Railroad Memories Flowed During Oakland’s Yalo Festival
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Railroad memories in Oakland were shared during the Yalo Ribbon Festival Saturday. Oakland resident Margaret Ross recalled the railroad days from her childhood including the sound of the approaching noon train that signaled lunch time for workers.
OAKLAND – The Oakland Yalo Ribbon Festival celebrated the town’s 175-year history and its deep railroad roots. A highlight of Saturday’s events included panelists who shared railroad memories that spanned decades and generations.
“That railroad wasn’t supposed to be saved, but it was,” Representative Tommy Reynolds noted about its near demise when Canadian National sold the 175-mile line that stretches from the Mississippi/Tennessee border to Canton to A&K Railroad Materials affiliates in 2009.
“They were the biggest rail scrapyard, I believe, in the world,” Reynolds said. “Canadian National sold it to them, probably with the intention of them scrapping it.”
Reynolds described a grass-roots effort to save the line that included the formation of a railroad authority with appointees serving from the counties through which the line passes. A $3o million bond bill was ultimately passed by state lawmakers that allocated money to help purchase the line from the salvage company affiliate.
“Having that line keeps our area in contention for economic development. It’s good to hear the noise of the train coming through,” Reynolds added.
Oakland resident Margaret Ross’ firsthand account of the train’s daily schedule was a testament to the success of the revitalized line. The train passes her house every night at 10:30 and makes the return trip through Oakland around 3 in the morning. Ross said her great-grandson had counted over 100 cars behind the locomotives hauling lumber and other materials.
Oakland native Al Price (left photo) recalled how the passing trains would interrupt revivals in his home church during the late 1940s. Price’s memories were shared during the Yalo Ribbon Festival in Oakland on Saturday.
“I would like for it to back to the afternoon schedule so I can see how much lumber is being hauled north,” Ross added during the open mic portion of the train talk.
Ross’ memories also included earlier times as she recalled engineers would throw small rolls of toilet paper and even water bottles from the passing train when she was a child. She also said the noon train was the signal for field hands to break for lunch.
“You could hear the train from any field in this whole area,” Ross explained.
Oakland native Al Price’s train story dated back to the late 1940s when summer revivals were big events. Price attended Oakland’s Church of Christ, a former church that had been located near the railroad tracks.
“Right in the middle of the preacher’s sermon the Panama Limited would come through and was so loud the preacher would have to stop his boring oration,” Price shared.
“Instead of making a joke about it, he acted peeved,” Price recalled about the preacher. “Every night the kids couldn’t wait for the Panama Limited to come through town and stop the boring sermon.”
On one particular night, an anxious kid jumped up on the pew in the middle of the sermon.
“I hear it, I hear it, the train is coming,” the child shouted.
Price said all of the kids started clamoring around the church looking for the approaching train and disrupting the service before the train was even in sight.
“That is something I will always remember,” he added.
The festivities at Saturday’s Yalo Ribbon Festival in Oakland included an anniversary celebration at Oakland Medical Clinic. The clinic opened in Oakland in 2013 and has served the residents for a decade. The crew at the clinic (from left) CNA Telisha Smith, office manager Hope Blurton, FNP Tippini Conley and clinic director Stephanie Burns treated festival goers to cupcakes to celebrate the milestone.
