NSR at Mackeys History (page 7 of 9) Out of this would come the lesson why the “clickety clack” was more prevalent at times than others when the train went by. Who would ever believe those expansion joints in the rails could open and close so much from the hottest to the coldest days? The first diesel engine I remember to enter Mackeys was in the mid/late 1940’s. I was working on the farm adjacent to the railroad maintenance yard when the train entered the yard from the sound bridge, blowing the horn with great exuberance, or at least that’s what it seemed to me. This would be the beginning of a new era of rail-roading in the community. The beauty of the painted streamline engine and the chug-chug of the diesel as it picked up speed after leaving the sound bridge must have been very impressive, or at least different. With the coming of the diesel power engine, the need for the water tank just north of the depot would no longer be required. This would eliminate one of our “little hang outs.” On the opposite side of the track from tank was a rather large deep, below ground water reservoir. It was walled in with thick timbers and cross braces running from side to side wide enough to walk across. Never had there been a better man made bullfrog-hunting pit than this, before or since. Naturally the snakes were very fond of this man made hole as well, but in those days for some reason we boys were not too concerned with those trivial things. Next to the reservoir [we called it the frog pond] was a little house, painted railroad green. Inside was the engine that pumped the water up out of the pit into the tank. This was a one-cylinder engine with a large flywheel that had to be turned over by hand to give the engine its momentum to start. A straight stack pipe that protruded out of the building was the exhaust that made a loud, POP-POP-POP that echoed all over the Mackeys area when in operation. Mr. Josh Griffin was the man responsible to keep the tank full of water. This was a ground feed reservoir that depended on the rain and the under ground water table for its water supply. At times I recall it would get rather low. Some one told me recently that water could not be taken from the creek or the sound because it could be detrimental to the locomotive engines. The twenty two mile Columbia branch railroad junctioned the main line, near the maintenance yard just east of the creek trestle about three quarter miles from Mackeys station. This track passed close by our house as it meandered to Columbia via Beasley, Scuppernong, Creswell, Woodley and Cooper stations. Just south of our house was Blount siding used to park empty rail cars. In the spring and summer, white potatoes and other produce were transported out of Columbia in ice refrigerator cars. When the empty cars were side tracked, we boys would walk along the tracks looking to see which ones had water draining from the ice compartments. This would tell us there was some ice still there. Up the car ladder and down into the icebox we would go with our burlap bags to get the ice to take home. The “left over” ice was usually dirty but could always be washed clean when we got home. Hearing the train coming would always find the little guys heading out to the track to feel the rumble of the big locomotive. Mr. Joe Hayes was sure a special hero to us guys, always had chewing gum to throw down to us. (continued)
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:16:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015