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Tyler Joho
Ms. Melendrez
English III
20 February 2007
Moving Along
People learned to get around in many ways, but only four methods of transportation seemed to have lasted the test of time. Planes, trains, ships, and automobiles, these were the most popular modes of travel used by people in the 1920’s. Trains slowly progressed from moving supplies, to moving large numbers of people through out the century, where as ships had been doing this for hundreds of years. Automobiles, on the other hand, were both new and exciting luxuries that had people skeptical of their use at first. However, they soon warmed up to the idea of being able to go almost any where they wanted at anytime they pleased. Planes, as well, were a new form of transportation that intrigued the interest of the common person, because it was a remarkable and unheard of idea before this time. No matter where people needed to go, they got there because of daring, determination, and innovative ideas. The automobiles, trains, planes and ships of the early 1920’s America might not have been the best in the world, but they got the job of moving people and goods from one place to another, safely and successfully.
Train travel in the 1920’s started to decline, because they had been around for so long and because of the increase in popularity of automobiles, and early air travel. “New services were continually added on first-class trains: barber and beauty
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shops, showers, valet service, ticker tapes, and some of the best food prepared anywhere in America” (www.inventors...). The train companies were doing all that they could just to keep people interested in using trains instead of other types of travel. Offering perks, and one of a kind deals were not doing it however, and the trains had to start appealing to an older customer. “Since 1857, specially designed Railway Post Office Cars allowed mail to be picked up, sorted, and delivered en-route” (www.inventors...). The...