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The legacy of the Orphan Train phenomenon is a complicated one. On the one hand, it did help give many children new lives that were much more fulfilling than their previous ones. However, it was also responsible for many cases of children being placed in unfit and sometimes even abusive homes. By examining this juxtaposition through my research, I was able to gain a glimpse into the lives of these children, from their beginnings as waifs on the streets of New York, to their relocation and lives with their new families. If I were to do more research on this topic, I would try to find more specific orphan train riders and map out their lives to try and find any trends that would emerge from studying a larger dataset.