A closely watched train

The Atlantic Coast Line steam engine 1031 of the Virginia & Carolina Southern Railroad passes in front of Henry Melvin’s General Merchandise in Dublin, NC, (ca. 1952) on its way from Elizabethtown to St. Pauls. This closely watched train passed through my father’s farm, marking my days and instilling in me a lifelong love of trains.

I recall standing barefoot beside the tracks listening to the iron beast’s distant rumblings and insistent chugging as it slowly approached. Metal scraped against metal, dilapidated cars rocked from side to side, and gray smoke billowed from its smokestack. The engineer, accustomed to seeing me by the track, blew the whistle, a piercing shriek, while I waved my thanks.

Because steam locomotives excite the senses of sight, hearing, and smell, their impact is powerful and leaves an indelible memory. My first flickering memory is of being outside around dark, hearing the train and watching it pass across the field, down by the edge of the woods.

The locomotive lumbered through the farm six days per week on its way from St. Pauls to Elizabethtown and back (54 miles roundtrip) from January 1911 to December 1958. It passed through eight communities along the way: St. Pauls, Dundee, Tobermory, Duart, Tar Heel, Perth, Dublin, Elizabethtown.

The community names, other than St. Pauls and Elizabethtown, are Scottish and Irish in origin. Dundee is a Scottish name, and four of these communities—Tobermory, Duart, Perth, and Dublin are Irish. How they got these names has not been recorded, but the names reflect the family origin of many of the county’s settlers.

The train transported goods from Elizabethtown and the other community depots along the way to St. Pauls, where the freight was unloaded and sent on its way on another train or truck to its intended destination. The freight carried on the St. Pauls to Elizabethtown haul was made up of all kinds of manufactured goods ordered by families and stores in Elizabethtown and communities along the way. Elizabethtown Depot was located at 305 Swanzy, now a vacant lot.

The freight shipped from Elizabethtown Depot was varied and included lumber, cotton, horses and mules, and a variety of in-season agricultural products. Mrs. R.C. “Flonnie” Lewis, Dublin Depot agent from 1924 until it closed just before WW II, was quoted in an article by Nash Odum published in The Bladen Journal, April 26, 1973: “The most popular products shipped from Dublin Depot were peppers and watermelon, cotton, and lumber.”