In the 1950s and 1960s, many passenger trains were abandoned.  Along with that   
   was the closure of many passenger stations on branchlines or even main lines   
   that would no longer have passenger service.   
      
   What was the impact, if any, on local communities when that happened?   
      
   At one time, the small town railroad station was a center of town life.  But   
   after WW II, conditions changed and the depot was less important.   
      
   One loss was the elimination of Western Union service to the town; service   
   that had been provided by the station agent.  About 1,000 such WU agents were   
   eliminated in that time frame.  The impact from that is hard to measure   
   because telegram traffic    
   overall fell dramatically in the years following WW II, a 10% volume loss   
   every year.  WU rates were rising while toll rates were falling, and   
   eventually a three-minute long distance voice call cost the same or less than   
   a telegram, plus allowed two-way    
   conversation.   
      
   The less presented a challenge to Western Union as it was very tightly   
   regulated by the FCC.  While WU didn't have direct control over railroad   
   stations, it was not allowed to close its own branch offices without FCC   
   approval, even if the branch had too    
   little messaging to support itself.  The FCC wanted WU to replace closed RR   
   offices with its own offices, which would've been quite costly for WU.   
      
   In later years, when WU wanted to replace teletypewriters with CRT terminals,   
   it needed to get FCC approval and file new tariffs.  Likewise, replacing its   
   old obsolete electro-mechanical reperforating centers with computerized   
   switching required FCC    
   approval, too.   
      
   In the 1960s, handling the declining volume of telegrams was very costly for   
   WU.  It foresaw the coming of the internet and hoped to be a backbone provider   
   of data transmissions.  In the 1960s, it was focused on developing   
   computerized switching and    
   digital transmissions over its network.   
      
      
   As an aside, the Bell System provided mobile telephone service aboard the best   
   passenger trains, such as the Twentieth Century, Broadway Limited, the   
   Congressionals, among others.  As those trains were withrdrawn, the mobile   
   service on them was    
   terminated, too.  Other than the Metroliner's, which had a new mobile   
   service*, I don't know if Amtrak _initially_ had any trains with the older   
   mobile service on them.  (Amtrak much later provided cellphone service on some   
   trains.)   
      
   (*The Metroliner service was a pre-cursor to cellular phones, with an   
   automatic handoff from one tower to the next, transparent to the caller.)   
      
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