Monday, November 21, 2016

The wrong side of the tracks (in Kent, Washington)

by Jack Brummet



Growing up, I lived on the wrong side of the tracks; worse...we were actually situated between the two sets of railroad tracks that bisect downtown Kent.  Every night, I'd hear the 1:13, 2:45, and 3;58 freight trains pass along the tracks a couple blocks away.

It felt so lonely being awake in the early morning,  hearing that mournful distant horn become a deep throaty scream as it thundered by the railroad crossings throughout town.

---o0o---

2 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I have enjoyed browsing your website this morning. I came here researching my great-grandfather Harry Hebb, and I wondered if your family might have known his. He, his wife Mary and their 5 children lived on a farm in Auburn in the early 1940's. Harry worked at the Libby plant in Kent, to which he traveled to and from every day on a burro named Clementine during the war years.

    I realize it's a reach, but if any of that rings a bell, do please reply.

    Thank you,
    Jenny Bockoff
    Los Angeles

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  2. Hi Jenny! I do not remember any Hebbs in Kent when I was growing up (I was born in '53). I used to live by that Libby's plant (the neighborhood smelled like sauerkraut in late summer). I can't believe he rode a burro from auburn! That had to take hours!

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