Again these pieces in my collection belonged to my Grandfather Bernard Thompson. This C&O Railroad water can was used by my granddad and his cousin Gene Wallace in the 1940s. The shovel and ballast fork were also used by them.
Growing up, I always admired and loved to hear the history of these pieces. But Granddad wasn’t very descriptive with his explanations, he loved to talk but left out many of the details relating to them. And I failed to ask questions and record the history. So the lack of information is my fault also.
When he talked about them he always said, “Gene and I worked on the Talcott Section one summer when we were in our teens.” Granddad always referred to stuff in his own way, so I am not sure if this strip of the railroad was actually referred to as the “Talcott Section” or if he just called it the “Talcott Section” because it was a section of the railroad that runs through Talcott.
Either way, C&O used to hire locals, primarily young teenagers like Granddad and Gene from whichever town they were working in at the time. This during the time when all of the brute labor was done by hand, prior to the machine railroad cars you see today doing the repairs.
They would hire these young men to tamp the ballast rock under the ties and other repairs that were done by hand. Hence the shovel and fork. They used the can to carry water in and stay hydrated during their hard work.
Just like with mine work and miners who had to purchase their own tools and water cans etc. It is fair to make the assumption that Granddad and Gene had to purchase their shovel, fork and water can when they worked the Talcott Section which is why he still had these items 70-some years later.
