Tryon and The Saluda Grade
Not many
people have heard about Tryon, North Carolina. Heck, even most people I’ve met
in North Carolina stutter through the
name the way you would through a six syllable Greek name, and they are none the
wiser after the fact.
Some people
know by now that Tryon is the hometown of Nina Simone. There is a statue dedicated
to her in the middle of Trade Street, the Broadway of Tryon. People who know
about horses, of course, know about the Tryon International Equestrian Center,
which will be hosting the World Equestrian Games next year. If you were to
include horses among the total population of Tryon, I’m guessing horses would
make up for one third of the total population. That’s an impressive voting bloc.
Accordingly, Tryon has created watercolor painted horse sculptures that are
prevalent everywhere in town. And I haven’t even included the huge Tryon Horse
keeping guard over downtown Tryon.
If you walk
through town, you will not find one corporate outlet, save for a bank, perhaps.
Aside from that, the supermarket, the shops on Trade Street, all are privately
owned.
That said,
the one thing that always catches my eye whenever I am in Tryon is not Nina
Simone, a horse, or the gorgeous mountains in the background.
It’s the
railroad.
Funny, isn’t
it? I have never seen a single train ride on its tracks, but my heart skips a
beat every time I cross the railroad tracks. Having grown up in Europe, you are
very much aware of railroad tracks.
There will be the railroad crossing sign, the droparm, and the chug-a-chug
until the train blissfully passes you, just a few feet from your nose that
could have easily been rearranged along with the rest of your face if you hadn’t
heeded the train’s warning.
The
railroad in Tryon runs parallel to Trade Street. Only last week, I had a dental
appointment in a building that happened to be the former train station. Sitting
in the dentist’s chair, I would steal a look outside, watching the train track
with a splendid background of downtown Tryon and the Foothills. And I can’t
help but wonder what a railroad would do for this town.
Of course,
Tryon itself flourished in large part due to the railway, which was built in
1877. Unfortunately, the railroad itself would also become Tryon’s undoing.
Enter the
Saluda Grade. The Saluda Grade (named after the nearby town) happens to be the
steepest stretch of railway in the United States (take that, California). In
less than three miles, the railroad gains 600 feet in elevation. Titanic, meet
the iceberg.
The Saluda
Grade quickly became a nuisance, due to runaway trains that went from
I-think-I-can to I- think-I-occasionally-can quicker than you can say accident.
It got so bad that the railroad company had to build runaway tracks the way you see those for trucks
in mountainous areas. Passenger service was discontinued, and finally freight
service as well in 2001.
I am among
the portion of the population that would love to see a train for passenger
excursions, but then again, I’m not the person who will have to go through the headache
of maintaining or insuring the line, should the Saluda Grade still prove to be
too steep to overcome. Until then, I will still gaze admiringly at the track
and have a conversation with my imaginary train on it.
I have said
this before, and I’ll say it again. As beautiful a country as the USA is, I’m
afraid we put all of our chips on the automobile, which is as sad as it is
lacking imagination. But hey, at least nobody has ripped out the track yet, so
there is hope.
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