Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:35:57 -0400 From: James Karvonen Subject: Song of the Lonesome Steel Rails - 10 10. After witnessing Bean's violent death beneath the steel wheels of the train that he was now on, Bobby had fallen into a state of shock. He had never seen anyone die before, especially the way Bean had died. It was such a violent death, being cut in half beneath the wheels of a slow moving freight train. He knew he would have nightmares about that in the weeks and months to come. The same thing could happen to him if he wasn't careful. Right now in the state of shock Bobby was in, he didn't know whether he was coming or going. He just sat there staring out of the open door, watching as the scenery slowly passed by as the miles passed by. Every now and then Bobby would choke back a sob. "Bean, poor Bean." He kept saying to himself over and over again. In a way he loved Bean. They had had this special relationship going on with each other a relationship that Officer Andrew had introduced to him back when he was spending time in the hole. But that relationship wasn't a relationship that actually involved love. With Bean, that relationship had actually been a relationship where love was involved. But that relationship lasted for only a couple of days until tragedy struck, and now Bean was no more. Now Bean was now only a pleasant memory a memory that had ended in tragedy that could not have been foretold. Bean, poor Bean. Bobby was so deep in thought that he didn't realize the train had stopped. What broke him out of the state of mind that he had been in was the sound of distant voices. He quickly stood up. The voices were still at least fifty yards away. But the voices were slowly moving towards him. If they looked into the boxcar that he was in, he would be caught and possibly turned over to the police if the voices were railroad employees. So what was he to do? He debated to himself. There was only one thing to do and that was to get out of the boxcar and hide before the voices came any closer. Grabbing what food he had left in the runsack and his blanket roll, Bobby slipped out of the boxcar. The scenery around him consisted mainly of farm pastures and cornfields, similar to the cornfields that he and Bean had made their escape through back at Pine Island. He slid down the railroad embankment into the cornfield to wait until whoever was walking along the train passed by. The wait wasn't very long. Within minutes Bobby heard the voices of the two railroad employees who were checking the train out by the boxcar that he had been in. "Over here Steward, blood on the wheels." he heard one of the railroad employees say. "Yeah, that had to be where the kid was killed. There is a blanket roll inside the boxcar that probably was his. Poor kid, he couldn't have been very old. Why would someone that age try to hop a freight train unless he was running away from home?" "This damn depression would make anyone do things that they normally wouldn't do." The two railroad employees talked for another few minutes, then moved on. One thing for sure, Bobby concluded. He wasn't going to get back on this train, the memory of Bean's death was weighing heavy on his mind. So he waited. The train finally left about a half hour later, leaving Bobby alone in a whole new world. Now what? Bobby asked himself. Still in a state of shock, Bobby slowly started to walk north down the railroad track. He paused momentarily when he saw a series of semaphore signals ahead. He also noticed a switch tower besides the railroad tracks. He was coming to a railroad junction, Bobby concluded. He kept walking then stopped when he came to the junction. He just stood there looking down one track and then tne other. Two railroads crossed each other at this junction. There were also several sidings with freight cars in them. He looked up at the switch tower. The call letters on the side of the switch tower said, MQ Tower." "Hey kid, are you okay down there?" He heard someone from the tower above him. He was about ready to run, but something held him back from doing so. "Hey kid, if you're hungry come on upstairs and I'll give you something to eat." Bobby was hungry. The last time he ate anything was last night, but it wasn't very much, just a can of cold beans. His stomach rumbled at the thought of food. "Don't worry kid. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk." The man in the tower said. Bobby didn't know whether he could trust the man upstairs in the tower or not. Finally as depressed as he was, he decided to accept the man's offer of food. Besides in the condition that he was in, he needed someone to talk too. This man who offered him something to eat sounded kind enough, but he could never be all that sure. He sat his runsack and blanket roll down up against the side of the switch tower, turned and started climbing the numerous wooden stairs to go up into the tower. Opening the door he casually walked in. The interior of the tower was small and rather compact. On the wall facing the railroad tracks below was a large metal track diagram board that showed the two railroads that crossed each other at this interlocking plant, the plant that the MQ tower operator controlled. The two railroads crossing each other were the Lehigh New England Railroad running from north to south, and the Erie Railroad that ran from east to west. At various locations on the track diagram were