Schenectady to Rochester Great American Railroad Journeys

I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America...

..with a new travelling companion.

Published in 1879,

my Appletons' General Guide will steer me to everything

that's novel,

beautiful, memorable

or curious in the United States.

-ALL:

-Amen!

As I cross the continent, I'll discover America's gilded age,

when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom that tied

the nation together and carved out its future as a superpower.

I'm travelling through the Empire State of New York.

I began in Manhattan

and continued north through Poughkeepsie

to the state capital of Albany,

from where I'll head west and finish on the Canadian border.

On this leg, I'll travel some 225 miles through Schenectady

and Utica to the booming 19th-century city of Rochester.

This route takes me towards the Great Lakes and it was

the courses of the waterways that determined the spread of population

and manufacture before the railroad tracks had been laid.

Far away from the Big Apple, the smaller cities of this state

were key to creating the American industrial powerhouse.

Along the way, I man the Erie Canal,

a waterway that shaped America.

It changed New York state and, really, the country.

Almost an immediate impact after the canal opened.

I try to keep pace with the latest rail technology...

You see, there's a little dip in there, in the terrain here...

You've got to be ready for that. You've put all the hazards in here, haven't you?

..and land somewhere over the rainbow.

-And you have a yellow brick road running all the way through your town?

-Yes, yes, we do.

I'm following a recommended Appletons' route, which traverses

the state heading north-west,

and passes through the rich midland counties.

"Schenectady is one of those pleasing Native American

"place names still in use today."

Appletons' says that it's situated on the banks of the Mohawk River

on the spot which once formed the council grounds of the Mohawks.

An inventive American made a breakthrough which put

Schenectady on the map for a different reason,

and brightened up the world.

-TANNOY:

-Schenectady next. Exit towards the rear of the train,

where your see a conductor.

Please watch your step getting off the train

and please check for all your personal possessions.

This old trading port was thrust into a new age of innovation

and industry in 1892 when Thomas Edison,

the man who lit up the world,

made Schenectady the headquarters of his General Electric Company -

a business that would go on to hold interests

in major industries across 170 countries.

I'm meeting vice president Christine Furstoss.

Christine, my guidebook is 1879, and I get the impression

there were a lot of hopes around electricity at that time.

What was actually happening?

Thomas Edison, really the father of today's electricity,

he was working on one invention - a light bulb.

What Thomas Edison did was he took a relatively small invention

and made it something that the world could rely on.

And the light bulb itself, what was the breakthrough that he made there?

It wasn't very durable.

And it had very, very thick wires going to and from it,

because it had very low resistance.

So what he did was he changed the filament and then he also worked

on getting the voltage down and the resistance up, in order to make it

be able to be used in people's homes and not just a novelty for a museum.

In 1880, Edison patented the first commercially viable light bulb

and turned his attentions to the electrical systems

needed to power it.

The first electric power station was in 1882 in Manhattan, New York City.

Edison drove that.

In fact, the Edison Illuminating Company, as it was called

at the time, created the equipment to build that power station.

That power station, at Pearl Street,

took Edison nearly two years to establish

and was the model for the electrification of American cities.

Edison carried his technological revolution into many fields.

And did Thomas Edison also concern himself with electric locomotion

-for railroads?

-Almost certainly he did.

In 1895, he actually oversaw the building of the world's

largest electrical locomotive, right here in the Schenectady area.

And so Schenectady really plays an important part in the creation of electricity?

Oh, it most certainly does, in many, many ways.

Edison's General Electric company was listed on the original

Dow Jones stock market index of 1896.

It is the only company from that date still listed today.

It continues to innovate in many industries, including water,

aviation, energy, health care and transport.

Before I move on, I want to see some of its latest rail technology,

designed to reduce fuel consumption on freight trains.

-Is this the hot seat?

-This is the system.

And what we can have you do here today is drive a trip an operator

would see normally and see how you compare to the system.

-OK, so...

-Are you up for the challenge?

HE LAUGHS

-I'll give it a go. I've got to follow this speed limit, is that right?

-Yeah.

On the screen you can also see the terrain,

the profile there of the hills and the valleys.

Oh, this is a challenge, isn't it? A lot to look at, isn't there?

All right, here's your first speed reduction.

-You see the 60 mile an hour coming up?

-Uh-huh.

-Four miles in advance.

-I've got to be ready for that.

So the challenge - there's a little dip in the terrain here.

So the train will actually accelerate as you approach that speed reduction.

LAUGHING: You've put all the hazards in here, haven't you?

So the computer wouldn't be doing all this up and down that I'm doing?

Whoa! I'm just over the speed limit, I think.

So I assume you don't just play with this, here in your laboratory?

-This is really a practical application?

-Yeah, that's right.

And this system is in use at all the major railroads in North America.

Have you any idea what it's saving the rail companies?

