Submitted by Ray Evans
The following was submitted by Ms. Peggy (Hurt) Daniels and published in
the Mt Vernon Signal in the August 13, 1998 issue. A reference indicates
that it was also published in the February 23, 1961 issue of the Signal.
It was also published in the 1992 Rockcastle History book which was
published by the Rockcastle County Historical Society.
The Brodhead Depot
“Here She comes.” “Is she on time?” Magic words
that made the heart beat a little faster. Words that made many of us dream
of far away places with strange sounding names.
What is all this? Why, of course, it’s one of the four daily
passenger trains pulling into the station at Brodhead.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was to the residents of
Rockcastle County, and Brodhead, what the Mississippi River was to Mark
Twain.
Brodhead was considered somewhat of a railroad town with so many of the
men living there while working on section gangs, or as station operators,
engineers, conductors, or on bridge gangs, or other railroad related jobs.
The Brodhead depot was the center of social life for the community,
with peak interest being on Friday night and Sunday evening. Those were the
times the workers would come home on Friday and leave on Sunday. Also,
weekend visitors arrived on numbers 21, 22, 23 and 24.
As the trains arrived, you could hear the word go through the crowd,
“Who’s that?” “Wonder who they are visiting?”
“Why, there’s old Jim Jones, haven’t seen him for some
twenty-five years.” All who got off the train were greeted with a hug
or a handshake, no strangers here.
Charlie Hurt, agent/operator, was Mr. Louisville and Nashville
Railroad. One had to see Charlie to ship freight, buy a train ticket and
even find out if the train was on time. It was said that he could even get a
ticket for you to go ‘clear to California’ by railroad.
A true story was told many times about Charlie’s efficiency as the
station agent. A shipment of live honeybees arrived at the depot in Brodhead
and Charlie was faced with the problem of getting the bees in a hurry to
Henry Crawford who had ordered them. It was Sunday and no delivery was
possible and there was not a phone on the Crawford farm. Soon, however,
Charlie saw Crawford’s dog outside the depot. He lured the dog in with
some food, and wrote a note about the arrival of the bees, attached it to
the dog’s collar, and then “shooed” the dog homeward. Within
the hour Henry arrived to pick up his bees. Efficiency? I’ll say.
Each freight train crew had his own signal, or whistle, when passing
trough Brodhead. Two short blasts let all know that Sam Long was the
engineer. One short and two longs meant it was Ed Hurt, brother to agent
Charlie Hurt. One short, one long and a short toot, toot was Russell
Atkinson. Thus, the message went out to say hello to family and friends
alike -- all is well, don’t worry.
The depot was built at two different times. The freight room was built
in 1880 and used only for that purpose. Offices, and passenger waiting rooms
were added in 1914. The company maintained 24-hour service, with three
operators, an agent, an assistant agent and freight handlers.
At one time, Brodhead served as a water station for engines for all
trains on the Lebanon Branch of The L & N. It also served as a lunch
stop. Many people still remember one could order a box lunch of sandwiches,
or, if you were really hungry, a two piece chicken dinner with two
vegetables, homemade bread, drink and a piece of homemade pie. This would
set you back thirty-five cents! Three local restaurants handled the task,
these were the Frith, Murphy and Clark establishments.
But then, the unthinkable happened. A fellow by the name of Ford
invented a contraption called a horse-less carriage. Dirt roads became
two-lane highways. “Cars” as many people called them, could zip
along the highways at 25 to 30 miles an hour. From that day on things were
never what they used to be at the Brodhead depot; or, for that matter on the
entire L & N system, or anywhere else. An era had ended,
“progress” had taken over, and on December 31, 1954, the order
came down to close the passenger service. A freight station was maintained
for a few more years, then that too was soon closed.
After fifty-five years of service with the L & N and forty-eight as
agent at Brodhead, Charlie Hurt closed and locked the door for the last
time. Maybe, just maybe, we all shed a small tear when that was done. Soon
the depot was torn down and all trains ceased to run. The three restaurants
are gone, the water tower was dismantled and the tracks are in need of
repair. What is the old depot site now used for – a parking lot for
that contraption, the horse-less carriage.
(Note: Subsequent to when this was first written, The railroad tracks
through Brodhead were taken up about 1986. Peggy (Hurt) Daniels is the
granddaughter of Charlie Hurt. Henry Crawford (1906-1970) who had ordered
the honeybees is the father of my wife Norma Crawford Evans.)
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