I love trains and train travel. 

If this nation had built upon the vast rail network that once connected the nation, we might enjoy a true rapid-rail system today.

Few people would suffer the indignities of air travel if comfortable trains reached communities across the country.

Indeed, until the mid-twentieth century, travel by train was the norm for long excursions. 

Here is a vintage postcard, circa 1920, with a hand-colored photograph of the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Alliance, Ohio.

(Alas, this station is no longer standing although Amtrak does provide limited service to the city.)

Alliance is a small city in northeast Ohio; the town grew up around the junction of the Pennsylvania Railroad line and the Cleveland-Wellsville Railroad.

The railroads were so critical to the town that the Main Street dead-ends at the Railroad station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance,_Ohio

This postcard photograph was mailed from Danvers, Illinois in October of 1907.

Danvers is a village in central Illinois, an early stop on the stage coach line and a center of agricultural businesses today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danvers,_Illinois

The postcard was addressed to Mrs. Frank Johnson of Carlock, Illinois.

Carlock is another village in McLean County Illinois, about 6 miles north of Danvers.

(In 1888, residents of a nearby community moved their houses to Carlock in order to live near the new railroad line.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlock,_Illinois

There is no message on the postcard that would indicate the purpose of the greeting.

One hopes that Mrs. Johnson was pleased to hear from her friend in a nearby town.