TRAINS: The Economics and the Romance

with Norma Kirby and Carole Owens

Two Session Workshop on

Mondays, January 6 and 13

10:00 - 11:30 a.m.

In-person in Lenox

Workshop Cost:
OLLI at BCC Members: $20
Non-members: $25

Pre-registration is required due to limited space.

This workshop is about the history of trains from the first trains pulling into Berkshire County with cargo from the Erie Canal, Hudson River, and Boston. We will explore the vast economic opportunities that changed a small county into a desired destination.

Session One, January 6 at the Lenox Train Station:
The Economics of Trains

This session will explore the impact the train had on the growth and shape of Berkshire County. Topics will include railroad bankers and the Pullman Strike.

Session Two, January 13 at the Lenox Train Station:
The Romance of Trains

The Sound of the Whistle in the night, the steam rising, we love it all!

Norma Kirby is a Locomotive Engineer and Road Foreman with Amtrak whose career included all the train tracks that enter Berkshire County and the stories that have been passed down from generations of railroaders.

Carole Owens holds a doctorate, practiced for 30 years as a therapist and mental health program designer. She has written 12 books mostly on American history with brief forays into murder mysteries. Currently she writes for the Berkshire Edge, the Berkshire Eagle, and her own hyper-local paper, Stockbridge Updates.