In the Berkshires, however, a lot of work has been done to get towns organized for a rail line, like locating stations so there’s at least a good 10-mile run between stops for efficiency.
So why could we get the telegraph and telephone service to rural Berkshire County in the nineteenth century but cannot get broadband today? What is the problem and what is the solution?
It was 81 years of squabbles between Lenox and Pittsfield. The message was always the same and quite simple: viewing Berkshire County north to south, Pittsfield was the center, not Lenox.
“The arrival of that first train is an event to be remembered; it had been expected in the afternoon of the preceding day, and hundreds of people had gathered in the street to witness it.”
-- Historian Charles J. Taylor
The first time around, from concept to completion, it took 44 years to establish passenger train service in Berkshire and there is no reason to believe it will take less time to restore it.