small button lights that showed the location of any trains approaching on the tracks that might be in the area. Beneath the diagram was the plant itself which consisted of the long armstrong levers which were connected to movable rods that went out of the switch tower through the floor to the ground connecting with the tracks below and were connected to the tracks below. The Armstrong levers were used by the switch tower operator to switch the tracks from one track to the another that were illustrated on the diagram board. There was also a metal pistol grip console that was used to switch some of the other tracks below that weren't connected to the Armstrong lever rods. These tracks were switched electrically as opposed to manually like the Armstrong levers were. The pistol grips also were used to change the position of the blades on the semaphore signals that protected the crossing. "Hey there son, what's your name?" The man asked. He was a short man with fritzy dark brown hair who looked to be in his fifties. He had a kind face which made Bobby more at ease then he had been before. "Bobby, Bobby Rumph." "Bobby Rumph huh, well my name is Walter Parks, please to make your acquaintance" he said. He reached into his lunch pail and offered Bobby a sandwich in which Bobby eagerly took. He unwrapped the foil around the sandwich and bit into it. "Hope you like liverwaurst and tomato sandwiches." Walter smiled. Bobby didn't say anything but kept eating. Walter waited until Bobby finished eating then continued by saying "I see that you are riding the rails. Hoboing, I guess that's what they call it." Bobby nodded then softly said, "Thank you for the sandwich." "No problem, I have an apple if you would like it." He reached into his lunch pail and gave Bobby an apple. Once again Bobby eagerly took it. He bit into the apple enjoying the sweet juicy nector of the fruit. "Where you heading?" Walter asked. "California." Bobby replied between bites. "California, well that's clear across the country for a boy your age to go. How old are you anyway?" "Twelve." Bobby answered. "You're the youngest hobo. I ever met. And I've met plenty of them since the depression hit four years ago.If you don't mind me asking are you running away from home?" Bobby finished his apple then looked at Walter. Tears entered his eyes.Choking back a sob, Bobby shook his head. He wasn't sure how much he should confide in with this man who seemed kind and understanding. No, not, not really." He stammered. "Do you know that earlier this morning a young boy was run over by the train that just passed by that was heading to Maybrook?" Bean, Bobby thought, and then he broke down into tears. Walter waited a few minutes letting Bobby cry, then asked, "Were you with that boy?" "Yes." Bobby sobbed. "He was going with you, and you made it, but he didn't. That must have been a terrible thing for you to see ?" "Yes. It was, he was cut in half." Bobby sobbed. "The steel wheels of a moving train will do that to you. Was he going to go to California with you?" "Uh huh." Bobby stammered. "And now you're going alone. Are you still going to try to make that trip?" Taking a deep breath, Bobby said, "I have too, I can't stay here?" "If you don't mind me asking, why? You can talk to me, Don't worry, I don't pass judgement on anyone." Again Bobby debated with himself whether or not he could trust this man. The last thing he wanted was to be sent back to Pine Island. But he had to talk to someone, and Walter Parks seemed to be the right person to talk to. "We, we ran away from Pine Island together." Bobby began. "Pine Island, ah yes. I know all about Pine Island." "You do?" Bobby exclaimed. "Uh huh, I spent two years at Pine Island back when I was thirteen. It's an abusive hell hole, that's for sure. It was like that when I was there. The State of New York should have closed that place down along time ago. Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, what did you do to end up in Pine Island?" "My, my father moved to California to look for work after he lost his job after the depression hit. His plan was to move us to California also once he found work so that we could be with him and be a family again. That was three years ago and he still hadn't moved us. We barely had enough money to live on and didn't have anything to eat one night, so I decided to steal some food from them A&P food market in Middletown so that we could have something.to eat. Anyway, I was caught and had to plead guilty, so the judge gave me three years at Pine Island for attempted burglary." "That's terrible." Walter said, shaking his head. "I'm going to California to get with my father and try to convince him to move my mother, brother and little sister to California to be with him. I can't understand why he hadn't done that yet. It's been three year since he left." Bobby tearfully explained. "I understand what you are going through." Walter nodded. "Do you know what railroads to ride on to get from here to California?" "No." Bobby admitted. Walter sighed. "I tell you what. My shift ends at three. If you want you can come home with me after my shift ends. I'll get my wife to fix you a good meal, then afterwards you can get a good hot bath clean yourself up, then get a good night's sleep. I start my shift at seven in the morning. When we get back here to the tower tomorrow morning I'll give you some maps and some other information so that you can plan your