When talking about rail service, Goshen was no different from any other town its size or any town for that matter.

With the railroad came prosperity to any town “along the line” and Goshen flourished with the coming of the railroad.

But this is not so much about the role the railroad played in Goshen. It’s not all about the hustle and bustle around the railroad station when the train pulled into town. It could be though because those were the “good ol’ days,” said Mary Alice Sanders who has always lived close enough to the railroad tracks to see or hear the trains as they went by.

“A long time ago, a train with a passenger car would stop in Goshen and that was a big day,” she said. “People from all around Goshen would go to the train station to see the passenger train come in. People would get on the train to go to Troy, Andalusia or Glenwood or get off after making a short trip. That was a lot of excitement for Goshen.”

Sanders said, as a child, she and other children would watch for the train to go by so they could wave to the passengers.

“The passengers would wave back and that was thrilling to us,” she said. “One funny thing I remember is, when the train whistle blew, Katie Herndon’s mother would say, ‘It’s time to put the bread in the oven.’ She timed, her bread baking by the train whistle.”

In the late 1950s, passenger rail service begin to decline and no more passenger cars came though Goshen. However, the train continued to run as a service to the agricultural community.

For a time, the 15.04-mile line connecting Goshen and Troy became dilapidated and was no longer usable. However, the line was rehabilitated in 2002 in order to restore service to peanut producers in Goshen.

“I thought the railroad would go on forever,” Sanders said. “I was sad when I heard, several years ago, that the train was going to stop running. Members of our town council got to ride the train from Troy to Goshen before it closed. I wish I could have been on that train.”

Sanders lives “on the railroad” and she had hopes of hearing the train whistle once again. But, when she saw parts of the track being dismantled, she knew the end of the era had come. There would be no more trains to rumble through Goshen. Women would not know when to put their bread in the oven.

The trains had stopped but evidently someone forgot to tell the Goshen school bus drivers. The buses have continued to stop at the railroad crossing.

Watching the buses stop each day at the railroad crossings is “curious” at least.

The buses, one by one, stop; each bus driver opens the bus door and listens to make sure no train is coming down the tracks, then closes the door and crosses the tracks.

The tracks have been dismantled, no train is coming. No train could come. Why, then, are the buses stopping at the crossings, people wonder.

Dr. Mark Bazzell, superintendent of Pike County Schools, said there are two railroad crossings in the Town of Goshen where the tracks are abandoned. However, Federal regulations, Federal Motor Carrier Saftey guidelines, require that commercial motor vehicles stop at railroad crossings unless there is clear designation by signage that the tracks are abandoned.

“We [Pike County Board of Education] don’t have the authority to put up any signage that the track has been abandoned,” Bazzell said. “Those are county roads so the authority could be with the county or possibly the Department of Transportation would put up the appropriate signage in cooperation with the railroad. Until then, the buses are required by federal regulation to stop at the crossings.”

Bazzell said he will be in contact with Pike County Commissioner Joey Jackson about the crossing situation.