City of Alexandria Office of Historic Alexandria Alexandria Legacies Oral History Program Project Name: Alexandria Legacies Title: Interview with Walter Loftin, Jr. Date of Interview: November 20, 2006 Location of Interview: Alexandria, Virginia Interviewer: Frimmel Smith Transcriber: Valerie Davison Abstract: Mr. Loftin was born in Alexandria in 1931. His father worked for the Southern Railway. Mr. Loftin has traveled across the United States in trains and developed a detailed chronology of the history of railroads in Alexandria. He grew up in the 1500 block of King Street, in one of the row houses that are now stores but were then homes. He remembers going to the Richmond movie theater [now the Old Town Theatre] and the roller-skating rink. He worked in different jobs for the railroads, as a substitute teacher in the Alexandria City Public Schools, and as the head of his own train travel company. He has owned two railroad cars that he used for excursions. This transcript has been edited by the interviewee and may not reflect the audio- recording exactly. Interview with Walter Loftin, Jr., November 20, 2006 Page 2 of 18 Table of Contents/Index Tape: Tape 1 Side: Side 1 Minute Counter Page Topic Not Not 3 Introductions available available 3 Southern Railway 4 Siblings 4 Playmates 5 Living on King Street 5 Railroad Lines 7 Employment 10 Neighborhood 12 Businesses on King Street 12 Travel Tape: Tape 1 Side: Side 2 Minute Counter Page Topic Not Not 13 Travel continued available available 14 Business Ventures Interview with Walter Loftin, Jr., November 20, 2006 Page 3 of 18 Introductions Frimmel For the record, Walter, I’d like you to state your name, your place of birth, and your Smith: date of birth. Walter Walter Lee Loftin, Jr., Alexandria Hospital on Duke Street, Alexandria, February 23, Loftin, 1931. Jr. F.S.: When you were born, where did your parents live? Where did your family live? Walter 1511 King Street, Alexandria. Loftin, Jr. F.S.: Did you live there most of your life, growing up? Walter Yes, from my date of birth until approximately 1980. Loftin, Jr. F.S.: Did your parents grow up in Alexandria? Walter No, they were both born in the Salisbury, North Carolina area, and were transferred Loftin, to Alexandra with the Southern Railway, in approximately 1918. Jr.: Southern Railway F.S.: I saw you’ve made up a wonderful chronology of railroads in Alexandria. I think it’s absolutely fantastic. On that chronology it says that the Southern Railway began operations in Alexandria in 1918. So your father was right at the beginning of those operations? Walter Actually, the Richmond and Danville Railroad entered Alexandria about the 1850s, Loftin, and the Southern Railway Company was formed [from the Richmond and Danville Jr.: Railroad] in 1895 [1894], I believe it was. He [Walter Loftin, Sr.] joined the Southern Railway in Salisbury, North Carolina, in the nearby Spencer Shops in 1911. He and my mother were married in 1913. And, as I say, he worked at the Spencer Shops until being transferred to Alexandria in 1918 via Bristol. F.S.: So he had a very long career on the railroads. Was it always on the Southern Railway? Walter All except for a few months. But all I remember is him being with the Southern Loftin, Railway. Jr.: F.S.: And how many years was he with the railroad? Walter Approximately forty-seven or forty-eight. I can’t remember the exact year he retired, Loftin, but that’s approximately the years. Interview with Walter Loftin, Jr., November 20, 2006 Page 4 of 18 Jr.: F.S.: Where did he work in Alexandria, when he was on the railroad? When he was with the Southern Railway? Walter He worked at several locations. On South Henry Street, they had a big shop area; and Loftin, he worked in the stores department off of what is now Holland Lane. Then they Jr.: moved his office over to an old building just a couple blocks west of there, and he worked there for a while. Then they moved the storehouse office to the end of the machine shop at the roundhouse. That’s where they were located when he retired. F.S.: And where is that located now? Because there certainly aren’t any railroads coming in right now, there. Walter That old roundhouse building was razed in the last five years or so, sometime around Loftin, 2000. Jr.: F.S.: Oh, really? Walter It had long been leased to the Curtis Lumber Company, when the railroads no longer Loftin, did any mechanical work on the locomotive there, except in the