On average, we're seeing about a 10% reduction in fuel.

If you look the class of railroads in North America,

they consume about four billion gallons

-of diesel fuel a year, so that's a huge saving.

-Oh! What...?

Right, so here we have the comparison

-of you and the system.

-Oh, wow.

-You were significantly slower.

-Yes, yes.

And you see you burned 12.5% more fuel.

The key feature of Trip Optimizer

is that it's able to predict when to begin slowing down,

to hit this speed restriction that you exceeded.

James, I resign. I hand over to computers.

That's the story of the world, isn't it?

-Utica?

-Yup, right up on your left.

-Thank you.

Appleton's tells me that the great Erie Canal traverses

New York state from Albany to Buffalo on

the same line with the railroad and often in sight from the train cars.

I hope that in my enthusiasm for those who constructed the railways,

I never forget the wonderful achievements of those who

built the canals - pioneers in huge-scale civil engineering.

The Erie Canal created the first all-water link from the Great Lakes

in the Midwest via the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean.

It was the catalyst for mass migration westwards,

and a trade explosion.

Thank you very much.

I'm stepping off in Utica,

whose 100-year-old station was built in the classical style by

Stem & Fellheimer - the architects behind New York City's

Grand Central terminal.

This station served the old water level route, which runs

alongside rivers and canals.

I'm off to the Erie Canal's Lock 20 to meet Bill Schweizer.

Constructing the Erie Canal - what does it achieve, as it were,

strategically?

So it achieved...

I mean, at the time, we were a young nation and, you know,

the plan was the Western expansion, you know, move west.

But it was hard.

The terrain of New York was very mountainous - no roads, obviously.

And so, surveyors and many... The thought was build a canal.

Thomas Jefferson,

the president at the time, said the idea was something

short of madness, to connect Albany, the northern navigational

point on the Hudson River, to the Great Lakes.

They started in 1817

and started about ten miles from here in Rome, New York,

because that was the plateau, that was the flat, high part.

Considered the folly of its sponsor in the Senate, DeWitt Clinton,

the Erie Canal was to be double the length of anything in Europe.

It was a huge state gamble at 7 million.

Built by many Welsh and Irish labourers,

the 363-mile waterway opened in 1825.

What was the impact of opening the canal up and down its length?

At that time, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston were the ports.

Within a year of the canal being opened, New York City became

the port of choice and soon became the choice for immigrants as well.

But it changed New York state and, really,

the country - almost an immediate impact after the canal opened.

This new link halved journey times, slashed costs by 90%

and boosted trade as unexploited raw materials from the Midwest

could now reach the port of New York City.

The canal created new cities

and helped the North to industrialise in the pre-rail age.

Nowadays, can you still get from Lake Erie to

-the Hudson River by canal?

-Sure.

The canal still, today, is a viable means of commercial transportation.

What we see a lot today is cargo that's not time-sensitive,

that doesn't have to be there right away,

or cargo that is too big - some of the turbines for the

General Electric power plant,

because it is cheaper and it uses less gas.

So it'll be...

We think it'll become even more popular as time goes on.

Now, mountainous terrain, so you have to have locks.

How many actually are there?

So today, the modern-day canal, there's 57 locks

in the whole system - about 34-35 between Albany and Buffalo.

As heavy traffic increased, 20th-century engineers were

forced to abandon much of the original man-made channel.

A new system of dams,

pools and locks was introduced to accommodate larger barges.

Michael, let me introduce you to our chief operator, John.

-I'm John.

-I'm Michael. How do you do?

-Nice to meet you.

I'm just looking at the machinery.

It seems to be a certain age. How old is it?

-It's roughly 100 years old.

-That's fantastic. Still operating well?

Yes, excellent. Most of it's original equipment.

-You've got a barge in now.

-Yup.

So we've got to drop the level of the water,

and when we've done that, we've got to open up the gates, is that right?

-Correct.

-So we're going to open up, moving that one...

..and then moving that one.

John, the water is absolutely pouring out now.

How long does it take you to bring the lock down to the proper level?

-About seven minutes.

-And how much water are you moving in that time?

-It's right about three million gallons.

-And the drop is how much?

-16 feet.

-Very efficient.

How did you get the job, John?

-I have a long history of family that worked here.

-Really? How long?

My grandfather started in 1950.

-Is it going to pass down to the next generation?

-Probably not.

He's more interested in culinary arts.

The water's down. Time to open the gates.

HORN BLARES

So the Governor Roosevelt takes a route that boats have been

-plying for 190 years?

-Correct.

Returning to the railroad that superseded these waterways,

I press on west,

leaving the tracks to continue onto a curious place called

Chittenango which, according to my Appleton's, is where iron

and sulphur springs are frequented by invalids.

I'm intrigued.

And it seems that the clientele has changed considerably

since Appletons' day.

