I’ve seen the listing R.H. Smith with a III in SS&S, but I think you’ll find that’s incorrect. I’ve never seen a number associated with his name anywhere else, including newspaper articles, N&W Magazine. Family information I have indicates his son was R. H. Jr. I’ll try to check with his granddaughter next day or two. She may know.
I admire your effort at getting things exactly right. It is a good story, and technical accuracy adds to its value.
Steve,
I’m probably too late with this detail, but I did manage to get the story of R. H. Smith about 10 minutes ago. He was not referred to as III. His son was, in fact, R. H. Smith Jr. However, the name Robert Hall Smith was used by several of R. H. Smith’s ancestors. It’s just that the family did not use a number designation. So you would be correct by dropping the III designation. Don’t know why the book used it.
No, you are not too late, I will be doing revision and final editing work off and on though Monday Feb 20th.
I don’t know N&W practice, nor if it is too picky a detail for your story, but I think backing a locomotive onto a train in a station usually would have required the bell to be ringing. Nor do I know if the N&W had steam powered bells or just a pull cord…
Just curious, any particular reason it is written in second person?
The bell is a good detail, I might put it in.
I chose to write the story in second person because I had never done that before and I thought that it would be a good experience. Most new writers go for first person and sometimes Third but seldom second. It was a worthwhile excercise.
Steve,
I hope you’ll post the final version here. I’m sure many of us would like to read it!!
I plan on posting the final version on Monday February 20th.
Portrait of a Lady: A short fiction story based on a real event.
As promised, here is the final rewrite.
Please keep in mind that even though the setting is real and the story is based on a real incident, most of the events are fictional. H. O. Richardson and Danny McMurphy are products of my imagination. I have no idea who was on the Eastbound Birmingham Special or what they were doing the morning of Dec. 23rd 1957.
Portrait of a Lady
You are tired as you report for work at the Bristol, Virginia, roundhouse, just like hundreds, maybe thousands of times before. Things are the same as always, a few locomotives simmering quietly on the ready track, the sound of hammering coming from the blacksmith shop, the hiss of escaping steam and, as always, the all-pervasive smell of coal smoke and grease. It is a moonless December night. Steel wheels clank over the rail gaps as a hostler backs a K1 (Note 1) onto the turntable and you think about just how much things are going to change. After next week things will be cleaner and easier, but also more boring; however, tonight you will, although you don’t anticipate it, once again, feel the thrill of having a fine lady respond to your touch.
You sign the book in the roundhouse, on duty at 1:29 AM, Dec. 23rd 1957, and talk a spell with a young machinist. He is glum, talking about how the diesels are coming and how he wonders if he will be able to keep his job. Diesels won’t need as much maintenance as steamers and much of the work will be done by electricians, not machinists. This is old news. Most railroads replaced their steam locomotives with diesels years ago, the Norfolk and Western is a hold out, mainly because of the vast amounts of coal the road hauls. “The Company” figured that they should be a good customer, as well as a provider of transportation, to the coal industry. But the use of steam locomotives is ending. You talked to the Assistant Road Foreman of Engines yesterday and he said