THE LEGACY OF ROCKY MOUNT NC
Mention “the steel city,” and immediately, everyone knows
you’re talking about Pittsburgh, PA. “Music City, USA” is another way of
identifying Nashville, TN. And there’s no city as windy as Chicago. Even if
you’ve never been there, the large streetlamps, shaped like those delicious
chocolate candy “kisses,” leave no doubt that you’re in Hershey, PA. At one
time, the name--Richmond, VA—appeared on just about every carton and pack of
cigarettes. Is there anything as delicious on any holiday table as a Smithfield
[VA] ham? And although they may have fallen on hard times, Detroit IS “the motor
city.”
Why the geography lesson? These, cities (and many others) are linked forever
with a product or physical characteristic that calls for no other clues as to
its identity.
The physical reminders of Rocky Mount’s legacy however, are rapidly
disappearing—its railroad heritage. The friendly picturesque All-American town
that straddled the double main line tracks of Champion McDowell Davis’ great
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad is fast becoming a fleeting memory. Once home to
thousands of skilled machinists, electricians, black smiths, laborers and
others, who kept the lights glowing ‘round the clock at the sprawling Emerson
Shops complex, armies of brakemen, conductors, firemen and engineers who stoked
the fires of hungry steam locomotives or made up and took apart trains of
valuable manufactured goods and precious agricultural commodities, Rocky Mount
appears amicable to forgetting why it was born and the reason it was one of the
most important rail junctions on the east coast of the United States.
Oh, Rocky Mount isn’t alone. Altoona, PA, Huntington, WV and Omaha, NB are
other towns that came into existence because the gods of railroading identified
a vacant parcel of land located at just the right distance between two other
points on a railroad map, picked it up, breathed life into its lungs and gave
birth to it. Steel rails fed it, clothed it and caused its heart to beat
vibrantly for many, many years. Only those who sold railroad workers their
clothes, their groceries, their automobiles, and others who taught their
children to read and write, fixed their appliances and paved their streets
didn’t work for the railroad directly, but owed their own livelihoods to it.
But while some of these other towns were able to adapt their facilities to grow
and expand, thus insuring their importance and long term viability, Rocky Mount
was just too close to Richmond, too close to Florence. Its shops weren’t as
modern as those in Waycross or Jacksonville. The winds that used to blow across
the bridge yard and echo off the walls of the shops where hundreds of passenger
and freight cars were built, where the ACL’s entire fleet of Electro Motive
diesels and steam engines were rebuilt, are now vacant. Where thousands of
workers once whistled on their way to the erecting bay, the tall grass now
sings a sad lonely wail.
There are those who were once a part of this wonderful
institution, the heart and soul of this town. Their numbers are dwindling.
Their memories are failing. The Telegram prints their names, announcing when
and where they and their earthly treasures will be relegated to history. Years
from now—not many years, but in the not-too-distant future—signs will likely be
erected noting where the railroad used to be. Where grandfathers and great
grandfathers once toiled to sweat driving tires onto a steam locomotive, where
hostlers once gathered at the sand house to warm themselves beside a glowing
fire. Where the metal-on-metal of coupling cars echoed off of the houses and
businesses from one end of Church Street to the other, day in and day out.
There’s a determined group, TEAM RMRRM, fighting to preserve Rocky Mount’s
railroad history—The Rocky Mount Railroad Museum. Like the engine pulling a
long, long freight train that has just received a signal to proceed at Bassett
Street, it has struggled to gain traction. Its driving wheels are slipping. It still
needs help. Your help.
At the throttle, with all the determination of her father,
Thomas Edwards, Jr., who, like his father, shoveled coal into the belly of a
smoke belching, steam blowing, coal burning locomotive, is Joyce Edwards
Dantzler. It has been her dream to honor her dad and the other thousands of railroaders
who helped shape Rocky Mount. His story and those of every man and woman who
drew a railroad paycheck here needs to be told.
Rocky Mount is in a unique position. Unlike the North Carolina Transportation
Museum in Spencer, it has no round house. So much of what made it a railroad
town has been razed or hauled away. But then, what this town has to offer is
far more important than mere machines or buildings. There are closets filled
with uniforms, hats, gloves, ticket punches, lanterns, tools—and, no doubt,
pictures that could be scanned, negatives and slides that could be enlarged and
brought to life. You see, those pieces of metal or cloth have no value in and
of themselves. It is the story they tell that is the lost treasure of Rocky
Mount, NC.
The Rocky Mount Railroad Museum is now located in Rocky Mount’s historic Amtrak
train station, but it is still a dream in progress, just out of the reach of an
increasing number of Rocky Mount’s citizens and others from surrounding towns
and counties. And at a time when we’re all struggling to make ends meet, it’s
probably not the best time to reach out and ask for your donations. There’s
never a GOOD time to solicit funding for any project—large or small. But with
more and more of the town’s legacy fading away, you have to ask yourself, “Can
we afford NOT to support The Rocky Mount Railroad Museum?”
I once called Rocky Mount home for a couple of years. One in which I learned to
become a locomotive engineer, one where I came to know people like Tom Edwards,
and hundreds of others who took pride in living and working for the railroad.
It was my privilege to speak at The Rocky Mount Railroad Museum’s April, 2014 Banquet
and Auction and to offer some of my books and other things I intended to donate
to help raise money. I appreciated those who joined me on that fine afternoon
of great dining, fellowship, memories and fun. And if anyone donated something that
they thought might help get our railroad museum rolling, we are thankful and hope
they will continue to contribute. The Rocky Mount Railroad Museum needs help.
YOUR help.
Doug Riddell