Where Art Plays Its Part: Volume XIII: Railroad Writer David Messer

David Messer of Royersford spent his working years in the pharmaceutical industry but delved back into his passion for railroads when he began writing about train routes for Barnard, Roberts & Company, Inc. in 1998.

“When I was six-years-old, my family moved to Wethersfield, a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut,” Messer said. “The New Haven Railroad had a rail line about two blocks away from our house.”

Back then in 1944 with him being so young, Messer’s parents wouldn’t allow him to run down to the train tracks.

“At that time, there were still steam engines on the line, sending out clouds of smoke and soot,” he said. “My mother was very upset because she had her laundry up on the wash line.”

By the time he earned the age-status to go down to the rail lines, the trains had changed to diesel-run ones.

“A small New Haven branch line ran from Hartford South to the Connecticut shore, and part of it is still there,” he said.

Like many children decades ago, Messer received a train set for Christmas one year. Several of his friends had electric trains, so the interest grew into a serious hobby for him from that point on.

“I can remember my parents taking me into the big New Haven Railroad Station in Hartford where the trains came in on the second level, and you stood on the floor of the station, and they were up high, and you could see them in these big arch windows,” Messer said. “The ground literally shook. As a kid, that made a big impression on me.”

Years later while taking a technical writing course, a friend asked Messer to review a manuscript about the Rutland Railroad in Vermont. This sparked his first writing stint about railroads.

But it wasn’t till several decades afterward that Messer began his great dive into serious and regular railroad writing.

The Triumph series, which he authored under Barnard, Roberts & Company, Inc. focused specifically on lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Each book traces the historical infrastructure of the railroad’s sections, including details like stations, bridges and signal towers.

“The New Haven Railroad branch line that I grew up near as a kid was strictly local freight, while the Pennsylvania Railroad was a four-track main line that ran hundreds of passenger and freight trains day and night,” Messer said. “The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad in upstate New York were basically the two main Eastern trunk lines between here and Chicago.”

The published books so far are Triumph II: Philadelphia to Harrisburg, 1828 – 1998, Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal, 1838 – 2000, Triumph IV: Harrisburg to Altoona, 1846 – 2001, Triumph V: Philadelphia to New York, 1830 – 2002, Triumph VI: Maryland Division, 1827 – 2003, Triumph VII: Northern Region, 1827 – 2004, and contributing without his name noted, Triumph VIII: Pittsburgh, 1749 – 2006.

“When you travel from Paoli into Center City Philadelphia on SEPTA, you’re riding on what was the Pennsylvania Railroad,” Messer said about the line, which like most, was bought out gradually in the 1970s after a domino effect of bankruptcies.

“Amtrak still runs regular service between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and there’s one true train left that goes all the way to Chicago. The physical machinery aspects of watching them work are fascinating, and so is the history that the railroads represent.”

In his youth, Messer and his friends met at the train every day, now a point of nostalgia for him.

One of the most poignant angles of what Messer admires about railroads is the cultural and evolutionary differences of the how and why of them being built across the country, dating back to the mid-19th century.

“The history of railroads was very closely intertwined with the history of the towns they served. In the East, for the most part, the towns were there first, and then the railroads were built to serve them,” Messer said. “But actually in the Midwest, the railroads were given the right-of-way very cheaply by the government, so they built the rail lines, and the towns came later.”

Messer said being on a train is exhilarating. Formerly taking a lot of flights in his last career, he can easily say that he’d rather ride a train.

“I like flying, but I really don’t like turbulence,” Messer concluded. “On a train, I feel very safe and secure.”