The Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce took a trip back in time  last Thursday night, gathering at Plimoth Plantation for their annual dinner and to award Cape Cod Rail, Inc. their 2010 Business of the Year.

"We're not your typical railroad or in your typical railroad location," said Cape Rail President and CEO John Kennedy, explaining that most railroads operate between two major destinations - cities, locations of natural resources, markets - rather than on a "cul-de-sac" with "human resources," like Cape Cod.

The company runs two railroads.  The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad provides freight service to the South Coast and the Cape, including the Energy Train which hauls municipal solid waste to the Covanta Energy's SEMASS plant in Rochester where it generates electricity. The Cape Cod Central Railroad offers excursion and dining trains.

Kennedy said that, if all goes to plans, the organization will double the amount of tracks that they use in the next couple of years, as it has recently acquired rights to the tracks in the Fall River corridor.

After the awards ceremony, attendees enjoyed the Plantation's 1627 Harvest Dinner - a multiple-course meal served family style with food and dishes from seventeenth-century recipes. Thankfully, a group of resident Pilgrims were there to inform guests on table manners (only ladies eat with napkins in their lap) and explain how to eat the "Sallet of Herbs," "Chine of Pork, Roast'd," and "stewed pompion," with a spoon.