CROSSROADS REPORT
By Kent Brunette
From The Pages Of The September 3, 2008
Hearne Democrat Newspaper
Restoration work proceeds on the Hearne Depot – the most historically significant
railroad structure in Robertson County. As this long-vacant building is being readied for
use as a museum & visitor center, information is being gathered about other past &
present railroad structures in the county.
Most local residents may not realize that an old “section house” still stands in the
railroad right-of-way at an undisclosed Robertson County location. Sitting precariously
close to still-used tracks, this once substantial structure was built many years ago as
housing & storage for Houston & Texas Central Railway crews.
Now occupied by bees & guarded by poison ivy, this weathered wooden building
with brick & mortar supports has been retired in place. The original yellow paint is barely
discernable; a later barn red coat is vanishing. Sunlight streams through holes in the
pitched cedar shingle roof. One of the two porches has collapsed.
In spite of the fact that they were commonplace along rail lines in years gone by,
very few section houses remain in Texas or elsewhere in the United States.
The Dallas Heritage Village features a restored section house which is described
as follows: “Built in Carrollton, Texas, during the 1880s, this two-room building was a
typical dwelling for a railroad section crew. The railroad companies divided the tracks into
sections between 10 & 30 miles long & assigned a foreman & crew to tend each section.
The compound included a four-room house for the foreman & his family, one or more tworoom bunk houses for the crew, & a well or cistern.”
Keeping the track clear & well maintained was (and still is) an important job. As
the headquarters for the track maintenance crew, the section house was where the tools &
track inspection car were kept. In earlier years, this would have been a pump-style car
commonly seen in cartoons & movies. In later years, these maintenance vehicles were
motorized.
There were several section houses in Hearne. Long gone, these were on the
railroad-owned property across S Alamo Street from where Shear’s Liquor now stands.
We are all familiar with today’s automated railroad crossing guards. You normally
see the train coming & hear its blaring horn. At the crossing, the lights flash, the dinging
noise begins, & the arms come down to block traffic. After the train passes, the
mechanized arms go back up, the dinging noise stops, & the lights quit flashing.
Many older Hearne residents will remember when the crossing guard was a human
being holding a sign in his hand. This railroad employee (often someone injured while
working on the railroad) would stop traffic & help elderly people, children on bicycles,
people on horseback, & anyone else with special needs cross the tracks. He would also
notify approaching trains of stalled vehicles.
After a train passed, the human crossing guard would normally return to a special
hut provided by the railroad. Very few of these crossing guard huts remain.
Thanks to the generosity of one civic-minded couple with family ties to Hearne &
family members who worked in Hearne for the railroad, Hearne Depot visitors will soon be
able to view the crossing guard hut which served Hearne’s Davis Street for many years.
This very heavy, concrete, 10-foot tall, round building shielded the human crossing guard
from the elements.
While some local railroad structures have vanished over the years, many have
survived. A drive down the old Franklin highway reveals several still-in-use concrete flyover drainage ditches built by the International & Great Northern in the early 1920s.
If you have local depot or railroad pictures, maps, timetables, information, or
memorabilia you wish to share, please call the Hearne Chamber at 979.279.2351.
Crossroads Reports are archived at www.hearnetexas.info. Click on the
“Crossroads Report” link to view past reports. The views expressed in this report are
those of the author & do not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Hearne, Hearne’s
4A & 4B Sales Tax Boards, or Hearne Chamber of Commerce.