MOUNT VERNON — Young people today would be surprised to go back in a time machine and discover just how much train traffic there used to be 50 years ago.
Since then, an enormous shift has seen the abandonment of thousands of miles of railroad track as commercial delivery shifted to the focus and flexibility of over-the-road trucking.
Some of us old-timers are nostalgic for an age when there were more trains to watch on the railroad, and fewer semis to dodge on the highway.
For many years, two major railroads crossed in Mount Vernon, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (generally known as the B&O), and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which later became known as Conrail.
When you have two busy rail lines, it’s necessary to have some traffic control, and that was provided by the MN tower, which coordinated crossings and changes, as well as directing the “horn line” connecting track which led to the Farmers’ Exchange and Mount Vernon Machine.
The tower itself was along the stretch of track will still runs today near the display site of the Dan Emmett House. It stood there for many years, until the decline in rail traffic combined with modern automation to make the tower unnecessary. It was closed and demolished in 1984.
This fine photograph of the building comes from the Knox Time collection on Facebook, where B. Tupper Upham contributed much of the above information, along with a personal recollection of his own childhood visit to the tracks running through town.
“(I) can remember being a naughty boy and running on top of the parked railroad cars off of Howard Street,” Upham said, “Then fibbing to my mother that I had been to friend’s house as I tracked in filthy cinder black ballast mud on the wool carpets…” He has remained a railroad enthusiast ever since.
Upham notes that Conrail continued to serve the Mount Vernon Distribution Center (formerly the PPG plant) for a time, but soon pulled out, leaving the line little used today.
He adds that the model board from the MN tower was saved and has been restored for display at the Marion Union Station Museum, which is located at 532 West Center Street in Marion and posts updates about its hours and events on Facebook.
Today we have many wonderful walking trails on old railroad beds. I wonder, though, if future transportation costs will see an age of tearing up walking trails to lay down new tracks?
Stranger things have happened.