trip out to California. After that, all I can do is to wish you the best of luck and hope and pray that you make it." As Walter was talking, a bell rang and a light lit up on one of the tracks on the track diagram board. "Well Bobby, that light on the board and the bell tells me that an eastbound train is coming on the Erie Railroad. That means I have to get to work." Walter winked. Bobby watched as Walter tugged and pulled on a couple of Armstrong levers switching the tracks on the ground below. "The train coming in will be leaving several cars over there on the siding for the Lehigh New England to pick up later this afternoon and take to Phillipsburg Pennsylvania." Walter explained. Bobby continued to watch as Walter worked, switching tracks and controlling the semaphore signals. About five minutes later Bobby noticed puffs of smoke to the west and saw the headlight of the approaching train. A minute or two later the train arrived pulled a 2-10-0, otherwise known as Russian Decapod. The train steamed to a stop in front of the switch tower. A few minutes later there was the sound of airbrakes being released, and the locomotive steamed forwards with a cut about fifteen freight cars that was backed up into the Y which connected the Erie Railroad to the Lehigh New England railroad. All the while Walter was working on the Armstrong levers and the grips switching tracks and working the signals. The whole operation took about an hour. Finally the locomotive backed into it's train, then with one last pull of the lever the train was given the green light to head east towards Jersey City. "Well that's that. As soon as my relief comes I'll be out of here. Have you decided whether or not you'll come with me?" Walter asked.. Bobby thought about it. He could use a good meal and a good nights sleep especially after what had happened earlier that morning. After talking with Walter and watching him work he felt sure that he could trust the man, besides he seemed like a nice man who actually was willing to help him. "I'll come with you and I really do appreciate it." Bobby replied. "I know what you're going through. So if there is any way that I can help, then I'll do so." Walters relief came at 3:00 on the dot. He was a heavy set man named Buddy Beams. "Who's that kid with you?" Buddy asked. Knowing that there were regulations about any unauthorized individuals up in switch towers and not wanting to get himself and any trouble, Walter said, "My nephew. He say's he wants to work on the railroad when he grows up, so I thought that I would bring him up into the tower with me this morning and let him watch and see what I do." "I should probably do that with my nephew only my nephew doesn't know what he wants to do when he grows up." Buddy chuckled. "So who do we have coming?" "NE 74 is out of Port Jervis at 2:15, so he'll be the first eastbound train that you will have to deal with. He has to go up to Maybrook to get a cut of about twenty four cars bound for Croxton, and then we have NY 99 just by WJ tower at 2:39. He'll be you're first westbound. There is an coal train out of Phillipsburg, but you know how slow coal trains are. He'll be your first Lehigh New England train. He's heading for Maybrook, and that's it for now." Walter stated. "That means in a couple of hours it's going to get busy around here." Buddy stated. "That's about the size of it." Walter said. "Since there is nothing more then I can share with you, I'm going to go ahead and leave. So I guess I'll see you in the morning then. You ready Bobby?" Bobby nodded. He was eager to get away from the railroad for a little while. "I'm ready. Nice meeting you sir." Walter opened the door and headed down the stairway. Bobby followed He grabbed his blanket roll and rucksack of what food he had left which wasn't very much, then followed Walter to his car. He slid into the front seat on the passenger side of the 1929 Model A Ford that Walter owned and threw his blanket roll and rucksack into the backseat of the car. Walter started up the car, and within after a minute or so they took off. Walter lived about three miles from MQ tower, in the small community of Campbell Hall. When they reached Walter's small house, Walter introduced Bobby to his wife.She was an attractive women who was very understanding, and was glad that her husband had brought him home so that he could spend the night, especially after Walter explained to her about Bobby's situation. "He ran away from Pine Island and you already know my feelings about that place. So because of what happened to him, he's heading to California to be with his father. He's going to try to convince him to bring the rest of his family out to California to live with him." "So, the dear boy is going to ride the rails from here to California. That's an awful difficult task for a boy his age to undertake." "He's determine to do it, and if I was his age in his situation I would probably do the same thing." "This depression, it has destroyed many lives. All those jobs lossed. We're just fortunate that your job with the railroad hasn't been effected by this depression." Walter's wife frowned. "Yes, and until Roosevelt makes the changes needed to improve the country's economy, things are going to get worse before they get any better." Walter pointed out. "I know, I know." Walter's wife replied. And then she went on to say, "We once had a boy your age." She told Bobby as she was setting up a place