I'll never forget the first time I saw the L train coming down the track from Pension, Mississippi and stopping right dab in the middle of Pinkelton. But to understand what it meant to me to see that monster of a machine, you have to know a little bout me and where I came from. People call me Thumpy, but my name is Theodore Jacob. My Daddy used to take all 12 of us kids on the back of the ole wagon with two of our finest horses, Bessie and Betty. He hooked up the harness and off we went. The boys would load up the wagon with food and supplies. It took a long time to load and we often had to make two or three trips in a single day to get all the things we needed for the farm. Pinkelton never did have a merchandise store, just a post office, so we had to make the long haul up to Pension. It took about two hours total.
I remember the railroad men coming to town. There were a lot of them. The first wave came and they laid track. They tried to make the ground flat using shovels and sweat. They used wagons to carry wood tracks and then placed them together with nails has big as my hand. It seems like they were gone for months, then one day the mayor of Pinkelton put up some posters inviting everyone to come out out on July 1, 1839 to see the arrival of the train. All us boys begged Papa to go and he did. We ran to the back of the wagon as he hitched up Bessie and Betty.
We stood near the depot they built for the train. There were platforms where they could unload merchandise coming in from Pension. I never knew there were so many people that lived around town. It seems like there were hundreds of folks, young and old. Everyone was so excited. First we saw a dust cloud way off in the distance. As the cloud got closer everyone got more excited. We could barely take it. Then there it was. Moving slowly right into the platform here in Pinkleton. Everyone was cheering and screaming. We had only read about the trains over in Pennsylvania, but we never had nothing like that here.
Within a few months old man Purser opened up a merchandise store. The train brought in all kinds of things from other towns in the east and south and Mr. Purser would go pick them up at the station. Never again did we make that long trip over to Pension.
Theodore Jacob 1839
I remember the railroad men coming to town. There were a lot of them. The first wave came and they laid track. They tried to make the ground flat using shovels and sweat. They used wagons to carry wood tracks and then placed them together with nails has big as my hand. It seems like they were gone for months, then one day the mayor of Pinkelton put up some posters inviting everyone to come out out on July 1, 1839 to see the arrival of the train. All us boys begged Papa to go and he did. We ran to the back of the wagon as he hitched up Bessie and Betty.
We stood near the depot they built for the train. There were platforms where they could unload merchandise coming in from Pension. I never knew there were so many people that lived around town. It seems like there were hundreds of folks, young and old. Everyone was so excited. First we saw a dust cloud way off in the distance. As the cloud got closer everyone got more excited. We could barely take it. Then there it was. Moving slowly right into the platform here in Pinkleton. Everyone was cheering and screaming. We had only read about the trains over in Pennsylvania, but we never had nothing like that here.
Within a few months old man Purser opened up a merchandise store. The train brought in all kinds of things from other towns in the east and south and Mr. Purser would go pick them up at the station. Never again did we make that long trip over to Pension.
Theodore Jacob 1839