Road Trip – Part One
It started with plans to drive to Chicago to attend the Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s yearly conference. The trip quickly expanded to drive across the prairie states to Colorado, from there to Santa Fe and then back east through New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee to arrive back home some 4700 miles and three weeks later. As much as possible, I stayed away from the Interstate Highways and followed the tracks through the small towns that once defined life in America.
My Father’s Streets
The exit sign on the Interstate pointed to Montgomery and I turned onto a two-lane West Virginia road that I imagine had changed very little from the days when my grandparents lived in Montgomery. My father graduated from Montgomery High School during the war (WWII) and went into the Navy, where he served in the Pacific. My grandfather worked in the mines and when Dad came back from the service, they were living in Virginia.
Montgomery is a railroad town, and at one time was a major shipping point for coal mined in the Kanawha Valley. In the late 1800s, the town’s growth was spurred by the construction of the Kanawha & Michigan Railroad. By the 1940s, when my dad lived there, Montgomery was served by the Chesapeake & Ohio. Today the CSX Kanawha Subdivision and Amtrak run through Montgomery.
The railroad runs through the middle of town. I don’t know which side of the tracks my grandparents lived on, but I am sure they were often delayed by long coal trains passing through.
These are the streets where my father walked as a young man, about to take his place in a world at war, and facing an uncertain future. I wonder what he would think of Montgomery today.
Edd Fuller, Editor
This photo essay is evidence of the fact you and I share a value, habit, and behavior — the strong preference for secondary highways regardless of how far it is to our destination, always with an eye open for traces of the railroad’s presence. I take it there is no longer a train station standing in Montgomery?
Jim, in Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck said that it will one day be possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing a thing. That day is certainly here.
The C&O station in Montgomery was torn down in the 1970s. Now there is only a small Amtrak passenger shelter and platform.
WONDERFUL! I enjoyed the short essay and also the pictures! What a railfan paradise back in the 40s- 50s when big C and O coal trains pounded through town with those massive C and O steam engines!! Cute little town. I love this site!! Thanks so much!!
Hey Edd, a great photo essay. I didn’t realize your dad was from Montgomery, I’ve been through there many times while living in the Kanawha Valley town of Nitro. I never took time a lot of time to look at the buildings. As you may well know Montgomery was the home of West Virginia Tech. My wife’s brother-in-law graduated from there in the late1960s or very early 1970s. It was eventually taken over by West Virginia University and the campus was moved to Beckley around 2018. It was certainly a blow to the town.
Became familiar with Montgomery in mid-1980s after a high school friend moved here to become manager of dining services for WV Tech. Town looks a bit run down today.
My friend’s home in the nearby village of London Dam shook nightly, sit-com style, from the passing of coal trains on the former NYC/VGN tracks.
Eventually he moved to Columbia, WV along the infamous x-C&O Powelton branch, where the abandoned rails passed through his front yard.
I’ve enjoyed reading about the town in which your father grew up. At one time, there were so many small towns built along the side of tracks. I’m sure for many people, the trains provided a vision of a way out and into the world. Thanks for sharing.
https://fromarockyhillside.com
I look forward to reading about the rest of your journey!
I will tell you what I think your dad would say but it might up set some of your readers so I won’t. The pictures are great they tell a story of how many cities have gone down hill. Yes big box stores put many places out for sure but so does crime and supporting people that don’t work.Many of your readers have had pictures of cities just like this over the years.Sad.