On Saturday, May 31 the Monroe Historical Society is
offering a look back to the Golden Age of Railroading for its annual
spring glimpse into the past and is offering the newly revamped Rails Trails
Tour.
Participants will board a motorcoach that will depart from the
Monroe Senior Center on 235 Cutler's Farm Rd. in Monroe at 10 a.m. Box lunches
will be for sale as there is a noon stopover for lunch in Wolfe Park.
There is also a ten-minute screening of the Great Train
Robbery produced by Thomas Edison Studios in 1903 that will be shown
before the motor coach departs and after it returns. This is the first
commercially viable movie with sequential scenes.
The tour will include two morning stops and two stops in the
afternoon and the motorcoach will head out rain or shine. Due to safety
considerations, no private automobiles, motorcycles or bicycles are permitted
on the tour. A special highlight of each tour will be the illustrated
presentations at each site by railway historians: John Babina, Bob Belletzkie
and Monroe's town historian, Ed Coffey.
Displays will show how the steam engine was the lifeline for
distributing farm products that drove the Monroe economy in the 1840s. At
this time, the rail lines were the primary link to the outside world with
its jobs and high schools in Bridgeport. The rail line also gave Monroe's
merchants access to goods and brought the farmers supplies like seed,
fertilizer, feed and agricultural machinery.
With the advent of the automobile, by the 1930s passenger service
was virtually discontinued. At the same time trucks became a more dedicated
alternative for transporting the needs of business although limited use of the
tracks for commerce continued until recent years.
The cost of the Rails Trails Tour is $10 for members, $15 for
non-members, discounted to $5 for seniors and students. Tickets are available
at the Monroe Senior Center and the Edith Wheeler Memorial Library. Space is
limited. Additional information is available from Marven Moss at mmoss36@yahoo.com
