Uncategorized – Page 2 – John Cowgill: Stories of the Railroad

Batesville, Indiana

October 30, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The small town of Batesville in the southeast region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is not a famous town as it is centrally located between the major cities of Indianapolis, Indiana, Cincinnati in the U.S. state of Ohio, and Louisville in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places. As you drive through the town, it looks like any other small town. It has its town hall town parks. It is truly what small town America is about.

Some of you are saying, “It is nice to visit a small town. I enjoy small town America. However, there is a problem with this town. What is the problem? This is not a railroad town. Therefore, I will not be stopping by to visit.”

So, the reason that you will not visit the town of Batesville, Indiana is because it is not a railroad town. As you drive through the town and historic district, you do not see any railroad tracks or old train station of rail trails. The only railroad line in the town runs through the south side, but there is no railroad yard or train station here. Trains mainly just pass through. Why visit this town?

You enter into the historic district of the town. You see the old buildings. You see the town hall. You see the Sherman Inn, and German style hotel and restaurant. What you do not see is railroad tracks nor do you see any sign of the railroad ever being here. Then you come upon Depot Square. Wait a minute. Where are the railroad tracks? You see an old railroad crossing sign. Where are the railroad tracks? You see no signs of railroad tracks.

You walk towards the town center, and you see doors. Doors? They are just doors that are just there, but they have pictures on them. What are they pictures of? They are pictures of the old town. Then you see pictures of the railroad. You look behind the door, but you just see a street or a lot.

In the early years, a railroad line ran along what is now E. Pearl Street. There was also a freight depot and a passenger depot. Along these tracks was once a Buick car dealership where, in 1910, Buicks were brought to the dealership by train.

Some of you are saying, “Alright! Batesville was a railroad town, but it is no longer a railroad town.”

True, but there is more to the story. How much more? Let us start at the beginning.

Before there was the town of Batesville, Indiana, it was just empty land. The early settlers came and settled the land. A man named Teunis Amack brought land from the government hoping to make it into a farm, but he later sold it to a man named George H. Dunn. Who is George H. Dunn? He was the owner of the John Callahan Trust Company. Why did Teunis Amack sell the land? George H. Dunn was also the president of the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad. The land was bought to be used for a railroad line. The railroad line was built, and the town of Batesville, Indiana was built around the railroad. The first train arrived on November 1, 1853, and passed through the center of the town. The last passenger train served the town in 1906. Through the years, the tracks were removed, and the train depot was demolished.

Now you have a reason to visit the town of Batesville, Indiana. The trains may be gone, but the ghosts of the trains remain.

Valley Falls State Park, Fairmont, West Virginia

October 23, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of West Virginia is a state known for its natural beauty and its mountains. The state has many state parks. One of those state parks is Valley Falls State Park near the city of Fairmont. The park is mainly famous for its waterfalls, but it has many hiking trails as well. A visit to Valley Falls State Park is a place you will cherish.

Some of you are saying, “Wow! This must be a beautiful place. I enjoy seeing waterfalls. There is a big problem. This park has no connection with the railroad. Therefore, this park is not a place I will fall for visiting.”

Why visit Valley Falls State Park? It has very beautiful waterfalls. There is beauty surrounding you. Why visit Valley Falls State Park?

You enter the park, and you drive down to the main parking lot. You park your car, and you make your way to the waterfalls, but you cross a bridge. What are you crossing? You are crossing a railroad line.

Some of you are saying, “Yeah, but there are many railroad lines that pass through parks and towns but have no history with the parks or towns.”

You do have a point. So, what is special about Valley Falls State Park?

Well, you arrive at the waterfalls, and you are amazed at its beauty. As you walk around, you notice some ruins. What was here?

What you are seeing is the ruins of a sawmill and a grist mill. The water was used to power these mills. The property was acquired by a trader in the 1830’s, and he built the mills on the site. A town was erected around the mills, and it was named Valley Falls after, of course, the waterfalls. Although the mills were the centerpiece of the town, something that arrived in 1853 caused the town to boom. What came to the town?

In 1853, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was built between the town of Grafton to the east and the city of Wheeling located in what is called the Northern Panhandle of the state, and the railroad passed right past the mills. Sadly, in 1886, the town was destroyed by fire and floods. The town was never rebuilt although the grist mill itself remained in operation until 1905.

Today, you can see the waterfalls, but you can also see the same railroad line that served the town, but, today, CSX trains pass by the falls. How great would it be to enjoy the waterfalls and be rewarded by a passing train?

