A group of orphaned boys from the Dr. Barnardo's Homes leave Waterloo Station in London for a new life in Canada, April 1923. (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

s for rail travel in the 1940sdeclared: “” And for the most part, that hasn’t changed, according to train historian and author .

“Today, trains often roll when weather delays or cancels flights and snarls traffic on the highways,” Zimmermann said in an interview with Weather.com. “Weather can occasionally devastate rail service, however. Witness Superstorm Sandy and its effect on New Jersey railroading. Some service suspensions on NJ Transit lasted for months.”

The slideshow above offers a look at train travel from the 1900s to the late 1960s. It was a time when the journey didn’t take a backseat to the destination. Travelers watched changing landscapes and enjoyed the scenic views fly by their windows.

“In the early decades of the 20th century, the passenger train was clearly the way to go,” Zimmermann explained. “Though automobile travel did grow during that period, roadways were often primitive, some still dirt or gravel. Air travel was in its infancy. Most of the American populace lived in a town or city served by one or more railroads—or near one that was—and they used those railroads.”

By the 1930s, trains had cut travel time considerably. Three days by train took travelers 2,500 miles when in 1800, three days would have taken travelers just 250 miles, according to . But train travel also had its downside -- even first-class accommodations may have been more than a little bumpy.

“Cars were wooden, until the transformation to steel began in the teens,” Zimmermann explained. “Before the advent of air conditioning, which gained popularity in the thirties, soot and cinders from steam locomotives would blow in through open windows. The thirties also ushered in the era of the streamliner, another upgrade in comfort and a new aesthetic.”

Railroads were a dominant feature of American culture for a century and half, and while that centrality is gone, railroads remain a vibrant presence even today, according to Zimmermann.

“Freight traffic of certain kinds is booming, and passenger trains remain the best way to see the country,” he said.

A Princeton graduate, Zimmermann taught English for 25 years and served as lecturer and tour guide for and . His recent books “" and "” recount his favorite journeys on narrow-gauge railroads around the world. For information, please visit his .

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Bondi Beach, Australia. (Credit: Gray Malin)