The Maco Light

Written by Jim McAmis
with Craig Dominey

In the years immediately following the Civil War, the railroad was king. And if the railroad was king, its prince was the conductor. The engineer might have gotten to sit up front, blow the whistle and drive the train. But he couldn't move that train one inch until the conductor told him to.

Joe Baldwin had always wanted to be a conductor. One day, he finally realized his lifelong dream when he was hired to be a conductor on the Wilmington & Manchester line. The W&M stretched from the coastal town of Wilmington, North Carolina westward to Columbia, South Carolina, then down to Charleston - a town that Joe loved never tired of visiting. The beautiful homes, the water, and huge helpings of fried chicken and sweet potato pie that his friends cooked for him - it made his mouth water just thinking about it.

Joe would appear at work every morning, smartly turned out in his clean, pressed black pants, starched white shirt, black leather vest and expertly-tied bow tie. On top of his head was the conductor's hat, with a medallion on the front that glistened like gold in the sunlight and read "Conductor." He always carried his lantern with him, along with a ticket punch and, of course, his railroad watch. For it was with that watch that Joe made his train run on time.

Joe took very good care of his trains. Several times during a run, Joe would walk from one end of the train to the other checking everything he could think of. He would check the wheels to see if foreign objects from the tracks were stuck up in them. He would check the boxcars to make sure they were properly locked. He would make sure that the passengers had everything then needed, and that there was always enough oil for the lamps so they wouldn't burn out at night.

Moving train

One stormy night, as they were traveling through the swampy woods near Maco, North Carolina (a few miles west of Wilmington), Joe was back in the caboose resting. He had just completed his rounds, and wanted to take a short break before they reached South Carolina. Dreams of Charleston danced in his head as the clickety-clack of the train wheels lulled him to sleep.

Suddenly, the train started slowing down, and Joe instinctively woke up in a flash. Joe immediately got worried, for he knew it wasn't time for a stop yet. He jumped up, ran to the front of the caboose, opened up the door and stepped out for the next coach.

But there was no next coach!

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