at the dining room table for him to eat. "What was his name?" Bobby asked. "Steven, he was about your age when he passed away almost a year ago." "How did he die?" Bobby asked. "Influenza. We had a flu outbreak in this community and, and my baby Steven, and it took him." She said, tears entering her eyes. "It's okay Mary Beth." Walter told his wife, taking her hand into his hand. "Anyway Walter, I was just thinking, we still have Steven's clothes that we never disposed of since his death, why don't we give him a couple of his shirts and pants, so he will have some clothes to change into while he is on this journey. He looks to be about Steven's size, he should be able to fit into them alright." Mary Beth suggested. That's a good idea. I was thinking about that same exact thing. And I'm going to give him my mess kit, canteen, and knapsack that I had during the great war, so that he can carry his belongings in. I have no use for that knapsack, mess kit ,and canteen anymore. All those war war memoralia just bring in bad memories. It's been over thirteen years since I had been a doughboy fighting for Uncle Sam, so it's about time I put those memories at rest once and for all, and give them to someone who could use them," Walter explained. Bobby couldn't believe his good fortune. Not only was he going to eat a good square meal that night have a place to sleep but when he left come morning he was going to have a knapsack to carry his extra clothes, a mess kit, and canteen so he would have water when he needed it. At dinner that night Bobby all but gorged himself on the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, blueberry pie and buttermilk that they had to drink. That was one of the best meal that he had had in quite some time. Afterwards Bobby helped cleanup. He was beginning to feel like that he was part of this family even though he would be leaving come morning. Afterwards Mary Beth drew Bobby a hot bath which he needed because he hadn't bathed in days. He stripped off his dirty clothes and stepped into the tub. The hot water in the tub that he was in felt very good and relaxing. It had been a hard day and the violent death of his only friend Bean who was going to go to California with him weighed heavy on his mind. He started crying softly to himself while he was in the bathtub. Mary Beth came in a little later to check in on him. "Would you like me to soap up your back?" She asked, noticing that Bobby had been crying. "Alright." Bobby murmered, choking back a sob. Until he met Walter the day had been a nightmare for him. He needed some tender loving care more then anything else right now. Picking up the bar of Ivory soap, Mary Beth knelt down besides the tub. When Bobby leaned over, she went on ahead and lathered up his back like any loving mother would do with her son. Bobby didn't mind in the least bit of her presence. It was something that his mother would do while he was growing up and it brought back fond memories. After she soaped up Bobby's back, she left and came back into the bathroom a few minutes later. "I brought you some of Steven's clothes that you can try on after you get out of the bathtub if you want to." She said. "Thank you." Bobby replied. He was still feeling very depressed over the events of the day, but Walter's wife, Mary Beth was helping relieve some the psychological pain that he was feeling in regards to Bean's violent death. He finished rinsing himself off with the hot water, then stould up, and stepped out of the bathtub. "Here, let me dry you off dear." Mary Beth said, quickly wrapping a bath towel around Bobby. Bobby stould there letting Walter's wife dry him off. It felt good getting the attention that in the situation that he was in, Bobby so desperately needed. He tried on the clothes that Mary Beth wanted him to try on. They fit almost perfectly. So now Bobby had some extra clothes to put on. He felt fortunate that someone was actually taking an interest in him. When he finished trying on the clothes Mary Beth took him up stairs to Steven's room. In the room Steven's bed had been neatly made. "You have a good night's sleep, it looks like you can use it." Mary Beth said. "Yes ma'am." Bobby yawned. Walter came into the room to join his wife. "My shift starts at 7:00. I,ll wake you up around 5:30. That's the time that I usually get up. We'll eat a good breakfast, then when we get to the tower I'll give you some railroad maps that should help you on your journey. All I can tell you about hoboing across the country by rail is to be extremely careful. For a boy your age, it's definitely not safe. There are a lot of dangers out there, and there will be always that possibility that you can end up like your friend did yesterday morning. I know I won't be able to talk you out of what you are planning to do. I understand your situation and if I were in your place I would probably do the same thing. So have a good night sleep tonight. I don't know when you will be able to get another good night sleep when you leave tomorrow. All I can do right now since I see how determine you are to accomplish that goal, is to wish you Godspeed, and good luck." With that having been said, Walter left the room. As tired as Bobby was resulting from the horrific events of the day, as soon as his head hit think pillow he fell asleep. His cross country journey would begin tomorrow morning. Whether or not he would make it to California remained to be seen.....