Overcoming Train Traffic II:
Trains Are A Threat to Public Safety
by Joseph C. Hinson
December 10, 2001

The Herald goes forth with their recent anti-railroad stance, evident in their Overcoming Train Traffic article from November 5, 2001. This time it was in the guise of a Letter to the Editor written by a Valeria Bouknight from Rock Hill. I read it and immediately my ears turned red, my face turned red, the hand that held the mouse turned red. You could say I was angry. But that might be an understatement. Here is her letter, followed by the one I wrote that same night which was printed just this week.

I think they should have done something about trains blocking traffic in downtown Rock Hill the very first time that the trains were coming through there.

I know that I am not the only one who has complained, but you have to stop and think, what if a fire truck or an ambulance had to get through? They would have to go all the way around, and probably about the time they got to where they were going, the building could have burned down or a person could have gotten hurt or died by the time the ambulance got around to them.

So you just stop and think about it, and make an improvement on this real soon.

Valerie Bouknight
Rock Hill

I am sorry that people, including Tim Morgan, Stephen Turner and, it would seem, the staff at The Herald as well as Valerie Bouknight do not understand the situation regarding train traffic in downtown Rock Hill. Norfolk Southern has to stop in Rock Hill in order to switch out cars, most of which originate or terminate either at Bowater, the other industry in Rock Hill, or in Chester for the L&C Railway.

This train traffic is a key element to keeping and attracting major industry to the area that keeps jobs in Rock Hill and surrounding area, keeps the economy strong and keeps food on the table for many of us in this area. It would be seem that Morgan and Turner should understand this more than anyone.

Furthermore, the city leaders who built Dave Lyle Boulevard were extremely short-sighted. The railroad was there first, probably by at least 100 years. They should have known that problems could arise years down the road by developing so closely to the tracks. Much of what is happening now could have been avoided with a little foresight and common sense.

The same is true today. If you do not want to get blocked by a train crossing Main or White Street, I invite you to go just one or two blocks down and go under the tracks at Black Street. The number of trains coming through Rock Hill is well below what is average even for Chester, where no fewer than 20 trains come through on CSX alone. That number does not include Norfolk Southern or Lancaster and Chester.

It is also good to remember that without the railroad, there would never have been a Rock Hill. Train traffic is not something to overcome, as The Herald stated in its article a few weeks ago. Murder, child and spousal abuse, cancer, now that is something to overcome. But not train traffic.

Joe H.
Chester, SC
http://www.carolinarails.com

Of course, I should have taken her first sentence and expounded on that a bit. "I think they should have done something about trains blocking traffic in downtown Rock Hill the very first time that the trains were coming through there." See, the first time that "the trains were coming through there," there was not a Rock Hill. In fact, the town was built around the railroad AFTER the railroad came through. In other words, no railroad would have meant no Rock Hill.

Also, the railroad came through Rock Hill sometime in the 50s, the 1850s that is. A simple search on Google for Louise Pettus brought up this site, CC&A Railroad Built In 1849. The Charlotte, Columbia and Agusta was a predecessor to the Southern Railway, which in 1982 was merged with Norfolk & Western to become Norfolk Southern.

(Pettus is a retired professor from Winthrop College in Rock Hill who has written extensively on the area. My favorite work from her is The Springs Story: The First 100 Years. Some of my L&C information came from her book, as I mention on the bibliography section of my railroad site. I knew that if she didn't have good information on railroading in Rock Hill, no one else would either.)

From her site, she writes, "The exact route that the Charlotte & South Carolina Railroad should take was the subject of much debate. The most western route proposed would have taken the railroad through the village of Ebenezer (now a Rock Hill suburb), but people objected. They considered a railroad too noisy, too dirty and a despoiler of fine cotton land. Ebenezer residents proposed that the line should run through the blackjack land poor land for growing cotton because it lacked potash. The move away from Ebenezer created Rock Hill, which was destined to outgrow its older neighbor. About six years passed before the first wood-fueled locomotive reached Rock Hill in 1852.

"The Rock Hill site was the highest point on the railroad between Charlotte and Augusta. The story is that the crew laying the track encountered so much rock that the supervisor, J. Lawrence Moore, gave the place the name Rock Hill."

I have to stop here. So not only did the railroad CREATE Rock Hill, but they named the place too! There's more.

"A trestle was built across the Catawba River not far south of the present location of the Hoescht-Celanese plant. The first train arrived in Fort Mill on July 4, 1852. Fort Mill, like Rock Hill, had less than half a dozen homes before the arrival of the railroad, and most of those homes were scattered. Rail traffic provided a great stimulus for the growth of both towns."

And then in the 60s, the 1960s, someone had a bright idea. They began planning to build a road so close to the railroad tracks that it was bound to become a problem for everyone. And it did. Naturally, it's Norfolk Southern's fault, not the city planners who were too blind with dollar signs -- or too dumb -- to realize they were doing something incredible stupid.

And then her second paragraph, which was just as good as the first one: "I know that I am not the only one who has complained, but you have to stop and think, what if a fire truck or an ambulance had to get through? They would have to go all the way around, and probably about the time they got to where they were going, the building could have burned down or a person could have gotten hurt or died by the time the ambulance got around to them."

I have to admit that I do not know the ins and outs of what happens to emergency vehicles when a train is blocking the roads in downtown Rock Hill, South Carolina. But since the railroad has gone through town for 150 years, I have to think two things: 1.) The emergency response team probably knows the fastest and most direct to where they're going and very likely take into account whether a train may or may not be there. 2.) If anyone has ever died, been injured or lost a house/building or a dog on account of a train blocking the roads, I have no doubt that we would have heard all about it. Quickly. The lawyers would have been foaming at the mouth over this one. I would invite the Herald to send someone to the archives, perhaps Jason Cato would be up to the job, to search for a life or a house fire that could have been saved due to a train blocking a road. I'm guessing that he wouldn't even have to leave the Herald building, maybe not even have to leave his computer desk. I look forward to seeing this story from the Herald. I'm thinking it would make front page news, "Norfolk Southern burns down a house, kills two. Pet poodle missing."

By the way, in the first rant on this subject, I mentioned that the Herald was going to run a story on me concerning my web site and history of the L&C Railway. So far, that article has not run. They say it will appear closer to Christmas. Nothing like a heart-warming story of a guy who takes train pictures at Christmas.