Farm Friends,
The "Dinky" a train gone but not forgotten. Today we travel by train. This was a period of time that was predominantly horse and buggy days. In fact the third occupant of this house, a J. McClintock was the "taxi service" by means of horse and buggy. His service ran between the towns of Due West and Donalds, SC. The track was approximately 4.5 miles long between the above aforementioned towns. This would include our current property with a stone marker thankfully remaining in our front yard as it's first stop. It was known as "Lee's crossing" but there is no hard evidence that this stop was officially bore the name. The stop was named for the second owner who lived here for 53 years.
The first train to be in existence was "the Due West for Donald's" in the 1907. It had some difficulties upon it start, as my research has uncovered the first engine had to be replaced early on but the second engine did the job that was required. The iron horse traveled in only one direction. It then had to go in reverse back to it's home. It was alleged that it was the shortest railroad in America. When the director R.S. Galloway was posed the question of it's length, he would would respond " it maybe the shortest railroad but it is just as wide as any other."
This train was solely owned by the townspeople who bought stock in the little railroad. It was one of the very few that truly operated without occurring any debt. Amongst it's regulations were rules that included not operating on the Sabbath (with one exception) transporting a emergency patient. Also, there was to be no consumption or transportation of alcohol at all.
I have uncovered many priceless stories and pranks that were played on the engineer. It is told that some of the students upon occasions would tie the whistle rope up to allow all the next day's steam to poor out through the whistle. Another prank would be altering the time of the blowing of the whistle to interrupt some special event like a wedding or program of singing. One story has the Director asking the engineer "where did he hit a cow." The engineer replied "Out in the field." A local woman Mrs. Alpha Smith in a recent interview commented that this was "quite a sight".
To reduce uneven wear on the wheels, the train was driven to a near by town and turned around every three months. The fare for passage on the train originally was 25 cents. Unfortunately the little train had a sad ending, it was believed to be scrap sent to the Japanese. But in its time it served this community very well and I am thankful for its existence and history.
Below I have included some old photos of the Depot, the Dinky and the town in its existence. Hopefully you are more aware of some of the wonderful history of our new little farm.
