Train memories and helping others

By John Goode, Pahrump

Sunday, May 18, 2014 | 2:02 a.m.

Regarding train photos, I grew up during the Great Depression just outside of Toronto, where we had a train line not far from us.

It was a spur line that did not carry any passengers, only freight for the businesses in the area.

There would be a fellow who would walk down the tracks with a bucket and pick up lumps of coal. I got to wondering about this. It seemed unlikely that the firemen would miss when shoveling the coal.

Years later, when I was talking to a friend about the Depression, I mentioned this. He told me he had an uncle who had been a fireman on a train and he purposely would miss the opening occasionally.