Train Tracks

Frustrated by shoddy-quality kids' toys, Fred Lundahl, owner of a pressed steel company in Moline, Ill., made a toy truck for his 5-year-old son in 1920 and built an industry. He wanted his son, Buddy "L," to have indestructible playthings to resemble the newest adult toy, the automobile, and to spark imaginative play.Just before the younger Lundahl died in 1981, he wrote that his father "truly believed that the only really good playthings were those that could make a child's dreams come true, playthings you could actually do things with, ones that REALLY WORKED just like the big machines they modeled."

The MARC train is still coming to Aberdeen in May, but Maryland's financial crunch means upgrading the Aberdeen train station for the new service may not be possible by May.Richard Keen, administrator of the State Railroad Administration, has told County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann in a letter that because of a state moratorium on awarding construction contracts, the Aberdeen Station renovations probablywon't be completed by May 6, the date the commuter train...

A pedestrian attempting to catch a morning train to Washington was fatally struck by it this morning in Gaithersburg, police reported. An 81-year-old man was trying to cross the train tracks shortly before 8 a.m. at the South Summit Ave. train crossing to catch MARC train 878 when the train clipped him, said Angela Cruz, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County police. The Associated Press reported trains were delayed 2 1/2 hours. Passengers were bused to Shady Grove and their MARC tickets were honored, said Dave Clark, a spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration.

One person was hospitalized Monday night after a vehicle rolled off a Baltimore Beltway bridge in eastern Baltimore County and fell on railroad tracks below, according to Maryland State Police. The incident was reported at 10:54 p.m. on Interstate 695 in the area of Route 702, according to police. The train tracks were shut down during the medical response, and the county police crash team was investigating. The victim was being treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

More than just propelling horse racing into a new spurt of popularity, Seabiscuit may trigger younger fans' fascination for the hardscrabble background of the story and the history of America's Great Depression. Earlier this year, WGBH Video released one of the most eloquent documentary treatments of that era: Riding the Rails, which whizzes by in an insight-packed 72 minutes. And it holds particular appeal to high-school viewers. Riding the Rails chronicles the teens of the '30s who rode freights to escape the hardship or the dreariness that hit their families after the economy collapsed.

In the coarsened, unforgiving society the United States has become, many of us seem to have lost sight of the fact that a 14-year-old is a child. In the wake of the recent death of Kenwood High School freshman Anna Marie Stickel, my e-mail box filled with messages quickly blaming the girl for her lack of "personal responsibility" and her parents for their failure to control her behavior. Many were quick to absolve Amtrak, the school system or anyone with power of the slightest blame for yet another fatality on a Maryland railroad track.

Weeds cover the rails. Briars entangle the foot paths, and wild blackberries surround the deserted shacks used as a retreat and workplacea quarter-century ago.This 8-acre parcel on Coon Club Road used to be home to Carroll County Narrow Gauge Railroad. Now, woodland creatures claim undisputed possession of the territory.In the early 1950s, four model train buffs came to this spot to build a 9-inch-wide line to fit a scale-model steam locomotive.Thelocomotive was owned by Harry Grant, an engineer at an airplane manufacturer.

Ellicott City's historic center braced for a difficult, days-long cleanup of coal, overturned train cars and smashed vehicles after a Tuesday train derailment that crushed two 19-year-old women to death on a bridge. Investigators said the town's uneven topography along the Patapsco River in Howard County added obstacles to an already complex recovery. In addition to the cleanup efforts, local state and federal officials began an investigation into the deaths, the derailment, and the potential impact of thousands of pounds of coal on local waterways.

Carroll County school officials cleared a bus driver yesterday of accusations by children that he drove their school bus across railroad tracks through flashing red warning lights Friday afternoon. But parents in New Windsor remained upset, because school officials, who acknowledge a train was in the area, didn't believe their children. There will be no further action involving the driver, 74-year-old Roland C. Strawsburg, who has an exemplary record in 30-plus years of driving, said James Doolan, the county schools supervisor of transportation.

Carroll County school officials yesterday cleared a bus driver of accusations by children that he drove their school bus across railroad tracks through flashing red warning lights Friday afternoon. But parents in New Windsor remained upset, because school officials, who acknowledge a train was in the area, didn't believe their children. There will be no further action involving the driver, 74-year-old Roland C. Strawsburg, who has an exemplary record in 30-plus years of driving, said James Doolan, the county schools supervisor of transportation.