|
WHYY Is Bringing History Of The Region Alive With An In Depth Look At
The Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania's days as a giant of industry and transportation owed a great deal to one mega company, whose history has now been captured by WHYY-TV. The Pennsylvania Railroad tracked across the country for 150 years, moving people, goods and technology and doing much to shape this nation.
A broad look at the rise and fall of the Railroad, the program is an amazing story of social history as well, detailing the lives of the owners and top management and the people who actually laid the tracks, stoked the engines and threw the switches.
Beginning in 1846 and closing in 1970 as the biggest bankruptcy in US history, the Pennsylvania Railroad had an impact on the major events of the 20th Century, including the Great Depression and World War II.
"Without the railroad, we as a nation would not be here as we are. People can't conceive of a time with no highways, but back in history if you needed milk you used the railroad, if you needed to move soldiers you used the railroad," said WHYY-TV Executive Producer Trudi Brown.
To further bring the viewer into the history of the railroad, action shots were used in the documentary, include footage taken at Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, PA. The curve was dug out of the Allegheny Mountains to get trains over the formidable passes.
Altoona itself was developed as a town for the express purpose of taking care of the locomotives.
Good fortune had it that WHYY'S PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD went to production around the same time that renewed interest was building in the photography of William Rau. Hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Rau traveled its routes taking panoramic photos as a way to entice people to use the Railroad for leisure.
Many of Rau's photographs are used in the documentary. A new book, "Traveling the Pennsylvania Railroad: The Photographs of William H. Rau," will be published in March by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Rau's original work is to be featured in an exhibition at the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Through archival footage and interviews with actual employees, including a woman switch thrower, the program captures the day-to-day operation of this huge and powerful industry that represented the nation at a time when both were barreling full-speed ahead into the future.
Incredible fortunes were made thanks to the railroad, not always through the fairest of business practices. "The owners were powerful men and this industry came about before there were anti-trust laws," explained Lillian Paulmier, producer of the program.
The new wealth needed to be displayed and so the railroad was to directly affect the creation of one of the most unique and prestigious communities in the country - the Main Line.
The owners and managers of the railroad built grand mansions for themselves in towns they named for their Welsh ancestry, such as Narberth, while creating other areas, with more modest accommodations, for their mostly Irish employees. Ardmore is an Irish name and was where the workers lived.
Produced by WHYY-TV, WHYY's THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD was funded by the Pennsylvania Public Television Network. The executive producer is Trudi Brown. Lillian Paulmier is the producer.
|