Valley Falls State Park is located at 720 Valley Falls Road southeast of the city of Fairmont, West Virginia off of West Virginia Route 310. The park is open year round from 7:00am to sunset, but please note that the park will close due to snow and ice. (If you are adventurous, they do allow you to walk through the park on snowy and icy days. You just have to park at the entrance and hike in.) Please note that the walk to the falls is on uneven terrain, which may be difficult for wheelchairs, but much of the falls are viewable from the parking area. Please also note that the railroad line is an active line. (No trespassing on the railroad tracks.)

Valley Falls State Park was once the site of a bustling town made possible by the railroad. Today, the only thing that is bustling is the waterfall and the surrounding natural beauty. Visit Valley Falls State Park. You may find it hard to leave.

Those Old Train Stations

October 16, 2025October 14, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

You are driving through a small town. You come upon a railroad crossing, and you stop hoping that a train is coming. Unfortunately, there is no train, but you notice an old train depot just a block away. You drive to it. You park and go to take a closer look. It is in dilapidated shape. You walk to the platform looking down the tracks to see if a train is coming, but there is no train in sight. You look at the old train station, and you imagine what it would have been like to catch a train from this very spot.

It was sixty years ago. A lady is standing on the train platform watching as the steam train was approaching. The train pulls up, and her man steps off the train. They embrace each other and kiss. The train pulls away, and they walk away together.

Today, you are standing on that very spot where this incident took place. You look at the train station and wonder if the trains will ever stop here again.

In the golden age of railroading, there were train stations in every small town the railroad went through. As the towns were no longer served by the railroad, the train stations became useless. Many of the old train stations have been demolished. Then there were those that have been left alone to deteriorate. Some have been restored and have been made into museums, visitor centers, police stations, retail stores and so many other things. There are those that have been put on the National Registry of Historic Places to save them from demolition. Some just remain as they are a part of the town’s history. Regardless, there is just something about an old train station. Although they are no longer used as a station, they keep the history of the magic of the railroad alive.

The Cover Photo is from Chatham, Illinois.

The First Photo is from Dickson, Tennessee.

The Second Photo is from Felton, Delaware.

The Third Photo is from Hamlet, North Carolina.

The Fifth Photo is from Hope Springs, Florida.

The Last Photo is from Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania.

The Adena Trail, Mount Sterling, Kentucky

October 9, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Kentucky is a state known as the Bluegrass State. Many people know about Kentucky Fried Chicken which was started by a man named Harland Sanders, commonly known as Colonel Sanders, even though he started in a restaurant in the state, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah. The state is known for its horses, and it has the continuously running sporting event in the world, the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, which is a horse race that is the first race of the Triple Crown. The state is known for its bourbon, of which there are plenty of bourbon distilleries in the state mainly around the Frankfort and Lexington areas. You may have heard of My Old Kentucky Home. It is a real house in Bardstown. In the city of Bowling Green, you will find the National Corvette Hall of Fame. Along with Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is run, the city of Louisville is known for the Louisville Slugger bat factory where many baseball bats are made and sold, and you can tour the factory and buy a bat of your own. You have Mammoth Cave, the largest known cave system in the world.

Then you have the small town of Mount Sterling. How many of you have ever heard of Mount Sterling, Kentucky? A small town that is located 34 miles (55 kilometers) east of the city of Lexington, it is named after a small burial mound. The town itself is small, but it does have the Adena Trail, a short, paved mile long trail that runs through the town south of the main historic district. The town is small, but it is a special town to visit.

Some of you are saying, “This is nice. Small towns are really special. I am sure that the town of Mount Sterling is a special town. There is a very big problem. Mount Sterling is not a railroad town. Therefore, I find no special reason to visit this town.”

You are right. Mount Sterling, Kentucky is not a railroad town, and the town has no history with the railroad. Why visit Mount Sterling, Kentucky?

Like many small towns in the United States of America, Mount Sterling, Kentucky has something special. It has the downtown historic district where you have shops, cafes, historic architecture, and art. Just south of the historic district, as mentioned, is a paved trail known as the Adena Trail. It looks like a nice trail. You decide to take a walk around. The trail follows a small creek. You then notice a structure next to the trail. As you walk closer, you see that it looks like a train station. Wait a minute. This town has never been a railroad town. Why is this train station here?

The town of Mount Sterling, Kentucky has never been a railroad town, but that did not keep the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from passing through here. The Adena trail was built on the old railroad bed. It is about a mile long so walking the entire trail is easy. As for the old train station, it was built in 1910 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway as a passenger and freight depot.

As the railroad decline, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was forced to abandon lesser used railroad lines. Mount Sterling, Kentucky was a victim of the decline. Railroad service ceased to the town, and the railroad tracks were eventually removed.

