Rocky Mount’s Railroad and Asking Qui Bono?

In the latest Podcast, Talking Main Street with Stepheny, CLICK ON: http://anchor.fm/stepheny-houghtlin (Episode 20) I ask the question, Qui Bono? In five minutes there wasn’t enough time to tell you about a conversation I had with my great granddaughter, who at the time was four years old. We were headed into the Event Center to have lunch and hopefully see some trains go by. As we got out of the car, we could hear a train coming. We waited. As car after car rolled by

Annaclaire said, “This is a long train.”

I responded, “You’re not kidding.”

Annaclaire answered matter of factly, “No, I’m not kidding.” Of course, I laughed.

As we stood and watched, this dear child looked up at me and said, “Lots of people going on vacation today.”

I hope you have children in your lives that love trains. I have a great grandchild that plays on the floor talking to himself as he lays down the track and pushes Thomas, the engine, and the wooden cars Thomas pulls, through the magic of magnets. Even without tracks, the driveway works too.

This little guy’s father loved trains too. He was playing on the floor in his room one day and was having trouble getting a bridge piece in place on the wooden track he was building. My daughter, Claire, stood in the doorway unnoticed when she heard this little boy say, “We got troubles!” “We got troubles!”To this day this utterance is repeated in the family. When I was still playing golf, I over shot the green and landed in a deep sand bunker with the green high above me. I remember looking up at Bob who was standing on the green looking down. Of course, said, “We got troubles.”

The railroad was one of the reasons Rocky Mount grew and prospered. Today’s family members still tell the stories of their parents that worked for the railroad. Part of those stories reside in Historic Villa Place and Historic Edgemont where many of the railroad families lived. I fell in love with the Villa Place area when I first saw it because of the homes that line the streets. In Edgemont, there is the beautiful D.J. Rose house on Tarborro Street that Jean Bailey and her husband lived in for years. Home after home in Edgemont are architectural gems. Many of these homes hold the railroad stories of Rocky Mount.

I talk about a phrase that was new to me when I came upon it while reading the series, The Railroad Detective, by Edmund Marston. I made note of it. The words, Qui Bono, asks the question, who stands to gain? I begin with Fred Holdsworth who is the weatherman on WHIG-TV. Among many things he was once a railroad detective. I don’t want to give the rest away, but as the City Council elections are upon us, we should ask, Qui Bono?