Gunther and His Railroad by
Morton Morris
Page
3
It seems almost incredible,
nowadays, to think of the B. R. T. cars alone transporting in a single day
to and from Coney Island more than a quarter of a million people. I often
stand at the Culver Terminal along about 11 o'clock in the evening, on
days when especially big crowds visit the island and people are beginning
to rush homewards, and watch and wonder at it all. Trolleys and "L" trains
arrive and depart from that single depot at the rate of ten a
minute.
In the old days a large church bell,
with a tongue like a country gossip, always rang for some seconds before
each trip from Coney island was commenced. This by way of notifying
passengers that the train was about to start.
It was a serious thing in those days to miss a train, for the Modock only
made two trips in the morning and two in the afternoon. in the height of
the summer this schedule was increased to five trips a day. The Modock
could be relied upon to run off the track at least once during each trip.
We all grew to love the old engine dearly. Perhaps it was on account of
the familiarity we had with it. I remember that one time the draw bar came
out that attached the Modock to the trailer, and the trailer being free to
do as it saw fit, started down the hill from Locust Grove at a smart clip.
Some bystanders, quite unused to modern railroad equipment, thought to
stop its progress by throwing pieces of wood in front of it as it shot
down the hill. This attempt at obstruction only added to its
rambunctiousness, and as it struck the wood, it flew off the track. The
passengers, who had been spilled out at various stages of the car's
progress, secured some fence rails and boosted it back on the track
again.
The engine did not have the power to
carry a load of passengers up the hill at Locust Grove, so the gentle
folks would get off at the foot of the hill and walk to the higher grade,
again climb on the cars, and the journey would proceed
At the time of our story, the locomotive
Clifford poses with train at its depot. Paul
Matus Collection
Continued on page
4
Copyright © 1975 by Third Rail Press, © 1999 by The Composing Stack
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