rhursday, October 15,1981
The Pendulum
Page 5
Kailroad
I by Susan Troxler
Crossing the tracks as you
jproach or leave Elon
ollege, you may wonder
hy a railroad should run so
ose to classrooms, dorms
id library.
1
For many students, the
1 ilroad does little more
I an act as a speed bump.
>r others, it rattles glasses
I couple of times a day and
I en gives members of the
I reek system a place to
: splay their artistic talents,
r) most people, the railroad
I of little importance,
r It’s difficult to imagine
f at this railway system was
ice the central interest of
e town. Around the turn
, the century, six passenger
) ains ran through Elon
t eryday. Students arrived at
1 liool either by train or by
] »rse and buggy. The depot
k is located across from the
1 (St office, on the college
e ie of the tracks. Four mail
t lins came through Elon
»lily.
, The “coming in” of the
y iin was a big attraction for
e townspeople as well as
s e students. Virtually every-
y
a
I lusic, films, fairs, and more
Gallery hopes to fire mterest in fine arts, photography
The series will feature
seven full-color films that
will take the viewer to
England, Italy, Germany,
Australia, Poland, and the
United States. All films be
gin at 8:15 p.m. and will be
shown in Aycock Audit
orium on the UNC-G cam
pus.
Season tickets for the
series, which will continue
through April, are available
by contacting Aycock Audit
orium box office at 379-5546
weekdays from 1 to 5:30
p.m.
The North Carolina State
Fair will be held Friday,
Oct. 16 through Saturday,
Oct. 24 at the fairgrounds in
Raleigh.
“The Color of Autumn”
in watercolors and oils by
19th and 20th century Euro
pean and American painters
is the featured exhibit at the
Priestley Fine Art Gallery
through October. The
gallery, located at 100 N.
Williamson Ave. in Elon
College, is open 1 to 6 p.m.
Tuesdays through Saturdays.
A film series about strug
gling relationships with
family, society, and God is
being sponsored by the Epis
copal Church of the Holy
Comforter.
Orson Welles’ “Citizen
Kane” will run Friday, Oct.
23, and “A Man for All
Se^ons” will be shown on
Friday, Oct. 30. Both films
begin at 7 p.m. and are open
to the public without charge.
Discussions will follow the
films.
by Teresa Warren
The Firehouse Galleries’
ctober exhibits feature the
Btercolors of Jo Ann Rose,
le art work of Wayne
pperly, and the photo-
aphy of the Alamance
nage Makers, a local
photography group.
Ms. Rose’s work is on
display in Gallery I. She is a
native of Ohio and now lives
in Chapel Hill. Her style is
classified as “experimental,”
and ranges from traditional
watercolor to explorations in
techniques of silk-screen and
intagUo painting.
Professional artist Wayne
Epperly is a native Burling
ton painter. He has dis
played his award-winning oil
paintings in Alamance and
Guilford counties. His work
is exhibited in Gallery II.
Gallery III features the
work of the Alamance
Image Makers, an associate
member of the Alamance
County Arts Council. The
Image Makers’ display will
also be exhibited in the
Cummings High School
Auditorium Nov. 7 for the
council’s 25th birthday cele
bration.
Tickets for this celebration
are available at the Arts
Center. The cost is $3 for
adults and $2 for students
and senior citizens.
The exhibits in the Fire
house Galleries are open to
the public and will remain
on display until Nov. 1. The
Arts Center is located at 135
W. Elm St. in Graham.
Coming soon to the Elon
College campus are the Con-
tiguglia Brothers, duo-
Haunted House
Friday, Oct. 30
&
Saturday, Oct. 31
Sponsored by
SGA and SUB
pianists, who will present a
free concert Thursday, Oct.
29, at 8 p.m. in Whitley
Auditorium. This concert is
the first in the Lyceum
Series programs offered to
the public by the college.
The Ice Follies and Holi
day on Ice Combined Shows
are coming to Greensboro
Coliseum for 10 perfor
mances Tuesday, Oct. 20
through Sunday, Oct. 25.
Shows will be at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 20 through
Thursday, Oct. 22. On Fri
day, Oct. 23, performances
will be at 11 a.m. and 8
p.m. Saturday shows will be
at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 8
p.m. while Sunday perform
ances will be at 2 and 6 p.m.
Tickets for the Ice Follies
are on sale at the Greens
boro Coliseum box office,
all authorized Belk Stores,
and Reznicks’ in Winston-
Salem.
Daryl Hall and John
Oates will appear with the
Electric Light Orchestra at
the Greensboro Coliseum on
Saturday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m.
Barry Manilow will also
appear at the Coliseum on
Saturday, Oct. 31 for an 8
p.m. concert. For more in
formation, contact the
Greensboro Coliseum box
office.
The 1981-82 Travelogue
Series will open tonight at
8:15 at the University of
North Carolina at Greens
boro with its first film
entitled, “Come to the
Castle: The Stately Homes
of England.”
•’ Do you have a talent which you keep
e
n inside and wish someone would see?
d
*11 f your answer is yes, maybe you, your
friends or your organization should enter
SUB
Talent ffife
Show
;h
ly 8 p,m, Whitley Auditorium
in ,
2 50' general admission
ID Application deadline—Oct. 25
reflects days past
TOWN OF ELGN-Thls railroad track has bccome an
accepted part of the community of Elon College. Photo by
Nader Hamidpour.
one turned out to watch the
train pass through town.
The people of the town also
made a point of meeting
students when they arrived
for a session and seeing
them off at the end of each
term.
The railroad was a prin
cipal means of transpor
tation until the time cars
became common. Passenger
service was available until
1964. It was fairly common
for students to “hop the
train” and ride into Burling
ton for a movie. After an
evening of entertainment,
they hopped a later train
back to Elon.
Although this sounds a
little risky, only one student
had a bad accident as a
result of this economical
traveling. A male student
did lose his foot when he fell
off the train. There have
been only a few fatalities
associated with the railway
in this area, and none of
them has been a student
from Elon.
The railroad was built
through Elon (then known
as Mill Point) between 1851
and 1856. Elon was pri
marily a railroad settlement
until the college was estab
lished in 1889. The one-
building college opened with
75 to 85 students in 1890.
The train service remained
the most important mode of
transportation.
After the fire of 1923
destroyed much of Elon’s
campus, the train carried the
graduating students to Bur
lington for their baccalaur
eate service. Three extra cars
were hooked to the train,
and participants were trans
ported to the BurUngton
Christian Church for the
service.
During the time Elon
College was actually being
buih, Alamance County had
no banks. The train brought
money from banks in
Durham and other large
cities through the train’s
mail service.
The station in Elon
College stayed after the
passenger service was discon
tinued, but shortly thereafter
it was torn down and moved
to Glen Raven. In 1977
continuous welded rail re
placed the tracks’ bolted
lengths of steel. This im
provement eliminated much
of the rickety sound of the
railway, and this type of
track will eventually replace
all of the 10,500 miles of the
Southern Railway System.
In spite of the fact the
railroad may not seem sig
nificant to many of us as
students, it was a vital part
of the Elon College com
munity for more than a
century. As a matter of fact,
it’s possible that the college
might not be here if the
train had not been here first.