So, Dorothy, I presume?

So I've seen the Lion, I've seen the Tin Man, now I find Dorothy.

What's going on? What's it all about?

Well, the author of the book The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz,

L Frank Baum, was born here in 1856, so every year, we have

a lot of different characters just roaming around this wonderful

-little town.

-And you have a yellow brick road running all the way

-through your town?

-Yes. Yes, we do.

Published in 1900, L Frank Baum's magical story was picked up

by Hollywood in its golden era.

MGM Studios thought that the Kansas farm girl looking for

a better place over the rainbow would offer

escapism for their Depression-hit audiences.

What else does the town do to celebrate L Frank Baum?

Well, actually, every year,

we hold a large festival called Oz-Stravaganza!

We've been holding it since 1978, I believe.

Before I head back to the rails,

I can't resist a trip along that most famous of roads.

# Follow the yellow brick road

# We're off to see the Wizard

# The wonderful Wizard of Oz... #

'I guess that makes me the Scarecrow.'

# If ever a Wiz there was

# The wonderful Wizard of Oz! #

As my journey continues across New York State, I consider how

the mass migration of people westwards changed

the social order of this young nation and its religions.

Greater democracy in America shook up the old order.

The new society looked for new faiths.

There was an evangelical revival and new sects emerged.

I'm hoping that my next stop, Palmyra, will shed some light

on one of the most controversial religious groups of its time.

Palmyra, along with Troy and Ithaca and Rome and Syracuse,

is one of a number of New York towns to bear a classical name.

My Appletons' tells me that on a nearby hillside,

Joe Smith claimed to have found the golden plates of the Mormon Bible.

Well, casting aside the apparently sceptical tone of my guidebook,

let me investigate this remarkable religious phenomenon.

Joseph Smith would go on to found the Mormon religion,

known as the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints,

which today claims 15 million members worldwide.

I'm visiting his old homestead with Charlene Campbell,

who is a member of the church.

What were Joseph Smith's juvenile religious beliefs?

When he was young, he was serious in thinking

and contemplating about God,

wondering why all of the churches around him

were conflicting and bickering and not getting along.

He wanted an answer.

He decided he would go into a grove near his home and pray

and ask God himself for the answer -

which of all of these churches could be true?

At the time, 40% of Americans were churchgoing Protestants.

But a raft of new evangelical religions

each claimed to show the way.

What was the result?

As he prayed, two heavenly beings appeared to him.

Brighter than all description, brighter than the new-day sun.

He thought the leaves would catch on fire, they were so bright.

They explained to him that none of them were true,

that they have the precepts of men, but their hearts are far from Me.

This is the sacred grove.

How very beautiful, very beautiful.

-So after that first vision, was there a follow-up?

-Yes.

He waited for something to happen. Three years went by.

He was worried, something's got to be happening.

So he prayed, wondering that he could have direction of where to go.

And appeared to him was the angel Moroni.

He was the last person to hold the ancient records that had been

carried on for hundreds of years, here on this continent.

He buried the plates in the Hill Cumorah, not far from his home.

And he appeared to Joseph to show him where the plates were buried.

According to Mormon teachings,

Joseph found the golden plates buried in the mountain.

He dug them up and kept them hidden

whilst he translated the ancient text written on them.

So this is the miracle.

Joseph being an unlearned boy of very limited schooling, many people

wondered how could he translate something of ancient records.

The plates told a story of a visit by Jesus Christ in ancient times

to the Americas, where he founded a society of peace and love.

Smith's writings became the Book Of Mormon, and he set out to

rekindle the values of that ancient society in 19th-century America.

Now, after that, a church is established by Joseph Smith.

-Yes, in April of 1830.

-Here in New York?

-Here in Palmyra.

Many people came to the church.

Once reading the book of Mormon, they felt the power of the gospel

and seeing that it was a church of Jesus Christ, established the same

as it was in Jerusalem in the times of Christ, people rallied to that.

And they joined the Church Of Jesus Christ.

Soon after the church was organised, persecution started.

Why do you think the Mormons were being persecuted?

I think people didn't understand them.

And so the Saints had to move from place to place.

They first left New York and went to Ohio and then to Missouri.

And each place they went, they were burned out of their homes,

they lost property, never to be reimbursed.

They eventually ended up in Nauvoo, Illinois.

As Mormon numbers grew, so did animosity towards them.

Some were opposed to the welcome that they offered to freed slaves,

but for most, it was the practice of polygamy

which they couldn't tolerate.

Wherever they settled, the Mormons inspired hostility.

Smith himself was persecuted and jailed over 30 times.

Finally, in 1844, he fell victim to an armed mob.

This time, Joseph Smith and his brother and a few others

were led to Carthage Jail, near Nauvoo, Illinois,

and they were martyred and killed.

