In honor of the new academic year, this month’s banner shows a passel of eager youngsters piling onto the “Beeliner,” a train that ran the 34 miles between Charleston and Hitop West Virginia in the 1950′s solely for the purpose of transporting children to and from school. Mountain roads in that area were treacherous and often impassible by wheeled transport, so a rail line was safer and more reliable than buses. There was separate seating for boys and girls, and an attentive conductor maintained discipline—no need to pull the train onto a side rail to deal with spitwad shooters and graffiti artists. It was still a long haul, even on subjective time, which runs fast going to school and slow going home.
You can find the original image here, along with more history on the Beeliner.
Fred….enjoyed reading this story. Still have love for West Virginia (having lived there for three years) and enjoy reading anything about the state. Just saw “October Sky” again. WV truly a beautiful state.
Thanks,Aunt Joyce…when we lived in Ohio, we took a couple of trips that involved passing through a long tunnel near Wheeling, WVa. Driving through a mountain was very impressive when I was 9-10 years old.