Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-11-20
RAILRoADERS
LONG PAST
/ REVIEWED

The following is taken from tx c
Portland Express and Advertiser OF
Mondays date and should prove in.
teresting reading to the railroad
fraternity.
"The Stroller recently made g
short tripup. over the Grand Trunk
as far as Island Pond. At Lewiston
Junction, an old friend boarded the
train. They I'd MOI seen each other
in years. Both at one time were
residents of one of the large towns
on the line, and after passing the
time of day their conversation was
devoted to people and happenings
on the Grand Trunk from q period
dating from 25 years ago up to the
present time. Neither the Stroller
or his friend was employed by the
road but as youngsters they were
always around the station and were
more or less acquainted with the
railroad men of those days. "Do
you know" said the Stroler's friend
"I'd just like to see a passenger
train run over the Grand Trunk and
have it look just as it did when |
was kid. | recall that the passenger
cars were smaller than they ale now
and were painted a lemon yellow. In
the center of the cars side was a
shield On which appeared the. car S
number. Occasionally | see one of
the cars now but they are of another
color and are used on some of the
construction trains. AS remember
them there was a coal stove in one
end but there was seldom any heat
to them. The locomotives were
small compared with the present en-
glnes now..on the road and painted
red," Before the Stroller had an
opportunity that he too remembered
the cars as described the friend
went on in his remarks.
''Do you remembar the day that
we went down to Gorham to see a
ball game and lost our tickets and
tried to get back home, and the con-
ductor, David (who think lives in
Portland) was going to put US off.
and some one came to our aid and
paid for u.s."
The Stroller remembered the oc-
currence and then inquired of the
friend if he recalled the time when
Conductor Woodman, who had served
the road for many years, would not
stop his train at Copperville to let
about 20 boys and girls off the train
that they could go blueberrying.
They were carried on to West Milan
and had to walk back. The friend
recalled the incident as he was a
member of the party.
The coming of the way freight
was another happening of import
ance to the kids Of those days. For
a long time Ed. Gagne was the en-
gineer. Every time he had an
he would squirt hot
water on the kids by opening the
steam cocks of the cylinders. Con-
ductor Williams was in charge of
the train. Archie Letarte and Will
Ladd, both conductors on passenger
trains now, were the brakemen, also
Adam Danforth, now retired con-
ductor.
Among the other employees of the
road in those days was engineer
Thurston, known to all as "Cocky"
and one of the best drivers on the
line. Others were Wallace Mason,
retired, Timothy Burbank and En-
gineer Stinchfield. 1t was common
talk among the railroad men that
Stinch6eld was the best man with
the brakes on the entire line. Some
of the men then firing on the road
are now engineers with preferred
jobs. The Steady boys are among
the list, Henry living in Portland,
and now in charge of the throttle
on the Island Pond local. Another
we'll known man on the line was
"Chucky" Thurston, who followed
his fathers footsteps and became an
engineer. In those days the trains
stopped at nearly every station.
Now many run express and some OF
the drivers are young men as COM
pared with the drivers of years ago.