Winchester News-Gazette, Nov. 1982.
By Ken Thomas.
"I remember as a boy sittin' out here in a ditch by the tracks and watchin' the train men runnin' this way and that way. This used to be all a bustle," recalls a Lynn old-timer as he studies the remains of the Lynn train yard.
The man has grayed with time, and so has the scene he is observing. He sees that this place is so terribly stripped of what used to be here.
It's true, there's not much left. An old hand pump still protrudes from the ground, but the ground is old and broken and weed infested. All of the one-time surroundings of the pump -- busy folks waiting to board the train, the train station, colorful railroad signal lights, the unique clanging and clacking and bustling of the railroad era are all gone now.
The old man sees that across the way a power equipment hut still stands, reminders of the equipment once inside it still decorate its crusted walls.
In fact, one imagines that the hut must have looked something like this over a century ago.
But the last of the tracks, the very rails themselves are gone now, taken up only in recent months by those who know they'll never be used again. Many of the original tracks, the ones that supported the locomotives that helped make Lynn a thriving social and commercial center in the late 1800's and 1900's were removed many years ago. But it's been only recently that the fateful intersection of Lynn's two track lines near the southwest edge of town was uprooted. The last train had long ago passed over it.
Now there are no Lynn rails, save the ones discarded and strewn near somebody's side property.
But, though it may seem so, it's not really been so long ago when the railroad era was in full swing here, for some of the old-times remember it still.
"Even New Castle didn't have the railroad network that Lynn did back then," recalls Ed Chenoweth, whose family goes way back to the formative years of the town. Chenoweth himself was born in 1895. "The railroad was everything then."
Indeed, the railroad played one big part in Lynn becoming the enviable small community a hundred years ago. Not one, but two tracks came through the outskirts of the town, and because of this attractive feature Lynn became the nice little town where many a traveler would stop and trade. In fact, many stuck around and established businesses of their own.
Lynn resident Alice Ross, now in her mid-80s, has had the railroad here as part of her life for as many years as she can remember. Her grandfather, Philip Nearson, helped lay the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad in Lynn between 1860 and 1870. Her late husband, Jess, worked on the railroad almost all his life. Her mother operated a restaurant at the Lynn depot when Alice was just a youngster.
Alice notes that not every railroad stop had a roundhouse, but Lynn did. The Lynn tracks at their height could boast of a roundhouse, cinder pit, car repair house and other structures that would please avery engineer that passed through.
Since the Lynn roundhouse included facilities where the train cars would be serviced and cleaned before beginning the next long stretch of their journey, train stops at Lynn often meant somewhat extended stays and lots of traveling folks having time and opportunity to do any of various and sundry things while remaining in town.
Necessity being the mother of invention - and business, too - there sprang up a whole host of businesses that centered around the increased activity of the railroad.
As best Alice Ross can recall, S. Burris operated a restaurant near there. Amos Surfus was a well-known sawmill operator at the time. A hotel which some recollections have being operated by a Harl Hunt was also nearby. A blacksmith shop was in the area, and a watering trough still sits in front of where that shop was once located. Thinking of one Lynn house which was once a blacksmith shop. Mrs. Ross says, "If you would tear the shingles off that house, you'd be shocked."
Poultry sheds, flour mills, slaughter houses. one owned by James Thurston and stockyards were in the vicinity. Men would buy hogs, put them in the stockyards and later load them onto the train.
The original Lynn roundhouse states Mrs. Ross, was one of the largest of any in eastern Indiana at the time, with 11 stalls. As the years passed, it had but four.
The old Lynn depot was moved from one side of the tracks to the other in 1912 or 1913. On the south side of the tracks were two ticket offices and one large waiting room. Bill Norton was a yard clerk, and he and Mr. Lewis were among the first to turn the track gates. Charlie Wilson ran the coal dock where the chute was located. Depot operators have been Walter Lonsbarry, Fred Bowen. Burt Bowen, Raymond Bowen and Dave Brown.
Hacks similar to the old horse drawn school hacks carried people across town if they wanted to get on the train.
Mrs. Ross remembers when there were fairgrounds, a race track, and a ball diamond near the tracks on the west side of town. Between the activities at the grounds and the crowd from the railroad, that part of town was quite a busy place. The fairgrounds was also the same place where the centennial celebration was held in Lynn in 1876.
