To the Editor:

I was thrilled that the Times Record’s top story of 2012 was the Downeaster extension.

But I wish to correct one phrase, “train buff,” used in your Jan. 10 story.

Twenty-one people responded to an ad Wayne Davis placed in a Portland newspaper a quarter of a century ago asking those interested in a return of passenger rail to Maine to attend an open meeting. They became the first board of directors of the grassroots TrainRiders Northeast.

From the first meeting onward, the group was inspired by railways in Europe and Asia, where passengers routinely traveled at speeds of 160 mph, at lesser environmental cost.

Those at this first meeting were advocates for a healthier, quieter, greener national transportation system that worked to integrate all modes.

“Train buff” is not the proper term. A train buff is a person who delights in fiddling with a model railroad in his basement and who may take a one-hour excursion train from Point A to Point B for the sake of nostalgia during a summer vacation.

Trail Riders is an independent, grassroots outfit composed of citizens who live all in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and even west of the Mississippi. We have fought the Goliaths of the oil business for 25 years, and will continue the fight until the Downeaster pulls out of Brunswick on its inaugural run to Augusta, Waterville and Bangor.

We hope our country slowly comes around to the common sense of airways, highways and railways working in concert to move people faster at less cost to our health.

This may take 50 or more years, but like trains that glide as silently as whispering breezes at speeds well over 100 mph, it will happen.

Please remember that people who give their time to work for the cause of a stronger, safer infrastructure and a more health-giving future for our children are transportation advocates, not train buffs.

Paula Boyer Rougny
TrainRiders Northeast
Brunswick