I stepped on the train and sat down, pulled the paperback out of my coat pocket, and began to read. The shuffle of people was soon lost to me, an extraneous backdrop to the much more real events of my novel. Ah, yes, I remembered where I was, Roark had been threatened and I would turn the page to find his response. I read on. I don’t know when the young woman sat next to me, but it came to my attention that I had attracted her notice as I stretched my neck and she turned away too quickly. She had been reading over my shoulder. The fact did not bother me, but brought an amused smile to my face. I watched her eyes land on another passenger and resumed my reading.

In the days of stage coaches, travel from destination to destination was an investment. One would ride for hours or even days, often sharing the coach with a stranger or two. The duration of the trip encouraged conversation and friend-making, and benches were placed opposite each other, both for economy of space and to accommodate this social need. The practice carried over into the design of early train cars without too much thought, but it soon became apparent that with the reduced travel times and the advent of the commuting worker, the obligation to meet and greet ones traveling companions had changed from an effective way to pass time to an awkward, stressful, an unnecessary social convention.

Enter William Henry Smith. (Read more…)