August, 2019

By Mary Ann Doyle

I came across an interesting story the other day when my friend Kenny McGill showed me this photograph of the old Heafford Junction train depot.

In the late 1980s Kenny heard the railroad wanted the building torn down. He was living in Harshaw at that time and put in a bid of $250. He got the job. 

He figured there was money to be made in the old lumber and spent an entire summer tearing it down one board at a time. His friend Eddie Hendrickson helped by pulling nails from the boards.

“He’d spend all day pulling those nails,” said Kenny. 

They made money too, but Kenny can’t recall an exact amount.

“I lived all summer on the money I made from the lumber we tore out of there,” he said.

It proved to be hard work and frustrating at times.

“Once we had an entire load of lumber ready to go,” he said. “We had stacked it outside for pick up and someone stole it.”

Kenny and Eddie always took their breaks at a bar down the road known today as Holly’s. 

“Eddie liked a beer at noon,” laughed Kenny. 

The other day we visited the place where the depot used to be and Kenny posed in the exact spot. Driving by you would never know a bustling railroad stop used to be there. 

We also had a beer at Holly’s.