“Millions of people in this country still couldn’t find the airport, Lyndon. But they sure as hell know where the depot is.” – Harry S. Truman, 1964.

Harry Truman’s long-ago advice to President Johnson is, well, long ago. For almost a hundred years this country’s economy rose or fell with the railroad, just as it rose or fell with the car for most of OUR lifetimes. Nowadays, though, the railroad doesn’t mean what it used to.

But the train still runs, and even where it doesn’t, our region is still dotted with the stations and depots where travelers once huddled from the rain, checked their ticket for the dozenth time, bought a magazine to read along the way. For many military personnel, the depot was the last sight of home. For far too many families, the depot was the last place they ever hugged their son or dad or husband, the last place his voice was ever heard, in the town that heard his very first cry.

For most soldiers, they knew their war was finally over when they jumped off the train and raced back into the oh-so-familiar hometown station, not even pausing in their rush to the street beyond.

Some depots are pretty uninspiring, but others are worth a little trip. The DL&W depot in PAINTED POST (277 Steuben Street) is in the pagoda style – a very early example of company branding, with the roof flared out on both long sides, and braced by elegant external buttresses. This depot was actually prefabricated, shopped out by rail in sections, and assembled on site! It was a makeshift morgue after the 1972 flood, and it’s Now home to the Painted Post-Erwin Museum at the Depot. All three metal “Indian” figures that preceded the current Chief Montour statue are on exhibit here.

The Erie Depot in HORNELL (111 Loder Street) is now creatively called the Hornell Erie Depot Museum. “Hornellsville” was a modest unincorporated settlement when Millard Fillmore and Daniel Webster came through on the ceremonial first Erie Railroad train, connecting Lake Erie with New York City. The company decided that Hornell (as we know it) would be a great spot for their main repair and maintenance shop. The Maple City started to boom as an industrial center. Railroads are still big business in Hornell, and the historic depot reflects that.

As far as I can tell, the B&H depot on the waterfront in HAMMONDSPORT (7 Water Street) was a pretty routine piece of work until World War I or later, when it took on the railroad gothic form that’s now been the beloved village symbol for decades. The swooping spire, weathervane, deep overhang, and rows of buttresses seize the memory, along with the background of Keuka Lake and the Depot Park. Glenn Curtiss and Alexander Graham Bell knew this place, which helped make feasible their early experiments in airplanes and motorcycles. This was the northern terminus of the Bath & Hammondsport Railroad – the entrance to the Lake, or the portal to the world. (It’s now the Village offices.)

The 1905 Lehigh Valley station in ROCHESTER (99 Court Street) is now home to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que! The squat tower, and its position above the falls of the Genesee River, make it unmistakable. Both the station and the 1892 Court Street Bridge are on the National Register of Historic Places… as is the Painted Post depot.

While you’re in ROCHESTER, stop by at Amtrak’s Louise K. Slaughter Rochester Station (320 Central Avenue). This modern 2017 intermodal facility is a reminder that trains… indeed, PASSENGER trains… are still a part of our life and our economy. Long may they wave!