old diesel shop Jr.: building. I remember the entire area. I went in and out of his office ever since I was a young child. Locomotives used to be on these stub tracks, waiting to be repaired in the roundhouse. So I remember climbing up on the engines, and playing around the area like a playground, which was right outside his office. Siblings F.S.: Did you have brothers and sisters? Walter I had one brother and two sisters. My older sister, Barbara, was born in 1917, in Loftin, Salisbury, North Carolina. My brother was born in Alexandria, at Prince and Jr.: Washington Street, in 1919. I had another sister, Elaine, born at 1511 King Street; and I was the first child born in the Alexandria Hospital. F.S.: Really. In your family. But not the first child born in the Alexandria Hospital. Right? In your family. Well, that’s interesting. That building’s no longer there, either. Well, the building is, I guess. Walter No, the original building was torn down. Then a new atrium office-building was Loftin, built on the site. Jr.: Playmates F.S.: Well, who were your playmates on King Street? Walter There were so many of them, I don’t know who to start with. In the next block there Loftin, was a boy a year or two younger than me. I remember him more vividly as Leo Jr.: Cappaletti. He lived at 1605 King Street, so it was just a half a block away. F.S.: Was King Street as busy then as it is now? Interview with Walter Loftin, Jr., November 20, 2006 Page 5 of 18 Walter No. Loftin, Jr.: F.S.: Did you play in the street? Walter No. As a small child I was not allowed to cross King Street, until I was perhaps four Loftin, or five years old, by myself. I was always warned not to cross the street without Jr.: some adult with me. It was the main street, of course. F.S.: But it was a busy street then, or could you play in the street? Walter At that time, it was a busy street, being the main street. Loftin, Jr.: Living on King Street F.S.: Your house on King Street, it looks like a lot of the bungalows that were built around Alexandria. Walter No, it was a row house, they called them at that time, which are now designated as Loftin, townhouses. There were approximately ten or twelve in the row that I lived in. All Jr.: these now have commercial businesses in them, whereas, at that time, most of the people in those homes were residential. Most everyone who lived on my block, around the corner, and within a two-, three-, or four-block radius, worked for the railroad, or some railroad-connected company. There were a few exceptions. The corner drugstore, the pharmacy, was called Weil’s Drugstore—W-E-I-L—and that’s where I’d hang out a lot, when they had magazines to look at, on the rack, and a soda fountain, of course; a typical soda fountain that most all drugstores had at the time. F.S.: Were there any other businesses around? You said most were row houses back then. Then there was the drugstore. Was there a movie theater or a grocery store or anything? Walter The only movie theater I remember existing at that time was the Richmond Theater. Loftin, The building is still there. In 1935 a brand new, modern theater was built about a Jr.: block away, on the 1700 block—1717 King Street—called the Reed Theater [it is now the location of a bank]. That was the latest technology and screen. It was even air-conditioned. In those days there were only two places that were air-conditioned. That was on the railroad trains and in the movie theaters. Everything else was either electric fans or open windows, to get cool. F.S.: You said you played most of your play time climbing on train engines where your father worked. Was that what inspired you to go on the railroad? Railroad Lines Walter From the earliest age my mother took me on trips, and we almost always went on the Loftin, train. Since the family had a pass, we could visit relatives in Salisbury, North Interview with Walter Loftin, Jr., November 20, 2006 Page 6 of 18 Jr.: Carolina; High Point, North Carolina; and other nearby places, at no cost. So we did quite extensive travel back and forth when I was growing up, especially in the summertime, when I was out of school. F.S.: That’s interesting. I have this guidebook. It’s a Washington Guidebook published in 1915, and it has a chapter on Alexandria. It talks about all the different railroads you could take from Washington out to Alexandria. Are you familiar with those lines, and how people came to Alexandria? Walter Very much so.