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"We keep hoping to hear the trains passing - it will not seem so lonesome"

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Henry Edison Eaddy (1832-1912) was a turn of the 20th century Johnsonville correspondent for the local paper. He was known to his readers as the "Sage of Possum Fork" for his articles in the Kingstree County Record. In an April 1, 1909 entry, he discusses mad dogs, river steamships, the need for better roads, and the soon to be completed line bringing trains across the Pee Dee River.  Eaddy laments in his article, "We are looking for the railroad to start up again; we can hear the locomotive whistle over on the Marion side, where they are tramming logs to the Pee Dee to be towed to Georgetown, so we keep hoping to hear the trains passing.  It will not seem so lonesome." 1911 Rand McNally Map showing G & WRR through Andrews but no line running North to Johnsonville This was 2 years before passenger rail service was completed through Johnsonville. The Georgetown & Western Railroad was first chartered as the Georgetown and Lane's Railroad in 1881 by the S.