Kirkman Story

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Four decades ago, I had the pleasure of knowing, albeit briefly, O. Arthur Kirkman, Jr. of High Point, NC.  

Mr. Kirkman came from the family that owned and/or controlled the High Point, Thomasville & Denton Railroad, a little 35-mile long pike through the North Carolina Piedmont.  His father had been the road's President, and the Mr. Kirkman of my acquaintance was the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the line.  That his was an "old money" family was evidenced by his education at Oxford University and by his law school degree.

At the time my humble path crossed his, he was retired from both railroading and the legal profession, and was teaching one course per semester at High Point College, a course in business law.  Mr. Kirkman was a true "Gentleman of the Old School," exquisitely polite, even courtly.  And he dressed the part of a Southern Gentleman, not even removing his coat on the hottest of days.  When he discovered my obsession with railroading, he gave me a switch key from his railroad and a stack of annual passes which had been issued to him by the "big roads."

The purpose of this little essay is to relate two humorous stories told to me by Mr. Kirkman.

The first story involves his father, O. Arthur Kirkman, Sr., who had been president of the line years earlier.  Now, in the period in which this tale is set, the HPT&D owned only two locomotives, hand-me-downs from the N&W, and they were numbered "101" and "102."  (Remember those numbers.)  I think they were old N&W W-class Consolidations.  Mr. Kirkman told me the HPT&D had acquired them from the N&W during the Great Depression by swapping some very good "fit rail" for two stored engines.

Now it seems that in a certain year, the elder Mr. Kirkman, el Presidente of the HPT&D, made pilgrimage to Chicago to attend the annual convention of the Association of American Railroad Presidents, or some such organization.  In the due course of time, he was introduced to the President of the Union Pacific Railroad.  The UP's President, obviously, had never heard of the little HPT&D RR, so upon their introduction, he said, "I don't believe I've ever heard of the High Point, Thomasville & Denton Railroad, Mr. Kirkman.  Tell me, how big is your railroad?  How many locomotives do you have?"

Not to be intimidated by the man from the mighty Union Pacific, President Kirkman threw out his chest and confidently responded, "Well, Sir, when I left, we had a hundred-and-one in the Round House and a hundred-and-two on the road!"

Touche !

On to the second story...

The Mr. Kirkman of my acquaintance told me about his first trip to Roanoke, many years before, to discuss some item of business with Robert H. ("Race Horse") Smith, President of the N&W Ry.  He was, naturally, treated very well by "Race Horse," and after the conclusion of their business discussions, "Race Horse" offered Mr. Kirkman a tour of the N&W's General Office Building.

After tramping through floors and floors of offices, and being shown the various departments and introduced to myriad people, the scale of the N&W's large office complex made its impression. So Mr. Kirkman asked, "This is certainly a very large office, Mr. Smith.  Tell me, how many people work here?"

A twinkle appeared in "Race Horse's" eyes and he said with a wry smile, "Oh, about half of them!"

-- adb
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