Last modified: Monday, December 8, 2008 2:15 AM EST GUEST COLUMN: Rails played siren song for Attleboro boys of the '50s BY JOHN BUCHANAN Seeing those photographs of the Attleboro railroad switching station and reading your article on the coming demolition of the signal tower some weeks ago made me aware of how much the railroad was part of our Hope amd Peck Street life growing in Attleboro. I forwarded a copy to my neighborhood buddy Dave, now retired and living in Florida, who, along with Phil, the inspirational leader of a small band of neighborhood boys, spent many days in the 1950's being entertained and educated by the operators of the Attleboro signal station tower. Perched atop the railroad embankment and towering over Pleasant Street where the Common meets the Taunton spur, the main rail line from Boston to Providence and the abandoned "Gee Whiz" line that ended at Peck Street, the tower was a beacon for boys who could easily reach it from the "Gee Whiz" rail bed or the Pleasant street stairway at the end of the common. There were no gates or fences barring access so this became our shortcut to and from downtown Attleboro. When the signal operator gave us permission to come on up and witness the business of switching the tracks and signals for the local, freight and express trains, those were exciting times climbing the tower stairs. We'd sometimes get the opportunity to hold the pole out the tower window with a Telex dispatch that was snagged by the passing trainmen heading toward Boston. We got to experience the strength required to throw those levers controlling the signals and switches. As Dave recalls, "Each switch (black lever) had a lock lever (blue) that had to be thrown back in order to throw the black switch lever, and the red signal lever would not move if either was not locked in place. There was also a small machine on the operator's desk that controlled the Hebronville switch and signal that switched trains to Track 4 that ran up and past the RR station to just past the paper mill on past Holden Street. In all there were, I believe, 79 levers." The tower, train station and freight yard were great places to experience the importance that railroad commerce played in Attleboro back then. We lived close enough to the tracks to feel the vibrations in our beds at night when familiar night trains would roll through Attleboro; names like the William Penn, Merchants Limited, Knickerbocker, Senator and Yankee Clipper, names that still roll through my memory every time I hear a train whistle blow in Attleboro. Today, all the high speed electrified Acela trains whoosh through at unbelievable speeds over glass smooth rails in seconds and are identified by numbers which bear no resemblance to the destinations they are heading. Something nostalgic seems to be lost. Not all the signal operators were friendly. Some would holler that they were calling the police to come and arrest us for trespassing. We'd run away as fast as we could and take the long way home or to the Common. But, we quickly learned when the friendly signal operators were on duty and when to avoid that perceived dangerous shortcut across the tracks when those crusty old cranks were on duty. We also knew all the schedules for daily freight and passenger trains, either running up to watch them go by or to avoid them when crossing the tracks. We'd also walk down to the station to watch and sometimes help the Railway Express workers move the hand carts after they unloaded the mail and packages. There was no UPS or Federal Express back then, at least in Attleboro. The U.S. Parcel Post and Railway Express were kings. Every Saturday we'd trek to the Union Theater for the afternoon matinee using that familiar path across the tracks passing beneath the tower. It was also the spot we'd go to see the Ringling Barnum and Bailey Circus train coming through Attleboro on its way to and from Boston. Sometimes the circus train would hold up along the local line waiting for clearance to move into the Providence yard to unload its precious cargo of exotic animals, trainers and workers. There was a rhythm to our young lives based on the trains that came through Attleboro, and also opportunity. We'd sometimes earn money running back and forth from Woody's Market on Peck Street next to the "Gee Whiz" tracks up to the rail work crews to buy cold soda for them on hot summer days. Phil did go on and work for the railroad after graduation, retiring years later, only to pass on last year. Another's father worked for the railroad. He would step out his back yard on Hope Street onto the rail bed and jump onto a slowing local passenger train to his conductor's job every morning. Dave amassed a huge collection of railroad photographs and memorabilia that he recently turned over to the Railroad Museum of New England archives before moving to Florida. And I still stop to look at the trains go by and relish every opportunity to take a train into Boston using my GATRA or T Senior discount card. JOHN BUCHANAN lives in Attleboro.