Finally the new modes of mobility enabled by the railroad reduced the distinctiveness of places—their auras. Without effective mobility over long distances at high speed, places served as local and unique markets selling their own products, which were tied to seasonal production. Transportation changed these products into commodities, as goods began to lose their spatial presence and became instead products of an increasingly expansive market.13 At the same time it became possible to visit these places as tourists—another factor, some have argued, in the erosion of local distinctiveness.