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_In case you haven't noticed, there has been a lot of work going on down on the Abilene Southern tracks during the past several weeks. First, all track from Winters to Ballinger was pulled up some time ago—the line ends at FM 53 on the south edge of Winters, and there is no longer a railroad connection from Abilene to Bal linger, for the first time since the railroad was built around 1909, Winters is the end of the line. Then, the track of the main line, from Winters to Abilene, has been changed to heavier track, and new ballast and ties installed where needed. Work men now are replacing all the light track in the Winters yard with heavier track. J. C. Jarrell, Winters railroad agent, said the new track will allow use of heavier equipment on the Winters line. The line has been restricted to 220,000 pounds gross weight per car. This has not been enough for profitable hauling of grain, he said. Now the grain, and live stock feed supplements, can be shipped in bigger loads in big ger cars. The old track was ‘50- pounds” per yard steel; the new track is 90-pound steel, Jarrell said, which still is lighter than that used on the big main lines. Winters is fortunate to still have a railroad; many towns have lost their lines. Gatesville lost their railroad a couple of weeks ago. But the presence of industry here — especially the grain and livestock feed indus try, which takes a tremendous amount of grain and supplement —has been responsible for sav ing the railroad, even if it does stop here. Situated As. Winters is, in a rural, relatively , ‘quiet region, away from the heavily populat ed metropolitan areas, ‘most of us most of the time refid' to take a “far-away attitude when we hear of the many troubles which beset the city folk. We have a tendency to look upon their troubles as only something to read about. We can’t relate to them, perhaps because we have made ourselves believe that those troubles can happen only to someone else, in the distance, and that they have those troubles simply because they are in the metropolitan areas, while we live in the nice, quiet country, untouched—even un reachable. We make ourselves believe that a geographical barrier exists, which somehow prevents—or will prevent— their troubles from spilling over onto us. taken werae ! did exist a.:geographical even cultural, barrier which’ protect ed us to a great extent. _separat ing the rural. from: ‘the. urban. Or Continued on page:#?. “
Newspaper Details
Winters Enterprise
Winters, Texas, US
Fri, Nov 03, 1972
Page 5
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USA 06 Jul 2026
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Winters Enterprise
