In the memoir Grady Patterson wrote for his children and grandchildren, Small Town Boy, he explained how he was fascinated by the Seaboard Airline tracks and trains.
“The railway tracks ran immediately behind my grandparent’s house. One day, when I was about four years old, Daddy boosted me up into the cab of a steam locomotive which was stopped waiting for a faster train to pass where the engineer allowed me to pull the rope which blew the whistle – that distinctive sound which only a steam locomotive makes.
“Thus began my boyhood fascination with trains. My parents got me “and engineer’s shirt and cap” as well as a red bandana for my neck, and in my dreams I became Casey Jones of folk tune fame or the engineer operating the locomotive in “The Wreck of the Old 97.” There wa something about the immense power of the steam locomotives of those days which was far more romantic than the sleek diesel engines in use today. As they came thundering through town, emitting clouds of steam, with the whistle blasting, sometimes hauling as many as 50-60 freight cars, the whole community would shake and rumble.”
He went on to talk about the different types of trains and the heavy use of the railroad during World War II, “when a freight train seemed to pass through town every five to ten minutes. It was not uncommon to see cars loaded with tanks and artillery pieces.”
Trains were also for outings and ordinary travel. “To celebrate my sixth birthday, Mama (his maternal grandmother Lake) and I made a very special trip – just the two of us. We rode over to Raleigh on the train, had ice cream, and took a street car out to the Pullen Park Zoo where we also rode the carousel. Then we went to the dime store where she bought me a Buck Jones cowboy cap pistol and holster. Following lunch we went down to the studios of radio station WPTF where I appeared on the Uncle Happy birthday program for children before catching the 4:00 o’clock bus back to Wake Forest. What a busy and memorable day for a six year old!”
Grady also reminisced about the two railroad wrecks in which the engines seemed to have an incredible urge to hit Hardwicke’s Drug Store (until a year ago Sweetie’s candy store) on Wait Avenue near the two stations, freight and passengers. In the first accident in the 1930s the engine did strike and damage the 1898 building.
Grady wrote, “A similar accident occurred in the mid 40s, causing the locomotive to overturn just 18 inches from the same building. I was in high school at the time and went down to view the scene of the accident. I managed to squeeze my body between the building and the locomotive. The danger of such a maneuver never even occurred to me, and I am still amazed that authorities would have allowed me to place myself in that position.”
Grady is not the only member of the Lake family to have warm memories of Wake Forest during their youth. Rosa Lake wrote, “Grady, my cousin, recounts wonderful memories. When my family moved to Wake Forest [to live with Dr. and Mrs. Lake, her grandparents and Grady’s], we lived next door to a fraternity. When the fire alarm sounded, all of the college males raced to help extinguish. Those neighbor-students often cleaned our lawns after their parties. The town was enmeshed w/sports; when the college won a game, we rang the bell in the Administration Building to announce. These events were mostly our entertainment, except for those movies that Grady described. Additionally, the Community House allowed Saturday-night “Teen-age Club,” adjacent to the swimming pool. Life was calm, happy, and rather uneventful!”
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