After Joseph Smith's death, his followers fled west to Utah,

to a place now called Salt Lake City.

Smith is remembered by Mormons as both a prophet and a martyr.

-What's your destination, if I may ask, sir?

-Rochester, New York.

-Do you like to use the train?

-I do.

-Quite a regular?

-I am.

It's unusual, because most people prefer to fly back and forth.

So how long's it going to take you from New York to Rochester?

Well, it's scheduled to take around seven hours.

But it can often take longer.

And you're happy to be on the train for seven hours?

-You could cross the Atlantic in that time.

-I could.

I once took the Concorde, so I know what you're talking about.

-You could cross the Atlantic twice in that time!

-Yes, that's right.

The original 1830s boom town, Rochester became

the world's breadbasket, with 20 flour mills

powered by the Genesee Falls.

But in the late 19th century,

it was the George Eastman Kodak Company that launched

a new era of mass-market photography,

bringing prosperity to the city.

I'm visiting Cathy Connor at the inventor's Colonial revival mansion,

which houses the world's oldest photography museum.

Well, Cathy, this is the George Eastman house,

-and a wonderful mansion. Did he begin life like this?

-No, he didn't.

First he was an errand boy at a local insurance company,

and then eventually became a teller at a local bank.

And it was through his job there that he saw

that many people who were wealthy at the time

were investors in land and land development.

So he thought he'd take a trip to Santo Domingo, where he knew that land was for sale,

and eventually purchase some that he could then sell and make money.

To record the trip, Eastman brought the latest kit -

a huge camera, chemicals and a tent

in which to spread emulsion on glass plates before exposing them.

Fascinated, he decided to pursue photography instead of land.

And what is it that George Eastman

does for photography in the early days?

Does for photography? Simplifies it.

Basically makes it easier, so that you no longer have to have

that darkroom experience. You could actually just press a button,

and then afterwards, somebody else would do that

photo finishing and that processing for you.

And that's really his claim to fame, putting cameras in the hands

of everyone, because you didn't have to be a chemist any more.

Eastman's first leap was the roll of film.

Patented in 1884, it was economical and fitted every plate camera.

Next, he set about making cameras as easy to use as pencils.

And this is an example of the original Kodak.

Came out in 1888,

and it was considered totally automatic at that time.

Now, the one funny thing is that you had no viewfinder.

So many people held the camera up here

and tried to aim at whatever the subject might be -

their friend or their home or the chicken in front of the house.

So many times you're not sure

what they were actually trying to get in their picture.

In fact, many times, people backed up quite a bit

so that they make sure they'd get it all in the frame.

Eventually, Eastman found a way to put a viewfinder

and actually hook it on.

It was considered an accessory back then.

What about this little fellow here, what's this?

This is the little Brownie character that was very popular with kids.

So Mr Eastman borrowed that same design

and used it to market these cameras to children.

Initially, the Brownie camera was only a dollar.

This one has a viewfinder in the top, so you would have to look down,

make sure that you were getting what you wanted in your frame.

And then you would actually click

this little thing to take the picture.

Isn't that amazing?

My mother had quite an old Brownie, and I remember how difficult

it was just get the image in the viewfinder.

But isn't that an exquisite item? And here, presumably, is the...

You roll the film once you took each picture.

George Eastman's introduction of photography to the masses

was underpinned by a clever advertising campaign...

The idea was that if you were on a camel in Egypt

and you ran out of film and you wanted to get your picture

on that camera, there would be a store -

or actually the man running the camel rides

would actually be able to sell you a Kodak roll of film.

The Eastman Kodak Company made George Eastman

one of the leading industrialists and philanthropists of his day.

He gave away a lot of money, probably over 100 million.

Education was key.

Not only education for the people that lived

in the Rochester community, but people internationally as well.

And very big into dentistry.

His mom had bad teeth,

and she had her teeth pulled at the kitchen table without

anaesthetic. He remembered that for years to come,

so he wanted people to have good dental care,

to not have those problems later on in their life.

Kodak, like the General Electric Company,

emerged in America's heyday.

These giants of industry grew within a confident new superpower

that would soon overtake Europe.

But it was thanks to the Genesee River and the building

of the Erie Canal that upstate New York was able to industrialise.

I still can't account for why God chose this region to

reveal his purpose to Joseph Smith,

but that apparition now determines the lives of 15 million Mormons.

On the other hand, the visions of Edison and Eastman

have changed the lives of every single one of us.

Next time, I visit what was the centre of the world's grain train.

At its peak, Buffalo moved enough grain to feed every person

in the United States. Today, a loaf of bread, every single week.

I have a bite to eat in Buffalo.

They come in increments of ten. 10, 20, 50.

-50?!

-50 wings.

And finish with a splash at one of the natural wonders of the world.

Keep your eyes open, people, it's worth seeing!