One could not assume that the purposes of a railroad association were benign.
One of these songs particularly captures the association of the railroad with crossroads mythology by invoking the dilemma of decision-making.
So long as the railroad's lawyers tried to argue on traditional property rights grounds, their case was hopeless.
An answer to that question requires a detailed analysis of the world the workers came from and local perceptions of railroad work.
All letters and packages were collected, sorted and distributed in a railway mail car, usually owned by the railroad company that owned the track.
It would have required millions of dollars and taken many years to develop adequate railroad and highway networks.
As a similar mediating device, the railroad topic forms an interesting parallel to the crossroads mythology in the blues.
And, before the railroad, travel was difficult enough to preclude any sort of concert circuit of touring virtuosos, even had the demand been there.
