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West Township
Reminiscences
Elmer Doggett
McLean County, Illinois
(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

A picture of the old Sabina railroad station and engine No. 442 in last week's Journal brought back some pleasant memories to Elmer Doggett of Pekin, former LeRoyan. He took occasion to write the following letter which is full of information on "the old pumpkin vine" and railroad lore as only a veteran railroader could tell it. South Pekin, Ill. February 9, 1948 Editor. The LeRoy Journal: The picture of the old Illinois Central depot and engine 442 at Sabina on page eight of last week's Journal brought fond memories to me, for it was on this branch line, more commonly called "the pumpkin vine" in those day, that I began my railroading many years ago. My first job was on the section under Foreman Charles Robertson in 1900 and in those days we would pump a hand car out over the line, work hard all day and pump it back home at night, all for $1.10 a day. I was then just a kid, at exactly the right age to think that smoking cigarets and chewing tobacco was evidence that one who could take it, had reached manhood. At age 18 I took over the job at the old engine house, as we called it. My job was to clean the coaches and engine of the passenger train that tied up in LeRoy at that time, keep a sharp eye on the company property through the night, then fire up the engine and have the train ready when the crew came on duty in the morning. But before this I "played hookey" from school, wiped the jacket, hoed the ash pan for the fireman, and just about worked my head off, all for a ride out to Sabina or at whichever station the local met the passenger, and then fire the passenger engine back. At that time, to me, a locomotive was the most wonderful thing on earth as was a horse to many of my chums at that time. To me, at age 12 or 14 the greatest thing the world held for me was to be a locomotive engineer, and I was determined to be an engineer. Later I went firing on this line and that is the main reason why I was so much interested in the picture and the item mentioned. Sabina was the first station stop on the line out of LeRoy although there was a side track called "Crumbaugh" at which we sometimes picked up or discharged some passengers, and I well recall that at the time the station building at Sabina was an old discarded box car. I recall, too, that the building in the picture, was formerly the depot at Henning and was moved to Sabina after the Henning office was done away with. But it is a long, long road from the 1316 and other engines of that day with their 16x24-inch cylinders and 140 pounds boiler pressure to the present engines with their 30x32-inch cylinders and their 275 pounds boiler pressure, and even now larger and more powerful engines are being developed on the drafting board and will soon be on the road. Just a few days ago I came in on a modern three-unit diesel engine with a train of 120 cars and more than 7500 tons of everything one could think of in the consist, the engine alone being valued at between one-half and three-quarters of a million dollars and I leave to you what the train might represent in money. But the romance was gone. To me it was just another job, that of taking the engine and train at one terminal and delivering it safely at the next without any delay that could be charged either to me or the engine. Many LeRoy boys of my age went railroading and many of them have passed on while others are still working or are on pension. I recall a few whose names will mean a lot to your older readers. There was Louie Houston, Lawrence Watt, Mel Gilbert, Ed Howard, Logan McClurg, Carl Tuthill, Walter Lyons, Clarence Alsup and many others. But I am still working and looking forward to the time when I can take my pension from the jack pot to which I have contributed for many years. Then, while I am not sure, I think I will return to LeRoy, which the late Dr. Keys described as "the heart of the world's Garden of Eden" or something like that, and there take my place in the park along with the others of my age, and with the rest of them spend my remaining days with a sharp knife and a piece of wood, and like the others who have gone before, whittle the stick until it is as round as a lathe could make it, then square it up and start all over again, all the while discussing the same old problems that were and still are the most important to the oldsters, politics, liquor, cigarettes, the tariff or the length of the ladies' skirts, which were discussed 50 years ago and will be 50 years hence. I don't at this time know just what the name of the gathering will be, but when I first went railroading it was called "LeRoy's Sugar Tree Congress" with the late Joe Patterson as the chief orator, known then as LeRoy's Joe Cannon; and the first white child born in LeRoy, the late James Wiley, who could always be depended on to change the line of thought and argument when the going got too hot over the tariff or the gold standard, or any of the numerous questions then to the front, for in those days folks took their politics seriously. Elmer Doggett [Heritage of the prairie : a history of LeRoy and of Empire and West townships, McLean County, Illinois (1976) LeRoy Historical Society; LeRoy Bi-Centennial Commission]

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