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There is a story about the subway in Rochester, and this story is so touchingly told in the documentary film, `The End of the Line ? Rochester`s Subway`. The rail line, which operated in 1927 in a former area of the Erie Canal, was abandoned in 1956. Frederick Armstrong and James P. Harte felt that its story needed to be shared with the world, and produced the film in 1994. This forty-five minute film recounts the tale of an American city`s journey through the twentieth century from the railroad`s perspective.
Billed as the story of the smallest city in America to build and abandon a subway, `The End of the Line - Rochester`s Subway` originally aired on PBS and The History Channel. It earned a Bronze Telly Award and was voted Best of the Fest at The Rochester Independent Film Festival. For twelve years it has taught young and old the history of New York`s third largest city.
A transplant from New York City, Harte says, `Our job was to document the history of a subway, but we wanted to do more than that. We saw that the history of the subway paralleled the history of Rochester in the Twentieth Century. That gave us the opportunity to tell the story of a city using the subway as a vehicle. It was great for me because I`d just moved here a year or two before. The subway has a certain sadness to it, but I didn`t want that to be the whole story. This place has a lot of heart and guts, too. The greatest satisfaction I`ve had is hearing young people tell how it makes them appreciate what Rochester was and what it could be. I think it makes them proud. I know it does for me.`
`This was a very important production for us,` says Armstrong, owner of Animatus Studio and The Animation Workshop. Since making `The End of the Line,` I`ve received letters from customers all over the world telling me how much they enjoyed watching it. I grew up in Rochester and rode the subway when I was about four years old. I could hardly remember it. This project helped me recall an important part of who we are and where we`re from. The letters are great because I know the film does the same thing for other people, even those who have never been here. Maybe that`s because our experience is similar in some ways to that of other cities.`
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