Railway lines

are back in the news as people are suddenly realising they might be a "good" thing. 
There is a new development planned north of the city. The passenger train line does not extend that far. 
It did once. At the point they are talking about it branched off in a number of useful directions.
It went north and north east. You could travel into the "mid north" too. There were both goods and passenger trains. 
What happened?
The, perhaps overly simple, answer is cars and heavy goods vehicles happened - but particularly the cars. People bought cars. They used cars. It meant they could go anywhere at any time. They didn't have to wait for the trains. People then became "too busy" to use trains. They didn't have "enough time" to  use the trains.
The trains that transported people in and out of one of the best wine producing areas in the world gave way to tourist buses and the rail stops dedicated to the wine industry gave way to tankers of the liquid red and white gold.
There was a train service which ran through the small country town where I was born. People used it then because, while farmers had vehicles and the townspeople might, people still thought of the trains as a way to go south to the city and north to other towns. They would even go to the junction north of the city and then catch another train to go north east. 
The trains were magical things to all the young kittens around the place. We would mount our little tricycles with the carriers on the back and descend in a group on the local railway station when the train was due to arrive. We would line up and the station master and the porter and the guard would load our carriers with small parcels which we would then take to the parcel office. If the train was running late and there was no time for this fun we would leave dejected but with the words, "Next time" following us.  How did the adults find time for this? I'll never know but I still think of it as "fun". We loved doing it. It was exciting!
We were no more than three or four years of age but we were out and about on our own. Of course traffic was very light and everyone knew who we were.  
Our mothers would visit the railway station too because the "Mothers and Babies"  van was there. This was the railway carriage that was attached to trains all over the state. It was the medical clinic for mothers with young infants. Babies were weighed and checked and advice was given. I have the vaguest of vague memories of being weighed there - something that must have happened before I was two. It was a service intended for "well babies" but it no doubt allowed nurses to keep an eye on some children. 
And of course we travelled on the train into the city. It was so much better than going in the car. The trains were steam trains of course. I remember that, on one occasion, my brother was actually allowed to wave the flag used by the guard.  No doubt that was strictly against the rules - but it was more fun. 
We could kneel on the seats and look out the windows for the familiar landmarks on the journey. The conductor would come along and clip the tickets. If we were lucky he might clip a piece of cardboard as a "ticket" for us as well.
The trains stopped running to many of those places by the time I was in my teens. It wasn't even thought necessary to keep the lines there "in case". Some parts are still there but others have gone. The cost of renewing them would be enormous. Steam trains have long gone too. It's all cars and buses and lorries and tankers and trucks. You have to sit still in the car and play on your screen instead.
Children don't have nearly as much fun now.