HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pennsylvania — If you were the president of a railroad 100 years ago, you were kind of a big deal. Yet when Alan Maples became president of the Everett Railroad Company in 1983, a purchase that made him the youngest person in the history of the industry to hold that title, the Alabama native knew full well he would not wield the prominence, power, and influence that title once held.

Maples shrugs, smiles, and admits a few people, including his parents, thought he was a bit daft when he said his career goal was to run a railroad, at the very time the industry was on its knees.