Today, the old train station remains, and it is on the National Register of Historical Places. As for the Adena Trail, it is a paved trail that it easily accessible for wheelchairs. The train station and Adena Trail is located at the intersection of S. Maysville Street and Railroad Street about a few blocks from U.S. Routes 60 and 460 and Kentucky Route 11.

The next time you here about the town of Mount Sterling, Kentucky, think about a special town where the railroad once served.

Gassaway, West Virginia

October 2, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of West Virginia is a state that has so much natural beauty. It has famous sites like the New River Gorge and the New River Gorge Bridge, the Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park, one of the most photographed mills in the United States of America, the natural spas in Berkeley Springs to include George Washington’s Bathtub where George Washington, well… you probably figured it out what he did here, plus the town of Harpers Ferry, and so much more. It has its cities like the capital city of Charleston, Beckley, and Morgantown, and its many small towns. One of these small towns located northeast of Charleston is the town of Gassaway.

Some of you are saying, “Interesting. I bet the town got its name from the fact that somebody was getting gasoline, but the gasoline got away.”

You are very wrong. The small town, established in 1905, is named after Henry Gassaway Davis, a West Virginia politician who was nominated for the Vice President of the United States of America in 1904.

Some of you are saying, “It is nice that they named a town after a politician. There is a very big problem. This is just a small town that has no railroad. Therefore, I will not be taking these country roads to this town.”

If you were to ask people if they had ever heard of the town of Gassaway, West Virginia, you would get many strange looks. The town is often overshadowed by the town of Sutton which is east of Gassaway and is famous for it Bigfoot Festival and museum.

As you approach the town of Gassaway, the very first thing you see it the ‘Welcome to Gassaway’ sign. Many towns have a welcome sign to greet you as you enter, but you see something interesting. What do you see? You see a steam locomotive on the sign. You continue to drive into the town, and you see an old railroad bridge. You drive further into the town, and you see an old train station. You drive to the old train station, and you see a mural with a steam train. What you do not see is a railroad line. Well, the railroad line is now a railroad trail. How did the train station get here? Today, the town of Gassaway, West Virginia does not look like much, but that was not always the case.

The town of Gassaway, West Virginia was a town built by the railroad. The Coal and Coke Railway, which ran between Charleston and Elkins, ran through the town of Gassaway, and, in 1914, they built the train station giving passenger train service to the town. There was also a railroad yard in the town as they changed locomotives in the town as more powerful locomotives were needed to pull the trains to Elkins while locomotives with less power could be used for trains to Charleston. During its heyday, the town had two hotels, a bank, retail stores, office buildings, and, schools, and churches. When the railroad went into decline, so did the town. Railroad service ended and was eventually converted into a rail trail.

As for the train station, it was abandoned for many years, but it was then restored and was put on National Register of Historic Places, and it now serves as an event and meeting space for the town.

The town of Gassaway, West Virginia is four miles west of Interstate 79 on West Virginia Route 4. The old train station is located on 4^th Street one block west of West Virginia Route 4. It is open available for events like weddings and parties.

The small town of Gassaway may no longer be a railroad town, but the ghosts and the legacy of the railroad remain.

September 27, 1825

September 25, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

What is significant about September 27, 1825?

Some of you are saying, “Well, it was the twenty-seventh day in the month of September in the year 1825.”

You are absolutely right, but something happened on this very day.

Some of you are saying, “Trillions of things happened on September 27, 1825.”

Yes, but something in particular happened on this particular day. What happened? On this very day, the railroad began.

Some of you are saying, “Sorry, but you have your dates wrong. The first railroad began on February 27, 1827.”

On February 27, 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began in the city of Baltimore in the U.S. state of Maryland. This was the first railroad in the Western Hemisphere.

On September 27, 1825, in the northeastern region of England in the nation of Great Britain, ‘Locomotion 1’, the world’s first steam locomotive, was operated by George Stephenson for the Stockton and Darlington Railway pulling the first ever passenger train going eight and a half miles across the region. The original ‘Locomotion 1’ is still intact and is on display at the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum located in an old train station in Darlington, England, Great Britain.

As we come upon the 200^th anniversary of the railroad in the United States of America, let us remember that it all began in a town in England.

The Kentucky Railway Museum, New Haven, Kentucky

September 18, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

Welcome to the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky. Although the original museum was founded in 1954, it has been at it current site since 1990 after the land was donated by locals to be used as the site of the museum.