Mrs. Ross recalls that political rallies were also held in the wooded area beside the tracks on the west side. Camp meetings and the rallies kept things alive in the town.
"We have political rallies now," says the railroad historian, but she quickly adds, "but not like they were then. They had hot times then!"
She says that the candidates for offices which included presidential elections came through on the train and gave speeches near the Lynn depot. The activity at the railroad depot area explains why the rallies were held there and not in the middle of town where the downtown business and pedestrian district was located.
Mrs. Ross says without hesitation, remembering it as if it happened yesterday, "You should have seen the people come and listen to them candidates 'speel off." The first significant rally she remembers is when McKinley and Bryan ran against each other. Speaking of that election, she states, "That was a hot time in Lynn. I remember that."
The race track in the fairground area put on quite a show, according to those who can remember it. Two-wheeled carts pulled by horses were the race entries. She also remembers a circus with sideshows which she saw as a child.
She recalls in 1917 or 1918 after a terrible snow storm which stalled the train and forced passengers off in Lynn, that many of the stranded people came to her house and were fed a hot meal.
Of course, there were many in the town associated with the railroad who, were they interviewed today, might not be so nostalgic about the train - people whose jobs were essential to the train's existence but whose jobs were also very hazardous.
Many times the "boilermaker inspector" found it necessary to actually crawl into the train's boiler hole. If inner repairs were needed, he would stay and try to fix them. Protected only by extra heavy clothes, he worked in the cramped space in heat that could burn him alive.
When the locomotive was separated from its cars. it was the job of the "trainman" to release the pin joining the cars together. His life was in jeopardy every time stepped between the cars. The cars could behave very strangely when the trainman released the pin from the link. Many escaped a close encounter with death minus fingers or hands.
Before the invention of the modern air brake, the train had to be "braked by hand." The brakeman performed a very risky maneuver at every stop. One long blast on the whistle by the engineer was his signal to run over the train or through each open car to the hand brakes. One uncoordinated step on his way to the brakes might have been his last.
but all that is just so much memory now, for the scene in Lynn where all the hubbub and activity once was is quiet, weedy, and mostly deserted. Residences or farm fields surround the now-excavated depot site and a firm that cuts wood has set up operation in this area.
The old man standing near where a track once was and remembering the railroad days with fondness suddenly notes the glaring reality of a makeshift sign bearing the ironic label, "OFFICE," which hangs loosely on one of the only structures of the turn-of-the-century railroad era in Lynn that is still standing today. That is a pair of dilapidated wooden shacks joined at the bottom sides by a cement foundation and at the top by a light roof. Of all the large structures that once lined the tracks along the Lynn Station, these old buildings - which constitute the area near where ticket offices once were busy spots, are the only ones still standing.
"The train, it don't run by here no more," the oldtimer notes.
Lining the east and west length of where the tracks once were is a long stretch of cement - the loading area that once supported thousands of passengers waiting for the trains. The cement is still there today, though weather beaten and cracked with hardy weeds.
Time marches on.
Lynn resident Alice Ross, now in her mid-80s, has had the railroad here as part of her life for as many years as she can remember. Her grandfather, Philip Nearson, helped lay the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad in Lynn between 1860 and 1870. Her late husband, Jess, worked on the railroad almost all his life. Her mother operated a restaurant at the Lynn depot when Alice was just a youngster.
Alice notes that not every railroad stop had a roundhouse, but Lynn did. The Lynn tracks at their height could boast of a roundhouse, cinder pit, car repair house and other structures that would please avery engineer that passed through.
Since the Lynn roundhouse included facilities where the train cars would be serviced and cleaned before beginning the next long stretch of their journey, train stops at Lynn often meant somewhat extended stays and lots of traveling folks having time and opportunity to do any of various and sundry things while remaining in town.
Necessity being the mother of invention - and business, too - there sprang up a whole host of businesses that centered around the increased activity of the railroad.
As best Alice Ross can recall, S. Burris operated a restaurant near there. Amos Surfus was a well-known sawmill operator at the time. A hotel which some recollections have being operated by a Harl Hunt was also nearby. A blacksmith shop was in the area, and a watering trough still sits in front of where that shop was once located. Thinking of one Lynn house which was once a blacksmith shop. Mrs. Ross says, "If you would tear the shingles off that house, you'd be shocked."
