Submitted by Ray Evans
Somehow traveling by automobile is not as exciting as riding the trains
that used to run through my hometown of Brodhead in western Rockcastle
County.
The L & N railroad had two north bound (Numbers 22 & 24) and
two south bound (Numbers 21 & 23) local trains on the Lebanon Branch
that ran between Lynchburgh, VA and Louisville, KY that passed through
Brodhead. I had several occasions to ride those trains. They were
‘local’ in that they boarded and discharged passengers at every
little town on the route. They had their own unique characteristics that
must have made them the talk of the day when the first train reached
Brodhead in 1868. For example, the conductor wore a dark colored uniform and
a semi-hard hat that was easily recognizable -- much the same as airline
pilots are today. As the train approached an upcoming town, the conductor
would come into to each car of the train and yell “ALL OUT FOR CRAB
ORCHARD” or whatever little town it was. As the train was readied to
leave the station you could here him yell; “ALL ABOARD”. There was
a BUTCH on most of the trains that sold comic books, magazines, candy bars,
chewing gum and the prettiest red apples you ever saw. He would make a
couple of trips through the car and his little wire basket of goodies was a
sight to see for a young boy’s eyes. The trains all had a black porter.
As a teenager, I worked for Frith’s restaurant that was across the
tracks from the depot in Brodhead.. Frith’s catered to the train crews
and I remember the name of one of the porters. He was a big tall black man
and his first name was Ernest.
If the train was not crowded, you could lay cross-ways of two seats and
take a nice nap. The clickity-clack sound of the train moving along the
tracks was very conducive to naps.
You could hear the train whistle for miles. In later years you could
almost set your watch by the arrival of these trains. The sound of the
hissing steam, the clanging of the bell, the billowing smoke and the sheer
size of the train made for a impressive site in a little town like Brodhead.
Since Louisville was the end of the line for north bound trains, they
turned around someplace near Highland Park went backwards into Union Station
at 10th and Broadway. I always thought that was neat.
The first trip of a train from Knoxville to Louisville was on July 14,
1883. The passenger trains quit running on the Lebanon Branch in 1958. The
tracks through Brodhead were taken up about 1986. Most of the depots were
torn down sometime ago. I guess that is progress, but we lost something that
will not ever come again.
Thanks to Charles B. Castner, Jr. who had an article in the December
1991 issue of the Monthly Newsletter of the Kentucky Railroad Museum on
“The Life and Times Of L&N’s Lebanon Branch” for
supplying me with some of the significant dates.
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