11x14
Oil on Linen Board
On Display as part of the
St. Mary's School Head of School Artist Series
Dec.14-Jan 30
A few weeks ago I was southbound on the Early Station Road heading back to Windsor from Ahoskie and passed this old tenant house hiding behind some overgrown weeds and a small corn field. It certainly is old enough to have been standing before the road was paved, so I opted to put in a dirt path like what I felt the old road would have looked liked during the early 1900's as it snaked its way to Early Station just outside of Aulander.
Like all other old rural railroad crossings, Early Station lays claim to the generic legend of the headless railroad worker roaming the tracks at night with a lantern looking for his head; However, there is a more original tale with a local twist that is a little more interesting, making the old rusty and rotting junction a rite of passage destination for any teenager with a new drivers license and nothing better to do on a Friday night.
Around the turn of the last century, it is told that local train conductor, James Pearce, was running his locomotive North to Ahoskie to pick up a load of railroad cars when he suddenly sees another train on the same track heading South for Aulander. He tries to stop his train, but knowing it will not come to a halt in time, he prepares himself for the inevitable collision. Just as both trains are about to hit head on, the Southbound train suddenly veers to the side and continues on towards Aulander. Amazed at what had just happened, Conductor Pearce looks out of his window and notices that the passing ghostly locomotive is his own with lights and steam bellowing out of its stack. Then it suddenly disappears. Bewildered by the experience, Pearce decides to stop at Early Station and file a report to document what he had just seen.
As he was trying to complete the paperwork and tell the junction workers about what had just happened, they all started laughing and jokingly demanding a pull of whatever liquor he had been sipping on that night to have seen such a thing. Embarrassed and mad, Pearce left the station without finishing his report as everyone sarcastically reminded him to watch out for ghost trains.
A few hours later word reached Early Station that Jimmy Pearce's train had jumped the tracks killing the conductor and injuring the others on board. So, if one wants to go with the localized version, then the lights that can be seen at night are not those of a headless worker, but the headlights of Pearce's locomotive heading back to Early Station so he can finish his report.
Either way, when Walter Bond got his drivers license many years ago, he and I didn't see any lights. Not even after a six pack of Shaefer and at least ten rewinds on the cassette deck of Crazy Train.
