part 2
2.
In 1880, Thomas Edison built his first electric rail system. He did not actually invent the electric railroad, but with a $40,000 grant form the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. he made vast improvements on the design. The grant specified that he build a system for long distance travel. On May 13, 1880 Edison piloted his first electric train. It went 60 feet and then broke down, needing to be pushed back to the starting point. He later built a 3 mile track for his electric train with 2 railway cars. Failing to promote his railways, Edison stopped research on the electric railroad. Much of his advancement went in to the creation of the electric streetcar systems that most major cities have, at one time, used for mass transportation.
At some point before Edison’s idea for long distance electric rail travel completely disappeared, a plan was made to build a working electric railway that would run from Detroit to Lansing. An existing track was used and large concrete arches were built over it to run the electric lines across. The process was slow, and the arches were only built where the railway intersected the local streets of the towns in its path. To make a long story short, interest in the project was waning and it was stopped before any electric lines were ever run over the unfinished arches; before any electric trains ever graced its rails.
As you may have guessed, the railway that passes through Ryland Park (the very one that I had passed out on) was part of this project.
In this small stretch of railway, there were three sets of arches built over the tracks. One set was were the tracks crossed over Maple street on the east end of town, the second set was were the tracks crossed Allen street in the middle of downtown Ryland Park, and the third set was were the tracks crossed 5th street, on the west end of town near my house and school.
At each of these crossings stand 30 arches on each side of the road which are roughly 30 yards apart, and stand 30 feet high. Each arch is carved with subtle elegance and held together at the top by a large ornate keystone. Hanging from the underside of the keystone is a small metal bracket meant to hold the wire that the trains would be powered by.
All three sets were identical. If you were to stop in any other town which the tracks passed through, you would see the exact same thing.
These constructions are by no means marvels of ancient architecture, yet there is something wonderful about them. If you were to stand on the tracks and look through them, it was as if you were looking into a short transparent tunnel which could lead you anywhere in time. You could almost believe that if you ran through them that you would vanish at the end and reappear wherever you desired in your heart. Something about these arches was magical.
I didn’t actually know any of this at the time. At the moment I was unconscious and close to waking up with the worst headache of my life; followed by the biggest shock of my life. If you have ever experienced something that changed your life utterly, you will understand and appreciate the rest of this story for all that it is worth.
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