Poultry sheds, flour mills, slaughter houses. one owned by James Thurston and stockyards were in the vicinity. Men would buy hogs, put them in the stockyards and later load them onto the train.
The original Lynn roundhouse states Mrs. Ross, was one of the largest of any in eastern Indiana at the time, with 11 stalls. As the years passed, it had but four.
The old Lynn depot was moved from one side of the tracks to the other in 1912 or 1913. On the south side of the tracks were two ticket offices and one large waiting room. Bill Norton was a yard clerk, and he and Mr. Lewis were among the first to turn the track gates. Charlie Wilson ran the coal dock where the chute was located. Depot operators have been Walter Lonsbarry, Fred Bowen. Burt Bowen, Raymond Bowen and Dave Brown.
Hacks similar to the old horse drawn school hacks carried people across town if they wanted to get on the train.
Mrs. Ross remembers when there were fairgrounds, a race track, and a ball diamond near the tracks on the west side of town. Between the activities at the grounds and the crowd from the railroad, that part of town was quite a busy place. The fairgrounds was also the same place where the centennial celebration was held in Lynn in 1876.
Mrs. Ross recalls that political rallies were also held in the wooded area beside the tracks on the west side. Camp meetings and the rallies kept things alive in the town.
"We have political rallies now," says the railroad historian, but she quickly adds, "but not like they were then. They had hot times then!"
She says that the candidates for offices which included presidential elections came through on the train and gave speeches near the Lynn depot. The activity at the railroad depot area explains why the rallies were held there and not in the middle of town where the downtown business and pedestrian district was located.
Mrs. Ross says without hesitation, remembering it as if it happened yesterday, "You should have seen the people come and listen to them candidates 'speel off." The first significant rally she remembers is when McKinley and Bryan ran against each other. Speaking of that election, she states, "That was a hot time in Lynn. I remember that."
The race track in the fairground area put on quite a show, according to those who can remember it. Two-wheeled carts pulled by horses were the race entries. She also remembers a circus with sideshows which she saw as a child.
She recalls in 1917 or 1918 after a terrible snow storm which stalled the train and forced passengers off in Lynn, that many of the stranded people came to her house and were fed a hot meal.
Of course, there were many in the town associated with the railroad who, were they interviewed today, might not be so nostalgic about the train - people whose jobs were essential to the train's existence but whose jobs were also very hazardous.
Many times the "boilermaker inspector" found it necessary to actually crawl into the train's boiler hole. If inner repairs were needed, he would stay and try to fix them. Protected only by extra heavy clothes, he worked in the cramped space in heat that could burn him alive.
When the locomotive was separated from its cars. it was the job of the "trainman" to release the pin joining the cars together. His life was in jeopardy every time stepped between the cars. The cars could behave very strangely when the trainman released the pin from the link. Many escaped a close encounter with death minus fingers or hands.
Before the invention of the modern air brake, the train had to be "braked by hand." The brakeman performed a very risky maneuver at every stop. One long blast on the whistle by the engineer was his signal to run over the train or through each open car to the hand brakes. One uncoordinated step on his way to the brakes might have been his last.
but all that is just so much memory now, for the scene in Lynn where all the hubbub and activity once was is quiet, weedy, and mostly deserted. Residences or farm fields surround the now-excavated depot site and a firm that cuts wood has set up operation in this area.
The old man standing near where a track once was and remembering the railroad days with fondness suddenly notes the glaring reality of a makeshift sign bearing the ironic label, "OFFICE," which hangs loosely on one of the only structures of the turn-of-the-century railroad era in Lynn that is still standing today. That is a pair of dilapidated wooden shacks joined at the bottom sides by a cement foundation and at the top by a light roof. Of all the large structures that once lined the tracks along the Lynn Station, these old buildings - which constitute the area near where ticket offices once were busy spots, are the only ones still standing.
"The train, it don't run by here no more," the oldtimer notes.
Lining the east and west length of where the tracks once were is a long stretch of cement - the loading area that once supported thousands of passengers waiting for the trains. The cement is still there today, though weather beaten and cracked with hardy weeds.
Time marches on.
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