Prelude

Setting: Wickersfeld Railroad; 31 May 1992

On the day of the Re-Opening, before the first train left the station, John Smith was awarded – at a ceremony in front of Engine # 15 at the Station at 9 AM – with a membership in the Railroad Founders Club and was given a cash gift for his work in documenting the history of the railroad.  A month before this, he had been invited to join the Board of Directors as an honorary member.  While he accepted the RFC membership, he declined the honorary seat.  He thanked the Board for the gesture and said he would always be available as a ‘consultant,’ but he had been an engineer and a hostler all his life and didn’t own a suit!

John Smith – 72-years old and “still going,” he would say, “like one of these old steam engines,” – was a guest-of-honor on account of all he had done over the previous decade to generate interest in the railroad, leading up to its re-opening as a tourist attraction.  “This day may never have become a reality, were it not for you,” the Master of Ceremonies had said to him in front of Engine # 15.  John had collected (1) photos of the WRR in all of its workings, from its opening to its closing, (2) newspaper articles from the century and a half of its history and (3) oral accounts of life on and around the railroad from survivors, like himself, who remembered it and the role it played in their lives and their community.

He had arranged these artifacts into a coherent collection, with appropriate labelling, and had them printed; first in two 8 ½ x 11 gum-bound ‘packets’ which had then been handed out to anyone interested in the WRR.  He next published a book-sized manuscript in 1984.  His early photocopy editions were printed by his old friend Robert Werner, and the book that evolved out of that earlier form – Remembering the Wickersfeld Railroad (Volume I, 1984; Volume 2, 1985; Volume 3 1988) was published and distributed for sale around Ross County and regionally by Robert Werner’s New York publisher, Jeremina Hawks.  This documentary history focused on all elements of the railroad, from business to pleasure; from the workers in the roundhouses and machine shops to Management and the Owners; the Ross family of Milvale and Wickersfeld.  Throughout this process John saw himself as a collector rather than a ‘writer.’  “Let the documents speak for themselves,” he would say.

After this ceremony was concluded, John was ushered by the new WRR Operations Manager up into the cab of Engine # 15, which he then piloted down to Sommerston and back; part of his old run back in the 1940’s.  Because of his age, a co-engineer – Rudolf Petrie; a fan of the old engineer and his book – accompanied John in the cab.  They “talked tomes” on the run together, John later reported to his friends, as Rude – which he preferred to be called – was also a trained hostler in addition to being a recently certified engineer, like John.

The engine pulled three passenger cars, a coal car, two open box cars and a double-caboose; every car – except the coal hopper – being filled with the first paying customers of the day.  John’s three oldest friends – Lori Ann Grayson, Vincent Lyman and Robert Werner – were all on the train, memories of their early years together in the 1940’s being lit-up as the train rolled along on the refurbished tracks, taking them past well-remembered vistas. 

They were thrilled at their friend receiving such genuine appreciation from the WRR and when other passengers heard them mentioning John, conversations ensued, during which these three of the ‘Four Friends’ related vivid memories of their time together in the late 1940’s; including their riding the train together – interspersed with passionate expressions of their gratitude for having been friends so long.  They allowed the other passengers to take pictures of them and by the end of the run were returning to Wickersfeld “aglow in the aura of renewed fortune,” as Lori put it, by which she meant the ‘fortune’ of having had good friends.

After their return, and for most of the rest of the morning and all of the afternoon, John and his three friends sat together at John’s kiosk outside the Wickersfeld Station where railfans and other interested persons came to talk with the ‘author’ and purchase signed copies of the newly published, hard-cover version of The Wickersfeld Railroad Remembered in 3 volumes.  Printed copies of some of the most spectacular photographs from the book as well as paraphernalia (t-shirts, mugs and small-scale models of the engines and certain classic passenger cars; all provided by the WRR Store) were also available for sale.  John signed so many ‘complementary’ photos of himself from his engineering days that his hand began to cramp-up whenever he picked up the pen!

After the last trains returned from their runs, and while the rolling stock was being put to berth in the car barns and roundhouse, John decided, while clearing the merchandise from his table and closing-up his kiosk, that he did want one of the t-shirts with an artist’s depiction of Engine # 8 on the front and back; his old favorite “ironsides’ in the decades before the railroad shut-down.  He went inside the station to the counter and, preparing to pay, was told by the store clerk that he was allowed to have it “free-of-charge.”  He thanked the young woman and went back outside, where the WRR Manager asked John for a couple publicity pics for the new WRR Newsletter, to which the old, retired engineer humbly submitted, though never fond of having his picture taken.

 

For this, they walked over to the roundhouse, and this is where the present story begins_