(Continued)

My sister, Carole S. Sheehy, and I are the children of Horace "Hoss" Stephens. Our father worked for the Atlantic Coast Line RR from (we believe) the mid-1930s until the mid-1960s when he retired due to poor health. He was a Switchman/Foreman at the time he retired. We lived and grew up in the Oak Park area around Park Place and Mulberry.

The picture we have sent along was taken in the downtown Montgomery area and, un-fortunately, there is no record of the year. "Hoss" Stephens is the man on the far left and it is believed that the man to his left is our great-uncle, Jim Taylor. Neither of us can identify the other members of the crew. Obviously the diesel engine had not made it to the Yard yet. Ironically, this is the same engine that is pictured on this site in a photo-graph identified as having been made in 1937.

Atlantic Coast Line 0-6-0 switcher 1434 works the Tallapoosa Street interchange track adjacent to the Western Railway of Alabama freight terminal. Horace Stephens is on the far left; other crew members are unknown. Photograph taken in the late 1930’s. Credit: Joe Stephens/Old Alabama Rails Collection

Working for a railroad can be a dangerous occupation. A great-uncle of ours, Mr. Jim Mangum (an engineer) was killed in a collision between his and another train (railroad unknown.) Our father had a painful accident, which involved a mistake (a fortunate mis-take) he made when he bought a pair of work boots.

While stepping onto the ladder of a moving boxcar, his foot slipped off and went under the wheels. Fortunately for him only the flat rail running part of the wheels, not the flange, ran over his foot. He sat down on the ground, obviously in pain, and was soon joined by some of the crew. They kept telling him to take his boot off but he feared that when he did he would find that he had lost part of his foot.

When he finally took off the boot he was amazed to find his foot intact. A trip to the company doctor followed where x-rays were taken. Initially he was told that he had one broken toe but later x-rays revealed that all of his toes were broken. (He missed a lot of work due to that injury and, unfortunately, ACL did not do much for him. Times got hard for our family as a result.)

It was not until after the accident that he realized that he had on steel-toed boots – boots he had bought by mistake and had planned to take back to the store to swap for regular boots. However, he never bought another pair of steel-toed boots again.

Another injury he suffered was another close call. While walking on the catwalk of a moving boxcar, the boxcar derailed in the Yard. He fell to the catwalk and snagged his overalls on the serrated catwalk. This kept him from falling off the boxcar. The downside was that the catwalk lacerated his leg to the point that he was unable to work for a while. But, considering that the catwalk kept him from falling off the boxcar, the leg injury did not seem to be so bad after all.

It is unfortunate that the names of the men our father worked with have been lost from our memory. The only name that can be recalled is a Mr. Furlough. Leon Pugh, who worked for L&N, was the father of a childhood friend.

H. Joseph (Joe) Stephens
Huntsville, AL