Catching the Train

The old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad tracks crossed Mercer Avenue about halfway between Market Street and Wrightsville Avenue. The Blantons lived on the south side and Mr Russian lived on the north.

We would go down to the railroad bridge, an area we spent a lot of time play and on lazy summer day for a little excitement we would run along the side of a boxcar grab the ladder and pull ourselves up. The train was moveing very slow because of the area it was traveling through. Hanging on to the ladder on the side we would ride about a mile and jump off.The train was moving at a slow pace this far, not much faster than we could run, but if you made the mistake of not getting off before Pearsall Fertilizer you would be in trouble. From here the tracks were striaght and once the train crossed Kerr Avenue it started picking up a little speed. Kerr Avenue was your last chance, because the next crossing was Market Street and once the engine passed that point he was picking up road speed and the next stop was Jacksonville. Once we jumped train at Pearsall we would head back through the woods to the graveyard in Taylor's field. That is another story in itself.