As you enter the museum parking lot, you are greeted by Locomotive Number 11 from the Louisville Cement Company. You park your car, and you notice a wooden boxcar next to the old train station. What is this boxcar? It is known as a Merci Car and it one of fifty wooden boxcars that were sent to different areas of the United States of America by France as a thank you to the U.S. for protecting the nation of France from being taken over by Nazi Germany during World War II. The Kentucky Railway Museum was one of the fortunate recipients of one of these cars.

Now it is time to go inside. You enter the gift shop which is located in the ticket master’s office. You see the telephone, the telegraph machine used to send Morris code, and you get a view that the ticket master had of the trains even though it is much different today that the original view.

You then go into the big room. What is in the big room? Of course, you have railroad artifacts. You have an HO model train display. You have many models of locomotives and passengers cars on the wall. You have model locomotives enclosed in glass.

The model trains and artifacts are nice, but you want to see big trains. Time to go outside.

Locomotive Number 770 from the Nashville and Louisville Railroad is the first thing you see as you approach the train shed covering a row of cars. Many of these cars to include passenger cars were used on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. If you are fortunate enough, the museum does have train rides.

The Kentucky Railway Museum is located 136 South Main Street (U.S. Route 31E) in New Haven, Kentucky. Hours vary by the time of the year. Parking is on site. The great news is that the museum and the train is wheelchair accessible. You can get more information about the history of the museum, admission, train rides, and hours at https://www.kyrail.org/.

The Kentucky Railway Museum is one great museum to visit. You can almost say that it is one of the state’s great treasures.

Autumn by Rail

September 11, 2025September 9, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

Summer has ended. Autumn has begun. The leaves will be changing. The leaves on the trees will be multiple bright colors. It is a great time to take a walk through the forest… or you can just take your seat on the train and watch the colors as you roll by.

You arrive at the station. Some of you want to hear the sound of the steam locomotive and watch and smell the smoke puff out of the stack, and some of you could care less. You are on a train. You just hope that they have open air cars where you can get an unobstructed view of the colors, but if the open air car is not available, you aim for the window seat. You get as close to the window as you can. You hope that the window can open so that you can feel the breeze blow through. So your window does not open. No worries. You can still see the colors from your seat. You enjoy the ride hoping that you do not get too comfortable and fall asleep.

Many people make the journey from the city to the countryside to see the changing colors of the leaves, and many people enjoy seeing the changing leaves by train leaving the driving to the engineer. The railroad is the number two method behind hiking as the way to see the autumn leaves. If you have never seen the leaves by rail, may this autumn be your very first time, but you will want to go early as many excursions trips fill up early. You will deal with crowds, but the beauty of the leaves and the sound of the rails will overshadow that.

So, have a happy autumn season, and spend this season on a rail journey that you will remember for ages.

The Hagerstown Police Department, Hagerstown, Maryland

September 4, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Maryland is one of the original thirteen states. It was in this state where the National Anthem of the United States of America was written near Fort McHenry. The oldest Catholic Church is in this state. The oldest continuously operating airport in the world, College Park Airport, in located in the state. The capitol building in Annapolis is the only capitol building in the nation where the capitol dome is completely made with wood. It is where you will find the largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, in the nation. As for the railroad, the first railroad began in Maryland, and you can still ride the first mile and a half of railroad at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore. The oldest railroad bridge in the nation as well as the oldest railroad aqueduct in the nation are in the state and still used today by the Chessie Seaboard System (CSX). The oldest surviving train station in the nation is in Ellicott City and is open as a museum.

Then you have the city of Hagerstown. Located in the western region of the state, it is a city that is at a crossroads. The National Road (present day U.S. Route 40) passes through here as well as U.S. Route 11, and it is where Interstates 70 and 81 meet. In the city of Hagerstown, you have the Hagerstown Police Department. What is special about the Hagerstown Police Department? Well, it is like any other police department in the nation, but they do have one exception. What is special about the Hagerstown Police Department? We must look to their headquarters. Yes, some cities have a fancy elaborate headquarters for their police, but Hagerstown is different. How? It was not always the headquarters of the Hagerstown Police Department.

Before it was the Hagerstown Police Department Headquarters, it was a train station for the Western Maryland Railway. The structure you see today was not the original train station for Hagerstown. The current structure was built on the site of the original train station. When passenger serviced ceased to Hagerstown, the building was spared and bought by the city of Hagerstown and became the headquarters of the police department.

The Hagerstown Police Department Headquarters is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 11 and U.S. Route 40. Along with the station, there are a few monuments to the police and to the railroad on the grounds.

I Am the Engineer

August 28, 2025 by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

I am the engineer

I pull the train throughout the year

In a heavy pouring rain

I pull the train

It is a crime

When the train is not on time

I always take pride

As people enjoy the ride

And I feel great

As I pull that freight

You have nothing to fear