for Model Railroad News? This year will see us kicking off a yearlong series on building a model railroad layout, conducted by none other than Stephen Priest with the able assistance of his family. Stephen’s wife, Cinthia, is an excellent writer and has quite a head for trains, and the couple’s young son, Joel will be involved as well. Stephen has been an engineer and held other positions on the Santa Fe and BNSF, plus he and Cinthia have penned several Santa Fe books, each one a gem. The Priests bring a unique and valuable perspective to creating a small layout, one that should inspire many of you.

“Project Railroad: Rock Island Central Division” will concentrate on creating a good, basic starter layout using commercially available kits and scenic supplies that are readily available from the places you buy your model railroading hobby materials. I personally like the choice of the Rock Island for two reasons. First, I like shining the spotlight on a remarkable railroad, even if it died an unnatural death. And second, that demise left it without a merger partner to claim its heritage in another licensing debacle. It’s all ours, to treat with respect.

Meanwhile, we’ll keep doing what we do best: Big, colorful reviews of the latest model railroad products. Stay with us through 2006; we’ll have us some fun!