Charles D. Dulin was a Telegrapher of the same vintage of Harry Bedwell and
was a prolific writer of railroad oriented poems...He published a compilation
of a number of his poems in a book titled SAGE AND HIGH IRON...I purchased a
copy of it recently.
Harry Bedwell died, quite suddenly in 1955. Here's a tribute Dulin wrote to
Bedwell in RAILROAD April 1956.
"I watched him sign the transfer; then I reached over and lowered the wick.
When I turned around he was gone. There was no sound at the waiting room
door, no crunching of cinders on the platform. A sounder flipped open,
snapped down again with an air of finality."
"The old brass lamp whispered a requiem of steam and Morse and red plush
seats. I sat down in the insulated chair and gazed at the bay window pane.
Guess I've outgrown my lenses, or is the pane moist? Reckon my eyes are not
so good, because these train orders blur, too.
"The bay is silent; not a click
Intrudes upon my somber mood
As I begin the graveyard trick
in sorrow's realm of solitude.
Although the Morse will weave its themes
in singing brass, the veteran hand
Will always be, in pleasant dreams,
That booming brother, Eddie Sand
"I've always had a warm spot in my heart for fellow telegraphers, and when
the king of them all pulls out, suddenly I feel stranded". Charles D.Dulin
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