369 South Harrig Street, Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. Taken
from the Madisonuille, Kentucky Messenger.
Madisonville’s Billy Byrd has made the news again. He was
interviewed by Charlton Ogburn of the National Geographic Society,
along with dozens of other railroaders, and part of the interview
appears in a book called ‘Railroads The Great American
Adventure’ published recently by the National Geographic
Society.
Byrd was a part of a Bicentennial Festival of Folklife display
of the Association of American Railroads in Washington last year.
He was interviewed by Ogburn while there. During the exhibit, Byrd
explained railroading to hundreds of people who came through the
trains set up near the Washington Monument in the capital city.
In discussing the switch from steam to diesel power, Louisville
and Nashville Railroad Engineer Byrd is quoted as saying ‘There
were tears in my eyes. I began railroading on steam and it nearly
killed me when the railroads were dieselized. The author describes
Byrd as a ‘sturdy coal train engineer.’
‘The steam locomotive was the most human machine ever
designed,’ Byrd said. ‘She had a soul and there was a bond
between her and the engineer. In the cab on a moonlight night,
seeing the light flashing, the flames dancing in the firebox,
looking back at the smoke trailing over the train, the steam gauge
steady at 200 pounds, and hearing that old girl talking in the
language only she and you understood, there was nothing like it in
the world.’
The railroad display on the Washington Mall included a diesel
locomotive with two cars and operating personnel. Four engineers
were selected to participate in the Festival display. Byrd was the
only one from Kentucky.
‘The steam locomotive, as often as I saw that masterwork
barreling down the main line in a white surf, wheels tucked beneath
her, six foot drivers pounding the shining rails, her plume of
smoke laid down on her back, it brought my heart to my throat,’
reminisces author Ogburn.
‘Such iron horses thundering across the continent stirred
the soul, whetted the appetite for adventure and nourished the
pioneering spirit,’ Ogburn wrote.
‘The story of the American railroads is the story of the
growth of a nation. Towns mushroomed, industries flourished, and
the country boomed along the new routes of travel, and commerce
linked cultural groups as well as geographic regions. For the most
of our history, railroads have been a vital part of our American
life.’
Byrd, a veteran of more than 35 years with the L&N, is a
real steam buff. He is a familiar sight in parades, driving his
coal powered steam engine with the black smoke a-rolling.
Last year, the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad in Marion,
Illinois, had ‘Billy Byrd Day’ when Billy was at the
throttle of an old steam engine which pulled several old passenger
cars down the line 14 miles and back, just for the fun of the
thing. People came from everywhere to ride.
When Billy gets ‘all wound up’ talking about the days
when steam was king, he holds an audience spellbound, telling tales
of railroads and railroaders.
